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Nobody's Fool (Paperback)

by Richard Russo (Author) "Upper Main Street in the village of North Bath, just above the town's two-block-long business district, was quietly rural along old Route 27A, a serpentine..." (more)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
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Nobody's Fool + Straight Man: A Novel + The Risk Pool
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Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Set in the economically desperate ex-resort town of North Bath, N.Y., Russo's novel displays his characteristic verbal panache and biting wit.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal

Sixty-year-old Sully is "nobody's fool," except maybe his own. Out of work (undeclared-income work is what he does, when he can), down to his last few bucks, hampered by an arthritic broken knee, Sully is worried that he's started on a run of bad luck. And he has. The banker son of his octogenarian landlady wants him evicted; Sully's estranged son comes home for Thanksgiving only to have his wife split; Sully's own high-strung ex-wife seems headed for a nervous breakdown; and his longtime lover is blaming him for her daughter's winding up in the hospital with a busted jaw. But Sully's biggest problem is the memory of his own abusive father, a ghost who haunts his every day. As he demonstrated in Mohawk (Random, 1986) and The Risk Pool (Random, 1989), Russo knows the small towns of upstate New York and the people who inhabit them; he writes with humor and compassion. A delight. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/93.
- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
Upper Main Street in the village of North Bath, just above the town's two-block-long business district, was quietly rural along old Route 27A, a serpentine two-lane blacktop that snaked its way through the Adirondacks of northern New York, with their tiny, down-at-the-heels resort town, all the way to Montreal and prosperity. Read the first page
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Nobody's Fool
57% buy the item featured on this page:
Nobody's Fool 4.8 out of 5 stars (58)
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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good start to my Russo reading, Aug 6 2002
By R.J. (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
Nobody's Fool was the first Richard Russo book I ever read, and it made me want to read more. It's about a 50-something laborer named Sully, who seems to court disaster at every turn but somehow perserveres. Like other Russo novels, not a heck of a lot seems to happen, yet the enjoyment is in the character development, and the unfashionable setting, usually a blue collar small town in upstate New York. From his somewhat shady employer, to his elderly landlady, his unkempt and dizzy sidekick, and the old flame who is still in the picture, the characters make the book. Nobody's Fool is a relaxing and amusing page turner that draws the reader in. Maybe one day I'll watch the movie, as I wasn't even aware there was one when I read this.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written book, April 13 2004
By Debra Hamel (TwitterLit.com) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Donald Sullivan--"Sully"--has rarely met a promising opportunity he didn't walk away from. Arguably the most stubbornly wrongheaded man in the economically depressed village of North Bath, New York, Sully scrapes a living as a jack of all trades, often fed construction work by the town's most fortunate scion, Carl Roebuck. Roebuck, a man with the sexual appetite of a satyr, enjoys an amusing love-hate relationship with Sully, the product of a lifetime of acquaintance in a small town. Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool abounds in these rich relationships, fully-formed characters sharing complex, realistic histories with one another. Chief among those characters is Sully's landlady and one-time 8th-grade teacher, 80-year-old Beryl Peoples, who has been Sully's staunch ally for more than forty years.

Nobody's Fool is a chronicle of one particularly trying period in Sully's life, during which he is plagued by a grotesquely swollen knee and by unusually vivid reminiscences of his abusive father, now dead. ("Sully hated to think of his father at rest, and had there been a way, and if Sully'd had the money, he'd have left instructions to have Big Jim dug up every decade or so, just to make sure he didn't get comfortable.") The book is beautifully written, and Russo's evocation of North Bath is so successful that the town and its strange-looking denizens will come to reside in your imagination. A good, long, slow read you'll be sorry to part with.

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5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest American novels, Mar 27 2004
There's something about this book... It grows on you. I've read it once and listened to the unabridged audiobook version, and it has a strange power.

Nothing much happens in this novel, other than a few days in the life of Donald Sullivan, Sully, and the people who rotate around him in the small town of Bath, NY. But there is an Everyman quality in Sully's lackadaisical attitude toward life, his easy-going nature, his friendliness and grumpiness. He's the kind of person you'd never notice in a diner, but he's deeply ingrained in the life of this small community.

Richard Russo has a talent for developing characters, through their actions and the subtle flashbacks that talk about their pasts. Sully is the quintessential Russo character, and is charming and amiable, even if he can be a pain in the ass. But like all humans, he has good and bad qualities, and this book, more than anything, shows us how human being act in good and not so good ways.

This is such a good book it would go on my desert island list.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to Russo's world
Russo's world is small-town America, a place that's hopeful, sad and oddly inviting. It's a place that will likely strike a chord with most every reader, regardless of where they... Read more
Published on Feb 16 2004 by Craig Wood

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding work
One of the best books I've ever read. The writing is great, and Russo sets the pace beautifully (not once did I think, OK, let's get on with it). Read more
Published on Jan 5 2004 by Louis R. Primus

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, Lovable Novel!
I first read Russo when I discovered his Pulitzer Prize winning 'Empire Falls,' then went on to read 'The Risk Pool,' which I liked very much, and now 'Nobody's Fool,' which yes,... Read more
Published on Dec 8 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, Beautiful, True, Unsentimental
This is an amazing and beautiful book. It's not quite as funny as Straight Man (one of the funniest books I've read in some time, on par with Chabon's similarly themed Wonder... Read more
Published on Oct 31 2003 by Brian Sawyer

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read this year
NOBODY'S FOOL by Richard Russo

NOBODY'S FOOL was my introduction to the writing of Richard Russo, who won the Pulitzer prize for his book, EMPIRE FALLS. Read more

Published on Oct 19 2003 by Ratmammy

5.0 out of 5 stars Nobody's Fool is Everybody's Darling
I fell in love with Richard Russo after reading Empire Falls, and I enjoyed Nobody's Fool even more. The main character is ne'er-do-well Donald Sullivan. Read more
Published on Oct 13 2003 by Cynthia K. Robertson

5.0 out of 5 stars Life's tough when your best friend is your 80yo landlady
Sixty-year-old Sully is headed for a stretch of bad luck, and he knows it. Broke, unable to work due to an arthritic broken knee, estranged from his family, a wacko ex-wife, and a... Read more
Published on Aug 17 2003 by Peggy Vincent

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my Top 10 Favorite Books of All Time
My first exposure to Richard Russo came via the movies. Specifically, the film rendition of 'Nobody's Fool' (I cannot resist anything featuring Paul Newman). Read more
Published on Aug 15 2003 by skeeterpoke

4.0 out of 5 stars Coming Away Empty
This novel follows largely the same pattern as Russo's other books, "The Risk Pool", "Empire Falls", and probably "Mohawk" (which I haven't read... Read more
Published on Aug 8 2003 by BJ Fraser

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Love Him
My introduction to Richard Russo came through the film version of Nobody's Fool. Enchanted as I was with the film, the book absolutely enveloped me. Read more
Published on Aug 5 2003 by Dogberry

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