About this title: In this follow-up to "Bridge of Sighs," Russo delivers a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter's new life and, finally, what it is he thought he wanted and what in fact he has.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2009-08-04
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: Very Good. 2009 hardcover, no dj, STATED 1ST EDITION, no marks noted in or on book, All of our products are cleaned with an disinfectant for your protection before shipping. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New in new dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 261 p. Audience: General/trade. In Stock. Ships from CA, United States. Absolutely Brand New, Never Read Copy. Pages are clean and bright and unmarked. Dust Jacket shows shelf wear but has no rips, bends or tears. Makes a Great Gift! read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover; First Printing
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: Fine in Fine dust jacket. Hardcover. Knopf, 2009. 1st Edition/1st Printing. Fine Book in Fine Dust Jacket. Price Intact. Overall, a clean and tight copy to add to a collection or read and enjoy. Dust Jacket protected with a new archival cover. Bubble wrapped and shipped promptly in a box. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New. Items ship once payments have cleared. Media mail 5-8 days Priority 2-3 days and international orders may be subject to customs clearance procedures which can cause delays. Seasonal delays can occur in postal system. All items ship within 24 hours of receiving payment. read more
Edition: Large type / large print.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Random House Large Print Publishing
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780739328613ISBN:0739328611
Description: New. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780739328613ISBN:0739328611
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: VINTAGE Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780701184629ISBN:0701184620
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 272 pages. Thirty years ago, on their cape cod honeymoon, jack and joy griffin drafted the great truro accord. at the time they were living in los angeles. now the two of them are back on the cape-where jack also spent childhood vacations which still cast a long shadow-to celebrate the marriage of their daughter laura's best friend. (Paperback) read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Audio CD
Publisher: Random House Audio
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780739318928ISBN:0739318926
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: First edition. First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 261 p. Audience: General/trade. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on title page. First Edition/First Printing. New book, opened only for signing. Brodart protected, ships in a box. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: Signed by Author. Hardcover. First Edition. First Printing. 261 pages. As New in As New Dust Jacket. The author's seventh novel. One of the most important literary events of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. The book went into subsequent printing even before its commercial release. "A novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed ... read more
Edition: First edition. First printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New in new dust jacket. SIGNED & dated (10/09/09) personally by Richard Russo directly on the title page, NOT signed to anyone. A photo of Richard Russo at the book signing event will be included with the signed book. First edition, First printing. Hardcover. Book is brand new and unread. No marks, No inscription. NOT a book club edition, not an ex-library. Dust jacket is new, NOT price clipped, and is in a protective mylarcover. This is a beautiful autographed first edition for collectors. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: New in new dust jacket. Signed by author. Perfect copy. Opened just for signing. First edition/First printing protected with Brodart jacket protector. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 261 p. Audience: General/trade. Will ship in a box, insured and tracking included. Please email me with any questions. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780375414961ISBN:0375414967
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Excellent condition, very minor edge wear on cover. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 261 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Date Published: 06/08/2009
ISBN-13:9780701184629ISBN:0701184620
Description: Used-Good. Book in good or better condition. Dispatched same day from warehouse. Please email with any questions for quick response. read more
"Have you ever had the unsettling experience of standing before a mirror and seeing your mothers'(or fathers) face staring back at you wondered when the heck did this happen? It seems that at some point in our lives we all begin to resemble our parents, either physically or in our actions and outlook on life. In Richard Russo's new book That Old Cape Magic he has "magically" captured what each of us has or will experience at some point in our lives......the awful realization that we have become our parents.
Russo presents his readers with series of twos. A two part book consisting of two weddings, two urns, two love triangles, a wedding rehearsal dinner worthy of being a "bit" on the old Dick Van Dyke show and a protagonist named Jack Griffin who, like his parent before him, is congenitally unhappy. We follow along as Jack takes a long, introspective look at his 57 years of life and finds it to be wanting. Most of Griffin's dissatisfaction with his own life and musings about his childhood and early married life are centered around his parents, a couple of frustrated, elitist academics who aspired to teaching at an East Coast Ivy League school but were relegated to plying their trade at second-rate Mid-Western colleges. As with all things in his parents lives, from the homes they rented to the jobs they held, nothing was ever good enough or worthy of their talents. Their mantra concerning all things was either "Can't afford it" or "Wouldn't have it as a gift". Even today his mother's ever critical and disdainful remarks continue to play on in Griffin's head, even after dear old mom departs this earthly plane. In contrast to his sarcastic mom, we have Griffin's thoughtful daughter Laura, his ever-loving and forgiving wife Joy, and his friend Marguerite, a woman so sweet, warm and understanding you could almost suffer a diabetic coma just reading about her.
Russo has held up a mirror to all our lives and dared us to take a look. Happiness or despair ......ultimately the face staring back at us is the one we choose. 3 ½ stars."
"This is the first book by Richard Russo that I have read and I know he has had some great reviews on previous publications. This was just an OK book for me. It reminded me of a 21st Century Updike or Cheevers. There was almost as much drinking, cheating and dysfunction, but not as many interesting people. The academic snobbery hasn't changed with the century. Other than the male protagonist's wife , daughter and temporary girlfriend, I didn't like or relate to any of the characters in this book. Russo created three somewhat likable and interesting females, but the rest of the cast is aggravating and/or uninspiring. I won't miss being part of their world.
The writing is yeomanly, but no one sentence or paragraph makes you say "boy I wish that I had written that". Since this is a character study, there are no attempts at vivid descriptions of the landscape of Cape Cod or coastal Maine. I don't think that's Russo's shtick.
The plot wanders from Cape Cod to Southern California to Maine and back to the Cape where I guess we have a happy ending. But nothing about it is compelling, suspenseful, enlightening or even very entertaining.
"I enjoyed reading this book. The main character made a pact with his wife during their honeymoon about how they would live their lives (leave LA, get a serious job at a college in the Northeast, buy an old Victorian house with character, have a family...), and decades later, he finds himself deeply disappointed with his life and his marriage, despite the fact that he and his wife did pretty much everything according to plan. Hm, that summary makes it sound like a tedious book about an annoying middle-aged man going through his mid-life crisis, which it kind of was. But what made it an interesting read was that his anxiety and disappointment are rooted in his relationship with his parents, and that no matter how hard he tried to escape his awful parents, and to spare his wife and daughter by keeping them away from them, you watch his life unfold into the opposite fate - he remains a captive to their relationship and by the end you realize he has pretty much become them. Ok, so it was pretty predictable. But still, enjoyable."
"I liked reading this book. It was the first Richard Russo novel I've read. I've seen 'Empire Falls' as a film and know that Russo's stories are usually set in the Northeast. I've intended to watch 'Nobody's Fool' too, starring Paul Newman, but unless memory fails, I haven't seen it, yet; maybe I'll order it from Netflix today.
'That Old Cape Magic,' it seemed to me, was about repeating patterns. I had the opportunity to read all of Part One in one sitting (like a summer beach book-not rushed nor neglected, just enjoyed;) so, when the next day I resumed reading at Part Two, the theme of repeating patterns was apparent. I particularly liked the first paragraphs at the beginning of Chapter 9.
Portraying the main character as an only child, he was the centerpoint of the story and I could identify with his struggle for connection through relationships with others; yet instead, he repeats experiences that pay him in human feelings of isolation and alienation.
I didn't catch on to what Griffin's his first name was for the longest time, and after a while I didn't care anymore because it didn't seem important. I only wanted to follow him to the story's conclusion which is the sign of a good read."
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