As I have mentioned before, I have loved everything Richard Russo has written in the past. I first learned about him when looking for a birthday present for a friend. I saw Empire Falls in paperback in a Boston Barnes and Noble in like 2003 or so and it looked so good, I bought two copies - one for him and one for me. (I think this was before it had won the Pulitzer Prize. ) I found it unputdownable. His characters were so real and relatable, and the world was so perfectly drawn. My only complaint there was the time jump.
I went back and started reading his entire back catalog and loved it all (though a few of his other books also used a time jump to skip past difficult parts). I was very excited to see that he had a new book out this summer and I eagerly requested an advanced reader copy from the publisher. I also shared the physical advanced reader copy that I got with my mother, who also has loved Richard Russo’s books in the past.
She returned the copy to me unfinished. She couldn’t get into it, and when I read it, I see why. In a huge contrast to most of Mr. Russo’s earlier work, the characters are flat and not believable. Their motivations are weak and not fully explored and scenario is frankly ludicrous. There are a few kernels of good ideas in here and the way that Mr. Russo writes about men longing for the close friendship of their youth reminded me a bit of some of the parts of Bridge of Sighs (which I really should re read) but all in all this book was a huge disappointment.
In the acknowledgments, Mr. Russo admits that this book started out as a TV pilot. That Genesis does, I think, explain many of my problems with this short novel. It seems like streaming TV these days often requires broader characters with more outlandish set ups and plots to entice a jaded viewer. I can picture in my head, The 60 second ad for this show on Paramount +, and I would want to watch it just as much as I would want to recommend this book - not very much. I may go back and reread one of Mr. Russo‘s older books to get the taste out of my mouth.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
