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randybo5's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent writing, as in all of Russo's books, and an engaging story of midlife crisis, this book doesn't have the same quirkiness as some of his previous novels. Still a worthwhile read.
blevins's review against another edition
2.0
If you are thinking of getting hitched to someone [you know, married], don't read this novel by Richard Russo as it might make you re-consider walking down the aisle with your beloved. Russo's novel is set among a couple of already dead or disintegrating marriages as the narrator attends a couple of weddings. Clever, right? I don't know if Russo was venting about downtrodden relationships of his own here, but I got a bit tired of the endless bickering, the endless cutting remarks, the endless complaints about the spouses. Fine writing I suppose, but geez, I feel like I need to see a relationship counselor just because I spend time with these characters.
redroofcolleen's review against another edition
2.0
Without a single character with which I could identify or like, it is a wonder I made it to the end. Trapped by pride and victims of their own lives, I found them all very tiring and bit depressing, too. Definitely not magic.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Ellen and Jo
Ellen's review: Middle aged couple whose marriage is rocky have to deal with the impact of the lives and deaths of their parents and the impending marriage of their daughter. Ultimately, hopeful. Beautifully written and characters well-drawn.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sold%20cape%20magic%20russo__Orightresult__U1?lang=eng&suite=pearl
Ellen's review: Middle aged couple whose marriage is rocky have to deal with the impact of the lives and deaths of their parents and the impending marriage of their daughter. Ultimately, hopeful. Beautifully written and characters well-drawn.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sold%20cape%20magic%20russo__Orightresult__U1?lang=eng&suite=pearl
servemethesky's review against another edition
4.0
This was my first Richard Russo novel and I really enjoyed it! While this isn't a book I'm going to go rave about to all my friends (more due to the dark, sensitive, and depressing subject matter), it's one that was moving enough that it will likely stay with me for awhile.
I've seen some other reviewers complain that the trope in this book is overdone. Middle-aged white man with malaise, overly cerebral concerns, yada yada. I still found it interesting and moving, and I was definitely rooting for Griffin and Joy to find a way to salvage things. It paints a dark picture of marriage and love, but perhaps a realistic one.
My only complaint is that some of the characters did not feel fully fleshed out- they were relatively two dimensional. Like Laura, for example. She's just Griffin's daughter. She is nice. She is young and hopeful. That's pretty much all we know about her. She's actually kinda boring. I did enjoy the backstory with Sunny Kim and the ominous potential that loomed there. But look at that- even Sunny was more developed a character than Laura! Perhaps Russo did that for a reason, though I'm not sure what that reason would be. We get even less insight/development of Andy's character, Laura's boyfriend. Maybe he's just not important enough, but it felt strange as a reader to not learn about that particular character. He was more of a device to move the plot forward.
All in all, a good read that'll make you spend some time thinking and reflecting on family, relationships, love, and marriage. Since I've heard this isn't Russo's best, I will definitely try some of his other novels.
I've seen some other reviewers complain that the trope in this book is overdone. Middle-aged white man with malaise, overly cerebral concerns, yada yada. I still found it interesting and moving, and I was definitely rooting for Griffin and Joy to find a way to salvage things. It paints a dark picture of marriage and love, but perhaps a realistic one.
My only complaint is that some of the characters did not feel fully fleshed out- they were relatively two dimensional. Like Laura, for example. She's just Griffin's daughter. She is nice. She is young and hopeful. That's pretty much all we know about her. She's actually kinda boring. I did enjoy the backstory with Sunny Kim and the ominous potential that loomed there. But look at that- even Sunny was more developed a character than Laura! Perhaps Russo did that for a reason, though I'm not sure what that reason would be. We get even less insight/development of Andy's character, Laura's boyfriend. Maybe he's just not important enough, but it felt strange as a reader to not learn about that particular character. He was more of a device to move the plot forward.
All in all, a good read that'll make you spend some time thinking and reflecting on family, relationships, love, and marriage. Since I've heard this isn't Russo's best, I will definitely try some of his other novels.
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
Well, here's middle age disappointment at its best. Jack Griffin is disappointed with his life--his job, his marriage, where he lives, etc. And now he finds himself on the way to Cape Cod to a wedding. The very Cape Cod where he and his parents vacationed every summer while he was a child. Oh, and by the way, he's carrying his father's ashes in the trunk of his car. Those ashes have been in his trunk for over a year. And his mother is calling him repeatedly on his cell phone, giving him orders and expressing her deep disappointment with her only son. To say that the novel picks up from here and becomes lighter wouldn't be exactly true. Fast forward another year and he is heading to Maine for another wedding and now he has two urns of ashes in his trunk. This is a novel that crossed genres--it's a family novel first and foremost. Russo reminds us that we never understand our parents and we are never loose from them. The novel is also an academic novel, both for Jack and for his parents who are both college professors and it also touches on being a Hollywood novel with its descriptions of the competitive work of screenwriting. But all in all, it works right up until the very end.
leleroulant's review against another edition
3.0
Not Russo's best book, but good enough. Worth reading just for one of the concluding scenes.
sdibartola's review against another edition
3.0
Remember that wonderful old song by Paul Simon?
“When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
But the last one to know
When something goes right
Well, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
It’s such an unusual sight
I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right”
Reading Richard Russo’s new book, “That Old Cape Magic,” resurrected the chorus of that song for me. It’s just how some of us are. We’re afraid to let our guard down – afraid to allow ourselves to be happy. We’re afraid if we allow ourselves to be happy, it will be taken away from us. But, really, what kind of control do we have? And, putting up walls doesn’t protect us. This personality type applies to the main character Jack Griffin, labeled as “congenitally unhappy” by Joy, his wife of 30 years. He’s been a successful screenwriter in LA and now has a job as an English professor at a liberal arts school in New England. The main part of the story is occurs between two weddings: the first that of his daughter’s best friend Kelsey on Cape Cod and the second his daughter Laura’s on the coast of Maine. Everything should be wonderful, but it’s not because Griffin is haunted by his childhood and the unhappy relationship he’s had with his parents – one of whom is dead before the story starts and the other who dies during the course of the story. Their urns ride around in the trunk of Griffin’s car until he finally disperses the ashes of each on opposite sides of the Cape, finally banishing their ghosts from his life. It is interesting to see how differently Jack and his mother remember one summer vacation when Jack was befriended by Peter Browning, a family vacationing in a cottage nearby at the same time. It highlights the fact that one’s memory is imperfect and subject to revision for self-protection – a theme similar to what Ishiguro’s explores in “Remains of the Day.” The dissimilarities in Jack’s and Joy’s personalities put their marriage on the ropes, and you’ll have to read to the last pages to see what happens. Perhaps not as good as “Empire Falls” or “Bridge of Sighs,” but still a very good book. Russo renders the male mid-life crisis better than anyone. Highly recommended.
“When something goes wrong
I’m the first to admit it
I’m the first to admit it
But the last one to know
When something goes right
Well, it’s likely to lose me
It’s apt to confuse me
It’s such an unusual sight
I can’t get used to something so right
Something so right”
Reading Richard Russo’s new book, “That Old Cape Magic,” resurrected the chorus of that song for me. It’s just how some of us are. We’re afraid to let our guard down – afraid to allow ourselves to be happy. We’re afraid if we allow ourselves to be happy, it will be taken away from us. But, really, what kind of control do we have? And, putting up walls doesn’t protect us. This personality type applies to the main character Jack Griffin, labeled as “congenitally unhappy” by Joy, his wife of 30 years. He’s been a successful screenwriter in LA and now has a job as an English professor at a liberal arts school in New England. The main part of the story is occurs between two weddings: the first that of his daughter’s best friend Kelsey on Cape Cod and the second his daughter Laura’s on the coast of Maine. Everything should be wonderful, but it’s not because Griffin is haunted by his childhood and the unhappy relationship he’s had with his parents – one of whom is dead before the story starts and the other who dies during the course of the story. Their urns ride around in the trunk of Griffin’s car until he finally disperses the ashes of each on opposite sides of the Cape, finally banishing their ghosts from his life. It is interesting to see how differently Jack and his mother remember one summer vacation when Jack was befriended by Peter Browning, a family vacationing in a cottage nearby at the same time. It highlights the fact that one’s memory is imperfect and subject to revision for self-protection – a theme similar to what Ishiguro’s explores in “Remains of the Day.” The dissimilarities in Jack’s and Joy’s personalities put their marriage on the ropes, and you’ll have to read to the last pages to see what happens. Perhaps not as good as “Empire Falls” or “Bridge of Sighs,” but still a very good book. Russo renders the male mid-life crisis better than anyone. Highly recommended.
radioisasoundsalvation's review against another edition
2.0
I think the fall is jinxed for books, because this was disappointing, too. Russo's newest did not grab me at all; actually, I only really read it because I'm on a "keep up with new releases" kick. The jacket description didn't grab me either. I may have enjoyed it more, had I approached it as what I'm going to refer to it, from now on, ie, Russo's attempt at a beach read. Now don't go off discounting me because I called a book set mostly on the coast a beach read... that's purely coincidence. It just didn't have much drama to it; sensibility, yes, but not half as gut-wrenching and heartfelt as Empire Falls. Sorry, again, guys.
kerrym33's review against another edition
3.0
A short, good but not great read with both humorous and poignant moments. I enjoyed Russo's style; this was my first book by him.