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Nobody's Fool
First published 1995 · 780 pages
A warm, snow-dusted portrait of a down-on-its-luck town and the stubborn, deeply flawed people who refuse to leave it.
What it feels like
Reading this novel feels like pulling up a stool at a worn-in local diner on a freezing winter morning. It is a deeply lived-in, leisurely exploration of a declining Rust Belt town, driven entirely by the tragicomic rhythms of its residents. The narrative unfolds with a wry, affectionate humor that softens the underlying melancholy of broken dreams, bad knees, and empty wallets. You don't read this for a propulsive plot; you read it to spend time with stubborn, fiercely flawed people who are doing their best to survive their own mistakes. With its expansive, dialogue-rich prose and profound empathy, it delights anyone who loves big-hearted, slow-burn stories about the quiet dignities and absurdities of everyday American life.
- Mood
- lived-in
- snow-dusted
- bittersweet
- melancholic
- cozy
- Tone
- wry
- affectionate
- tragicomic
- observant
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- blue-collar struggles · father-son estrangement · small-town stagnation · found family · aging and regret
- The writing
- Expansive and dialogue-driven, laced with sharp, working-class humor and deep empathy for human flaws.
- The arc
- Moves from stubborn, cynical isolation to a quiet, grudging acceptance of love and responsibility.
- Who it's for
- Readers who savor character-rich, slow-burn fiction about grumpy but lovable underdogs in forgotten American towns.
Content notes
- alcoholism
- past child abuse
- domestic violence
- period-typical slurs
About the book
In 1750, without warning or apparent reason, the mineral springs of the colonial resort town of Bath, New York, ran dry. A little more than two hundred years later, after numerous warnings and for too many reasons, Sully, the unluckiest man in this unlucky town, isn't doing too hot either. He's broke, out of a job, and the owner of a dead pickup truck. The good news? Sully has the dumbest man in North Bath as his devoted friend, a long-suffering, long-married woman who loves him, a forgiving eighty-year-old landlady who converses with her late husband, a spastic doberman as a watchdog, and the finest one-legged drunken Jewish lawyer this side of Albany. Now, if Sully could only banish his father's slyly grinning ghost and earn his own son's respect, he might just turn the whole damn thing around. Nobody's Fool is a funny, roguish novel that captures the imagination and provides a rich journey into a special world peopled by characters so real, so vital, we feel we've known them all our lives. As he did with his critically acclaimed Mohawk and The Risk Pool, Richard Russo brilliantly invents an unforgettable and luminously magical time and place. And, in doing so, Russo secures his place among America's great writers and most captivating storytellers.
Description from Open Library.
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