Nobody's Fool

By: Richard Russo

Narrated by: Ron McLarty

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Empire Falls, this slyly funny, moving novel about a blue-collar town in upstate New York—and about Sully, one of its unluckiest citizens, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years—is a classic American story.

"Remarkable.... A revelation of the human heart." —The Washington Post

Divorced from his own wife and carrying on halfheartedly with another man's, saddled with a bum knee and friends who make enemies redundant, Sully now has one new problem to cope with: a long-estranged son who is in imminent danger of following in his father's footsteps. With its uproarious humor and a heart that embraces humanity's follies as well as its triumphs, Nobody's Fool, from Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Richard Russo, is storytelling at its most generous. Nobody’s Fool was made into a movie starring Paul Newman, Bruce Willis, Jessica Tandy, and Melody Griffith.

Look for Everybody’s Fool, available now, and Somebody’s Fool, coming soon. © 1993 Richard Russo; (P) 2003 Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Remarkable.... A revelation of the human heart." —The Washington Post

"Russo is a master craftsman....Nobody's Fool is a big, rambunctious novel with endless riffs and unstoppable human hopefulness." —The Boston Globe

"Simple as family love, yet nearly as complicated, Richard Russo's confident, assured novel sweeps the reader up in the daily life of its characters." —San Francisco Chronicle

A man among men . . . and it is a compliment

Having seen (and loved) the movie numerous times, I have put off reading the book for a very long time, concerned that it would not live up to my expectations. Having Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy and Bruce Willis permanently etched in my mind’s eye as the main characters, it’s impossible to separate my response to the book from my feelings about the film. To my great delight, Sully in the book is every bit as ironic, rascally and endearing as Newman portrayed him, so my fears were groundless. The other residents of North Bath are fully developed, bringing in more characters than the film did, and significantly changing others.

This is very much a character study. Don’t look for action, mystery, or broad comedy. What you will get is a well-paced slice of life, saturated with subtle and ironic humor, that illuminates what makes people tick in a small dying town. All of the characters are flawed, many to the point of being unlikable. But Russo gives them enough dimension to allow us at least some sympathy for what has brought them to where they are now. Fully understanding the story behind Sully’s relationship with his dad makes make you wonder why he is merely philosophically dysfunctional instead of stark raving mad. His humor and native intelligence makes him one of the best characters I have read in contemporary American literature. I would give anything to be able to meet him for a beer at the White Horse just to shoot the breeze. I suspect I would fall in love with him. As Toby observed, he’s a man among men. Only unlike her, I mean it as a compliment.

I fell in love with Sully...

and his town and most of its people. Plot or not, Russo made them all come alive, and I enjoyed every minute and was sorry to see the story end.

I wasn't wild about McLarty's choice of voice for Sully ( Paul Newman will always be Sully in my mind!), but it's still a superb job of narrating.

wonderful book, wonderful narrator

Donald Sullivan (Sully) is the Don Quixote of upstate New York. I loved this one so much I listened to it twice, which is a first for an audiobook.

It's all about the characters

A beautifully executed audiobook rich in characterization. It's all about the people and their interactions as they live their "ordinary" small town lives. Written and read with finess and all the color of an upstate New York fall.

Very enjoyable

Try it, you'll like it. It's entertaining. You can laugh at the characters and the story, or you can put yourself in their shoes and laugh (or cry) with them. Very well done.

I hated for this book to end!

I came to love these “neighbors”. These people, who struggled with their lives, their thoughts, their histories, and their perceptions. This book is a gift to mankind and was acted and read superbly.

Great book. Funny and sad but true to life.

Great book. Enjoyed the book more than the movie. The movies is a classic. Could not stop listening to the book. Sully is a clasic modern literature character.

Even Better Than The Movie

This is one of the best books I listened to this year. I had thoroughly enjoyed the movie and was worried that Ron McLarty's Sully would not equal up to Paul Newman's. This was a needless fear. McLarty came through as he always does, offering up Sully in a voice that conveys the same witty, resigned gruffness so central to the character of John Sullivan. Another element of the movie I loved, the full tableaux of interesting characters in the town of North Bath, is (not surprisingly) more fully and deeply explored in the novel. Add to this a few key events in the novel that were either left out of the movie or drastically altered and the experience is fresh even for someone who has seen the film multiple times. Bravo!

Too long

Gets boring after some time. The story does not progress after the midway mark. I suppose an abridged version would be a better read...

Ron McClarty makes everything better

I'm not sure I'd have loved this book as much, read by anyone else. It's a marriage made in heaven, Russo's stories of people in small, New England towns and Ron McClarty's down to earth interpretation of them. I wish Russo would give an ending to his stories but even without that, loved Nobody's Fool. If you like it too, I highly recommend "Memory of Running". Again, a story of a New England life, it's one of the best listens I've enjoyed out of hundreds.