Richard Russo

Miles Roby watches from the Empire Grill as his hometown, Empire Falls, Maine, slowly crumbles around him.

Empire Falls

Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self- respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving high school. Or maybe it's Janine, Miles' soon-to-be ex-wife, who's taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it's the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town-and seems to believe that 'everything' includes Miles himself. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.

Miles Silverstein

This explanation made Miles feel like a boy again, and when he spoke it was with a ten-year-old’s whine. "But you got steamer clams in a restaurant that didn't even have them on the menu."

It pulls you in. It builds a world (more accurately, a small town). You live in that small town for these 483 pages. You become so invested in every moment of these honest people’s lives. The plot unfolds masterfully, building and keeping and releasing tension perfectly. Nothing feels out of place. No narrative step, no strange character, no line of dialogue. World-building has never been done better. 

This was beautiful. This was heartbreaking. Empire Falls is everything you could want from a book.

It pulls you in. It builds a world (more accurately, a small town). You live in that small town for these 483 pages. You become so invested in every moment of these honest people’s lives. The plot unfolds masterfully, building and keeping and releasing tension perfectly. Nothing feels out of place. No narrative step, no strange character, no line of dialogue. World-building has never been done better. 

This was beautiful. This was heartbreaking. Empire Falls is everything you could want from a book.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize “Russo writes with a warm, vibrant humanity.... A stirring mix of poignancy, drama and comedy.” —The Washington Post Welcome to Empire Falls, a blue-collar town full of abandoned mills whose citizens surround themselves with the comforts and feuds provided by lifelong friends and neighbors and who find humor and hope in the most unlikely places, in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Richard Russo. Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it’s Janine, Miles’ soon-to-be ex-wife, who’s taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it’s the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town–and seems to believe that “everything” includes Miles himself. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.

Gillian Rose

A small town tale with very few likeable characters that I was pretty meh on until about the 90% mark when it became very violent for almost no reason and there was a school shooting which is one of my triggers and I would have preferred to know this ahead of time!!!

Miles Roby tries to hold his family together while working at the Empire Grill in the once-successful logging town of Empire Falls while dealing with the imperious Mrs. Whiting, the heir to a faded logging and textile legacy, in this evocative novel by the author of Nobody's Fool. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.

Jade Flynn

Read for the Olympic Games Readathon. Team Hades: Prompt - Hades is also the god of riches. Read a book featuring a wealthy character.

Janet Doré

I just didn't connect with this one. Purely psychological, lacking in action. That kind of book only works if you really bond with the characters and I didn't.

Francine Corry

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION Miles Roby has been slinging burgers at the Empire Grill for 20 years, a job that cost him his college education and much of his self-respect. What keeps him there? It could be his bright, sensitive daughter Tick, who needs all his help surviving the local high school. Or maybe it's Janine, Miles' soon-to-be ex-wife, who's taken up with a noxiously vain health-club proprietor. Or perhaps it's the imperious Francine Whiting, who owns everything in town - and seems to believe that 'everything' includes Miles himself. In Empire Falls Richard Russo delves deep into the blue-collar heart of America in a work that overflows with hilarity, heartache, and grace.

Empire Falls

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