A review by michael5000
Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo

4.0

I read a lot of Richard Russo back in the 'aughts, but this was my first trip back in ten years. I remembered this one as my favorite. Mrs. and I quickly remembered something about Russo: when I read him, I bark with laughter every six or seven pages. She will read the same book, and the passages that I found darkly funny will strike her as wryly elegiac. The difference in reactions makes her feel humorless, and makes me feel crass. But we both value Russo's ability to zero in on aspects of the human tragicomedy, and -- more to the point -- to tell good stories about the oddness of everyday life.

n.b. While I was reading Nobody's Fool on the page, I was listening to Rabbit, Run on audio. There are interesting parallels between the books, and I can't help but wonder if Clive's flight is an homage to Rabbit's great overnight road trip. The two men would be contemporaries, but Clive would certainly have taken longer to start shaking his fist at fate.