Henry Devereaux, Jr. is a wise-cracking interim chair of the English department of an unremarkable Pennsylvania college. While fending off intradepartmental pettiness and politics in the face of looming layoffs, Henry has to sort out the breakup of his daughter and son-in-law, crushes on co-eds, jealous imaginings of his wife with other men, his threatening to kill a duck (while holding a goose) that gets broadcast on the local news, and a pecker that refuses to pee.
Pulitzer prize-winning author Richard Russo’s Straight Man is a situation comedy in the vein of TV’s Fraser; every time Henry tries to extricate himself from one bad situation, he ends up in a worse one. The writing is excellent – witty, well paced, and the main character well-drawn as just an everyday guy just trying to get by and make sense the world.
All that said, it wasn’t until the last 100 pages that I really got into this book. Most of the characters are pretty unflattering, though I imagine sadly, realistic. Seeing the world through Henry’s eyes reminds me that men really do think differently from women. I once did an informal poll of men I knew asking them how often they thought about sex. The result? An average of once every ten minutes. (My God, how do they accomplish anything at all?) Henry is either envisioning other men having their way with his wife or fantasizing about his secretary, a lesbian colleague, or the randy daughter of another colleague. I can identify with his mother and wife who would probably roll their eyes in exasperation if they really knew what Henry was thinking about.
Yet, in spite of the trouble I had connecting with the main character, the story does what good stories should – put lots of little min-plots in place and have them all come together at the end. My main complaint is that as a story it is almost too insubstantial, too light. Henry does appear to grow up a bit toward the end, but for a 50 year old I would expect him to have a bit more depth.
Well written, enjoyable, though a little on the light side. (A big thanks to Mac Irvin for passing it along!)
Empire Falls, for which Russo received the Pulitzer, was a disappointment. I try to read each Pulitzer and am generally satisfied, but this one left me doubting the merits of the award. Predictable plot, lazily written. Can I expect more from this new one?
Hi Talia,
Hmm. I was hoping that Empire Falls would be more substantial than Straight Man. I too have been disappointed with Pulitzer winners in the past. As I mentioned in this review, this was very light reading. Now that more than a month has passed I can say definitively that this book was not particularly memorable.