Rating: 
Summary: Funny and poignant
Review: I have just finished reading Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Empire Falls, and decided to look back on what else Russo had written. It dawned on me that Straight Man was my personal introduction to his work. Narrator, Hank Devereaux is full of middle age angst. He takes a hard and very funny (bitter-sweet)look at his life of mediocrity as a teacher, parent and human. Other reviewers have outlined the story better than I can recall it. The fact is, though, that upon skimming a few customer reviews, the personality and foibles of Devereaux returned to me as if I had read the novel last week. In fact, I read it in 1998 when it was first released. That Straight Man is so memorable bespeaks its excellence.
Rating: 
Summary: Pathos in Groucho Glasses
Review: Through the glasses of Groucho Marx, Richard Russo's Straight Man gazes directly at the human condition in the context of the academic ecosystem. Hank Devereaux is the temporary chair of the English Department at a mediocre state university. In this role, he sails the rough waters of the fragile egos of his contemporaries during April, not only the cruellest month but also a time of paranoia for faculty who are afraid they won't be hired back. (As an ex-secretary in higher academia, I can attest to the accuracy with which Russo nails down department politics.) In the week that his wife Lily is gone, Devereaux manages to get mangled, drunk, televised and jailed. But these are the smallest of his problems as he battles with his own mortality and tries to ignore the return of his father, whom he has tried to avoid turning into all of his life. Unlike other writers of the absurdist academe subgenre, Russo creates characters that live beyond the pages of the book. Hank Devereaux has a sense of humor, but what makes him unforgettable is the secret sympathy with which he views the people he knows and the merciless philosophy he applies to his own and others' conditions.
Rating:
Summary: side splitting
Review: An insight into the academic world. I loved this book--the characters were well developed and their idiocy made me laugh out loud. If anyone's ever worked in the academic world, you'll appreciate how it's been captured in this book. Richard Russo is a master of character development.
Rating: 
Summary: Major Disappointment
Review: After reading the glowing reviews of Amazon readers, I rushed out to buy this book.I must confess that I found myself unable to finish it. The first 100 pages were so painfully bad that I finally gave up. There's not much to talk about because the plot is non-existent. Seinfeld was an uproariously funny show about nothing. Straight Man is a remarkably unfunny book about nothing. Don't waste your time or your money.
Rating:
Summary: laugh out loud
Review: You know, I have to tell you I was nervous about reading Straight Man. I bought Richard Russo's book Nobody's Fool at a second-hand bookshop in Taiwan, and since then I carried that darn heavy book in my backpack while being on the road travelling for 2 years, because it was a book I read over and over, and laughed each time at his descriptions of Rub with the doughnut, Sully's truck, and I just loved Beryl. Oh, that book is bittersweet. Alas, I finally gave it away somewhere in China to someone I thought was worthy of it, and decided (deep breath) I should try another Russo book. Straight Man. So now, I have another travelling companion. In the first chapter or 2, I didn't really warm to the character of Hank, but as with Nobody's Fool, as the book continues, you can't help but wish you knew these characters to joke with and have as your lopsided friends. I don't want to write too much regarding plot, etc, as there are plenty of other reviews doing that, but if you want to read a book to warm your heart, enjoy humanity with all its quirks and quips and lurks, then read Richard Russo. Read Straight Man. It's one to savour.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and Heartbreaking
Review: This is the first Russo novel I've read, though it surely will not be my last. I thoroughly enjoyed this funny novel about the antics and political struggles of a struggling English department in a minor State college in rural Pennsylvania. Upon first reading what the topic of the novel was, I thought, "who cares?" But, Russo is a masterful storyteller, which, to me, means that he works magic with his charcters. After a quick 400 pages, I was sorry to see them go. The author does a fantastic job of building up the relationships so that you feel as if you understand the chemistry and history of these people, most of which have known one another for decades. The humor in this novel is such that it springs from the characters themselves, not necessarily from plot alone. Instead, the humor builds and builds, until it reaches a crescendo, and you find yourself waking your wife from a dead sleep with your inane guffawing. Then, just when, like the main character and narrator, Hank Devereaux, we believe everything to be a big joke, we find what we realized we knew all along... that there is a wonderful and tender heart beating at the core of this book. Many times, if I read something I love by an author, I don't rush out and purchase previous works by him/her. Instead, I accept that I've probably read enough and I should try another author. Not with Russo. I want more...I can't wait until Empire Falls is printed in paperback!!!
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious spoof of the life of a college professor.
Review: Henry Kissinger once observed that "The reason academic infighting is so fierce is that the stakes are so small." That sentiment seems to be the departure point for Richard Russo in his spoof of the life of a tenured professor in the midst of a middle age crisis in Straight Man. This book is something of a departure for Russo. His previous novels all revolve around blue collar life in economically stagnant northeaster backwaters. While funny in their own right, the humor arises more form context and irony than outright comedic effect. In Straight Man some of those elements are present--the school, in effect, is the academic equivalent of the towns in previous Russo novels--but the writing is straight high comedy from the word go. I consider Russo to be one of the finest living American writers. This book is not his best in terms of the writing, story or intensity of the story or characters, but it is his most readable and enjoyable novel to date. What is lost in terms of the intensity is, for the most part, made up for in humor. What we are left with is a more lightweight--but a much more fun--reading experience. I've not yea tread Empire Falls, Russo's latest effort, but from the reviews and whatnot it seems he has reverted back tot he form of his previous novels. So, in fact, Straight Man will stand as an even more significant departure from his "usual" style. Don't let that fact divert your from this book, however. This is a genuinely fun read.
Rating:
Summary: A marvelous experience
Review: This is a funny book. It is smart and funny and very, very subtle. I love the way that he depicts the university setting and the various characters that inhabit it. If you have ever worked in that venue, you will instantly identify various individuals that you have known. In fact, about the only person who is normal is the main character's wife, and she leaves town for an interview early in the book! I have not read Russo before, but I will certainly do so again. He interweaves the main players into a wonderful dance of discovery that intensifies as the book continues. His use of language is second to none, and his descriptive phrases are enjoyable to read. I recommend that you read it out loud to someone with your same sense of humor! A very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: A contemporary classic
Review: I use this book to remind myself that though serious and painful, life is also ironically funny. I was introduced to it through an English class and wasn't particularly looking forward to reading it, what with a title like "Straight Man," you can imagine what I thought it was going to cover as a subject matter. The first hundred pages swept me in, and I remembered how layered language is -- that my first interpretation of the title wasn't at all accurate. It's an excellent book, witty, sarcastic, and ironic, though beneath all the humor is a sad beauty concerning the truth of being human, growing old, and the changes love endures. I think it appeals to different audiences and while I imagine others are right when they say don't look too deeply into it, just read it and enjoy, there is room for those who'd like to delve deeper. Mr. Russo draws on many cultural and historical references that allow for exploration, such as his constant reference to Occam's Razor (or the law of parsimony). I may be wrong, but I think one of the characteristics that makes a book a great book is the ability to always find more meaning, to dig deeper, to notice on your second read something you didn't see on your first read. "Straight Man" is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Very Very Funny
Review: Richard Russo's "Straight Man" is one of the most amusing novels I have read. "Straight Man" tells the story of English Professor (and Department Chair) William Henry "Hank" Devereaux, Jr. and his foray into a midlife crisis. His surrounding cast (to include his wife, fellow professors, university officials, television reporters, grown daughter, son-in-law, and various women he's half-in-love with) provides more than enough fodder for thought and laughter. The book is told in first person narrative by Hank and the reader is offered quite a glimpse into his mental state as well his thoughts on life in general. Often comical and plainly human, Hank's experiences over one school year at a Pennsylvania college poignantly deal with issues of marriage, health, employment stress, family problems, relationships (both good and bad), and life in an English department. By the end of the novel you will know Hank well and very likely have laughed out loud on more than a few occasions. This is a terrific novel.
Very Highly Recommended.
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