Customer Reviews

Straight Man

5 star:		(193)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

..then, "Jack..You Dead!

I had thought until reading STRAIGHT MAN that the standard for humorous novels with academic settings had been set by James Hynes. Russo is even funnier. His comic timing is akin to the great comedians of stage and sceen, like the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Moore & Cooke, etc. Yet not only is the man funny, he can flat out write, as well.

In STRAIGHT MAN, Russo performs a balancing act of surface playfulness combined with searing truths about life's missed opportunities and moments of quiet despair. Behind the one-liners and the buffoonery of Henry Devereux Jr.'s comic mask, exists an enigmatic, compassionate, troubled soul, whose personality disorder has been triggered by a single incident he shares with his mother when he is a young teen. His humorous guise is something he has created so as to safely retreat from the seperation anxiety that is his constant companion. To his friends and colleagues he is "Hank," easy to dismiss or to to ridicule, or in two instances, to physically attack (OK, three, if you count the goose!). Russo does a very subtle and masterful job of slowly developing the interior Henry Devereux Jr., however, and by the novel's end, the reader has been granted the full revelation of character and the whole man stands naked (figuritavely speaking) before us.

STRAIGHT MAN is definitely my recommendation of 2003, thus far. The funny bits are truly hysterical. The dramatic bits ring true to life. This certainly not just another humorous novel about Academia. It's as well written and well rounded as any novel I've read in recent years. I look forward with great anticipation to reading EMPIRE FALLS.

Ah, middle age. Some gray around the temples. Occasional regrets about missed opportunities. Finding one's self, to his or her embarrassment, thinking out loud. Plumbing that either stops up, or slows to a frustrating dribble.

Thus we enter the world of William Henry Devereaux, Jr., through the pages of Richard Russo's wonderful novel, STRAIGHT MAN. Henry, or "Hank," is the interim chair of a delightfully dysfunctional English department at a small Pennsylvania college. Because he doesn't want to turn out like the moody and disgruntled professors he works with, Hank refuses to take life seriously; whenever an earnest statement is uttered, Hank counters with an off-the-cuff witticism--in essence, every person who comes in contact with him becomes a "straight man." His demeanor has worn thin with his colleagues, even with his family, and over the course of a very eventful early spring week the midlife trials and tribulations of Hank Devereaux will come to a hilarious, yet endearing, fruition.

Russo writes a relaxed, comfortable prose; his humorous timing--while simultaneously keeping the main character's first-person point of view on target--is marvelous. Yes, Hank is a smart aleck, but he's a lovable smart aleck, thanks to Russo's powerful storytelling ability. Yet despite all the humour and wit, there is also a deep underlying theme of melancholy and angst, all of which makes STRAIGHT MAN a compelling and highly recommended read.
--D. Mikels

Like one of the other reviewers here on Amazon, I stumbled across this book on a bargain rack and picked it up on a whim. I am an english major and thought the premise for the book looked promising, although having read it I think the duck cover does the book an injustice because this is not a slapstick, absurdist novel like the cover might suggest. Russo has written a contemporary masterpiece, a brilliant, serious novel that includes occasional scenes so funny you will laugh out loud. He pokes fun at today's climate of political correctness (one the of the assistant professors has been nicknamed "Orshee" because he is always correcting the automatic use of the male pronoun) and similarly lampoons academia with terrific results. You need not be a professor to enjoy his writing, and Russo's dialogue is maybe the best being written today. I have recommended this book to many people since I discovered it, and also enjoyed The Risk Pool and Nobody's Fool by the author. I can't wait for his next book. Read Straight Man you won't be disappointed.

"Straight Man" is a novel about Hank, a middle-aged college professor who is the temporary chair of the English department at a `second-rate' university in Pennsylvania. The novel is told in first person so we get to see things from Hank's point of view and get his take on everything going on around him. He wonders how he got stuck at West Central Pennsylvania University and why he never moved on to something/someplace greater and more esteemed. Hank treats everything in his life as a joke: from the academic politics at his university, to his relationships with family and friends; from his painful, inability to urinate, to his lackluster students. As the novel proceeds, Hank quickly becomes buried under a pile of bizarre & amusing (for the reader at least!) problems.

The story was entertaining and funny. "Straight Man" is the first Richard Russo novel that I have read and I was very impressed. The writing in this book was excellent and I look forward to reading Russo's "Empire Falls" soon.

"Straight Man" reminded me of Chabon's "Wonder Boys", since they are both humorous books about English professors having a midlife crisis. If you enjoy "Straight Man", I would also recommend that you read "Wonder Boys".

There have been many reviews so I won't bore you with the details of this book. It should be read (and it's an easy read) because it is a delight to read Russo's words. He has an apparent ease, and therefore skill, with the English language that is as refreshing as a cold beer at a hot baseball game. He weaves and parries, his sentences like glissandoes over the keyboard. When you add the wonderful humor, laugh-out-loud humor, this is a book to carry in your car to read in traffic jams. The drivers around you will be astounded at your happiness and want the book referral. Have fun!

Richard Russo's "Straight Man" is one of the most amusing novels I have read. "Straight Man" tells the story of English Professor (and Department Chair) William Henry "Hank" Devereaux, Jr. and his foray into a midlife crisis. His surrounding cast (to include his wife, fellow professors, university officials, television reporters, grown daughter, son-in-law, and various women he's half-in-love with) provides more than enough fodder for thought and laughter.

The book is told in first person narrative by Hank and the reader is offered quite a glimpse into his mental state as well his thoughts on life in general. Often comical and plainly human, Hank's experiences over one school year at a Pennsylvania college poignantly deal with issues of marriage, health, employment stress, family problems, relationships (both good and bad), and life in an English department. By the end of the novel you will know Hank well and very likely have laughed out loud on more than a few occasions. This is a terrific novel.
Very Highly Recommended.

Through the glasses of Groucho Marx, Richard Russo's Straight Man gazes directly at the human condition in the context of the academic ecosystem.

Hank Devereaux is the temporary chair of the English Department at a mediocre state university. In this role, he sails the rough waters of the fragile egos of his contemporaries during April, not only the cruellest month but also a time of paranoia for faculty who are afraid they won't be hired back. (As an ex-secretary in higher academia, I can attest to the accuracy with which Russo nails down department politics.) In the week that his wife Lily is gone, Devereaux manages to get mangled, drunk, televised and jailed. But these are the smallest of his problems as he battles with his own mortality and tries to ignore the return of his father, whom he has tried to avoid turning into all of his life.

Unlike other writers of the absurdist academe subgenre, Russo creates characters that live beyond the pages of the book. Hank Devereaux has a sense of humor, but what makes him unforgettable is the secret sympathy with which he views the people he knows and the merciless philosophy he applies to his own and others' conditions.

It is w/o question the funniest tale of teaching I've ever read. The funds-challenged liberal arts department with its washed-up, burnt-out profs running only on ego and envy is perfectly drawn. It is a tale told by a wag of a wit acting as the interim head. While it does feel more like a man's than a woman's narrative (the way Kingsolver does w/ women), it is such a hoot that all can enjoy it. The goose on the cover cryptically says it all! Otherwise, the book probes many interpersonal snafus, puzzles, and conflicts within a family of intellectuals.

I've already sent it off to friends embarking on their myriad campus careers. Two have already informed me that they're busily taking notes....

I listened to this book read by Sam Freed and became a stereotype. For three days I did everything with headphones firmly placed on my head. The story of William Henry Devereaux Jr will have you both laughing and crying, which speaks highly of Richard Russo's talent that he can so ably weave both emotions in his novel.

Russo begins the novel with a story of how young Hank Devereaux wanted a dog. He frames the later story with the dog that Hank Devereaux, the adult, actually acquires.

Hank Devereaux, the chairman of the English Department, is not only facing a funding crisis but other crises as well. Is his wife having an affair? Why has his daughter decided to build a house that is an exact replica of his own? And, is he in love with his secretary or the daughter of a colleague or simply his wife? And, what about this threat to kill all of the ducks or maybe they're geese on campus?

This isn't simply a laugh-out-loud novel. There are sentimental bits, sad bits, and philosophical bits that will have you considering the general state of things.

Russo doesn't paint his characters in stereotypes. There are no TYPES here. There are people that you could imagine interacting with in your own life. I believe that is why Richard Russo's novels are so successful. He writes of truth and real people.

You know, I have to tell you I was nervous about reading Straight Man. I bought Richard Russo's book Nobody's Fool at a second-hand bookshop in Taiwan, and since then I carried that darn heavy book in my backpack while being on the road travelling for 2 years, because it was a book I read over and over, and laughed each time at his descriptions of Rub with the doughnut, Sully's truck, and I just loved Beryl. Oh, that book is bittersweet. Alas, I finally gave it away somewhere in China to someone I thought was worthy of it, and decided (deep breath) I should try another Russo book. Straight Man.

So now, I have another travelling companion. In the first chapter or 2, I didn't really warm to the character of Hank, but as with Nobody's Fool, as the book continues, you can't help but wish you knew these characters to joke with and have as your lopsided friends. I don't want to write too much regarding plot, etc, as there are plenty of other reviews doing that, but if you want to read a book to warm your heart, enjoy humanity with all its quirks and quips and lurks, then read Richard Russo. Read Straight Man. It's one to savour.