Nobody's Fool

This is one of the most boring books I've ever tried to read. It's supposed to be about a man trying to help his estranged son get his life back on track. As far as I got, it's about a man with an arthritic knee, working odd jobs and bantering with the dysfunctional people in his life. Can't even get half way through. Wish I could get a refund.

I love what others have written about the book. I too saw the movie first - years ago - and fell in love with the ease and simplicity of the lifestyle/book. I haven't finished the book yet but I find the same subtle charm and humor as I remember from the movie. I also appreciate that you can pick it up and put it down without backtracking to see where you left off. Anyplace will work. However, I do find putting it down to be difficult.

My first exposure to Richard Russo came via the movies. Specifically, the film rendition of 'Nobody's Fool' (I cannot resist anything featuring Paul Newman). I fell in love with the film, and all of its quirky, lovable characters, and debated for quite a while before picking up the book. Would reading it tarnish the esteem in which I held the movie? Film versions of books are notoriously horrid ('The Princess Bride' is a notable exception). Would I end up wishing I had never read the cursed manuscript?Oh no. Emphatically no. This is a wonderful book, full of lyricism, real people, and the engaging, bittersweet story I have to come to expect from Mr. Russo. His painting of small-town New England life is full of colorful details and a clarity that reminds me of Hemingway, although I never felt as drawn to any of Hemingway's characters as I do to those in 'Nobody's Fool.' The reluctant protagonist, Donald Sullivan ('Sully'), is both irresistable and infuriating. His ridiculously comic best friend Rub and his perpetually optimistic land-lady Miss Beryl are on-the-money portaits of genuine people. The interplay between Sully and his sometimes-boss, all-the-time nemesis Carl is worth the read alone. As is typical with film versions of books, the book is a good deal deeper, and darker, than the movie. The descriptions of Sully's childhood growing up with an abusive parent have stayed with me, although in no way do they resort to grisly details to pack their punch. The book and the film are different entities; two separate and excellent pieces of work. I have not read all of Mr. Russo's works, but a good number of them, and 'Nobody's Fool' is still my favorite. You will laugh out loud at Sully's antics, fall in love with the characters, and marvel and the fine writing in this book.

Richard Russo hasn't published very many books, but he is quickly becoming one of the great authors of today. In Nobody's Fool, he writes another excellent tale of small-town life, a setting he revisits in his masterpiece, Empire Falls.The main character in Nobody's Fool is Donald Sullivan, known more commonly as Sully. Sully is something of a free spirit, rarely thinking beyond the moment; now that he's sixty, he's feeling the effects of his short-sightedness; he has many friends but few real relationships, even with his son and his off-and-on again lover. Indeed, the closest relationship he has is with his landlady.It's hard to describe this novel in terms of plot, since this is more a book about characters than a regular story. Russo is not interested in the standard beginning-middle-end structure of a novel; instead this book is almost pure middle. Plenty happens, but as in real life, few things are neatly resolved.Russo is a brilliant writer and makes all his characters multi-dimensional. There are no good guys or bad guys here; even Sully, a likeable enough fellow, has some definite flaws. The way all these characters interact - Sully, his landlady Miss Beryl, his friend/worshipper Rub, his foe/friend Carl and the dozen or so others - is what makes this book so much fun. There is humor here, but this is not a comic novel; instead, it is a novel that does not fit well into any category.For those whose tastes run beyond strict genre fiction, this is definitely a reccomended read. It just one indication of what a great writer Russo is.

The setting is vintage Russo. A small, depressed town that time forgot where people tend to go through the motions of life, clinging to the hope of an economic miracle that never seems to happen. A coworker told me that this is the real America, there are more towns like this than there are the bustling big cities. Russo's towns come to life with his vivid descriptions and three dimensional characters. In "Nobody's Fool", set in the mid-1980's in upstate New York, we meet Sully, a mostly harmless guy who seems to raise the ire of about everybody he meets, with the exception of his best friend and his landlady. True, Sully can be a real pain in the neck, but he's oh so fun to read about, what with his troubles with his dad's ghost, his distant son, his sometime employer, his slow best friend, and the subplot about a spastic Doberman and the volley over a stolen snowblower. I could go on and on, but it's too complex to compress into a short review. Russo has a way of making you wonder exactly how things will turn out for our protagonists, since many of them paint themselves into a corner (see also Russo's "Straight Man".) This book is a thick read, but I wished it had gone on even longer. I did not find myself wishing that the book was about 100 pages shorter, or that there was a better interplay of action and dialogue. This book is Russo at top form, and it shows. Every page in this book is a delight and despite the heft, the story is over much too soon. Highly recommended.

Russo has written an exceptional series of novels, including The Risk Pool, Mohawk, and Nobody's Fool that peel back the layers of life in a small upstate NY town. His protagonist in Nobody's Fool, "Sully" (played effectively by Paul Newman in the recent movie), is a chronic underachiever, drinker, and working man hero whose trials and tribulations over the course of the novel are humorous and always true to life. Russo writes the best dialogue of anyone I know, and he has a keen eye for detail. All of his characters, from Sully and his loyal sidekick Rub (who is terrified of his kleptomaniac wife), to the owner of the diner where he grabs his morning coffee and occasional meal, jump off the page and remain in your subconscious long after you forget the actual events of the plot. The story moves along in Russo's very capable hands, but it is not what makes this a great novel. Instead, you simply revel in the artistry of the author's storytelling technique, his accurate depictions of marriage and family relationships, and his obvious compassion for the lovable losers who reside in this little corner of upstate New York.Even the throw away scenes, that have little to do with the overall plot, are brilliant. Russo writes about Sully's elderly landlady, (think Jessica Tandy), whose nosy neighbor is always calling her to try and bum a ride to the latest store grand opening or to a holiday buffet lunch, since the neighbor can't drive. Sully always seems to try and do the right thing, and keeps ending up with the short end of the stick as a result. Not even his one legged shyster of a lawyer can set things right, as if there were any hope of a victory in court. Prosperity will always be out of reach for the cronies in this book, and for the town itself, but the story is nevertheless uplifting. Russo is a master, I loved Nobody's Fool and Straight Man and I can't wait for his next novel.