As usual in Russo’s stories we have a middle-aged man struggling in the present and reflecting back on his upbringing, trying to figure out how he got this way. Not that’s he’s in a bad way. He’s 57, married 34 years, a college English professor in Connecticut who occasionally takes time away from professing to write film scripts in Hollywood. (His parents, both college English professors, view script-writing as akin to prostitution.) With three English professors in the story I think we get eno...

<Synopsis Jack Griffin is described by his wife: ”you’re a congenitally unhappy man”. This is the inevitable outcome that follows from being the only child of selfish parents who had their own agendas and who carried their own bitterness towards fellow man, and life in general. Amidst his introspection and self rumination, Jack does little to endear himself.The two pivotal moments (and the best of the writing) take place at weddings, and Russo creates the memorable “table 17” aka “The leftover...

Hilarious! Slapstick! Russo? Yes, so cleverly written. Loved it.From the NYTimes Book Review (Roxanna Robinson): "Family, family, family is the subject of “That Old Cape Magic.” The family is where the best — and the worst — things happen to us. Whether we embrace it or try to escape it, the family is at the center of our lives. Along with that voracious little worm of dissatisfaction, munching away."http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/boo...

Jack's journey of soul searching and finding his way was warmly told and delightfully entertaining. Jack is afraid to fully engage in life. He keeps much of himself to himself, so much so that he pushes people away, especially those who love him.In middle-age, he struggles to understand himself, his life, what's important and what he wants....not what others want for him. Who is Jack? The story is told with humor, warmth, family and life. This is the first of Richard Russo's books that I've read...

I find Richard Russo's greatest strength to be the humanity he gives to his working-class, somewhat crude, and deeply flawed characters in the blue-collar New England and upstate New York towns he generally chronicles.That said, this is a book centered on the highly cerebral problems of a middle-aged, middle-class academic going through a life crisis. So...yeah, not so much.Russo's writing ability still shines through, but the characters just don't have that sympathetic spark that binds the read...

This book has moments in which you can see that Richard Russo has vision and could write a masterpiece. This is not it. This is pretty much your predictable fluffy “marriage on the rocks, but we really love each other” novel. There is humor, conflict of the soul, and the proven conviction that there is no such thing as a family that is not dysfunctional on some level. It is also about the expectations we have of ourselves and those other have for us, and how those conflict and often disappoint.

Russo said in an interview that he’d originally intended for this to be a short story. Then he wrote a scene where Jack Griffin, his main character, was on the side of the road talking to his shrew of a mother on the phone when a seagull flew by and dropped a calling card on his head. At that point any tidy resolutions to Griffin’s problems weren’t going to work – further development was going to be needed. But at 261 pages, we could have used more. To be honest, it felt a little thin. I say thi...

This was a book read for a highly stimulating discussion with some GR friends (who've now become real-world friends), so below is more notes than a review. Strengths:1. The set-up - suddenly it was as if his dead parent, his living one, his old profession and his boyhood self were all clamouring for attention. - makes for both an interesting plot and a good character study of late middle age (Griffin is in his late 50s) crisis/disintegration of a seemingly settled life.As Griffin realises:Late m...

Genre: Literary FictionPublisher: Doubleday PublishingPub. Date: Aug. 9, 2009Stars: The novel deserves more stars. I explain in my review.Mini-ReviewI found this 2009 novel by Richard Russo in a used bookstore. I looked forward to reading it since Russo rarely disappoints. However, this time he did—at least for me (for today anyway. I'll get to that). The title is a spin on the song “That Old Black Magic,” referring to Cape Cod where our protagonist honeymooned and vacationed all his life.Fans o...

This is my first Russo book and I did enjoy it. Some have said it's about a man's midlife crisis, but I am not altogether sure that's what it's about at all. It's about a man and his wife, his parents and hers. It's about the influences and familial situations and relationships (real or imagined) that make us who we are.It's about guilt, love, self effacing, self love or at least self acceptance. It's about what it really takes to look truthfully into that all knowing mirror and not turn away fr...

My previous (and only) Richard Russo book was his Pulitzer Prize winning Empire Falls – a book I picked up in a bookshop in Bermuda (the only bookshop in Bermuda?) after I had run-out of books to read. From my review, I was impressed with the way that the book “conveys brilliantly a blue-collar American town, left behind by economic and social developments (a theme perhaps even more relevant today than when it was written more in 2001)” but less impressed by a key historical revelation which was...

Rick Russo's new book contains some familiar, beloved elements for Russo-philes-- a devoted, exhausted wife; a smart, snarky daughter; an irritating mother who doesn't stop meddling, even after death--and at the center, a restless, loving soul, this time the professor Griffin, who wrestles with life's meaning, love, and legacy. But there's new ground here too, not least in the brevity and economy of the story. Plus, at times CAPE MAGIC is more laugh out loud funny than any Russo book in recent m...

Be forewarned: When you gaze into the eyes of your future mate and proclaim "I do," odds are that you're tying the knot with three people, not one. Richard Russo's recent novel explores the inconvenient fact that most marriages involve two players on the field and four players on the bench; each partner's parents are shadow participants in the enterprise, despite their physical distance or animate state.Jack Griffin and his wife, Joy, have weathered a 30-year union with relative success. The mar...

First impressions:What really comes to the fore in a sort of throwaway novel like this is just how good a writer Russo is. Even with a story that is not meant to be overly complex, and isn't weighed down with a large cast of characters, Russo is such a capable craftsman.When I, as a person who (sadly) can't write, think of the writing process I think of sitting down, looking around the room, taking a deep breath, and starting to type. Russo dashes this image completely. I saw an interview with h...

Oh boy! ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy... Whenever I give a book five stars and don't write much of a review, you all know that it moved me so much that I don't know what to say. I adore Richard Russo, but have never given any of his books five stars. Partway through the book, I never would have expected this to be the one to get the fifth star. But I stuck with it because I knew Russo wouldn't let me down, and by the end I was laughing and crying at the same time. To truly appreciate what this book of...

What could be wrong with this book? The writing is very good, as one would expect from Richard Russo. The plot is barely there, but that isn’t an issue. The characters are vivid—and that’s the problem. Nearly to a man (or woman), the characters are unlikable, and they are so vividly drawn that the reader feels like they’re jumping off the page—unfortunately, because these are not characters with whom you’d ever want to interact in real life. The protagonist is Jack, whose parents are so nasty, a...

This was my first novel by Mr Russo and I did enjoy the oft told tale of a marriage that has soured over the years and the impact one's parents have on what you yourself become. It was a quick read and had a number of characters who were both likeable, but oftentimes seemed a bit whiny. I felt the end of the book was better than the beginning and particularly enjoyed the main character's talks with both his deceased mother and father which by the way, he carried (their ashes), around in the trun...