I'll read books of certain authors just because I know how well they write. (I'm rarely disappointed, but "Saving Fish from Drowning" by Amy Tan comes to mind.)
One of these authors is Richard Russo, award-winning writer of "Empire Falls". I read this book in May because it won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize, and I'm always interested in what other good readers think are the best books. See my review here, "Empire Falls: Characters You Love to Hate".
It was interesting book full of challenging characters and situations, so I encouraged my book group to read "That Old Cape Magic," one of Russo's most recent books, first published in 2009.
The characters are very similar to the ones in "Empire Falls," especially the narrators. Miles Roby from EF is a middle-aged man in a crisis similar to Jack Griffin in TOCM. I wanted to shake Jack a little bit, as I wanted to disrupt Miles: "At least four or five times during the book, I wanted to shake Miles hard and yell: 'Get control of your life!'"
Griffin's main problem seems to be his parents and, and I can certainly see why. They seem sociopathic (especially the mother), meaning they have no feelings for others and care only about themselves. Neither parent considered Griffin to be anything but a nuisance his entire life and never seemed to show him any love or affection! No wonder Griffin is so screwed up he's running around with his parents' cremated ashes in the trunk!
TOCM talks about a depressed and angry character, but I still read the whole thing. I'll give any book a chance if I think there is some slight chance the main character can redeem him or herself, grow b--lls and grow up!
That basically happens in both of Russo's books, so I'm satisfied.
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