SOURCE: Max, D. T. “Expecting Failure, Finding Faith.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (10 June 2001): 17.

In the following review of Empire Falls, Max commends the novel for its appealing style and humor but faults the work for its heavy-handed symbolism.

Richard Russo has focused on fading Middle American towns in several of his earlier books. By now he knows his stuff. His new novel introduces the reader to the town of Empire Falls, Maine. It's been a mill town without a purpose ever since its main industry closed some 20 years ago. Its residents, still stunned, drift. “People rarely knew what they wanted,” the local bartender notes. “Despite their certainty that they did know, she'd never seen much compelling evidence. …”

Hope springs eternal though. The sight of a limousine with Massachusetts plates sets the townspeople to gossiping. In such diminished circumstances, their sins, like their virtues, are modest. Max Roby...