Everybody's Fool by Richard Russo: A review

Everybody's Fool once again takes us to the small upstate New York town of North Bath just a bit more than a decade after the events of Nobody's Fool. The town is still the hapless poor relation of its neighboring town and chief rival Schuyler Springs and on the surface things seem pretty much as we left them. But, inevitably, time has made a few changes at least in the cast of characters.

Sadly, Miss Beryl, the woman who taught eighth grade for many years at the local school and whom we met as Donald (Sully) Sullivan's beloved landlady in the last book, is no longer on the scene. However, even though she may be physically absent, her spirit lingers and as we visit North Bath this time around, the town is getting ready to honor her memory during Memorial Day festivities by renaming the school after her.

Sully is still there and he and Miss Beryl seem to have exchanged roles. For many years, he had been her boarder in her big Victorian house on North Main Street; now it seems that Miss Beryl is his boarder, having taken up residence in his head where she continues to carry on the conversations that they both enjoyed over the years.

Most of the other quirky characters that we met in Nobody's Fool are still here, with a few changes in their circumstances. Doug Raymer, the policeman whom we last saw accidentally discharging his gun and getting decked by Sully, is now, surprisingly, the chief of police. He is beset by insecurities, believing that he is no good at his job and, furthermore, he is obsessed to the point of distraction over learning the identity of the man that his wife had been planning to run away with a year earlier. The getaway had never happened because she was killed in a freak accident as she was getting ready to leave.

Poor hapless Rub Squeers is still around, as well, still beset by worries that he's not really Sully's best friend. But at least his financial circumstances are somewhat improved since he now has a regular job with the city.

It is Sully's circumstances that have changed most drastically. He had an incredible run of good luck following the end of Nobody's Fool and, finally, in his eighth decade, he is free of worry about where his next dollar is coming from.

All is not rosy for Sully, however. A life of drinking too much, smoking too much, eating the wrong things, and generally not taking care of his body is catching up with him. The cardiologists at the VA clinic have told him that, at best, he might have two years left, but more likely one, and he's often in pain and out of breath. But irascible and stubborn as ever. His friends, including Ruth, the woman with whom he carried on an affair for so many years, worry about him. They can see that something is wrong, but he hasn't confided in any of them.

One new character bears mentioning. Charice works behind a desk at the police department and longs to get out into the field and do real police work. She is the smartest person in the department and she harbors an affection for the chief although she would never let on. Raymer, likewise, has an unacknowledged interest in Charice, but would this stuck-in-the-past town ever accept a white police chief's romantic alliance with a black subordinate?

And so time and events rock on in North Bath. People plan and scheme and mostly their plans and schemes go awry. A very bad guy finally gets his comeuppance but not before he has done inestimable harm to others. And the irrepressible Sully faces his own mortality.

Richard Russo really knows how to tell a story of these small towns. He fills North Bath with characters that are irresistibly human with all their foibles and sometimes their unexpected nobility. He tells their stories with great humor and empathy and makes us see them as three-dimensional individuals that we can care about and perhaps learn from. That is a significant achievement by a writer and Russo excels at it.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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