Somebody's Fool | Richard Russo

This is the end of the trilogy that includes Everybody's Fool and Nobody's Fool, all of which take place in upstate-ish New York in North Bath and Schuyler Falls. You don't have to have read the other books, but it certainly helps keep track of the characters and their backstories. Richard Russo is great at capturing stories around regular-Joe kind of characters and building empathy for their lives. Russo fills in a lot of background from the other stories in this book, which frankly I found made it a lot longer (although I certainly realize why he did it). I had read the other stories but not recently so I honestly did need a refresher. Many reviews call is a masterpiece and it is, in that it really showcases Russo's writing chops, and I loved the idea of the trilogy and following the Sullivan family through generations. Was it my favorite book, my masterpiece-of-masterpieces? No, it wasn't but it was good and I really like Russo's work. I especially liked Bridge of Sighs and Straightman.