Nobody's Fool

Literary fiction · Comedy · Tragicomedy

First published: 1993
Print length: 549 pagesVintage Books, 1994

Description

Donald “Sully” Sullivan survives in economically diminished North Bath, New York, by taking construction work and other odd jobs with his loyal friend Rub. Broke, unemployed, burdened by an arthritic knee and a dead truck, Sully treats responsibility as something best postponed or mocked. That defense becomes harder to maintain when his estranged son Peter returns after losing his academic career. Peter’s presence forces Sully to confront the father he failed to be, unsettles his friendship with Rub, and gives his hostile former wife fresh cause for conflict. Meanwhile, local police officer Doug Raymer seems always ready for another clash. Through Sully’s stubborn routines and reluctant attachments, this comic small-town novel examines whether forgiveness can coexist with a lifetime of evasion.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Descriptive · Dialogue-driven · Witty

Pace

Measured

Tone

Humorous · Melancholic · Reflective · Warm

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Relationships

Emotional intensity

3 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 3 / 5
Ideas: 3 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

AgingCommunityFamilyFriendshipRedemptionWork

About Richard Russo

Richard Russo is an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter whose fiction is rooted in the small towns of the Northeast, especially Maine, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. He writes about communities narrowed by economic decline, precarious work, and inherited obligations, tracing how local institutions and family histories keep people bound to one another. His prose is conversational and sharply comic, with character revealed through dialogue, stubborn routines, and conflicts that steadily accumulate. In Empire Falls, a diner manager’s dependence on the family that controls his declining Maine town opens onto questions of economic power, memory, and loyalty. Nobody’s Fool works through similar pressures in a comic chain of odd jobs, damaged friendships, and encounters between an evasive father and his estranged son. Russo can also turn his attention to institutional comedy. Straight Man compresses a university department’s rivalries and budget panic into one chaotic week, using escalating farce while attending to marriage, aging, and professional disappointment.

Book details

For the print edition listed above.

Publisher: Vintage Books
Language: English
ISBN: 9780679753339

Keep your books and notes in Collected for iPhone.

Apple Books is a service mark of Apple Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.