Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: Despite the hype and publicity that this book has received, I found it to be very humdrum and the characters lacking. The whole 'scene' was depressing, the people lacked any character or inspiration at all. Some characters' storylines just seemed to wander off into nowhere, while others were tied up and presented in a very neat little package. I expected more from this author.
Rating: 
Summary: Really knowing a place provides a writer great insight
Review: For one who was born there, inherited a sense of the craftsmanship history of the place, worked during the summer in a tannery while attending college and owned a glovemaking business in Gloversville, New York, I know of the places, times and people profiles Russo writes about in his novels beginning with Mohawk. Russo's deep understanding of the people in small mill town America is the thread that runs through each of his books---whether the story's town is in Upstate NY, PA or ME. The life stories of the people in small town America need to be told and Richard Russo does it best.
Rating:
Summary: A fan disappointed
Review: I came to "Mohawk" after reading two other Russo books, "Straight Man" and "Nobody's Fool", both of which I enjoyed tremendously. I truly admire his sardonic wit, sense of the absurd and insightful prose. That said, I found this book, his first, to be a disappointment. Russo's storytelling abilities were not yet as strong, his characterizations weak. In fact, all of the people who populate the town of Mohawk seem to be more archtypes than fully realized individuals. The book is divided in two parts, with a jump in five years, leading to abrupt shifts in focus, inconsistency in character development and some hasty and murky plotting. The second half was just not as interesting to me as the first, and almost seemed like a different book. Russo's rapier-sharp wit is in short supply, as well, which is one of his strongest assets as a writer. Any Russo is better than none, but if you haven't read him, I would stick to the other two aforementioned books.
Rating: 
Summary: Before Russo found his voice
Review: I have been reading through Russo's oeuvre in reverse chronological order. "Straight Man" lit a fire under me. "Nobody's Fool" left me in tears (of both joy and sadness). "Mohawk", his first book, fails to live up to the standard left by those two Goliaths. Is it fair to judge a writer's first book, where he's still working on and developing his style, against the works he wrote as an assured and confident author? Probably not, but that's what I have to do."Mohawk" has a lot in common with "Nobody's Fool". Both focus on life in a rundown small town in upstate New York, struggling under economic pressures. Both feature diners, OTBs (Off Track Betting), and late night poker games as prominent locations. Both feature a character who is selfish, forgetful, and burnt-out by life, has an ex-wife and son that he never sees, but is universally loved against everybody's better judgement. So if I were Russo's editor, what could I suggest to turn a substandard "Mohawk" into something akin to the brilliant "Fool"? First, exorcise the acres of descriptive prose (one of Russo's few weaknesses), and amplify the sparkling dialogue (which is Russo's greatest strength, and is terribly underused here). Then, concentrate the narrative's attention on one character. The problem that he encounters here is that there are no fully defined people. He is trying to create a tapestry, to show how everyone in town is affected by the peculiarities of small-town life. On that count, he succeeds. But the story has no focus, and suffers from it. Although not as strong a character as Donald Sullivan from "Fool", Dallas Younger (the aforementioned 'man you can't help loving') could have been. Within the first fifty pages he forgets about a drunken bender in which he dropped in on his dead brother's wife in the middle of the night, playfully teases his young niece, and, most tellingly, loses his false teeth (not to worry, for since this has happened before, he always carries a spare set). I was looking forward to following the adventures of this peculiar man. Alas, there are long stretches in the middle of the book where he is nowhere to be found. My last suggestion would be to junk the book's second half. It features a theft, a murder, and a tabloid trial. And it drags the book down. I can see what Russo was trying to do. I just don't think it worked. There are some good points here. There's a flexibility with time structure that was, although confusing at first, quite effective. Many of the characters and their relationships are quite interesting, if a little underdeveloped (I'm thinking of a pair of mother-daughter relationships that are poignant in their simplicity). And the story manages to move along at a quick pace, but never rushes the issue when exposing important details. So I did like a lot of the book. Unfortunately it pales in comparison with Russo's later works.
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, well written
Review: I have now read all of Russo's novels but read them in reverse order, having started with Straight Man. Although Straight Man is still my favorite by far, all of Russo's books are good and worth reading. Mohawk seems to me to have a different tone from his later works. There is much less humor in this book and more sadness, but overall it is an upbeat story. I wish he would publish another novel soon, especially as it seems he gets better with each book.
Rating:
Summary: Far From His Best Work
Review: If you liked Straight Man and Nobody's Fool (as I did) and expect more of the same out of Mohawk, you will be disappointed. These characters don't do anything and evoked nothing in me but boredom and occasionally disgust. And you don't read Russo for a screaming plot, so there is not much left.
Rating:
Summary: A first, but not best work
Review: Let me start by saying that Richard Russo is one of my favorite contemporary authors. With that said, this book lacks what his later books are rich in - HUMOR! Russo is a very funny writer, but it doesn't come out in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Russo crafts relationships that build characters.
Review: Original writing that will probably have the reader going back for more. Heard about Russo from some people for whom the written word is life. They read him. I decided to see what was between the covers. He develops relationships, mother/daughter;daughter/father;husband/wife; friend/enemy; that help you understand characters who could easily be part of your everyday scenery. Russo provides some unexpected perspective to his characters that keeps the reader intrigued. This was my second Russo book, and I think I'm going back for thirds. Mohawk is a novel, not a sceen play. While there are some twists, it is not quite as funny and endearing as Straight Man, but if you are a person who enjoys solid writing, intriguing, everyday characters and a new perspective, you should enjoy Richard Russo and MOHWAK.
Rating:
Summary: Not as Good as Empire Falls
Review: Prior to reading this book I read Empire Falls by the same author. Both books are similar in that they are tales about small towns that depended on a factory to keep their economic viability and in both cases the industry has dried up. The first book had a lot of fascinating characters, who for various reasons were "trapped" in their town to live out the rest of their lives there. Mohawk is similar except the characters for the most part are very dull. In both books the two main characters are divorced with a teenager that seems to get into a lot of trouble. In Empire Falls, we have a lot of sympathy for both main characters and their troubled daughter. In Mohawk, the parents are so dull (Anne Grouse and Dallas Younger) that we couldn't care what happens to them and their teenaged son (Randall) seems to do a lot of things on a whim (just drop out of college and hitch-hike back to town) that we really do not know what makes him tick. Anne has done a few things that defy logic like having an affair with Dallas' best friend (Dan) and still marrying Dallas, though she doesn't love him. Russo fails to reasonably explain Anne's attraction to Dan and the reason for her wanting to marry Dallas. Dallas is so drab as an ex-star high school football player who constantly forgets what he had planned to do. One of the few characters with any substance is Mather Grouse, Anne's father who lived a very rigid life. Mather always wanted that Anne leave Mohawk to find her fortune and she is on the verge of doing so, when he suddenly dies. Anne is forced to give up her plans in order to stay with her mother. Anne's mother is pretty annoying and is herself annoyed by just about everything especially any type of insect. I slogged through this book and finished it only because I felt I needed to, not because I enjoyed it, which I didn't. It seems like this book is an early stab by Russo and Empire Falls is the "cleaned up" and greatly improved version. Final score: Empire Falls 5, Mohawk 2 ½ to 3.
Rating:
Summary: Not as Good as Empire Falls
Review: Prior to reading this book I read Empire Falls by the same author. Both books are similar in that they are tales about small towns that depended on a factory to keep their economic viability and in both cases the industry has dried up. The first book had a lot of fascinating characters, who for various reasons were "trapped" in their town to live out the rest of their lives there. Mohawk is similar except the characters for the most part are very dull. In both books the two main characters are divorced with a teenager that seems to get into a lot of trouble. In Empire Falls, we have a lot of sympathy for both main characters and their troubled daughter. In Mohawk, the parents are so dull (Anne Grouse and Dallas Younger) that we couldn't care what happens to them and their teenaged son (Randall) seems to do a lot of things on a whim (just drop out of college and hitch-hike back to town) that we really do not know what makes him tick. Anne has done a few things that defy logic like having an affair with Dallas' best friend (Dan) and still marrying Dallas, though she doesn't love him. Russo fails to reasonably explain Anne's attraction to Dan and the reason for her wanting to marry Dallas. Dallas is so drab as an ex-star high school football player who constantly forgets what he had planned to do. One of the few characters with any substance is Mather Grouse, Anne's father who lived a very rigid life. Mather always wanted that Anne leave Mohawk to find her fortune and she is on the verge of doing so, when he suddenly dies. Anne is forced to give up her plans in order to stay with her mother. Anne's mother is pretty annoying and is herself annoyed by just about everything especially any type of insect. I slogged through this book and finished it only because I felt I needed to, not because I enjoyed it, which I didn't. It seems like this book is an early stab by Russo and Empire Falls is the "cleaned up" and greatly improved version. Final score: Empire Falls 5, Mohawk 2 ½ to 3.
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