I have not read Russo's more famous book, "Empire Falls" for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. I found this very long subsequent book written in 2007 to be disappointing. Apparently Russo is a master at depicting small town life, to the point that it is smothering. This very long book centers around a small New York town, once prosperous for its mills which polluted the river running through the town. The narrator, Lou Lynch and his life from childhood through age 60, guides us as we read his narrative. Lou is a plain man with a plain story; his wife like his mother before her is the guiding light for Lou. The family owns a small chain of Mom and Pop grocery stores that have managed to survive despite the mega grocery chains that surround the town. The rebel in the story is his friend Bobby Marconi who with no lead up suddenly sometime after high school, finds he possesses great artistic talent.
I stayed with the story to the end, sometimes interested, more often wondering where it was going. The author seemed to feel this way as well as the final chapters seemed to hurry toward an unsatisfying ending.
Empire Falls was also a bit dull, with an ending that seemed tacked on for dramatic splash.
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