Nobody's Fool

Rating:
Summary: Hometown Characters
Review: This book tells the story of a 60-year-old ne're-do-well who goes by the name of Sully. Sully does odd construction jobs in a small town in upstate New York, the very town where he grew up. His childhood friends, ex-wife, and high school flames all live in town, and in this story, he continues to annoy them as he always has. The town is slowing changing, though, and Sully with it. Sully certainly doesn't want to change, but between a knee injury that makes continuing his construction work dubious, an aging landlady, and the return of his son, whose marriage is failing, Sully reluctantly begins to admit that he's going to have to make some adjustments to the status quo.

I've run across Sully and his friends in my travels. Cranky, hypocritical, tough, and tender, they are the perpetrators of some of the funniest antics of family oral histories--that is, as long as you weren't on the receiving end of their ire at the time. You'll get a few laughs out of this book for sure, and it may even strike home.


Rating:
Summary: Comfortable Like An Old Shoe
Review: This is a novel of amiable drunks, lovable ne'er-do-wells, eccentric old ladies and one slightly-paralyzed dog. Russo has a skill for writing likable characters -- even when they're irresponsible and self-destructive -- and after a while you get used to their being around. When the book ends it feels like losing touch with a bunch of old friends.

I'm not sure Russo's writing is the Great American Novel (or anything close) but it's a pleasant diversion for sure.