Blasts from the Past: Straight Man by Richard Russo (1997)

Cover image for Straight Man by Richard Russo This is the latest in a series of occasional posts featuring books I read years ago about which I was wildly enthusiastic at the time, wanting to press a copy in as many hands as I could.

I’ve had a patchy reading history with Richard Russo but Straight Man is a standout for me, perhaps because I read it just as H was beginning his academic career. Apparently much of it was painfully familiar. It also has one of the funniest passages I’ve read in many years, although I do have a liking for puerile humour.

An incorrigible smartass and inveterate politicker, William Henry Deveraux Jnr, holds the temporary chair of the English Department in an American small-town university. Faced with the prospect of culling his department to meet his budget he’s incapable of treating the situation with the seriousness it deserves. This combined with a marriage veering towards the rocks, a daughter whose emotional instability appears to be a mystery to him and a bladder problem of leg-crossing proportions, results in utter chaos. A highly entertaining novel in which I suspect Russo was getting a lot off his chest.

What about you, any blasts from the past you’d like to share?

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17 thoughts on “Blasts from the Past: Straight Man by Richard Russo (1997)”

  1. Not only have I not read this, I haven’t come across Richard Russo at all. It sounds a bit Lucky Jim-ish, which doesn’t have me rushing to read it. On the other hand, you’re in a select small team of reviewers who reliably recommend books I enjoy.

  2. I’ve read a few by Russo and especially liked Empire Falls. I actually have a paperback of this one and have always meant to read it! I generally enjoy campus settings. I need to find out what the goose is doing there, if nothing else…

    1. This one’s very different, and a very quick read. As I recall, the goose incident marks the climax of the bonkers college politics Devereux finds himself caught up in. I hope you enjoy it!

  3. I love Russo, though have only read this once I remember enjoying it. Empire Falls won the Pulitzer but my heart will always remain with Nobody’s Fool.

  4. I have read two Richard Russo books – one I was so indifferent to that I got rid off it almost immediately and the other was Straight Man which I loved and have kept – I could hardly breathe for laughing on occasion.

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