RICHARD RUSSO Straight Man ****(*)

Another marvellous book from Richard Russo. I loved it.

It's the story of Hank Devereux, 50-year-old chair of the English faculty at a second-rate university in Pennsylvania. Hank has a wicked sense of humour, but is dead-pan with it - hence the title of the book: Straight Man. He says things that he knows will elicit a response, but plays the innocent.

He's also going through a mid-life crisis which isn't helped by the fact that budget cuts mean he's got to cull 20% of his staff, his younger daughter's marriage is on the brink of breaking up, he can't come to terms with his father, and he's half in love with three women as well as his wife.

Very sad, very funny and very real.

I think Russo is a genius. I've read three of his novels. The first was very simple and straightforward, the second (which I couldn't get into) was very knowing, this one (told in the first person) is cynical and clever. The only reason it didn't get the full five stars was because I couldn't remember who each of the faculty members were.