Russo gives context to these characters and, like anyone, they’re a complex result of their childhood, history and experiences. Secondly, because of its realness, you feel more-or-less okay with the less desirable characters – that doesn’t stretch to Timmy the cat (a demonic fur-ball), but it does apply to to the likes of painful, thinks-he’s-charismatic Walt, and full-of-his-own-authority police officer, Jimmy Minty. The subtlety is the strength, and I reckon that this style of writing takes incredible restraint and skill.Īfter all, what was the whole wide world but a place for people to yearn for their hearts’ impossible desires, for those desires to become entrenched in defiance of logic, plausibility, and even the passage of time, as eternal as polished marble? There are no crazy plot twists – instead, things unfold in the way that they do in real life – a slow dawning, something said here or there that allows you to put the pieces together. I have nothing of significance to add, but I can say what I enjoyed about this story of a small town in Maine, America.įirstly, it’s gentleness. It’s the reading equivalent of comfort food.Īs is my custom, I don’t ‘review’ books that have thousands of reviews (and let’s not overlook the fact that it won the Pulitzer).
It’s one of those absorbing, intimate books where you feel that the characters are old friends by the end. And Rory commented on Goodreads that she was nervous that I wouldn’t love it as much as she did. Yes, shameful that it has taken me so, so long to read this book. I never progressed the meme, but I did get a nomination from Rory – Empire Falls by Richard Russo. The idea was to read the books that my friends considered their ‘favourite’.
When I started this blog almost ten years ago, I had an idea for a meme (it’s still sitting in draft posts).
0 kommentar(er)
