Straight Man: A Novel | Richard Russo | Really entertaining, but probably not for everybody

Straight Man: A Novel | Richard Russo | Laugh out loud funny

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Straight Man: A Novel

	Straight Man: A Novel Richard Russo Vintage, 1998 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 246 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In this uproarious new novel, Richard Russo performs his characteristic high-wire walk between hilarity and heartbreak. Russo's protagonist is William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character--he is a born anarchist-- and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans.

In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions. in short, Straight Man is classic Russo--side-splitting and true-to-life, witty, compassionate, and impossible to put down.

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Really entertaining, but probably not for everybody

This was a book club choice and, after having read it, our group's reactions really ranged across the board. Most either loved or loathed it - no one really fell in the middle. I happened to love it.

The narration is smug and self-absorbed, but once past that it's really a funny story with a lot of literary easter eggs peppered through the dialog. It probably could have been 50 pages shorter and had a minor, rather ridiculous subplot removed, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it. A smart, fun read.

Laugh out loud funny

Though the book jacket said the book was humorous, I didn't expect it to be so outrageously funny. After reading Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighs I knew Russo was a master literary novelist who tackled serious themes. Here he borrows from his own career in academia to create a hilarious send up of life in a college. Faculty, administration and students are equal targets here, and anyone who has spent time working in post-secondary education will especially enjoy how squarely Russo hits the mark.

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Fantastic novel

This book was so great. Highly recommended if you're from PA, or involved in academics...but I think any reader could enjoy this book. I've been reading Paul Auster these days, and the change from Auster to Russo was very welcome. This book was so easy to read -- very funny, as many have commented -- and yet there was plenty to think about while reading. This book reminded me of a time when I was younger and just got to drink one glass of milk each day (after being a milk lover). I remember just sipping the glass, taking it slowly to enjoy it. Soon after beginning this book, I kept trying to stop myself from reading it too fast, wanting to make it last as long as possible. It was great to the very end, and many thanks to Richard Russo for writing such an excellent book. It was a good friend for the last 2 weeks.

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Very funny, very real

Before reading this book I did not know what to expect from a comic novel. Most comedies these days depend on gimmicks and foul language to make people laugh. There was no way 390 pages of that kind of comedy was going to work.

I was pleasantly surprised with Russo's book about a middle age English professor and the motley crew his department was comprised of. Well written and funny, this book shows you a piece of America that is very real and very funny.

"For every complex problem there is a simple solution. And it's always wrong" - H.L. Mencken, quoted from the Epilogue

Richard Russo has written a very entertaining novel set in a budget-crunched college. The characters are all quirky, some likable and some not. Most are paranoid about personnel cuts, and together they add to the strange set of events that follow. The protagonist, William Henry Devereaux, is beset with a series of circumstances, some random, some self-produced, that provide an amusing and diverting story for the reader. For example, the author takes a scene, Devereaux crawling around the attic, listening to his colleagues talk about him, and layers the humor adroitly. I dare you not to laugh. On the flip side, a serious undertone, about his relationship with his parents, plays throughout the book ringing true and authentic. The epilogue is inspired. The last paragraph is perfect and embodies the essence of the novel.

Straight Man stays with you long after you read it.

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