A review by ecari
The Risk Pool by Richard Russo

4.0

Richard Russo is great. I've now read three of his novels and really enjoyed all of them. The characters stand out from the page, and I get lost so easily in the narrative. This book is a coming-of-age and beyond story about a boy/young man in an upstate New York town with two separated parents who are neglectful yet still loving in their own ways. Most interesting is watching how their relationships with their son shapes who he becomes. The focus is clearly on the father-son relationship, and the father in this story defines the word "character" as a descriptor for an individual. Relating the plot is not the point here, although it certainly pulled me along. More so, is the pleasure of spending time with these people, learning to know and to love them, despite some of their despicable, but oh so human, characteristics.