Rating: 
Summary: Colorful characters in a small-town setting
Review: What makes this book a Pulitzer Prize winner? It's not necessarily the setting or the story itself. God knows I wanted the people in the story to leave the dying, small town of Empire Falls and never look back. I felt sorry for the characters that couldn't divorce themselves from the selves they were back in high school and learn from their pasts. But it's the colorful characters in the town of Empire Falls that keeps people from leaving Empire Falls, and it's the colorful characters in the novel that brought it to it's award-winning status. You meet Miles who runs the Empire Grill and lets life happen to him without much active reaction. He stands in stark contrast to his father, a man who is always trying to borrow "a few bucks to get down to Florida" or "buy a drink" and then he'll "leave you alone". You want Horace to take care of the huge cyst on his forehead (but you'll never say anything to him about it because Horace just wouldn't be Horace without that huge cyst on his forehead). Then there's John Voss whose parents used to put him in a laundry bag and tie him to the doorknob while they did drugs -- you know THAT must have messed with his mind (and, boy did it ever)! Oh, and how can you forget the all-knowing Mrs. Whiting who practically owns the town and knows everyone kind of -- well -- kind of like god. And Father Tom who has gone senile and likes to call people [names]. And lets not forget Charlene with the big [bosom] and Janine who runs off with the Silver Fox. Yeah, these are the characters that suck the reader into the book and keep people from leaving the town of Empire Falls. It's unfortunate that these characters don't change. Oh, they try to change. Janine loses weight, has an affair with the owner of the gym, and discovers orgasms. But she doesn't really CHANGE -- she's still the same Janine. Miles goes off to college to escape Empire Falls, but then he returns to cook in the same restaurant he worked at in high school. The author shows that sometimes people don't change because they don't make the effort, but sometimes they don't change because they're trying to be something that they're not. I think that it's the author's pessimism about the ability of people to change that keeps me from liking the book more. I really wanted to talk some sense into the characters in the book sometimes. Yes, it's worth the read. The characters are memorable and you'll often find yourself laughing out loud. There are lots of small and memorable episodes throughout the book. During the final section of the book, I was unable to put it down. In fact, I soaked in the bathtub for three hours ('til 1:00 a.m.) to finish the book. Russo has carefully crafted a realistic story and colorful characters that won't soon be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: intimate look at life in a small town....
Review: Empire Falls is a factory town that is struggling just to survive. It is populated with a complete cast of individuals that Richard Russo has created in intimate detail. The people are so well defined and at the same time, so far "out there" that they are fascinating to watch as they bob and weave through their lives. It is a challenging look at the manner in which people approach life. Some embrace everything as an opportunity and delight in it all, others embrace everything and yet are constantly dissapointed. For some, happiness is a simple life and for some, they are so busy grabbing anything in reach, that they can not even identify what it is that they are really searching for. A few grab at nothing, assuming that life has nothing to offer and therefore they make no effort at all. Russo delves into the importance of identifying what it is people want to achieve and why, and then setting real goals. Russo also displays an amazing ability to create the realistic, rough, give and take of emerging relationships, particularly between teenagers and parents, as the teenager stretches toward adulthood. The effects of parents on their children's future, the influence they inadvertently wield, even when they don't intend too is all too revealing.
Russo creates an intimate look into the lives of those in a small town who believe that their choices are limited or non-existent and balances these against those people who find a true joy in life, no matter the circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated and overwritten
Review: This book has some memorable characters, but suffers from repetitive writing and awkward metaphors.
The main character, Miles, is forgettable, but his daughter, Tick, and mother, Grace, steal the show. A late-developing plot about an antisocial classmate of Tick's seems like it comes from another book, admittedly, a book where something actually happens instead of people sitting around talking and whining about their lost opportunities in life. And it's never hinted at why Miles married his wife or why his mother married his father.
Rating: 
Summary: Best book in a long time
Review: This was the best book I've read in a long time. I loved the story, the characters, the humor. Actually, I really loved everything about it and I was sorry when I finished it. Athough it was a little slow, it was well worth it. I look forward to reading Russo's other books.
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted, great reading
Review: After I finished this novel I realized that the plot wasn't really much at all, but the characters were woven together with plot so beautifully that the more I got into it, the more I cared. There is at least one stand-alone part (you'll recognize it when you get there) that is so laugh-out-loud funny you'll want to share it with others. More important, this is a story made up of people who seem real. You care about them. You want to know what happens to them. I really enjoyed them. I'm glad it won the Pullitzer. Richly deserved. Prizes might put some people off, but this is not a critic's novel, this is a reader's novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Powerful Story, Movingly Told
Review: I find myself wondering what I can add, considering there have already been more than 250 customer reviews for this book in its various editions. I'm a confirmed fan of Richard Russo's and had read all his books but this one, even including the newer collection of stories, 'The Whore's Child'; yet somehow this one had passed me by. It was only when I posted my review of the story collection that I realized I'd missed one - and a Pulitzer prize-winner at that! I wish to make only three points about this book, and about Russo; obviously there is little else I could add to the previous reviews: 1. Russo is a master plot constructor and this is very much in evidence here. All the pieces fall together and one realizes only afterwards that some odd little observations or passing comments turn out to be important to the plot. I like it when a writer can sow tiny seeds of plot that later come into full flower. 2. Russo is also a master at character description and development. I won't elaborate except to say that there are, by my quick count, at least ten characters in this book that are original, fully rounded and instantly recognizable as real and true to life. Even his minor characters - the reporter for the Empire Falls paper, for instance, or the principal of the high school - are not stereotypes. A major factor in this is Russo's great heart. He loves his characters, even the 'bad' ones. 3. Russo is a perceptive psychologist. The motivations and actions growing out of his characters' experiences and inner lives seem true, even inevitable, and I say this as a psychiatrist with almost forty years experience of listening to people's secrets. This book will stay with you long after you've finished reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Characters!
Review: I ordered this book based on Amazon's recommendation believing it to be a scifi novel involving the fall of some galactic empire. Little did I know how wrong I was. Empire Falls is a place in Maine and the novel is a modern day story about everyday people with everyday problems. I decided to give the book a chance and was very glad that I did. The book focuses on Miles Robey, the proprietor a one of Empire Falls few restaurants. Miles is a nice guy that throughout his life tried to please everybody. As a result he "wasted" a college education and kept a job running a losing business. He also married a woman (who never made an effort to improve her relationship with him) who only cared about looking good and impressing other people. Miles married her to avoid a romantic involvement with a crippled rich girl who was infatuated with him. We meet several other interesting characters such as Miles daughter Tick (she reminds me a lot of Lisa from the Simpsons). Tick is kind of an outcast in school, possibly because she is smart beyond her years. Then there is the mysterious Mrs. Whitting who owns half the town, and also Miles' restaurant. Miles makes the observation that Mrs. Whitting seems to sell parts of her holdings always at the right time. It seems to be Miles' fear of failure that prevents him from confronting her on obtaining a liquor license even though it would increase the business tremendously. Miles' deceased mother was someone that had a good heart and a bad marriage. She had great plans for Miles to make a better life for himself by getting out of the town. She dies young from cancer and with her presence gone, Miles never a risk taker decides to continue to work at the restaurant rather than get out of the town to make a life for himself. Miles loves a waitress at the restaurant, who he has fawned over all his life. However, he marries a woman that nobody seemed to be interested in because he was afraid of pursuing the woman he really wanted and failing. We have Miles' obnoxious father who is basically a freeloader who only looks out for himself. Then there is David who seems to be the only person in the book that thinks with some sense. Empire Falls was a thriving town until the shifting economy caused the main factories to close. The characters are basically, so ingrained in the town that no matter how bad things get you know they will always stay. I am sure we all know many people with the same characteristics as these people and quite possibly we hold many of these characteristics ourselves. That is what makes this book a very compelling read.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: this book is outstanding. to begin with, it is one of the best descriptions of small town life that you can come across. the myriad array of characters is sometimes difficult to keep up with, but the way they all have past grudges with one another and are unable to stay out of each other lives is spot on. also, the double meaning implicit in the title is present throughout book. russo manages to make day-to-day interactions carry a symbolic weight that leaves you mulling over dozens of passages. it also makes you laugh out loud because of the hilarious back-and-forth banter. it begins with an opening anecdote, twinged with a cynical sense of humor, about the manufacturing magnate whiting family who opened a textile mill in empire falls, maine in the 19th century. the story itself takes place after the decline of the mills leaves the city almost abandoned (hence the title), but the tortured whitings end up playing a key role in the events of story, making a suspenseful novel out of boring, sleepy town. the conclusion artistically ties it all together. don't miss this book, a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult to get into
Review: This novel is about the hopes, dreams, and desires of people who are trapped in a small town. Like other reviewers, it took me a while to get into this novel because not much happens. This novel is more of a psychological examination of the people living in a small town than it is a plot-driven thriller. My biggest problem with the story is that it lacks strong characters that you would want to root for. The protaganist is Miles Roby, who at age 42, foresakes his dreams of a better life elsewhere and stays in charge of Empire Grill, hoping that some day, it will be bequeath to him. Miles attempts to rationalize the reasons he stayed in Empire Falls even when he's unhappy doing what he does. Along the way, he helps paint a church, got into disagreements with his estranged father, finalized a divorce, took care of his daughter, reminicsed about his childhood and dead mother, and got into fights with his childhood nemesis. There isn't much action to speak off until the last 50 pages where I thought it took blatant advantage of recent events that were infesting schools in America. I won't give away the ending, but read this novel if you enjoy excellent prose and learning about how lives are lived in a small town.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put this down.....
Review: This book was recommended by a friend. I will love her forever!The characters, especially Miles, could be in any small town in America, and Empire Falls could be any small town. They, the characters, are very real. The situations the characters found themselves in seem so true-to-life that I found myself laughing aloud many times. I read Russo's "Nobody's Fool" and this is far and away a better read. I was genuinely sorry to see it end.
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