Empire Falls

I'm a big reader. But I'm not a big new-release-Ny-Times-Best-Seller-list reader. Usually it's whatever looks good at Strand, or something recommended by a friend, a classic I never got around to, or a favorite I haven't read in a while. (With the occasional Broadway book like "Not Since Carrie" or "At This Theater.")

A best-seller that was a sort of passing blip on my radar screen a couple years ago was "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo. He was an author that I was vaguely aware I should be reading. It won the Pulitzer in 2002 but it just wasn't something I had gotten around to. Especially since at the time I was ina re-reading phase - all the Little Women books, To Kill A Mockingbird...

Cut to this month - June 2005. Gaspar and I have moved into our new apartment, the DVD player isn't hooked up, but the cable is on and we now have HBO On Demand. Sitting amongst the towering boxes I decide to through on a movie being offered by the HBO On Demand service - so I can pause, fast forward and all that. And I see a movie titled "Empire Falls." I'm curious to see if it's based on the book that shows up in the back of my mind from time to time. And lo and behold it is.

The cast looked insanely amazing. Ed Harris, Paul Newman, Dennis Farina, Aidan Quinn, Helen Hunt, Joanne Woodward, William Fichtner, Robin Wright Penn, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and on and on! And geeky me is just as excited the author of the book, Richard Russo, has also written the screenplay. A huge plus and an indicator that the source material will be intact, infamiliar as I am with it. And any chnages will have been made by the Pultizer-winning author himself. I'm on board now and I proceed to neglect my unpacking duties as I am aborbed into the story of Miles Roby and the inhabitants of Empire Falls, Maine.

But what I am now fully absorbed by is Richard Russo's wonderful book. Yeah yeah I jumped on the bandwagon. Of course, any reader knows the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. And that's true again here. Nothing can get you into the head of a charcater like the words of the author. The film did a superb job of revealing, well-rounded, fully-developed characters. But a book can go places a film never can. I'm not sure if seeing the movie before reading the book just burned the images of the actors into my mind as the images of the characters. But reading it now I see how perfectly cast the movie is. And the book is so gorgeous, how could a first rate cast not what to be a part of the film? The town, the relationships are so true and deep. The relationship between Miles and his daughter Tick is especially compelling for me.

I'm about halfway through the book now but when I'm done I'm sure it will be an all-time favorite for me. It already feels like one of the best books I've ever read.

More about the film and a synopsis of the story can be found here:
http://www.hbo.com/films/empirefalls/

Buy the book here:
http://www.strandbooks.com/profile/?isbn=0375726403&itemno=0
or here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375726403/qid=1119796888/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7955220-2366544?v=glance&s=books&n=507846