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Straight Man

A Novel

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Straight Man

Written by: Richard Russo
Narrated by: Sam Freed
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William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at West Central Pennsylvania University. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a duck, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park.

Such is the canvas of Richard Russo's Straight Man, a novel of surpassing wit, poignancy, and insight. As he established in his previous books -- Mohawk, The Risk Pool, and Nobody's Fool -- Russo is unique among contemporary authors for his ability to flawlessly capture the soul of the wise guy and the heart of a difficult parent. In Hank Devereaux, Russo has created a hero whose humor and identification with the absurd are mitigated only by his love for his family, friends, and, ultimately, knowledge itself.

Unforgettable, compassionate, and laugh-out-loud funny, Straight Man cements Richard Russo's reputation as one of the master storytellers of our time.© 1997 Richard Russo; (P) 2003 Random House, Inc. Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Small Town & Rural
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Critic Reviews

"The funniest serious novel I have read since—well, maybe since Portnoy's Complaint." —The New York Times Book Review

"There is a big, wry heart beating at the center of Russo's fiction." —The New Yorker

"[Russo] skewers academic pretensions and infighting with mad abandon...in a clear and muscular prose that is a pleasaure to read....I had to stop often to guffaw, gasp, wheeze, and wipe away my tears." —Chicago Sun-Times

"Bursting with humor and insight." —USA Today
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Most relevant
More than the plot, it's the way the story has been written that makes this book enjoyable. The perspective of the main character on everything is a delight to read/listen. The audio narrator's performance could have been better though, there is zero shift in voice/modulation between different characters making a quick conversation hard to follow.

Humorous and extremely well written

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