Empire Falls

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Empire Falls
Richard Russo
2001

The Summary
In the tiny Maine town of Empire Falls, Miles Roby works at the floundering Empire Grill and deals with the imperious Francine Whiting - of the Whiting family which owns everything and everyone in Empire Falls - on a frequent basis.

And all the while, he struggles with his soon-to-be-finalized divorce and attempts to properly raise his daughter, Tick.

Despite it's small-town roots, however, Empire Falls is anything but small:  big in story and big in heart, Richard Russo's novel tells about all the struggles of a tiny, former factory-town and the people who live there from day to day.

The Good
Intricate, well-written, and emotional, Russo's Empire Falls is fantastic to read for the list of human interactions and connections it cultivates, as well as the tragedy it sometimes invokes.  The connections between characters, as well as the relationships they create or, as is sometimes the case, destroy, allows the reader to truly see the world of Empire Falls and embrace it.

Although Russo's novel isn't filled with thrills for every minute, it's certain to get you hooked as you strive to figure out what has happened - what secrets are hiding within the Whiting family and within the town itself - and wrap your mind around what will continue to happen in the tiny town of Empire Falls.

You're sure to become invested in Russo's characters.

The Bad
Empire Falls often appears to reveal the futility of the human condition.  Full of cases where people become trapped by their fears, trapped by their circumstances, or simply trapped, it's a sad commentary of how life can go awry from what one anticipates and it can leave you speechless, wounded, or worse.

While sprinkled with plenty of warm moments, especially those between father and daughter duo, Miles and Tick, Empire Falls is a story more of the heart-wrenching variety.  The seemingly inevitable climax will surprise you - and certainly not in a good way.

The Ugly
Throughout the course of Russo's novel, one anticipates a tragedy to occur - i.e. you just get a "bad feeling" about how the story will end and what will happen to the characters in which we have invested our time and feelings.

Personally, I feared for Tick.

As one of the few good things Miles still has in his life, Tick seems crucial not only to Miles' story but the story of Empire Falls.  And, perhaps in the middle of the novel, I uncovered a sense of foreboding - in fact, a genuine fear - for the safety of Tick.

Whether I imagined she was in danger of becoming trapped in Empire Falls by Francine Whiting, like her father, or becoming the fixation of a disgruntled ex-boyfriend, I worried Tick would not reach the end of the novel.

I won't spoil the conclusion (of course, I wouldn't), but I found this sense of foreboding had an influence on my entire reading of Russo's Empire Falls.  I still enjoyed the novel; however, I probably didn't enjoy it half so well as I might have if my mind hadn't been plagued by fears of impending tragedy.