SOURCE: Charles, Ron. “Grease Spots on the American Dream.” Christian Science Monitor (10 May 2001): 18-19.

In the following review, Charles lauds the literary accomplishment of Empire Falls, arguing that the “history of American literature may show that Richard Russo wrote the last great novel of the 20th century.”

The history of American literature may show that Richard Russo wrote the last great novel of the 20th century. His newly released Empire Falls holds the fading culture of small-town life in a light that's both illuminating and searing. It captures the interplay of past and present, comedy and tragedy, nation and individual in the tradition of America's greatest books.

The mills that caused Empire Falls, Maine, to mushroom during the last half of the 19th century have long since closed in this carefully drawn novel. But the Whiting family still owns the industrial husks, the river frontage, most of the...