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Elsewhere A memoir Richard Russo 9780307959539 Books

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Elsewhere A memoir Richard Russo 9780307959539 Books

Who is the saint? Richard Russo for attempting to cope with his mother for decades, or Richard's wife for putting up with the mother's presence for such an extended period? Perhaps both of them qualify to some extent, but it seems to me that Richard's wife was more long-suffering, and showed more flexibility and grace in her response to the situation. It's difficult to know just how much the wife had to endure, however, as she was not a major figure in the memoir.

The "star" of this book is Jean, Richard's mother. While the reader gets a fairly good idea how Richard's life developed, nothing happens to him without the major involvement of his mother. Was it a toxic mother/son relationship? Hard to say. If most people experienced what Richard did, I think they would have a strong resentment about their mother's actions, demands, and weaknesses. But Richard doesn't seem to feel that way. While he describes the difficulties his mother causes, he doesn't seem bitter or even flummoxed by them. At least in what he says, he seems a remarkably laid, back, even positive, son.

I'm a great fan of Russo's books, and reading this "memoir," or whatever it is, gives me more insight into the man. I should probably read more memoirs, as I tend to develop a (skewed?) picture of a good author simply by reading her/his books. In Russo's case, I had the image of him living in a small upstate New York town, where the people more or less bumbled along, but ended up having a fairly adequate and fulfilling life (with some exceptions, of course). But Gloversville, the real New York town in Russo's and Jean's experience, seems like a backwater - a boring, toxic place. So maybe Russo's books see small-town New York through rose-colored glasses, or maybe both images are part of a more complex picture. In any case, people are never exactly the way we think they are - whether fictional or real.

Is Jean "crazy"? That word is actually used in the text, spoken initially by a bystander. It develops that she does have mental problems, but nevertheless, she seems to get her way, and to be a remarkable survivor of the tribulations life tosses her way. Wherever she is, "Elsewhere" would be better.


Tags : Elsewhere: A memoir [Richard Russo] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. After eight commanding works of fiction, the Pulitzer Prize winner now turns to memoir in a hilarious, moving,Richard Russo,Elsewhere: A memoir,Knopf,0307959538,American novelists;Biography.,Gloversville (N.Y.);Biography.,Novelists, American;Biography.,1949-,AMERICAN LITERATURE - INDIVIDUAL,American Literature - Individual Core Authors,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Literary Figures,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography & Autobiography General,Biography & Autobiography Literary,Biography & Autobiography Personal Memoirs,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Childhood and youth,Family,GENERAL,General Adult,Literary,Non-Fiction,Novelists, American,Personal Memoirs,RUSSO, RICHARD - PROSE & CRITICISM,Russo, Richard,,United States

Elsewhere A memoir Richard Russo 9780307959539 Books Reviews

This book is an autobiography, rather than a more quirky novel as Russo is normally known for. While his own story is much more exciting and deals with the borderline mental illness of his mother, the insights he offers do make connections with my own close family. The guilt and sorrow of losing a mother is also universal. This is a book best read after you become a Russo fan and have read several Russo books.
This book is do sad and yet a beautiful, loving tribute from an only son trying to del with a valiant but desperately ill mother, one gripped by compulsions that a child has no way of knowing aren't usual or completely sane but become just "normal" or what is "normal for us." You root for them to save one another, or failing that, for Russo to find the peace that eluded his mother. Alas, it is not to be had. And maybe that is because the truth is there is no answering the hard questions of the human condition with anything like rationality. And the insistence on trying itself because evidence of a mild insanity. Beautifully written. Moving. Russo also manages to work in a trenchant criticism of late century capitalism as practiced in the US, a system that as brutalities go may be lesser than those that built the pyramids, the Cathedrals of Europe or the Confederacy, but which have never been the utopia that the chamber of commerce propaganda would have us believe.
I'll start by saying I'm a big fan of Russo's writing. I've heard him speak, on the occasion of the release of "That Old Cape Magic" and he's delightful, witty and pretty darn humorous.

I read this book because - it was Russo; and - because like Russo,
I'm an only child with so very much of my life defined by a strong
willful mother.

I might have thought my mother was clinging, or just seemed to need me so much - but after reading Russo's memoir - I have nothing to compare.

This memoir was excellent, candid, very readable - and oh so sad, about his mother and her unfulfilled life. What I do wish I'd also gotten was a tale of how Russo
and his wife managed to keep their balance - both individually -
and as a couple with this extremely heavy burden. But the book was really about his mother - I'm hoping there'll be more about how he came through caring for her his entire life.

Richard Russo is in my small pantheon of the VERY BEST writers today.
I simply like Richard Russo's style so I begin every one of his books with a high expectations and this one certainly met them. I am not especially fond of memoir, but occasionally I will read one if the author writes especially eloquent, clean prose (Mary Karr's "Liar's Club" is an example) and this one meets the test. An interesting tale told insightfully by a skilled writer, I found "Elsewhere" interesting and engaging. The story is really that of the author's mother who he belatedly discovered suffered from OCD, a realization that explained a lot of his experience with her. He tells the whole story from his childhood experiences to his struggles to help maintain her in her old age but his style keeps the story from plodding along it's chronology and he punctuates the story with introspection and reflection making it every bit as interesting as one of his novels.
It's not an easy task writing such an intimate story of family life. There is the constant weighing of the past, continually assessing if what I am writing is close to the truth or a mere fabrication. While the fiction writer certainly has responsibility for his characters, the memoir writer is weary of such responsibility. Like Roth's book about his father or Stein's about his sister or Gide's about his wife, Russo managed to come out of the dark depths of the murky past with a voice that was honest, a possibly unrewarding task when writing about yourself and your family. To balance the events of the past you must be a great juggler, and in the end only Russo knows if he fumbled or succeeded.
Who is the saint? Richard Russo for attempting to cope with his mother for decades, or Richard's wife for putting up with the mother's presence for such an extended period? Perhaps both of them qualify to some extent, but it seems to me that Richard's wife was more long-suffering, and showed more flexibility and grace in her response to the situation. It's difficult to know just how much the wife had to endure, however, as she was not a major figure in the memoir.

The "star" of this book is Jean, Richard's mother. While the reader gets a fairly good idea how Richard's life developed, nothing happens to him without the major involvement of his mother. Was it a toxic mother/son relationship? Hard to say. If most people experienced what Richard did, I think they would have a strong resentment about their mother's actions, demands, and weaknesses. But Richard doesn't seem to feel that way. While he describes the difficulties his mother causes, he doesn't seem bitter or even flummoxed by them. At least in what he says, he seems a remarkably laid, back, even positive, son.

I'm a great fan of Russo's books, and reading this "memoir," or whatever it is, gives me more insight into the man. I should probably read more memoirs, as I tend to develop a (skewed?) picture of a good author simply by reading her/his books. In Russo's case, I had the image of him living in a small upstate New York town, where the people more or less bumbled along, but ended up having a fairly adequate and fulfilling life (with some exceptions, of course). But Gloversville, the real New York town in Russo's and Jean's experience, seems like a backwater - a boring, toxic place. So maybe Russo's books see small-town New York through rose-colored glasses, or maybe both images are part of a more complex picture. In any case, people are never exactly the way we think they are - whether fictional or real.

Is Jean "crazy"? That word is actually used in the text, spoken initially by a bystander. It develops that she does have mental problems, but nevertheless, she seems to get her way, and to be a remarkable survivor of the tribulations life tosses her way. Wherever she is, "Elsewhere" would be better.