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List Price: $14.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.17 You Save: $4.78 (32%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780375701900
ISBN: 0375701907
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: June 09, 1998
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: June 09, 1998
Sales Rank: 7140
Studio: Vintage
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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.
Amazon.com Review:
First Jane Smiley came out of the comedy closet with Moo, a campus satire par excellence, and now Richard Russo has gotten in on the groves-of-academe game. Straight Man is hilarious sport, with a serious side. William Henry Devereaux Jr., is almost 50 and stuck forever as chair of English at West Central Pennsylvania University. It is April and fear of layoffs--even among the tenured--has reached mock-epic proportions; Hank has yet to receive his department budget and finds himself increasingly offering comments such as "Always understate necrophilia" to his writing students. Then there are his possible prostate problems and the prospect of his father's arrival. Devereaux Sr., "then and now, an academic opportunist," has always been a high-profile professor and a low-profile parent.
Though Hank tries to apply William of Occam's rational approach (choose simplicity) to each increasingly absurd situation, and even has a dog named after the philosopher, he does seem to cause most of his own enormous difficulties. Not least when he grabs a goose and threatens to off a duck (sic) a day until he gets his budget. The fact that he is also wearing a fake nose and glasses and doing so in front of a TV camera complicates matters even further. Hank tries to explain to one class that comedy and tragedy don't go together, but finds the argument "runs contrary to their experience. Indeed it may run contrary to my own." It runs decidedly against Richard Russo's approach in Straight Man, and the result is a hilarious and touching novel.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Russo may have written 'Straight Man' just to entertain himself; the reader's entertainment is a fortunate by-product.
Rating:  -
I think Richard Russo should leave the humor to Woody Allen or David Sedaris. The characters in this book where stiff like cardboard cut-outs. I never felt a thing for any of them. When humor is attempted with a group of stuff shirts it takes finesse and a certain amount of sophisticated humor. Mr. Russo does not have it with this book. I loved all his novels and I do believe he is one of the greatest writers of our time. I wish he would have left this book on his desk or collecting dust on the shelf.
Rating:  -
Before reading this book I did not know what to expect from a comic novel. Most comedies these days depend on gimmicks and foul language to make people laugh. There was no way 390 pages of that kind of comedy was going to work.
I was pleasantly surprised with Russo's book about a middle age English professor and the motley crew his department was comprised of. Well written and funny, this book shows you a piece of America that is very real and very funny.
Rating: -
This was a book club choice and, after having read it, our group's reactions really ranged across the board. Most either loved or loathed it - no one really fell in the middle. I happened to love it.
The narration is smug and self-absorbed, but once past that it's really a funny story with a lot of literary easter eggs peppered through the dialog. It probably could have been 50 pages shorter and had a minor, rather ridiculous subplot removed, but otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed it. A smart, ... Read More
Rating: -
This book was so great. Highly recommended if you're from PA, or involved in academics...but I think any reader could enjoy this book. I've been reading Paul Auster these days, and the change from Auster to Russo was very welcome. This book was so easy to read -- very funny, as many have commented -- and yet there was plenty to think about while reading. This book reminded me of a time when I was younger and just got to drink one glass of milk each day (after being a milk lover). I remember just sipping the ... Read More
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