Straight Man

by Richard Russo · read October 6, 2019

Review

This was an unusual and entertaining book, with some absurd and hilarious moments. The premise is that of a divided English department in Pennsylvania, but it seemed to me more of an exploration through the 50 year old main character Hank about how to exist in relation to others. I think the well-developed cast of characters really makes reading this book worthwhile.

As I drift back into sleep, I can't help thinking that it's a wonderful thing to be right about the world. To weigh the evidence, always incomplete, and correctly intuit the whole, to see the world in a grain of sand, to recognize its beauty, its simplicity, its truth.

Julia Cooke © 2023