Empire Falls (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Richard Russo
- First Published: 2001
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1950’s to 2000
- Setting: A small town in Dexter County, Maine
- Principal Characters: Miles Roby, Janine Roby, Christina “Tick” Roby, Max Roby, Francine Robideaux Whiting, Charles Beaumont (C. B.) Whiting, Cindy Whiting
- Genres: Long fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Power, personal or social, Twentieth century, Restaurants, bars, taverns, or pubs, 1980’s, New England, Adultery, Rivers or waterways, Small-town life, 1990’s, Wealth, 2000’s, Maine
- Locales: Maine
Richard Russo has made an impressive reputation in the literary world as an astute observer of small town life, most notably in the fictional upstate town of North Bath, New York, in Nobody’s Fool (1993). In Empire Falls, his fifth published novel, Russo adds yet another volume on small town life to what might be called his “rust belt” saga—a careful examination of the colorful people who manage to survive in the old industrial states. Though it does provide the reader with Russo’s trademark small-town eccentrics, Empire Falls also deals with much larger...
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