![]() ![]() ![]() In the present, the same leading family, the Whitings, still own half the town or more, but their holdings and their personal circumstances have been reduced by time and a town that seems almost to be eating itself in an effort to stay alive and afloat. That, as we learn in the book's prologue, was then. Peaking out with the addition of the shirt factory and when the scion of the town's leading family built an ersatz Mediterranean mansion on the banks of the filthy river his family has been polluting for three generations. It rose to the height of whatever glory it was to attain with the industrial revolution. As it is, Russo weaves the reader, quickly and tightly, into a community of personalities as easy to remember as your next door neighbor.Įmpire Falls is a tarnished Maine town. If Richard Russo's latest novel were less well plotted and engaging, you'd need a score sheet to keep track. Like most books named for cities and towns - fictional and otherwise - the cast of characters in Empire Falls is large and convoluted. ![]()
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