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A review by rjkamaladasa
Straight Man by Richard Russo
5.0
[Warning: a few vague spoilers ahead, don't worry it won't spoil the story]
Quite easily one of the funniest books I've read. The story is about a middle-aged English Professor, which I have very little in common with, but I found myself easily drawn in to the character. What I like about this book is that it's not dramatic about dramatic events. It doesn't emphasize the acceptable social reactions to a given situation like freaking out when you find out your son-in-law is cheating on your daughter. The protagonist is actually happy when his best friend hits on his wife. And I don't think this a far fetched scenario either: when you're married to a woman whom you love for so long, insecure feelings like jealousy are bound to be irrelevant. The climax close to the end of the book which has something to do with his career, is a really metaphor for life's great question: do we really know what we want for ourselves?
Quite easily one of the funniest books I've read. The story is about a middle-aged English Professor, which I have very little in common with, but I found myself easily drawn in to the character. What I like about this book is that it's not dramatic about dramatic events. It doesn't emphasize the acceptable social reactions to a given situation like freaking out when you find out your son-in-law is cheating on your daughter. The protagonist is actually happy when his best friend hits on his wife. And I don't think this a far fetched scenario either: when you're married to a woman whom you love for so long, insecure feelings like jealousy are bound to be irrelevant. The climax close to the end of the book which has something to do with his career, is a really metaphor for life's great question: do we really know what we want for ourselves?