Empire Falls

    

     More often than not, when I am reading a book all sorts of questions, themes, and ideas pop into my mind and remain with me long after a book is finished. That was not exactly the case with this book, in fact I had some trouble going back and picking it up again, a rarity for me. It's not that this book is bad; on the contrary, it is actually quite intricate and affecting. Richard Russo has an incredible ability to layer in memories with present events that make the entire story come together in a profound, intriguing way.

     Empire Falls is a small town in Maine consisting of life-long residents that never quite got back on their feet after the local shirt factory closed down decades earlier, leaving many people unemployed. This town is full of individuals that did not live up to their own expectations, that think they have more figured out than they really do, and that turned out exactly as everyone had expected. Miles Roby is the central character that, much to his own chagrin, has been working at the Empire Grill for the past 20 years. His adolescent ambition was to be a professor or writer which did not pan out due to his return home from college when his mother became ill. Years later he still runs the restaurant that is owned by the wealthiest woman in town, with continued hopes that she will give him ownership upon her death. The side stories of Miles' ex-wife and daughter provide different perspectives that add depth to the central character and also illustrate Richard Russo's ability to create greatness out of the seemingly mundane. Unique characters such as Miles' dad Max, who's deepest desire is to score $500 so he can drink it away in Key West, and Walt Comeau, Miles' ex-wife's new husband that owns a health club and visits the diner daily due to his own guilt and vanity, are what develop this novel's humanity and remind us of the greatness found in small-town, blue-collar America.

     If you were to read a book after me, you would inevitably be disturbed by the markings I have placed all over the book, i.e. lines or quotes that I want to remember, questions that I have and hope are resolved in the end, etc. Shockingly, I only marked one passage of this book but the emotions were so perfectly and beautifully conveyed that I believe it provides a nice glimpse into Russo's arsenal of impressive writing.

"Today's photo was of the old Empire Shirt Factory's office staff, taken in 1966, the year before the factory closed, and the only person in the second row not looking at the camera was a young and beautiful Grace Roby. Miles quickly checked the caption below, relieved to see that his mother was among the identified, because it would have broken his heart to see a "Does anyone know this woman?" affixed to her. Still, seeing his mother so unexpectedly gave Miles a sensation not unlike the one you'd have standing on railroad tracks and feeling, or imagining, the far-off trembling of something large racing your way--not danger, exactly, unless for some inexplicable reason you were duty bound to remain right where you were. Perhaps it was the fact that Grace was not looking at the camera, but rather of at an oblique angle, that suggested she might have been listening to that same distant rumbling. If indeed it was an intimation of her own mortality she was hearing, Miles reflected, it had been closer than she thought."  (p.297)