What readers think of Empire Falls, plus links to write your own review.

This book will make you laugh. And this book will break your heart. It is about the comedy and tragedy of life--some of which we bring on ourselves and some of which just happens. The good. The bad. The in-between. And sometimes the horrific.

The story is told through the perspective of one family, broken as they are. Miles Roby and Janine have split up. She is marrying someone else after getting caught having an affair. They have a 16-year-old daughter, Tick, who is like all teenage girls--lovable, hateful, a know-it-all, insecure and still a child at heart. They live in Empire Falls, New York, a gray and gritty town that has fallen on hard times after the shirt factory and mills have closed.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel starts off slowly--almost excruciatingly so--and then picks up and takes off, much like a car idling through a parade and then zooming away at 80 mph. It's a story of dreams and nightmares, of what we do to protect our children and the horrors that sometimes happen that are beyond our control. Plain and simple: Author Richard Russo is a genius.

P.S. It's worth reading "Empire Falls" if for no other reason than the driver's ed scene about halfway through the book. I laughed so hard I had to stop reading. And then every time I thought about that scene for the next few days I would laugh again.

I'm fourteen years old don't live anywhere near America but still loved and understood Empire Falls. Russo effortlessly manages to convey his ideas through this book without forcing you to agree with them. Once you have read this book it is easy to see why it won the pulitzer prize and will definately go down on history as a classic novel.

Without fail- time & time again; you effortlessly seem to hit a homerun, ( this time a GRANDSLAM!!! ); with your gift of storytelling! This book is an entertaining look into everyday life in a small town, with some of the most amusing characters that i've ever had the pleasure to read. Phenomenal job on winning the PULITZER!, uncle Rick!!!

I'm seventeen years old and I choose to read Richard Russo's "Empire Falls" for a Pulitzer Prize winning book project. I'm fortunate to have picked such a greatly written book, the characters were very well developed, the storyline incredibly interesting, and the setting vividly set. I happen to live in a small town myself, and even though, yes, some characters were very 'cookie cutter', that's how a small town is. I encourage anyone who likes a great and moving storyline to pick up this riviting book.

I am 56 years of age and read this book with one of my book clubs. This book combines an unusual sense of humor, human tragedy, wonderful descriptions of small town America, suspense and drama, and some of the best character development I've read.
It is definitely worth a reread for all the nuances and to laugh again at the human foibles that Russo so beautifully depicts.

I absolutely loved this book. I'm 16 and I think that I can relate to almost every aspect that this book describes. This was quite a page turner- I couldn't put it down! This was assigned as a summer reading book, but I have no idea how a book this good ended up on the list. Usually the books I have to read for school are a chore; this was a pleasure.

One of the best books I've read this year. As soon as I finished I read it again just to gain a deeper perspective.

This is a wonderful book that I just hated to see end. I love to find a book that is so good that I look forward to going to bed early at night just to get back to it and this is that book for me.