Empire Falls is an engaging book about the decline of the American Dream in a small town in Maine. It won the 2002 Pulizer Prize for fiction, perhaps partially because of the theme. The writing is solid, but not amazingly good. There is a soap opera-like feel to the book, probably because of the very small cast of characters set in a tiny town...sort of a Peyton Place environment, only post-industrial. The social stratification there has historic roots, back to the boom days of the early 20th Century, but everything has been going downhill for decades. Despite the dark theme, the atmosphere of the book is not all that dark - it even has humorous elements. The narrow plot line revolves around one Miles Roby, manager of the Empire Grill, an old diner owned by the town's de facto matriarch, Ms. Whiting. Miles is in the midst of a divorce he does not want, which affects his relationship with his precious daughter Tick as well as his disabled brother David and deadbeat dad Max. Mom is long dead, but haunts the story considerably. It's a story worth reading.
For a review of the book from NY TImes, click here: http://www.nytimes.com/books/01/06/24/reviews/010624.24scottt.html
Empire Falls was made into a 2-part miniseries and played on HBO in 2005. Paul Newman played Max. For a review of that production, click here: http://www.wordandfilm.com/2013/01/from-the-vault-empire-falls-by-richard-russo-starring-ed-harris-paul-newman-and-helen-hunt/
