That Old Cape Magic
by Richard Russo
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Book Reviews of That Old Cape Magic
Book Review: Some Russo Magic
Summary: 5 Stars
Empire Falls and Nobody's Fool (the latter my favorite) are two truly extraordinary achievements. Russo's imagination of the characters in those books is so amazingly thorough, rich and dense, the characters are so fully realized that, frankly, I couldn't understand how he could have imagined them. They seemed more fully realized than the real world that I observe around me. Moreover, there was an amazing truthfulness in Russo's depiction of the upstate New York towns in which the stories were set. Each book is a massive, extraordinary, lifetime achievement.
That Old Cape Magic is not on this level of achievement, but it is full of its own virtues, and by the ended left me as satisfied as those predecessors. At the start, Cape is relatively weak. Much time is spent depicting the main characters parents, and rather than deep and true, they amount to satirical caricatures. The feel is that Russo is trying to mimic the darkly comic commentary of a Jonathan Franzen or Tom Wolfe, but he's just not as good at it. I was despairing that, lacking the stamina and drive to write in his greatest style, Russo was simply employing an easy way out without the skill for that, different kind of writing. Moreover, the depiction of Cape Cod--an area I know well--while descriptively accurate, came nowhere close to capturing the essence of the place in the way Russo has with upstate New York.
In time, however, Russo returns the book to his typical themes of contemplating parent-child and husband-wife relationships and the interplay between the two, with long, contemplative interludes and assides. That old Russo magic. He also introduces more plot and a faster pace than in his early works. By the time I was two-thirds through, I was mesmerized again. Russo also succeeds better than in some of his other books in bringing matters to a conclusion, perhaps because the book is more plot driven. So, while not as deep and true as his greatest work, it left me just as satisfied and wanting more. Hats off to the author.
Book Review: The Seeds of a Great Story
Summary: 3 Stars
"That Old Cape Magic" by Richard Russo is the story of one late-middle-age man, Jack Griffin, and the crisis that unexpectedly hits his life when his elderly parents start to die. The book is a joy to read, but ultimately falls just a little shy of the author's usual greatness.
First, the good stuff. Russo returns to some familiar terrain in "That Old Cape Magic," as many of his main characters are denizens of academia. As any fan of "Straight Man" will attest, Russo's wit is at its best and sharpest when it comes to academia, and he uses that skill to great advantage in this book. It is also a poignant, moving story, and the story arc is just perfect. Griffin's crisis takes place neatly between two weddings, neither of which are his own but which both propel him, unwittingly, to face some of his darkest demons. At times while reading this book, I both cried for the depth of emotion and laughed for the absurdity of life.
However, having said all that, this little book suffers greatly from insufficient character development and incomplete back stories. What I see here is the seed of another "Bridge of Sighs" that just wasn't given a chance to flower. We learn almost nothing about the characters in this novel, other than Griffin and his parents, even when they are very important to the story. And even when it comes to them, what we do learn is not really sufficient. The reader's view is too narrowly limited by the Griffin's self-centered perspective. These characters and their situations are compelling enough to drive an 800 page tome, if given the chance, but instead they flit in and out of this brief work and barely make their mark. Perhaps Russo is just at his best in the long form, and it's as simple as that.
Let me be clear. Richard Russo could find a way to make the phone book compelling. Your time would not be wasted with any of his work. And "That Old Cape Magic" will move all but the coldest readers. It just doesn't feel like a full novel.
Book Review: Great Airplane Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this short novel in one sitting while flying from New York to San Francisco and enjoyed it very much, only finishing it as my plane rolled up to the gate. I found it very compelling and could not stop reading. I've read all of Russo's novels and short stories and rank this near the top with The Risk Pool and Empire Falls. While I also liked his previous novel, Bridge of Sighs, I enjoyed this more. I found the characters well-drawn and interesting. Even minor characters like Sunny Kim, Marguerite, and Harold are vividly portrayed and are memorable.
Like many novels, That Old Cape Magic weaves together multiple stories from different points in the life of the narrator, Jack Griffin, jumping back and forth between different phases of his life: lonely childhood, newly and happily married, and middle age marital stress. The overall story is framed by two weddings that Griffin and his family attend, but we also meet his own parents, a clan of in-laws, friends of his daughter, and complete strangers. There is also a tough old lady as is often the case with Russo -- Griffin's mother in this case. There is an absolutely hilarious scene full of mayhem near the end of the book involving most of these characters, one of the funniest scenes Russo has ever written.
Readers of Russo's other books won't be surprised that some of the main action takes place in Cape Cod and Maine, but Russo has expanded his horizons by setting some of the story in California and the Midwest. It might be significant that Russo refers to his narrator as "Griffin" most of the time even though he uses first names for all his other characters; I think Russo is suggesting that his narrator has never managed to fully separate himself from his parents and hasn't worked out his conflicts with them. This becomes clearer in the second half of the book, especially in the last few pages.
Overall, this is a very fine outing by Russo, short but well-written and compelling.
Book Review: Coming to terms with the past...
Summary: 5 Stars
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo has gotten mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it as much as any of his other works.
Jack Griffin is a former screen writer, who is now an English professor. But just when his life seems to have brought him everything he and his wife (Joy) wished for, he is in danger of losing everything because he lets his past continue to haunt him. Born to two English professors, his parents are academic snobs who hate everybody--especially children. The only time life seems perfect is when they vacation at Cape Cod each summer. But even then, Griffin has trouble remembering what was real and what was imagined. In trying to keep his parents out of his marriage, Griffin finds himself becoming more and more like them. He can't even seem to let go of his father's ashes, which he's had in his car for months and is supposed to scatter on the Cape. Joy's parents are just the opposite--loving, demonstrative and very controlling. 'The important--no, critical--thing was to dispose of the man and, in doing so, win the only winnable part of yesterday's argument. That was the crux of Joy's case. That "his" parents, despite their physical absence, had intruded on their marriage as much as hers had, that he perversely wanted them to.'
I can just imagine Griffin, suffering from congenital unhappiness, making one bad decision after another and second-guessing his entire life. Griffin must come to terms with his past if he has any chance of future happiness.
Russo wrote this book after experiencing the weddings of his two daughters. That Old Cape Magic is also sandwiched between two weddings--the second one Griffin's daughter, Laura. The recounting of Laura's wedding rehearsal dinner is hilarious! While Russo claims that thankfully, such a scene did not occur in real life, I can't help thinking that a some of this book is autobiographical (although hopefully not the conversations with his deceased mother).
Book Review: Es-Caping your parents
Summary: 4 Stars
Boy can Richard Russo write in ways that hit you in the gut. His tale of Jack Griffin, who at age 57, is still struggling with the traumas of idiosyncratic parents and a childhood spent witnessing their quirky behavior. His own marriage is greatly under the influence of that struggle as his patient spouse waits for Griffin to finally get over it. Everything comes to a head with two weddings within a year that bring the most important people in Griffin's life together and push his "coming of age" crisis to the brink.
Russo's characters in this book are terrific, particularly those of Jack Griffin and his two, particularly opinionated and outspoken parents, who have partially off-loaded their own frustrated professional ambitions and intellectual prejudices on their son.
The first wedding event in the story takes place on Cape Cod, a place especially rife with memories as Griffin's parents used it as an annual summer sanctuary from their less than happy lives teaching in the Midwest during the rest of the year. For Jack Griffin, visiting the Cape is very much a melancholy trip, and this visit brings his own marriage to the point of crisis.
The second of the book's seminal events, the marriage of Griffin's own daughter, takes places in Maine the summer following the Cape Cod event. While the presence of dead parents is very much a reality, this time the focus is on Jack and his own marriage and future. Russo brings things to resolution with a Marx-brothers-like scenario that dispels most of the angst that marked the first half of the book.
There is a lot to think about and enjoy in "That Old Cape Magic." Not the least of which are those uncomfortable questions we all ask ourselves in middle age about earlier life choices and the big one--have we managed to avoid becoming clones of our parents?
Highly enjoyable story by a first-rate novelist.