Genre Fiction
![Richard Russo - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000AQ0EIM.jpg)
Somebody's Fool: A novel (North Bath Trilogy)
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls returns to North Bath, in upstate New York, and to the characters that captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers in his beloved best sellers Nobody's Fool and Everybody's Fool.
"Sumptuous, spirited . . . [Russo] paints a shining fresco of a working-class community..." -The New York Times • "Another instant classic, filled with Russo's witty dialogue and warm understanding of human foibles." -People Magazine
Ten years after the death of the magnetic Donald "Sully" Sullivan, the town of North Bath is going through a major transition as it is annexed by its much wealthier neighbor, Schuyler Springs. Peter, Sully's son, is still grappling with his father's tremendous legacy as well as his relationship to his own son, Thomas, wondering if he has been all that different a father than Sully was to him.
Meanwhile, the towns' newly consolidated police department falls into the hands of Charice Bond, after the resignation of Doug Raymer, the former North Bath police chief and Charice's ex-lover. When a decomposing body turns up in the abandoned hotel situated between the two towns, Charice and Raymer are drawn together again and forced to address their complicated attraction to one another. Across town, Ruth, Sully's married ex-lover, and her daughter Janey struggle to understand Janey's daughter, Tina, and her growing obsession with Peter's other son, Will. Amidst the turmoil, the town's residents speculate on the identity of the unidentified body, and wonder who among their number could have disappeared unnoticed.
Infused with all the wry humor and shrewd observations that Russo is known for, Somebody's Fool is another classic from a modern master.
"Sumptuous, spirited . . . [Russo] paints a shining fresco of a working-class community..." -The New York Times • "Another instant classic, filled with Russo's witty dialogue and warm understanding of human foibles." -People Magazine
Ten years after the death of the magnetic Donald "Sully" Sullivan, the town of North Bath is going through a major transition as it is annexed by its much wealthier neighbor, Schuyler Springs. Peter, Sully's son, is still grappling with his father's tremendous legacy as well as his relationship to his own son, Thomas, wondering if he has been all that different a father than Sully was to him.
Meanwhile, the towns' newly consolidated police department falls into the hands of Charice Bond, after the resignation of Doug Raymer, the former North Bath police chief and Charice's ex-lover. When a decomposing body turns up in the abandoned hotel situated between the two towns, Charice and Raymer are drawn together again and forced to address their complicated attraction to one another. Across town, Ruth, Sully's married ex-lover, and her daughter Janey struggle to understand Janey's daughter, Tina, and her growing obsession with Peter's other son, Will. Amidst the turmoil, the town's residents speculate on the identity of the unidentified body, and wonder who among their number could have disappeared unnoticed.
Infused with all the wry humor and shrewd observations that Russo is known for, Somebody's Fool is another classic from a modern master.
Editorial Reviews
"Sumptuous, spirited . . . Regarding North Bath, Richard Russo saved his best for last . . . [Russo] paints a shining fresco of a working-class community, warts and all, a 30-year project come to fruition in this last, best book." -The New York Times
"Another instant classic, filled with Russo's witty dialogue and warm understanding of human foibles." -People Magazine
"The ‘Fool' books nail that small town vibe, where everybody thinks they know everybody's else's business, and more importantly, cares about what happens to their neighbors . . . Fans of the previous two novels will enjoy reconnecting with familiar characters, from Ruth and her daughter Janay and granddaughter Tina, to Doug Raymer, no longer North Bath's police chief and he-hopes-still-his-girlfriend Charice." –The Associated Press
"Russo's latest book has an engaging plot that sensitively and insightfully explores themes of grief and reconciliation . . . the relationships between the characters give this story an emotional depth that has an undeniable appeal." -Library Journal
"A wise and witty drama of small-town life . . . delivering the generous humor, keen ear for dialogue, and deep appreciation for humanity's foibles that have endeared the author to his readers for decades. Though Sully is gone, his world is alive and well." –Publishers Weekly
"Russo's version of the good old-fashioned comic novel is the gold standard, full of heart and dexterous storytelling." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Russo's beguiling art is the mastery of cloaking complex human emotions and conflicts in surprisingly simple guises, and he brings depths of pathos and wisdom to this Everyman microcosm by challenging its citizens in unlikely ways, only to have them emerge whole and even heroic. There have never been fools in Russo's world, just lovely, relatable people navigating foolish situations." -Booklist (starred review)
"Another instant classic, filled with Russo's witty dialogue and warm understanding of human foibles." -People Magazine
"The ‘Fool' books nail that small town vibe, where everybody thinks they know everybody's else's business, and more importantly, cares about what happens to their neighbors . . . Fans of the previous two novels will enjoy reconnecting with familiar characters, from Ruth and her daughter Janay and granddaughter Tina, to Doug Raymer, no longer North Bath's police chief and he-hopes-still-his-girlfriend Charice." –The Associated Press
"Russo's latest book has an engaging plot that sensitively and insightfully explores themes of grief and reconciliation . . . the relationships between the characters give this story an emotional depth that has an undeniable appeal." -Library Journal
"A wise and witty drama of small-town life . . . delivering the generous humor, keen ear for dialogue, and deep appreciation for humanity's foibles that have endeared the author to his readers for decades. Though Sully is gone, his world is alive and well." –Publishers Weekly
"Russo's version of the good old-fashioned comic novel is the gold standard, full of heart and dexterous storytelling." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Russo's beguiling art is the mastery of cloaking complex human emotions and conflicts in surprisingly simple guises, and he brings depths of pathos and wisdom to this Everyman microcosm by challenging its citizens in unlikely ways, only to have them emerge whole and even heroic. There have never been fools in Russo's world, just lovely, relatable people navigating foolish situations." -Booklist (starred review)
Readers Top Reviews
Crazyforbooksndc
Somebody’s Fool is the third in a series of “Fool” books however it is not necessary to read the prior two to enjoy it. Richard Russo is a wonderful Pulitzer Prize winning writer so if you haven’t read his previous novels, you will want to! This current novel develops many characters in the small town of North Bath, which was recently annexed to neighboring Schuyler Springs. The story takes place over one weekend. The way it is written allows the reader to go deep into the minds of several characters but also moves the story forward. I really enjoyed the relationship between Doug Raymer and his girlfriend Charice, as well as the character of Peter Sullivan - a far from perfect man. If you like character-driven novels, you’ll enjoy this one! Thanks to the author, NetGalley and Alfred A Knopf for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.
DebbieC
I was so very excited to see a new book coming out in this celebrated series. It has been seven years since the last one. It was fun to take a literary journey back to North Bath, New York. Back to this struggling town and the lives of the people that I first became acquainted with in "Nobody's Fool" and "Everybody's Fool". It's obvious why Richard Russo is a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist when you read this book. I quickly became immersed in the story. Ten years after the death of one of Bath's most colorful characters, Sully Sullivan, the depressed town and its inhabitants are still struggling, but now they are being absorbed by the more well-to-do nearby town of Shuyler Springs. Bath is a town filled with people full of regrets and resentments. With the backdrop of a mystery surrounding an unidentifiable dead body found in an abandoned luxury hotel, we follow the lives of these people. Even though he is gone, I enjoyed how many of the resident's individual stories touched on how their lives had been affected by Sully: including his son and his grandsons. Along with bursts of humor, this character driven, and richly woven story includes new and old friendships and people who are learning what is most important in their lives, while also undergoing change. It may even have you reflecting on your own life. Though this is the third book in the North Bath series, I believe that it can be savored as a standalone novel, but Russo fans will relish this book even more.
dale mooseEvonne Ben
Plodding narrative that substitutes past characters for substance. Some chapters are printed entirely in italics- a strain to read and how utterly stupid. Yeah Russo has a payday but not given readers fair exchange.
robusterBRS
This is about as good as a book can get. Well worth my money and my time. It was a nice return to North Bath. Getting to catch up with Peter , Doug , Whacker and others. They have long been friends of mine. I was sorry about Gus , Sully ,Alice and Miss Beryl. Rub looks like he may indeed find himself way ahead of his peers. Would it not be great to see old Carl working for Rub? Toby is still tight , right and full of sexual fight. Truly gifted work . I appreciate the effort that was put into this .
Short Excerpt Teaser
Inheritance
The changes would be gradual, or that was how the idea had been sold all along. But no sooner did North Bath's annexation to Schuyler Springs become official than rumors began circulating about "next steps." North Bath High, the Beryl Peoples Middle School, and one of the town's two elementary schools would close at the end of the school year, just a few months away. In the fall their students would be bused to schools in Schuyler. Okay, none of this was unexpected. The whole point of consolidation was to eliminate redundancies, so education, the most expensive of these, would naturally be at the top of that list. Still, those pushing for annexation had argued that such changes would be incremental, the result of natural attrition.
Teachers wouldn't be fired, merely encouraged, by means of incentives, to retire. Younger staff would apply for positions in the Schuyler unified school district, which would make every effort to accommodate them. The school buildings themselves would be converted into county offices. Same deal with the police. The low-slung brick building that housed the police department and the jail would be repurposed, and Doug Raymer, who'd been making noises about retiring as chief of police for years, could probably get repurposed as well. His half-dozen or so officers could apply for positions within the Schuyler PD. Hell, they'd probably even keep their old uniforms; the left sleeve would just bear a different patch. Sure, other redundancies would follow. There'd be no further need for a town council (there being no town) or for a mayor (which in Bath wasn't even a full-time position). The town already purchased its water from Schuyler Springs, whose sanitation department would now collect its trash, which everybody agreed was a significant upgrade. At present Bath citizens were responsible for hauling their crap to the dump, or hiring the Squeers Brothers and letting their fleet of decrepit dump trucks do it for them.
Naturally, not everyone had been in favor of this quantum shift. Some maintained there was really only one genuine redundancy that annexation would eliminate, and that was North Bath itself. By allowing itself to be subsumed by Schuyler Springs, its age-old rival, the town was basically committing suicide, voting for nonexistence over existence, and who in their right mind did that? This melodramatic argument was met with considerable derision. Was it even possible for an intubated patient on a ventilator to commit suicide? For the last decade about the only thing Bath had any control over was its morphine drip, because its debt had become so crushing that the town budget allowed for little beyond its interest payment.
How had all this come to pass? Well, the recession the whole damn country was still in the middle of was partly to blame, but many argued that the town had been circling the drain long before that. Most people blamed Gus Moynihan and the damned Democrats, who, when they took power, just spent and spent and spent. Before that, Bath had been a model of fiscal restraint, its unofficial motto being: No spending. Ever. On anything. For any purpose. If there was a pothole in the middle of the street, drive around the fucking thing. It wasn't like potholes were invisible. The wider and deeper they grew, the easier they were to spot. Hell, it wasn't that long ago that the streets weren't paved at all. No, the fiscal crisis was due to a curious combination of hubris and self-loathing, the anti-annexers maintained, the inevitable result of Bath's attempts to emulate its rich neighbor. The Democrats, being Democrats, figured that if the town spent money like Schuyler Springs did, maybe it could have everything Schuyler had. You had to spend money to make money, right? Okay, sure, Republicans countered, but what the Democrats were conveniently ignoring was that Schuyler Springs, a lucky town if there ever was one, had money to burn. The city was flush. It was full of fancy restaurants and coffee shops and museums and art galleries. It had a thoroughbred racetrack, a performing arts center and writers' colony and snooty liberal arts college, all of which generated a veritable shitstorm of revenue. How was Bath supposed to compete with all that? Moreover, why would they even want to? After all, there were other ways of measuring wealth, other sources of civic pride. Schuyler might be lucky-its mineral springs still percolating up out of the ground more than a century after Bath's ran dry-but the historic drivers of its economy were gambling and horseracing and prostitution (a claim advanced by North Bath fundamentalist c...
The changes would be gradual, or that was how the idea had been sold all along. But no sooner did North Bath's annexation to Schuyler Springs become official than rumors began circulating about "next steps." North Bath High, the Beryl Peoples Middle School, and one of the town's two elementary schools would close at the end of the school year, just a few months away. In the fall their students would be bused to schools in Schuyler. Okay, none of this was unexpected. The whole point of consolidation was to eliminate redundancies, so education, the most expensive of these, would naturally be at the top of that list. Still, those pushing for annexation had argued that such changes would be incremental, the result of natural attrition.
Teachers wouldn't be fired, merely encouraged, by means of incentives, to retire. Younger staff would apply for positions in the Schuyler unified school district, which would make every effort to accommodate them. The school buildings themselves would be converted into county offices. Same deal with the police. The low-slung brick building that housed the police department and the jail would be repurposed, and Doug Raymer, who'd been making noises about retiring as chief of police for years, could probably get repurposed as well. His half-dozen or so officers could apply for positions within the Schuyler PD. Hell, they'd probably even keep their old uniforms; the left sleeve would just bear a different patch. Sure, other redundancies would follow. There'd be no further need for a town council (there being no town) or for a mayor (which in Bath wasn't even a full-time position). The town already purchased its water from Schuyler Springs, whose sanitation department would now collect its trash, which everybody agreed was a significant upgrade. At present Bath citizens were responsible for hauling their crap to the dump, or hiring the Squeers Brothers and letting their fleet of decrepit dump trucks do it for them.
Naturally, not everyone had been in favor of this quantum shift. Some maintained there was really only one genuine redundancy that annexation would eliminate, and that was North Bath itself. By allowing itself to be subsumed by Schuyler Springs, its age-old rival, the town was basically committing suicide, voting for nonexistence over existence, and who in their right mind did that? This melodramatic argument was met with considerable derision. Was it even possible for an intubated patient on a ventilator to commit suicide? For the last decade about the only thing Bath had any control over was its morphine drip, because its debt had become so crushing that the town budget allowed for little beyond its interest payment.
How had all this come to pass? Well, the recession the whole damn country was still in the middle of was partly to blame, but many argued that the town had been circling the drain long before that. Most people blamed Gus Moynihan and the damned Democrats, who, when they took power, just spent and spent and spent. Before that, Bath had been a model of fiscal restraint, its unofficial motto being: No spending. Ever. On anything. For any purpose. If there was a pothole in the middle of the street, drive around the fucking thing. It wasn't like potholes were invisible. The wider and deeper they grew, the easier they were to spot. Hell, it wasn't that long ago that the streets weren't paved at all. No, the fiscal crisis was due to a curious combination of hubris and self-loathing, the anti-annexers maintained, the inevitable result of Bath's attempts to emulate its rich neighbor. The Democrats, being Democrats, figured that if the town spent money like Schuyler Springs did, maybe it could have everything Schuyler had. You had to spend money to make money, right? Okay, sure, Republicans countered, but what the Democrats were conveniently ignoring was that Schuyler Springs, a lucky town if there ever was one, had money to burn. The city was flush. It was full of fancy restaurants and coffee shops and museums and art galleries. It had a thoroughbred racetrack, a performing arts center and writers' colony and snooty liberal arts college, all of which generated a veritable shitstorm of revenue. How was Bath supposed to compete with all that? Moreover, why would they even want to? After all, there were other ways of measuring wealth, other sources of civic pride. Schuyler might be lucky-its mineral springs still percolating up out of the ground more than a century after Bath's ran dry-but the historic drivers of its economy were gambling and horseracing and prostitution (a claim advanced by North Bath fundamentalist c...
