Straight Man

Author: Richard Russo

Just to clear up any confusion before we begin, let me explain that the title of the book refers to the 'straight man' in a stand up comedy routine. This is not a book about the heterosexual male experience in America. It is a fictional novel about an English professor and his zany colleagues and their madcap adventures. So if you are halfway out the door, ready to purchase and then curl up with a book about sexuality and gender and orientations and etc., you might want to take off your coat and just sit back down.
Now that we've settled that business, let me say that I love this book. Oh, how I love it. I've read it six or seven times now, and I still laugh out loud, from the belly, at certain parts of it. I was originally forced to read it for a composition class in college, and even that dark history cannot dim the warm glow of my regard for this book. So, thumbs up? You bet.
Straight Man takes us through a few weeks in the life of Hank Devereaux, a Creative Writing professor at a small, undecorated Pennsylvania college. The particulars of the plot -- political intrigue among Hank's colleagues, Hank's daughter's marital problems, the imminent return of Hank's long-absent father -- are almost incidental. What is delightful about this book is the voice. Hank is struggling on a number of fronts -- his job could be in jeopardy, he suspects he is forming a kidney stone, and he has family issues at least three or four layers deep. His appreciation of the absurdity of his situation, though, makes the overall story both hilarious and refreshing. I don't know that I'd want to know Hank in real life; he is frequently accused by other characters in the story of being a pain in the bum, and I can see their point. It is deeply aggravating to have to work seriously on serious stuff with people who refuse to take anything seriously. It is wonderful, though, to read Hank's story and spend a bit of time in that mind frame. It's like a vacation. And who couldn't use a nice vacation? I would recommend this book to pretty much anyone; I think that it is a story that a vast array of personalities from a vast array of walks of life could enjoy. So go read it. Unless, of course, you are still operating under the impression that it's a book about male heterosexuality. And even then, you could read it to pass the time while you wait for books about male heterosexuality to turn up.