
Nobody's Fool
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Narrated by:
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Ron McLarty
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By:
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Richard Russo
About this listen
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.
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
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Had to return.
- By Mimi Marie C on 03-28-25
By: Harlan Coben
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.
A man among men . . . and it is a compliment
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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.
I fell in love with Sully...
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wonderful book, wonderful narrator
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It's all about the characters
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Very enjoyable
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I hated for this book to end!
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Great book. Funny and sad but true to life.
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Even Better Than The Movie
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Too long
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Ron McClarty makes everything better
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