Rating: 
Summary: Empire Falls the worst book I ever read
Review: Empire Falls is the worst book I have ever read. As an avid reader I find that there are books that I don't like, however, I finish reading them. I couldn't even finish this book I was so bored. Not everyone who lives in a small town in Maine is as pathetic as the characters Russo depicts in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining all the way.
Review: This book became more and more engaging as I read it. The characters' lives totally engulfed me and I felt I was actually there with them, struggling to survive.
Rating: 
Summary: Where's the *%^$# story?!
Review: I tried to like this book. It's about real life, which is good. It isn't pretentious, which is doubly good. And yet I found the story, Russo's prose, and the entire conceit of this novel hackneyed and extremely uneventful. There's simply too much going on, too many characters, and there is hardly a story worth talking about. All the drama of the novel takes place in the past! There's nothing more cumbersome than huge flashback sections inserted in the middle of an already half-slogging novel, italicized to boot, that interrupt the story. Miles seems to me the most unadventurous, passive character. There is nothing interesting or compelling about him. Why should we spend four hundred pages with this guy? He doesn't even run his own diner efficiently -- his younger brother takes over and makes all the entrepreneurial decisions! The conclusion is so out-of-whack with everything that has gone on before -- and has little to do with Miles, which makes me wonder why the hell is Miles the center of consciousness of this book? And the character of Mrs. Whiting is extremely cliched and one-dimensional. I agree with the reviewer who spoke about her inane dialogue. Nobody speaks like this -- "My boy." I'm astounded how many critics gushed over this novel, but then again, no, I'm not. Want to read well-plotted realism? Stick to Richard Yates; he's the real deal.
Rating:
Summary: Small town with a much broader meaning
Review: The name itself, Empire Falls, can be, and was probably intended as, a metaphor. In this novel, it is the name of a town named for a waterfall in central Maine. It is also what happens to a family dynasty, the Whitings, whose men "invariably married women who made their lives miserable." Their empire was bound to fall when the last of the Whiting males, C.B., married Francine Robideaux, a not-so-blueblood who winds up driving her husband to suicide, a fact cleverly revealed in the prologue. And so, we have the antagonist, a controlling, devious conniver who seems to think everyone in Empire Falls is, or should be, her puppet, especially Miles Roby, proprietor of the Empire Grill. And here we have the protagonist, a middle-aged man hoping to someday own the grill that he has tended for the last fifteen years, but knowing Francine Whiting cannot be counted on to leave it to him when she dies. Especially since he has failed to fall in love with the woman's daughter. And, of course, there is that terrible secret about Roby's mother, Grace. In a way, Empire Falls is also a metaphor for America itself. You have here the wealthy few ready and eager to sell out the striving-to-get-by many. That, I believe, is the central theme of this book. I once worked for a company that was sold to a larger company that purchased "only the assets" of the smaller company; which meant all the employees could be hired back within hours as new employees now bereft of certain company benefits. For example: no accrued vacations, existing health problems not covered by insurance, and so on. Nice folks, huh. So it is with Empire Falls, mostly under the control of the whims of one very wealthy and whimsical woman, who delightfully makes deals that harm people. Roby has other problems than the grill, of course. His teenage daughter Tick seems to have more on her shoulders than a heavy backpack. Roby's soon-to-be ex-wife, Janine, is in love with a fitness guru, Walt Comeau, who has his own naughty secret. Roby's brother, and business partner, David once got drunk and drove off a cliff, so his dependability is in doubt. And the king of decent but slightly shifty characters is his father, Max, a painter who works at his own pace and is prone to lift money from wherever it presents itself. Max is "sempty," meaning seventy years old, but still quite spry. Besides these, there are many other interesting and believable town characters who fit into the story, but it is a harassed classmate of Tick's who finally fights back, not just against his tormentors, but against life in general, and thereby delivers a blow that changes all their lives. This book won the Pulitzer in 2002, and a book with some similar themes, The Blind Assassin, won the Booker Prize in 2000. Readers who enjoy this book might enjoy that one as well, and vice versa. Of course, a comparison could also be made to another Booker Prize winner, Vernon God Little for 2003, in the sense of dealing with a tragedy involving high school kids, but at least Empire Falls did not treat the subject humorously. The only negative comment I have about Empire Falls is the use of italic type in whole chapters that dealt with flashbacks. While it lets the reader know the material is past and not present, large blocks of italicized text are never fun to read. Bottom line: this book is well worth reading, not just because Pulitzer graced it.
Rating:
Summary: Enchanting
Review: A lovely story of a troubled town and a motivated man in search of the answers from his past. The end of a legacy and the beginning of a freed way of life. great for a leasurely read but impossible to put down.
Rating:
Summary: The ending was a complete let down
Review: Although I found the characters amusing and well developed, the ending reminded me of a stereotypical, violent Hollywood film. It was such a let down that subtle insights about the characters' lives and about life in general were lost completely.
Rating:
Summary: Funny and heartbreaking
Review: Richard Russo is one of our nation's treasures. Every book he writes is a beautiful look at the common man.
Rating: 
Summary: 4.5 stars....Russo makes his characters breathe...
Review: I enjoyed this book much more than I should have. I knew Russo had some stiff competition, seeing as his novel "Nobody's Fool" is one of my favorites and somehow didn't earn him the Pulitzer. While not nearly as funny as "Nobody's Fool", "Empire Falls" manages to be a book that takes itself seriously yet avoid melodrama. The main character, Miles Roby, is a brainy, sympathetic, sensitive, pushover. I shouldn't have enjoyed reading about this character, but Russo has a gift that few authors curretly writing possess. He makes all of his characters fully fleshed out beings. The are completely three-dimensional and members of a world that (for too brief a time) fully exist in the readers' minds and hearts. In true Russo style, the book does not so much conclude as it ends, and it leaves you wondering what will happen to these people that you've grown fond of. Other characters include an in the closet priest, a catankerous, crusty old man, a pretentious body builder, a neurotic, depressed ex-wife, an ostracized, violent high school student, and a corrupt cop. If you think these characters don't sound like someone you can 'get close to', think again. Russo even gives the truly un-likable Jimmy Minty a sympathetic ear. The plot...well, there isn't too much of one, as is true with most of Russo's books. It is a portrait of small-town life, which no one does better than Russo. But it manages to be gripping, all the same. I loved reading this book, and only wish it could have lasted longer. I give this book 4.5 stars, because I still think "Nobody's Fool" is half a star better.
Rating:
Summary: Gothic potboiler
Review: Astonished that this book has recieved such favorable reviews - this guy is mining a territory he has in fact forgotten - he's now Martha's Vineyard, not Empire Falls. His characters are cardboard, and that plot is worthy of a Springer show. Good God.
Rating:
Summary: Joseph Pulitzer is rolling over in his grave.
Review: I found Empire Falls to be an aggressively mediocre novel, and am utterly mystified as to how it garnered the Pulitzer. I agree with many of the reviews below...this is heavy-handed, obvious stuff. With the exception of Miles, who is more or less a cipher, the other characters are stock cut-outs: the disgusting old man, the macho romantic rival, the gay priest, the shrill ex-wife...where is the insight this author is known for? I didn't really get a sense of any regional truths...I felt like, with the exception of a few socioeconomic details, this story could have taken place anywhere (Annie Proulx and Pinckney Benedict, among others, do small-town life MUCH more convincingly). None of the writing struck me as beautiful or evocative...and not 'til the last 20 pages, when there is a flurry of hard-to-swallow action, does the plot really go anywhere. (And the reader below is right: no one, at least in this country, says "dear boy" every time she addresses someone.) The "comic relief", such as it was, seems to consist of Max's alcoholism and Father Tom's dementia...is this stuff funny to anyone? Two stars (barely) for a diverting prologue, but Mr. Russo, please...enough with the italics.
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