When I started this blog almost ten years ago, I had an idea for a meme (it’s still sitting in draft posts). The idea was to read the books that my friends considered their ‘favourite’. I never progressed the meme, but I did get a nomination from Rory – Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Yes, shameful that it has taken me so, so long to read this book. And Rory commented on Goodreads that she was nervous that I wouldn’t love it as much as she did. Well…

I did love it.

It’s one of those absorbing, intimate books where you feel that the characters are old friends by the end. It’s the reading equivalent of comfort food.

As is my custom, I don’t ‘review’ books that have thousands of reviews (and let’s not overlook the fact that it won the Pulitzer). I have nothing of significance to add, but I can say what I enjoyed about this story of a small town in Maine, America.

Firstly, it’s gentleness. There are no crazy plot twists – instead, things unfold in the way that they do in real life – a slow dawning, something said here or there that allows you to put the pieces together. The subtlety is the strength, and I reckon that this style of writing takes incredible restraint and skill.

After all, what was the whole wide world but a place for people to yearn for their hearts’ impossible desires, for those desires to become entrenched in defiance of logic, plausibility, and even the passage of time, as eternal as polished marble?

Secondly, because of its realness, you feel more-or-less okay with the less desirable characters – that doesn’t stretch to Timmy the cat (a demonic fur-ball), but it does apply to to the likes of painful, thinks-he’s-charismatic Walt, and full-of-his-own-authority police officer, Jimmy Minty. Russo gives context to these characters and, like anyone, they’re a complex result of their childhood, history and experiences.

To his surprise, she leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, a kiss so full of affection that it dispelled the awkwardness, even as it caused Miles’s heart to plummet, because all kisses are calibrated and this one revealed the great chasm between affection and love.

Thirdly, as I was reading I could see the town of Empire Falls – Russo’s descriptions create strong visuals, but are never overdone. I resisted the temptation to see if the book had been turned into a movie or TV series until I’d finished reading, for fear of altering the images I had in my mind. There is a two-part series, and the casting is not what I imagined, so glad I didn’t look while reading.

Lastly, I loved the motif of the river. The town’s fortunes – driven by a mill and a shirt factory – once rested on the Knox River. Additionally, the wealthy family that owned most of the property in the town, also did their best to alter the course of the river to provide them with more attractive frontage – this did not end well, creating a current and pool that dumped garbage in front of their house.

Lives are rivers. We imagine we can direct their paths, though in the end there’s but one destination, and we end up being true to ourselves only because we have no choice. People speak of selfishness, but that’s another folly, because of course there’s no such thing.

And a line in the prologue says everything about the characters in Empire Falls – stuck in a small town, some dreaming of a bigger life, others perfectly content to stay the course –

What water wanted to do, the engineers explained, was flow downhill by the straightest possible route. Meandering was what happened when a river’s best intentions were somehow thwarted.

4/5 Lovely.

When the white-haired man heard Miles remark on the absence of steamer clams, he lowered his menu and leaned toward them. “I hope you’ll forgive the intrusion,” he said. “but I suspect your charming companion might like the Clams Casino. They’re excellent here.”