Nobody's Fool

By Richard Russo

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 9, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307809926

Richard Russo

Richard Russo is the author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and several produced screenplays. Empire Falls won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and his adaptation of the book for HBO was nominated for an Emmy. His collection of essays, The Destiny Thief, will be published in 2018. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Portland, Maine.

Reviews for Nobody's Fool

[breic-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is so much fun. I really enjoy Russo's indiosyncratically humorous perspective. He goes into the heads of the characters, showing off their quirky feelings. The book is consistently funny, not because Russo's telling ha-ha jokes, but because of the characters' humanity. My only problem is that they are all recognizably Russo characters, just as in "Straight Man." I'd like to see a little more diversity, and, honestly, a little more conflict.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“(I)t reminded Sully of one of those cockamamie theories his young philosophy professor had so enjoyed tossing out. According to him, everybody, all the people in the world, were linked by invisible strings, and when you moved you were really exerting influence on other people. Even if you couldn't see the strings pulling, they were there just the same.” — Richard Russo, “Nobody's Fool”I have often enjoyed the movie version of Richard Russo's 1993 novel “Nobody's Fool” featuring Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy (her last film), Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith and a host of other capable actors. As good as the movie is, the novel itself is even better, I have finally discovered. While Robert Benton's film is, despite a number of shortcuts, faithful to the novel, both in terms of its plot and its spirit, Russo gives us the whole story, and what a story it is.Donald Sullivan (Sully) is a man in his early sixties who when facing a choice will almost invariably choose wrong. Although collecting government checks for full disability because of an injured knee, he decides to go back to work anyway. We could compile quite a list of other bad choices, including slugging a cop, in a story that covers just a few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve in an upstate New York small town, but Russo's novel is less about bad choices than it is about those "invisible strings" Sully discovers that tie him to other people.The son he ignored in his youth returns to town after losing both his job and his wife, and looks to his father for emotional support. Sully's timid grandson, Will, needs his grandpa to teach him how to be brave. His elderly landlady depends upon him for snow removal and a host of other things. His friends depend upon him more than he ever imagined. Maybe independent, carefree Sully needs these people, too.Perhaps the most significant invisible string connects Sully to his long-dead father, whom he has never forgiven for his abusive treatment of him, his brother and his mother. Sully's self-destructive behavior stems from his father and that string he cannot sever.A plot summary cannot suggest how funny this novel is. Sully, for all his flaws, is a witty conversationalist, and the banter between him and other characters constantly entertains, even when his banter also becomes self-destructive.Having enjoyed Russo's novel as much as I did, I hope I will be able to continue to enjoy Benton's film.

[profh-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Having read Empire Falls, I thought I’d give Russo another chance. If you grew up in a small town in New England (maybe anywhere else) than you’ll have known someone like Sully. The question is, why would anyone write a book about him? Why would anyone read a book about him. I can imagine an editor begging the author to cut 100s of unnecessary pages of complete garbage to find a story somewhere buried below the trite and banal observations of an amateur philosopher. I quit reading after painfully making a dozen pages progress a day for weeks on end. This book and the responsibility I felt towards it impeded so much good reading I could have been doing. When I finally said, “enough” and quit—I felt great. I honestly don’t care what happens in Bath, NY.

[addunn3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best novels I have read! Highly recommend.

[mitchell_bergeson_jr · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Heartbreaking. Hilarious. Occasionally crude. This was a powerfully raw and heartfelt rendering of small town life in upstate New York. Mr. Russo did a fine job with this one. Recommended.

"Make 'em PAY!"

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richard Russo - writer extraordinaire. He always keeps me pinned to each page without fast paced action or drama, just great characterization, dialog and wit.

[knitwit2_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What to say about the practically perfect book? If you saw the movie - go read the book it is so much better. I would get lost in the story and start thinking these were people I actually knew. If every writer were like Richard Russo I'd have to quit my job and move into the library!

[novelcommentary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sully is one of my favorite all time literary characters.

[foof2you · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sully, a guy who lives life by his own code and does what he wants. Still has a heart of gold despite his rough exterior. The characters are interesting and all have their own faults that each other knows about and uses to tweak each other at times.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn't find this to be quite as compelling as Empire Falls was, but it was damn close.

Ron McClarty narrated Nobody's Fool, (as he did Empire Falls), and I ADORE this man's voice.

I will be looking for more works from both of these gentlemen.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Shame on me, I read Everybody's Fool first when Nobody's Fool should have had that honor.Even though the incorrigible Sully was the center character, thus book lacked the humor that I found in Russo's other books. Also, this book reeked of misogyny. And animal cruelty. I did not enjoy this book , my least favorite of the several I've read.

[ffortsa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been thinking of reading this author for some time, and I'm so glad I finally did. The writing is delicious and accessible, and the characters in this story really stay with you. Sully is the 'fool' in the story, damaged by his childhood and a regrettable tendency to do exactly what he shouldn't, even when he knows his choices are wrong. But he has friends - his 80 year old landlady Beryl Persons, his on-again, off-again lover Ruth, his work partner Rub, his lawyer Wirf, his sometime employer Carl, his long-absent son Peter. He's nursing a bad knee, a broken family and a disability claim. But he is generous and even kind in his own way.The town of North Bath in upstate New York is emblematic of the decline of small towns everywhere, when one inexplicable change can ruin an economy. But people stay, perhaps because their web of connections is strong.I almost gave up on this book about 50 pages in, wondering why I should care about such a ne'er-do-well, self-destructive man, but my book group was reading it so I persevered, and not long after that became another of Sully's supportive friends.There are two sequels - I'll be sure to read on.

[jjmann3-873368 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Richard Russo’s Nobody’s Fool introduces us to several residents of the blue-collar small town of North Bath, NY, in the mid-1980s. Down-and-out Don “Sully” Sullivan, 60-year old guy with a bad knee and perpetually looking for work, is the central character and evocative of the desolate and dying North Bath.Nobody’s Fool takes place across several of days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Russo did a fantastic job building the book’s characters and they are what made the story, at least for me, such a draw. I looked forward to reading more each night and finding out more about Rub, Miss Beryl, Ruth, Peter, Will, Carl, and Wirf. Russo built a solid cast of memorable and distinct characters. I found many of the characters more approachable and likeable than those in Russo’s other major work, Empire Falls. Maybe that was because many of them harken to the group my late dad was a part of when he was working -- heavy breakfasters, earnest workers, and dedicated lottery players who were not shy about sharing their hardships and challenges between each other. While at times a bit long winded, I recommend Nobody's Fool for anyone looking for a decent, uniquely compelling story.

[castlelass · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

“Maybe Sully’s young philosophy professor at the college had been right. Maybe free will was just something you thought you had. Maybe Sully’s sitting there trying to figure out what he should do next was silly. Maybe there was no way out of this latest fix he’d gotten himself into. Maybe even the trump card he’d been saving, or imagined he was saving, wasn’t in his hand at all. … Still, Sully felt the theory to be wrong. It made everything slack. He’d never considered life to be as tight as some people…made it out to be, but it wasn’t that loose either.” - Richard Russo - Nobody's Fool
Deep character study about a self-destructive stubborn man, his family and friends, living in a small town in upstate New York in the mid-1980’s. Donald “Sully” Sullivan is a sixty-year-old construction worker who has recently injured his knee and is collecting partial disability but wants to get back to work. We follow Sully as he experiences one of his “stupid streaks,” where nothing goes right for him. Sully’s adult son and his family come to town, further complicating his life. Sully battles his demons, stemming from abuse at the hands of his now-deceased father. Themes include the cycle of abuse, trust, change, free will, and responsibility. Russo is a keen observer of human behavior and is adept at describing human foibles. His male characters are particularly well-developed, with the females serving primarily as foils for their dysfunctional relationship issues.

This book requires a bit of patience. Russo begins by describing the Adirondack area of New York, then zooms in on the small town of North Bath, then narrows the focus to the building where Sully lives in a flat upstairs from his octogenarian landlady. The author excels at creating a sense of community. We follow Sully in the rhythms of his typical day and get to know his local haunts: Hattie’s for breakfast, his boss’s office for the day’s odd job, the OTB where he places his daily wager, and The Horse for drinks after work with his cronies.

The rather thin plotline revolves around a banker attempting to close a deal for an amusement park and a lawyer trying to gain full disability for his reluctant client, Sully. This novel contains lots of adolescent behavior from so-called adults, and the reader gradually becomes aware of the reasons behind what, on the surface, appears to be mean-spiritedness. It follows the cycle of physical and emotional abuse and its impact on the self-esteem of three generations of males, though it takes place within the space of only a few weeks.

I found it most successful when examining freedom of choice and personal responsibility. How much of life is based on talent, actions, luck, or fate? While Sully shows some character growth, I would have preferred more. I also found it rather lengthy for a novel where not a lot happens. Recommended to those with a preference for slowly-developing character-driven stories that comment on interpersonal relationships, especially fathers and sons.

[lit_chick_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Throughout his life a case study underachiever, Sully – people still remarked - was nobody's fool, a phrase that Sully no doubt appreciated without ever sensing its literal application – that at 60, he was divorced from his own wife, carrying on halfheartedly with another man's, estranged from his son, devoid of self-knowledge, badly crippled and virtually unemployable – all of which he stubbornly confused with Independence." (24)I remember that while I was reading Empire Falls, there was a one-line accolade on the back of the book that stuck with me: Nobody does small town like Richard Russo. And surely that was the case with that particular novel. There is a great deal of that is in evidence here, too, in North Bath, a fictional, blue-collar town in upstate New York. But Nobody’s Fool is essentially Sully’s story – a n’er-do-well who, at sixty years old, remains one of the town’s unluckiest citizens, who has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years. Sully rents a suite from Miss Beryl, his widowed and long since retired eighth grade teacher – she alone has genuine affection for Sully. Outside of Miss Beryl, Russo entertains readers with a host of secondary characters with whom Sully has at best dysfunctional relationships: his paramour Ruth, who is a married woman; his estranged son Peter; his persnickety, self-centered ex-wife Vera; his arrogant sometime employer Carl Roebuck; his mentally challenged, clingy friend Rub … and more. A humourous, sometimes raucous, and always moving story, Nobody’s Fool embraces our human follies and triumphs. And while, truthfully, I tired of Sully’s childish, delinquent behaviour at 549 pages long, it’s impossible not to recommend Russo.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What can I say except “Bravo, Mr. Russo, for making me care about such boring people, people I wanted to say ‘Get a life’.” Sully, an aging construction worker who seems to have ZERO going for him, has wormed his way into my heart because of Russo’s writing. Russo has shown that the boring everyday mundane happenings in our lives can make great stories.

[katiekrug · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It took me over a month to finish Nobody's Fool but that had more to do with me than with this excellent novel. I ended up loving it and connecting with it in a way I did not expect, and much more so than with Russo's Pulitzer winner, Empire Falls. I think this was mostly due to my familiarity with the area in which the novel takes place (upstate New York, north of Albany and near a fictionalized version of Saratoga Springs which I visited often as a child) and my familiarity with the characters peopling Russo's world. They were so real to me, all their foibles and kindnesses and self-destructive behavior, all the quiet despair of living on the edge in a dying town. But it's all rendered very subtly, with humor and grace.The protagonist, Sully, is a ne'er do well handyman with an ex-wife, a mistress, a resentful son, confused grandson, and devoted best friend upon whom he heaps (usually good-natured) abuse.This is how Sully's life goes:"He didn’t know for sure, of course, but it just made fatalistic sense the truck would die today. Yesterday he’d had a job offer that was contingent upon having a truck, which meant the truck had to die.” (page 227)And this is the enigma that is Sully - a good man with a good heart who mostly seems to make bad decisions and has trouble connecting with other people on anything but a superficial level (Ralph is his ex-wife's husband and Peter is his son):“'People like Sully,' he said. 'I do myself. He’s…' Ralph tried to think what Sully was.'Right,' Peter said. 'He sure is.'” (page 386)There is not a huge moment of redemption in this novel, where the sun suddenly shines on Sully and all becomes clear. But he does seem to begin to come to have a sense of his impact on people and to care what that impact is. His former carelessness becomes unacceptable in the face of the growing affection between him and his grandson. He remains implacable in some things though, including his hatred of his deceased father who was a mean and bullying drunk who abused his wife and sons.“But Sully could only surrender so much, and he understood that if he and Ruth married, she’d eventually have him visiting Big Jim’s grave with fresh flowers. She’d go with him and make sure he left them. And where was the justice in that? It would mean that in the end Big Jim had fooled them all and beat the rap, walked out of court on some flimsy Christian loophole called forgiveness. No. Fuck him. Eternally.” (page 543)Harsh, yes, but I feel the same way about certain people and circumstances in my life, so again, the bell rang clear and true for me.And a final quote, which I just loved, because it perfectly describes the complexity and mystery of love and what ties us to other people:“For fairness and loyalty, however important to the head, were issues that could seldom be squared in the human heart, at the deepest depths of which lay the mystery of affection, of love, which you either felt or you didn’t, pure as instinct, which seized you, not the other way around, making a mockery of words like ‘should’ and ‘ought’. The human heart, where compromise could not be struck, not ever.” (page 545)Highly, highly recommended, if you can tolerate a book in which not much seems to happen. Still waters run deep.

[gmmartz · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd bail on a Richard Russo book. I love his writing and his slice of life in small town stories are great. However, this novel is slow to develop- maybe that's intentional, since upstate New York doesn't sound very 'happening'.

The main character in Nobody's Fool, Sully, is a likable ne'er-do-well and the rest of the characters are interesting. I think that's the crux of my problem with this book, and I freely admit it may just be specific to me...... Jim Harrison wrote a collection of novellas and novels about a character called Brown Dog, a pseudo-Indian from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who is pretty much the same guy as Sully, only an order of magnitude funnier and more interesting. As I told my wife, I chuckled several times while reading about Sully, but Brown Dog will make a reader laugh out loud. That's hard to do with the written word..... I just couldn't get past the comparisons.

Anyway, it's probably just me but Nobody's Fool didn't cut it.

[jean_roberts-980215 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Read this after seeing the movie which was shot in Beacon and Fishkill NY. I love Richard Russo's work. The sequel, Everybody's Fool, is an excellent read as well.

[ncrainstorm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I decided to try this book when I read the synopsis and it mentioned slyly funny. I love a book that can make you laugh even under the saddest circumstances. Richard Russo does just that in Nobody's Fool. Poor Sully, the main character, can't catch a break in life; although, truth be told, he never tried very hard. He shuffles along on his bad knee attempting to make a living, deal with family, and solve his love life. Things keep falling apart on him, but through it all, he has a good heart that shines through.

[cat1ballou · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite bits of this book was the repeated use of the phrase, "star of my firmament."

[tercat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Richard Russo has such a fluid style, and his characters are so believable (to me, anyway). I like how Russo takes what could be "type" characters and makes them multi-dimensional. Nobody's Fool doesn't have a complicated plot--it doesn't knock your socks off the way Empire Falls does, but it's a good read.

[dickmanikowski · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How did I ever get to the age of 64 without encountering the novels of Richard Russo? I'd seen them on the bookshelves, but there's LOTS of books on the shelves.NOBODY'S FOOL seems to be a typical Russo novel. Incredibly vivid characters whom the reader comes to more deeply appreciate as the pages turn. And the occasional absolutely hilarious incident.Highly recommended for all ages.

[ellencam · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love all Richard Russo's books, but to me this is his best, Well developed characters, so funny. The characters are memorable even now, many years after reading it.

[figre · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those books where I am torn about my final appraisal. On the one hand, it is a very good book written in the style that Russo does so well - detailed descriptions and stories from people's lives that make them very real. Even some of the relatively minor characters are given sufficient back story to keep them from being cliché. On the other hand, after spending all this time with the characters (a very enjoyable time), I felt there wasn't a whole lot that brought the story to an end. Sure, some of the story lines were wrapped up (but not all –and that is appropriate.) And there was a conclusion of sorts. But it ended with a whimper and, while I don't need a bang (as occurred in Russo's Empire Falls), I do need at least some pop.This is the story, told primarily over Thanksgiving and Christmas, of a small town and the strange characters that inhabit it. The primary focus is on Sully, a hard-luck character that knows he has made his own bad times as well as good. He is fooling around with another man's wife (it seems everyone is fooling around with someone), he is trying to get disability while continuing to work odd jobs, and he has an ex-wife and an adult son– the former of which wishes to forget him and the latter who can't figure out how he feels about him. There is the promise of major development in the town that will help everyone. There is also the old lady who is Sully's landlady who seems to care more for Sully than her own son (the "rich" banker). There is the developer who fools around with everyone even though he is with the most beautiful woman in town. And there are even more characters.You notice how my description of the story is more about the people than a story? That is because there really isn't a major story driving this narrative. That is not a bad thing. The multiple small, intertwined stories more than make up for the lack of big narrative. And, yes they are interesting people, but I wonder. Are they real? Do people really act this way? Is this a part of what it is to grow up in a small town? I do not know. But, in spite of the reality Russo brings to the story, I still feel that reality is stretched – stretched enough that I am not completely immersed in the believability of the story.As I say. This is a good book. The stories of the people propel the reader forward. But somehow the cumulative effect of all those small stories does not a big story make.

[hanesworth_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had never read this book by Russo. His depiction of human nature is so on the mark without getting maudlin and preachy. I really hated to come to the end of the book.

[eleanor_eader · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Donald Sullivan, or Sully, is going back to construction work on a busted knee, endangering his slim chances of full disability, against the advice of friends and his longsuffering lawyer. Admitting to himself his penchant for stubborn ‘stupid streaks’, in which even his best intentions lead to catastrophic consequences, he endeavours to keep one limping step ahead of his own downfall. His estranged son joins him in working on a local house, his best friend sulks jealously at the inclusion of this new work mate, his landlady resists the urging of her own son to oust the dangerous, negligent Sully from the flat above hers, and Sully doggedly follows the path of most resistance over an obstacle course of self-made disasters. Russo’s Nobody’s Fool is one of my favourite contemporary American novels, and also a frequent reread of mine, but now that I come to review it, I can’t quite explain why I find it comforting and entertaining enough to keep returning to. Certainly, the dialogue is the companionable, joshing sort that keeps me grinning when I’m not spluttering with laughter, Russo’s description of the small town of Bath is delightful and imbues the place with a fading but unique character, and the characters themselves are as myriad and believable as any I’ve met on a page… but other books have accomplished this and been enjoyable, once only reads. I think the difference is that, with Nobody’s Fool, Russo has a achieved a network of relationships around Sully that keep him surrounded by – and rebounding off - a perfect mixture of affection, irritation, rivalry, negligent friendship, exasperated concern and even love. The plot is a gently meandering chart of Sully’s latest ‘stupid streak’ and how it affects his connections to the people in his life, and though it seems a subtle - almost trivial – limp forward, the end manages to leave the reader with a profound satisfaction.

[cherilove · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

LOVED it! Great fun, some pathos. I highly recommend finding the audio version read by Ron McLarty. McLarty adds so many layers of richness to the book. Go, now!

[browner56 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I grew up in a bustling suburb in Southern California, which is about as far away from the world that Russo writes about as you can get. “Nobody’s Fool,” like most of his other books, takes place in a small town in the northeastern part of the United States that, for various reasons, has become disenfranchised from the mainstream American Dream. The people that call North Bath, NY home tackle life’s pressing issues as best they can, which means with a mild sense of resignation and usually on a day-to-day basis. While the contrast between the life he describes and my own was interesting enough, the real reason I love Russo is the complex, witty, and compassionate way he draws his characters. Although nothing much happens in this novel from a plot standpoint, I became so attached to the various personalities—particularly Sully, who is very much his own fool if nobody else’s—that I found myself more than a little sad to see it end. (Shouldn’t that be one way of defining great fiction?) This guy really is a wonderful writer.

[catien_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Donald Sullivan, nickname Sully, is 60 years old and resides in an upper-floor apartment of a house owned by Beryl Peoples. She is in her 80s, a retired 8th-grade English teacher. These are the two main characters of the book, who, even with all their warts, the reader becomes enamored with, mostly. I add that qualifier because I did get somewhat frustrated with Sully's poor decisions that continually landed him in hot water. But in the end, he does the right thing and redeems himself. This is a character-driven book where the characters are dealing with the day-to-day struggles of life in a small town with a dying economy. I wouldn't say this is my favorite Russo book, but it is Russo! His books are always worth the time to read.