But how reliable are the youthful memories we carry around with us? What monuments of resentment have we built on the shaky foundation of misunderstandings and misimpressions? For Griffin's parents, Cape Cod offered paradise "one glorious month, each summer," but he has the troubling sense that "the perfect spot they were searching for" didn't really exist.
And now he's sensing the same restlessness may have infected him, too, leaving him pining for that magical place that will satisfy all his desires. Unfortunately, he realizes, returning to one's youth and escaping one's parents are mutually exclusive fantasies. The shelf of books about middle-aged guys going through midlife crises is long, of course, but Russo threads more comedy through this introspective genre than we get from John Updike, Richard Ford or Chang-rae Lee. He's a master of the comic quip and the ridiculous situation. And as he's shown before, particularly in "Straight Man," one of the funniest college novels ever written, he can be a clown when he wants to.
The climactic scene of "That Old Cape Magic" is a no-holds-barred bit of Steve Martin-like wedding slapstick, complete with pratfalls, sucker punches and runaway wheelchairs. If you always cry at weddings, you'll cry at this -- and laugh, too. Cynical Dad was an easy grader who barely noticed his students unless he was seducing them; intellectual snob Mom conscientiously got to know her students well enough to "dislike them as individuals".
Both looked down on Jack's chosen career as "writing crappy movies". The professors Griffin found a brief annual respite on Cape Cod, where they spent "one glorious month, each summer. Followed by 11 months of misery. But there are signs that this trip is doomed. Jack can't sleep, has quarrelled with his wife, and spends most of the time arguing on his mobile with his mother: When I, as a person who sadly can't write, think of the writing process I think of sitting down, looking around the room, taking a deep breath, and starting to type. Russo dashes this image completely. I saw an interview with h First impressions: I saw an interview with him once where he was in his office, and all over the wall behind him were white boards filled with a tight script, post-it notes lined up in row after row, and other similar types of organizational systems.
Clearly Russo, at least in this particular instance, was not given to sitting down at the word processor and flying by the seat of his pants until the story finished itself. His process of careful planning is very evident in this book. Russo's deft maneuvering through disparate timelines is only eclipsed by someone like Faulkner, and I could see someone making an argument that Russo is even better at it because of the largely modernism free clarity of his narrative execution.
Ron Charles Reviews 'That Old Cape Magic' by Richard Russo
His usage of overlapping revisits to the past never fail to clearly build tension and significance, as opposed to Faulkner's arguable increase of confusion and befuddlement. Russo continues to reveal to me that he is an incredibly important American writer.
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A good book, rewarding, thoughtful, and nostalgic. I enjoyed it very much. Whenever I give a book five stars and don't write much of a review, you all know that it moved me so much that I don't know what to say. I adore Richard Russo, but have never given any of his books five stars.
Partway through the book, I never would have expected this to be the one to get the fifth star. But I stuck with it because I knew Russo wouldn't let me down, and by the end I was laughing and crying at the same time. To truly appreciate what this book of Oh boy! To truly appreciate what this book offers, I think you have to be a person "of a certain age" with a lot of life experience. I am in awe of Russo's deep understanding of complex relationships.
And I'm perhaps even more in awe of his ability to convey that understanding in writing without ever becoming maudlin or trite. I've just now finished the book, so a more complete review may follow. There are spoilers, doggone them! View all 24 comments. Yes, so cleverly written. Whether we embrace it or try to escape it, the family is at the center of our lives. Along with that voracious little worm of dissatisfaction, munching away. There are two weddings used as bookends with a year in the protagonist's life in between. Jack Griffin, after 34 years of marriage, is dealing with the question of who he wants to be when he grows up.
His life has sort of snuck up on him and he's not sure if he's happy with where he ends up. We get to spend lots of very well written angst-filled days with Jack.
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Both of his parents have died within this past year, bringing up all kinds of memories. Let's just say Jack's parents weren't the warmest There are two weddings used as bookends with a year in the protagonist's life in between. Let's just say Jack's parents weren't the warmest of parents. They are both academics, who've settled for jobs in the Midwest while they both believe they should be at an East coast Ivy League school.
Jack has been given the task of spreading their ashes at a suitable place on the Cape. The parents divorced so two separate resting places are needed. The title of the book is somewhat ironic as the yearly vacation Jack and his parents spent on the Cape were often less than magical. Every year as his parents crossed over the bridge that brought them to a cape Cod, they would sing "that old Cape Magic" to the tune of "that Old Black Magic. This year's vacation would be the magical one.
My favorite character by far was Jack's deceased mother, who frequently made snarky comments about whatever was going on in Jack's life. I didn't much care for her when she was alive, but dead she was funny. Russo did not write a 'feel good ' story here. The characters and story are real.
Ron Charles Reviews 'That Old Cape Magic' by Richard Russo
And real isn't always pretty. Jack sums up his current life thusly: Late middle age, he was coming to understand, was a time of life when everything was predictable and yet somehow you failed to see any of it coming. Three stars because, while I understood the characters, I never really connected with any of them. How things might turn out was not all that urgent or important to me. I wanted to feel more. I need to feel more. While I haven't read tons by Russo, I definitely will count on any of his books to engage me.
He is able to make small moments so important. I marvel at how the thread unravels. This deals with a couple attending two different weddings. They have been married for over thirty years. But this is Russo, so you know there's way more going on here.
Another great story from a gifted writer. View all 4 comments. Mar 10, Marialyce rated it liked it Shelves: This was my first novel by Mr Russo and I did enjoy the oft told tale of a marriage that has soured over the years and the impact one's parents have on what you yourself become. It was a quick read and had a number of characters who were both likeable, but oftentimes seemed a bit whiny. I felt the end of the book was better than the beginning and particularly enjoyed the main character's talks with both his deceased mother and father which by the way, he carried their ashes , around in the trun This was my first novel by Mr Russo and I did enjoy the oft told tale of a marriage that has soured over the years and the impact one's parents have on what you yourself become.
I felt the end of the book was better than the beginning and particularly enjoyed the main character's talks with both his deceased mother and father which by the way, he carried their ashes , around in the trunk of his car. The story seemed at times to be a bit disjointed, but in a way was not that the way our characters were suppose to be?
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo: review
Perhaps, too, the ending was predetermined which often makes the reader come away with a point of satisfaction that ahha moment when one says to oneself, "I knew that was going to happen. The answer to that would be "yes" as I saw a type of witty nature that I really think he might have developed better in his other novels. This was one of those mindless fun type reads and after all a bit of fluff never hurts anyone really. Jan 15, Sherry rated it it was ok. What could be wrong with this book? The writing is very good, as one would expect from Richard Russo.
The protagonist is Jack, whose parents are so nasty, a What could be wrong with this book? There are moments of humor, and certainly there are some interesting observations about families and their continuing influences. A sweet and sardonic parable about how finding happiness in life is challenged by the continual collision of past and future with the present. Jack Griffin is happy in his marriage, his home in Connecticut, the transition of his career as a Hollywood scriptwriter to a college teaching post, and his thriving daughter. In the course of the novel, as we move backward and forward in time, all these foundations of his life are threatened.
At the beginning, his return to Cape Cod to attend a wedding o A sweet and sardonic parable about how finding happiness in life is challenged by the continual collision of past and future with the present. At the beginning, his return to Cape Cod to attend a wedding of his daughter's friend revives his conflicted memories of summer sojourns there during his youth. The Cape represents the dream of happiness his snobby, academic parents aspired to but never could afford.
There is much satirical humor about academics as in Russo's "Straight Man". The dialogue and internal monologues of Griffin including the internalized voice of his mother are wonderful vehicles for our journey with an ordinary man with a good heart trying to find the right path through life with his own and his wife's dysfunctional families. To me, the novel was satisfying in the same way as Richard Ford's "The Sportswriter.
View all 3 comments. I love Richard Russo. This is my 3rd Russo read in a year, and I'm hooked. That Old Cape Magic is wise and very funny. Spoken in first person, we really get inside the skin of Jack Griffen, learning to empathize with all his baggage around his parents and how their stormy relationship and vacations in Cape Cod gets him stuck in behaviors that even he doesn't like, but can't change.
The writing comes from a mature and knowing place that looks at people and loves them despite in spite of their wea I love Richard Russo. The writing comes from a mature and knowing place that looks at people and loves them despite in spite of their weaknesses. Arrogance and snobbery get their their comic due. No one is spared.
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This is a fun read that stays in your head and stretches your heart. It's also a slim volume and is written with such economy that it's hard to find a spare word. Jul 25, Craig rated it it was amazing. Russo has the knack of just skewering pretentious academics and he is at his best here. I just loved this book and have re-read it a couple of times. Like the author's Straight Man, this is a light, amusing story that will be sure to please his fans. The main character is carrying around The main character i Sally said: The main character is carrying around lots of baggage - literally the ashes of his father and is examining his parents horrific in a funny way behavior.
Jack Griffin is fighting a mid-life crisis - he and his wife have are growing apart, he longs for the job of his youth, his mother is constantly harping in his ear, and he can't quite let go of his father - literally. With his daughter's engagement, he begins to reminisce about his own parents and his relationship with them. That Old Cape Magic was a little more light-hearted, even downright slapstick in one memorable place.
Jack Griffin is caught in an emotional impasse between weddings, you might say. His marriage is in jeopardy and the urns of "remains" in the wheel-wells of the rental car may have something to do with it. It's about the complex relationships we have with our parents and maybe our spouse's parents and how long it takes us to resolve them. Too bad the release date isn't til August as the setting on Cape Cod would make it a delicious summer read, but that by no means indicates that it doesn't offer plenty to think about. Look forward to that rehearsal dinner chapter.
At first glance "That Old Cape Magic" appears to be simply a story about a 55 yr. However, it is so much more than that.
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It is a study of love, marriage, the importance of family and the inescapable influence of parents on their children. Jack Griffin's anecdotes about his upbringing describe 2 very unlikable parents, who, he convinces himself, he doesn't like. It is remarkably well done, with the trademark humor that is vintage Russo.
I was initially drawn to this book by the cover, actually, though I was totally unaware that there were reading instructions thereon. This is definitely beach reading, and unfortunately little more. Russo tells a great story, and most of his characters are fully formed and interesting. Obviously she's talking about an epistolary novel, and, sure enough, this is explained several chapters later, as if we hadn't seen it coming miles off.
The protagonist's mother is cartoonishly overbearing in the first part of the novel, and in the second half, spoiler alert, but in the second half when she dies, she remains so seriously ensconced in the protagonist's mind that she is still able to speak, and we get little bits of semi-imagined dialogue in italics throughout the narrative.
Yes, this is irritating.