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Summary: Hilarious but heartbreaking novel of life's pettiness
Review: In this hilarious but heart-breaking novel, Richard Russo paints a vividly true-to-life picture of the tragedy of a man who appears to have got it all in life. Henry William Devereaux Jr. is a 50 years-old professor of English serving as an interim chair of a department that is never in consensus in a badly underfunded college in a rusty locale of Pennsylvania. The pettiness of work politics and the turbulent drama among the personnel that enshrouds his department strikes him off guard like a belated mid-life crisis.
In the course of a week Henry, an anarchist in heart with a lack of political acumen, is mangled by an angry colleague in his nose, battered by the wave of rumors auguring an impending university-wide purge, swept by a surging sentiment among the mutinous colleagues who threatened a recall. And to top it all, he dreads the returning of his father who left him and his mother for the first of his female graduate students some 40 years ago.
Henry's determined reticence and the complaisance rooted in his character somehow galvanize the silent tension that reigns over him and his colleagues. So long as he dismisses the purge as rumors, his friends and colleagues think he is committing political suicide and are ready to strangle him. This is where his character flaw being fully exposed, that in the face of life's seriousness, its pettiness, its tragedy, its absurdity, and its lack of coherent meaning he seems to be unusually ignorant and indifferent, and sadly, he finds himself defenseless. This is where his tragedy lies dormantly until something as pathetic as the pettiness of people politics at work evokes its existence. His tragedy lies in the fact that he is too reasonable, being overly logical. So long as he can maintain the public posture that does not call him out of his comfort zone, he remains complaisant and unchallenged. His complaisance demonstrates that a great deal of havoc can be wrought in relationship (especially the ones that are no longer remediable) by anyone so inclined, at least if that person is sufficiently insensitive to ridicule, personal invective and threat.
The mellow professor's sudden flamed-up reaction surprises all that is used to his insensitiveness. His threat to kill a duck (a goose!) on TV camera at the frustration of not receiving a budget serves more than just a comic relief of the tension that builds up incessantly. The escapade almost bespeaks his formidable conviction of refusing to sell out his colleagues; and on top of it he radically comes out of his nut-shell to protest injustice of the university administration. On facing the accusation of killing a goose of which he does not deny being the perpetrator, even his staunch political allies have aligned themselves against him. They speak of him performance as chair, detailing of many grievances, suspecting him of aiding the administration in the purge, and misinforming and betraying the department. At the core of this crisis he has to confront the question: Does he really belong? He is either to live among his colleagues who are as flustered, complacent, deadwood and tenuredly banal as the geese, or he should take a respectful leave and leave behind the squalor of politics.
STRAIGHT MAN alerts not only its protagonist but all his witnesses the conflicts, wounds, unsettled scores we have never come to terms with, that sneak up on us, insisting upon immediate attention and action, if not resolution. His cowardice is always understood to be the sole impediment to his reconciling with his philandering, distant father. This cowardice manifests in his assiduous contribution, under a pseudonym, of satires on academic lunacy which has raised ire of the university personnel. While one might laugh and feel disconcerted at Henry's vices, it's also time to reconsider issues in life that one has so adamantly evaded.
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Summary: I got goosed.
Review: Quite frankly I had never heard of Richard Russo before this book. I picked this book up simply because of the goose on the cover. I am so glad I did. This book did something I haven't done in a long time. I actually read it...from begining to end. With such a hetic life, time for reading is almost nil. With this book I MADE time.
Richard Russo, paints the picture of a...well, everyman. A man named Hank. everyone, knows someone like this in their lives. Someone who gets by with humor and an easy going manner. The same someone everything good and bad seems to happen to.
Hank has problems at work, problems at home, problems with his family and problems with his prostate. With all this, he still manages to do what we all do...work through it. Even with all that on his plate, hanks still manages to do it all with a grain of salt and a great quip.
I can't recommend this book enough. Looking for something lighthearted, with a message and just plain fun? Then read this book.
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Summary: I love this book
Review: This is probably the best book I have read all year. I have recommended it to many people and they all enjoyed it. Definitely worth the read!
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Summary: Life With Father
Review: Richard Russo's "Straight Man" is a marvelous novel in the tradition of "Lucky Jim," which is acknowledged in the nickname of Russo's protagonist, William Henry Devereaux, Jr. Lucky Hank chairs the English Department at West Central Pennsylvania University, overseeing a faculty that personifies eccentricity. Devereau's department is in chaotic rebellion, and he must try to herd them through academic politics while he is beset by friends who aren't, enemies who are, family members of three generations in crisis, and an erratic bladder.The plot is absurd, a surrealistic slice of life around a few critical days at the University and in Devereaux's personal life. The characters are vivid and sympathetic. I wanted the book to continue, so I could learn the rest of the story for Meg, Tony, Julie, Rachel, Orshee and several others. A literary critic, perhaps the great William Henry Devereaux, Sr., might find the book to be undisciplined. Who cares? How many novels can be "can't put them down" exciting and at the same time add something of value to what are usually overworked topics: mid-life crises, academic politics, middle-aged romantic and platonic love, and parent-child conflict.
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Summary: Richard Russo can do no wrong
Review: In "Straight Man", Richard Russo once again has proven to me that he is one of the finest American novelists currently writing. He is brilliant in his simplicity and consistency. I had heard that this novel was his worst, but I would have to disagree. It is just as wonderful as all his others. As funny as "Nobody's Fool" and as tender as "Empire Falls." I really don't know how Russo does it. In every book he manages to create living, breathing characters in minimal plot that keeps the reader entranced far beyond the last page. While his writing style is extremely simple, the reader still marvels at the skill put into every sentence. "Straight Man" is a rip on academia, which all college / graduate students will find hilarious and dead-on. The book focuses on Hank and his struggles as English Chair at a lowly, cash-strapped University in Wrong Side of the Tracks, Pennsylvania. When his wife leaves for the weekend, Hank manages to pretty much completely turn the town upside down inside of three days. He manages to threaten a goose on live TV, get photographed naked in a hot tub with a TV personality, spend a night in jail, and pass a few hours trapped in the ceiling above his colleagues. Russo usually writes in third person ominiscient, which really helps him develop amazing and fully-fleshed characters. I was a little worried when I saw "Straight Man" was written in first person. I shouldn't have been. Russo still somehow manages to give his characters depth and soul. All in all I wasn't able to put this book down. If you haven't read Richard Russo, you are really missing out. This guy is flat-out wonderful.
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