Straight Man (edit title)

Timothy Gray approved Dog Lover’s request to combine 9 books, including Straight Man, 6 days ago.

Dog Lover submitted a request to combine 9 books, including Straight Man, 7 days ago.

Timothy Gray approved AndrewTheLott’s request to change the title of Straight Man Monday, September 28 2009.

AndrewTheLott changed the title of Straight Man Sunday, September 27 2009.

Shelfari edited the description of Straight Man Friday, July 31 2009.

• In this uproarious new novel, Richard Russo performs his characteristic high-wire walk between hilarity and heartbreak. Russo's protagonist is William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the reluctant chairman of the English department of a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt. Devereaux's reluctance is partly rooted in his character--he is a born anarchist-- and partly in the fact that his department is more savagely divided than the Balkans. In the course of a single week, Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with his dean, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the dereliction of his youthful promise, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions. in short, Straight Man is classic Russo--side-splitting and true-to-life, witty, compassionate, and impossible to put down.

Shelfari edited the contributors of Straight Man Wednesday, July 22 2009.

• Added a contributor: Richard Russo: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of Straight Man Thursday, July 16 2009.

• When my nose finally stops bleeding and I've disposed of the bloody paper towels, Teddy Barnes insists on driving me home in his ancient Honda Civic, a car that refuses to die and that Teddy, cheap as he is, refuses to trade in.