Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was my first time reading Russo, which I’ve felt I ought to do for a while. And now, unfortunately, I feel a little less compelled.
There’s very little wrong with the novel, although I take issue with the way women are often depicted as either objects of desire or old battle-axes, with the exception of Mrs. Peoples. Russo’s prose is the kind of writing that I slide right into and feel at home, happy to be carried along by a master storyteller with a sense of humor and an eye for the absurd in small-town America.
But if there’s little wrong with the novel, I also think there’s little right with the novel, in the sense that there’s not much to challenge or push the form or the reader. So, fine. Maybe that’s not the book Russo wanted to write. In the end, Nobody’s Fool felt like a cozy, something I looked forward to reading as a way to distract me from day-to-day life. Not bad, but not terribly good either. I guess it’s a little like betting the triple at the OTB and winning only the 1st and 2nd race.