There's almost no group we can imagine who wouldn't like this book. We've read other Russo books, both in and out of book group, and he tends to be one of our favorite authors. Highlights of the discussion included an intimate look at the relationships of parents and children (especially fathers and sons), a poignant vision of a town/America in decay, class and race divisions, the ache of unrequited love, and portraits of real characters in real situations. There were some contrived plot devices in order to achieve balance, karmic echoes, children repeating or correcting parent's past mistakes, and the book dragged in some places (though, interestingly, for some at the beginning, for others at the end). Russo's ability to "get" the individual nuances of each character, through dialogue and observation amazes us every time. Enjoy!

I love, love love Richard Russo and was eagerly awaiting this novel. I talked my book club into reading it and they complained about the slow start. When we got together to discuss it though it was very well received. Stick with it, it gets better as it goes along. Russo has a great collection of flawed characters and he makes them come to life. The book has many conflicts and many great themes and generated a lot of good discussion for us. Great book!