Rating: 
Summary: Very Interesting Twist
Review: When you reach the ending, (which I won't give away), you'll have the feeling of having watched an episode of Law and Order "ripped from the headlines". This feeling comes only upon completion however, which is one of the joys of this book. 80% of the story is an interesting, quirky little tale about life in small town Maine, and then POW, one is walloped with a helping of reality almost painful in its dosage. And once the punch is delivered, there is little recoup time, narative wise. One must digest on one's own time. Garunteed to make you think, and to entertain. I definitely reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: There's life in his prose
Review: Mr. Russo consistently writes novels with storylines that are steeped in the humanities. He is a master at capturing the human dynamics of a situation with dialogue and narrative that is superb and he is one of the few installment authors that is not formulaic.
Rating:
Summary: A complex story about a simple guy
Review: Set in the decaying (and fictional) Maine town of Empire Falls (which is reminiscent of Russo's earlier books set in Mohawk, New York), Russo creats a Dickensian cast of characters and an ambitious story that spans more than a century as history intersects with the present and the future along banks of the Knox River.
As with his earlier works, Russo is a master artist in creating realistic, three-dimensional characters and settings. After a few pages, you feel like you personally know the characters and can picture every corner of the town of Empire Falls in your head. It has always been his strongest quality. This time, Russo takes you inside the minds and hearts of Miles Roby, a modest, decent man who occasionally stalls due to self-doubt but who eventually realizes that he and the entire town have long been held back by a single, powerful individual.
Roby is a fascinating character; in most other books, we would call him boring, but Russo gives us so much information about his past and how he thinks and feels that we see him as more than just a single parent and local restauranteur. The author also populates Empire Falls with a diverse cast of individuals who challenge Miles along the way - some humorous and others with deadly results. I found a few faults with the book when Russo would spend a chapter or two following the exploits of a relatively minor character, pulling my gaze away from Miles. Better editing could knock 100 pages from the book and still keep it an excellent piece of fiction. However, these isolated vignettes sometimes it made me laugh (Miles' father, Max, seems to be a dead ringer for Sam, Ned Hall's father in Russo's "The Risk Pool.") and provided a better picture of Miles and the city of Empire Falls.
The book holds your attention enough for you to put it down for long stretches and then dive right back in a few days or weeks later. I wouldn't have awarded it a Pulitzer Prize, but I enjoyed it immensely and regard it as some of the best fiction I've read in a while.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Character Study
Review: Interesting what different people think after reading the same book, isn't it?I really enjoyed Empire Falls. I found the characters wondefully developed, and the narrative pleasantly paced. I eagerly anticipated each reading session. OK, yeah, in retrospect perhaps the ending WAS a bit too melodramatic. But at the time, hey... I was [pulled] in and enjoyed every page. Strongly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best that I have read... ever
Review: It seems to amaze me when I can read a book in which seems like everyday life and find it so deep with movement. This book seems like the life of so many people that you know or in parts the life of your own. But even so, you can't help to continue even when you think that you know what will happen next. We are talking about life and therefore whatever we think may be coming next is never what we know. This book is that way, reading it involves expecting the unexpected. As with life, you can never be too sure what you will get. But taking a chance to see into someone elses life will usually better you, even if you have to go through some hardships and life lessons to get there.
Rating:
Summary: One of Those Few That You Don't Want to End
Review: I stayed up until 2am finishing this book. The character's are believable small town America. There are some unique specimens. How do all these varied types live and let live in such a small space? Each character tells their own story and offers advice and counsel and copes in their own way. Good observations and insights. Funny, touching, all of that. You end up wanting to be part of this extended family. You might even consider moving to Empire Falls. A broken dishwasher seems eminently manageable compared to the more abstract problems that no handy screw driver will ever help to solve.
Rating:
Summary: Willy Loman in present day Maine
Review: The formula has been used many times before: good-hearted everyman is down on his luck due to the insensitivity of his environment and the petty passions of his contemporaries. That be said Empire Falls reinvents the genre and it reads like a fresh treatise on the American dream gone sour without proselyitizing or whitewashing. The small town atmosphere reflects nicely the claustrophopic bubble of societal expectations and the horror of having your friends, neighbors and enemies watch your personal failures as if it were the double feature at the cineplex. Russo touches on the middle aged craze for reinvention, the price thoughtless dreamers pay for their follies,teenage alienation and how absolute power corrupts absolutely especially if people are big fish in a small pond.
Deserved the kudos it got as the last great novel of the millenium.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I've Read This Millenium
Review: If you like writers like John Steinbeck or Sinclair Lewis, Russo will blow your mind. "Empire Falls" is his greatest work and I can't wait for his next novel. I'm Franz Hemingbeck...
Rating:
Summary: a can't put it down read
Review: This book is about an economically depressed community in Maine and the interaction of the residents. The development of the characters is marvelous and makes it a joy to read because it seems that in each character you can somehow relate to their foibles and their folly. I enjoyed reading this book, cover to cover.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, but I didn't get a lesson
Review: Empire Falls captivates the reader with its expert use of flashbacks and a bit of cliff-hanging. Russo's writing and vocabulary are superb, telling you just enough to intrigue you to keep going. I was eager to finish this book and learn its lesson. The very dramatic climax comes near the end and the story wraps up quickly after that. It left me hanging. I had expected a more profound lesson from the story. I would recommend it to someone who wants a pleasurable read, but one who is not seeking deep insight.
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