Empire Falls follows Miles Roby, his family, his friends, and his enemies through a delicate web of small town drama, larger than life characters, and big town dreams. The story truly begins before Miles is even alive, but he finds himself square in the middle of problems years in the making as well as quite a few he's hand a hand in. I'm not going to get very detailed because I would rather people go out and read it rather than get a synopsis and call it good. That's how most of my reviews will be on this blog--I figure there's plenty of explanations out there already, but if you're reading my review, you probably want my opinion, not my explanation of what happened.
Even though I'm in no means a Russo expert, I can tell from just this read that he's a master at character development and complexity. Even the less significant characters, say, Father Tom, are well known to the reader. This wealth of personality makes the plot less important. Not that it isn't important, but strong characters can carry a weak plot. Luckily enough, Empire Falls doesn't have a weak plot at all. As I mentioned, the story arc begins well before Miles Roby is even alive.
Something I was really impressed with was Russo's ability to create humor in what seems to be an almost lifeless situation. Besides from Timmy the cat, a ravenous feline that always has it out for Miles, Max Roby is often the comic relief. Even with the old man's great comebacks and careless personality, the humor behind his character also pushes conflicts forward. The best example of this is when Miles is speaking to Jimmy Minty, a police officer determined to be Miles' friend despite Miles' best efforts. Max throws the insults out as if he had planned them years in advance, making any sensible reader laugh while also showcasing the growing conflict between Jimmy and Miles. Here's the scene from the HBO movie version, although I can't speak for the film, since I haven't seen it yet.
There's also quite a bit of human nature philosophy under the outer layers of the novel. A couple common themes I noticed were: the tendency for characters to return to what they despise; stay depressed because it's easier; poor parental guidance and its shockwave effect; and how many people have pre-determined destinies based off from their family history and financial situation. Almost all the characters exhibited at least one of these traits or at least had it change them in some way or another.
Being from Maine, I have the special connection to the novel, as it is based in a fictional town in central Maine. I don't live in a mill dependent town, as Empire Falls is, but I can say one thing; Russo had the overall vibe completely correct. Most Mainers aren't well off, and when their main source of employment calls it quits, so does most of the townsfolk. That's the case just about anywhere. The difference with Maine is that, given that you're born in the easternmost state in the country, you're raised with an incredible amount of resilience to all things tough. The weather is perhaps the most obvious challenge that Maine people have to face, but there's a plethora of other things that don't make it an easy life, especially the farther north you go. This resilience equates to stubbornness, and even a willingness to struggle, which I think characters like Miles Roby possess, as well as the people who hung on to hope that the Whiting family would make a sale on the closed mill. Unfortunately, this frustrating stubbornness becomes alcoholism, domestic violence, and an increasingly small amount of youth (who get out before they are old enough to be stubborn). In fact, Maine is the oldest state in the country, and has been for awhile--and it's only getting worse.
One small complaint I have is that the first chunk of the novel moves a little slow. In a way, this slowness made the characters and the ending even more worthwhile, but I think some moments could have been moved along a little quicker. Then again, if you asked me what moments, or how to go about speeding it up, I'm not sure I'd be able to answer.
I think I'll write more about Empire Falls as time goes on, especially certain characters, like Jimmy Minty and John Voss. At any rate, I definitely recommend the novel.
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