Describe Out Of Books Straight Man
| Title | : | Straight Man |
| Author | : | Richard Russo |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 391 pages |
| Published | : | June 9th 1998 by Vintage (first published January 1st 1997) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Humor. Contemporary. Novels. Academic. Academia. Literature. Literary Fiction |
Richard Russo
Paperback | Pages: 391 pages Rating: 4.02 | 23574 Users | 2411 Reviews
Narrative Toward Books Straight Man
In this uproarious new novel, Richard Russo performs his characteristic high-wire walk between hilarity and heartbreak. Russo's protagonist is William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character--he is a born anarchist-- and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans.In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions. In short, Straight Man is classic Russo--side-splitting and true-to-life, witty, compassionate, and impossible to put down.
List Books In Favor Of Straight Man
| Original Title: | Straight Man |
| ISBN: | 0375701907 (ISBN13: 9780375701900) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | William Henry Devereaux, Jr |
| Setting: | Pennsylvania(United States) |
Rating Out Of Books Straight Man
Ratings: 4.02 From 23574 Users | 2411 ReviewsAppraise Out Of Books Straight Man
I have long avoided academic satires for two main reasons. The first is that I myself am an academic of sorts and I already know how ridiculous I am. Second: the genre has always seemed to me like shooting fish (with PhDs) in a barrel.But now, I'm going on the academic job market this year, so I've decided some comic relief about my chosen profession might be a good thing. The main reason being: if I can tell myself on some level that it's all a giant cluster-cuss of ego-surfing solipsisticThe Richard Russo books Ive read have all taken place in decaying New York mill towns. Straight Man varies that by taking place in a decaying Pennsylvania railroad town. Actually, it differs from his other books quite significantly by belonging to another genreits a campus comedy, a genre I associate with writers like David Lodge. Russo does a hell of a good job with it, as would be expected. William Henry Devereaux is the creative writing professor at a small state college, a place where his
Dear Mr Russo,I've just finishedStraight Man; the fourth of your books that I've read including Empire Falls. I thought Empire Falls was pretty brilliant but in my mind, you should have won a Pulitzer for Straight Man. I would have voted for Straight Man but damn, I'm not on the panel, but if I was, I'd vote for Straight Man.You know, I had to wait ages to read it; my library didn't have it. So I ordered it from that place with the same name as where the guy who may or may not have shot Kennedy
Life's a duck! ... or a goose?Whatever!Sometimes you just have to grab it by the throat and give it a good shake if you want to make sense of it. As I tell my students, all good stories begin with character, and Teddy's rendering of the events fails entirely to render what it felt like to be William Henry Devereaux, Jr., as the events were taking place. Richard Russo strikes [gold] again!I definitely managed to get into the mind of Hank, an English teacher at a small university in Railton,
This has got to be one of the quirkiest novels I've ever read.Funniest sentence in the whole book:"It's not an easy thing to be left holding a piece of fruit during introductions."Other great lines:"I'm not a _____________, but I can play that role.""He was a small man. Left-handed. He walked with a limp. He served in India. So much is obvious, but beyond this I can tell you nothing except that he may have recently eaten asparagus."This is the fourth Russo book I've read, and I seem to be in the
After looking over numerous reviews of this book I found the common problem the one and two star reviewers had with Straight Man was either a dislike of the main character or they didn't understand the humor. I'm not sure how much this should worry me? I found that my own sense of humor is eerily similar to the main characters and was laughing consistently throughout the novel.The title refers to a straight man in a comedy. One who sets the scene for a great punchline. I can easily tell you a
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