Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Our first book club meeting for the year was on the 21st with a discussion of "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo. I would really like to say I liked this book but the truth is I had a really difficult time trying to finish it. Already I am off to a bad start on my attempt at reading absolutely every book club book this year. I still plan to finish this one even if it takes me all year to do it. Actually I did read far enough to get the gist and skimmed enough of the rest of the book to pick up on how it all turns out. The rest of the details I gathered from the excellent discussion that ensued at our meeting.
The consensus of the ladies present appeared to be favorable to the book but I just found myself wanting the story to "get on with it." I felt there was way too much back story at the beginning and it moved too slowly before any real plot developed. Usually I'm all about a good character study which the book seems geared toward but in this case I just kept hoping for a good plot and some action to carry me along. I did not find any of the characters sympathetic except maybe Miles who started to grow on me and his daughter Tick (wherever did he come up with that name?) who reminded me of my own daughter.
From what I've learned so far about novel writing, a good novel should grab the reader's attention right off the bat, use back story sparingly and carefully at the beginning and use an economy of words to tell the story. This book seems to defy all these points yet won the Pulitzer Prize!? Supposedly it all comes together in the end but I just wasn't that patient enough to weather it through this time. However, I did enjoy the rhythm and cadence of the author's writing style. It goes prove that a good writer can make just about anything work.
The consensus of the ladies present appeared to be favorable to the book but I just found myself wanting the story to "get on with it." I felt there was way too much back story at the beginning and it moved too slowly before any real plot developed. Usually I'm all about a good character study which the book seems geared toward but in this case I just kept hoping for a good plot and some action to carry me along. I did not find any of the characters sympathetic except maybe Miles who started to grow on me and his daughter Tick (wherever did he come up with that name?) who reminded me of my own daughter.
From what I've learned so far about novel writing, a good novel should grab the reader's attention right off the bat, use back story sparingly and carefully at the beginning and use an economy of words to tell the story. This book seems to defy all these points yet won the Pulitzer Prize!? Supposedly it all comes together in the end but I just wasn't that patient enough to weather it through this time. However, I did enjoy the rhythm and cadence of the author's writing style. It goes prove that a good writer can make just about anything work.
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