That Old Cape Magic
by Richard Russo
Hardcover, 261 pg.
Knopf, 2009
I feel a little odd giving something by a legendary guy like Russo 2 out of 5 stars, but…eh. It was either not as funny as it was trying to be (while telling a serious story), or it was a serious (somewhat tragic) book that accidentally elicited chuckles. Either way, not entirely successful. It felt like Richard Russo tried to write a Jonathan Tropper novel and didn’t quite pull it off.
Well-written to be sure, and not a waste of reading time…but it wasn’t what it could’ve been. Sorta like the marriages the book talked about that were crumbling in the light of the two nascent ones.
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