Empire Falls by Richard Russo

How deep could human emotions run? Very deep, indeed. The book - Empire Falls , is precisely about that. The story is based in a town called " Empire Falls" and the protagonist is a man called Miles Roby. He is owner of a restaurant in Empire Falls. The book delves into several realtionsips - mother and son , husband and wife, extra marital relationships and so on. The book explores good and dark sides of all relationships. The narrative is brilliant and one wonders at the insight of the author in being able to write about realtionsips in such a deft manner. Without being cynical, the book is real and practical. Even though the setting is West, one feels a sense of deja vu on reading the book. How often the world seems different when looked at from an external perspective ? How often do we wonder about our own stupidity in handling certain situations ? How un common can common sense sometimes be ? How long will we live anyways ?