“[Russo’s] first novel in ten years hits the ball out of the park. . . . You’ll lap up this gripping, wise, and wonderful summer treat.” —The Boston Globe“A cascade of charm. . . . Russo is an undeniably endearing writer, and chances are this story will draw you back to the most consequential moments in your own life.”—The Washington PostOne beautiful September day, three men in their late … September day, three men in their late sixties convene on Martha’s Vineyard, friends ever since meeting in college in the sixties. They couldn’t have been more different then, or even today—Lincoln’s a commercial real estate broker, Teddy a tiny-press publisher, and Mickey is a musician beyond his rockin’ age. But each man holds his own secrets, in addition to the monumental mystery that none of them has ever stopped puzzling over since a Memorial Day weekend right here on the Vineyard in 1971. Now, forty-five years later, three lives and that of a significant other are put on displaywhile the distant past confounds the present ina relentless squall of surprise and discovery. Shot through with Russo’s trademark comedy and humanity, Chances Are . . . introduces a new level of suspense and menace that will quicken the reader’s heartbeat throughout this absorbing saga.
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Three college friends, now men in their mid sixties, return to the eastern seaboard town of their youth. Missing is Jacy, the beguiling braless college coed they all swooned over forty years ago. She disappeared shortly after college and was never heard from again.
That’s called a hook.
Russo, whose gift is prying open the insecurities and vulnerabilities of his characters, toggles back and forth, not only between college days and present, but the author also feels compelled to examine each of the three main characters’ childhood. This back-back story, while adding “depth” to the characters, hampers the narrative flow. And if you’re pushing seventy and still living in the shadows of your father—well, grow the heck up.
Russo does a commendable job of weaving in the Vietnam era issues that dominated their college years. He unveils each character’s secrets layer by layer, dropping hints along the way. Eventually, it all comes into focus, and behavior is explained, or at least, understood. Whether those adolescent years should still hold such sway over these men is the reader’s decision. I suspect it will work for some and not as well for others.
We do find what happened to Jacy although she remains as much a mystery in the end as she was to the college friends all those long years ago.
I have read every book he has written. Even had to order some of his first books on !ine. One of my most be!oved authors.
Gifted writer relatable characters but too long
As a big fan of his previous novel EMPIRE FALLS, I looked forward to picking up this new one by Richard Russo. But unfortunately, even Pulitzer Prize winning authors can turn out something more average.
It’s 2015 and three men in their mid-sixties, friends since college, are meeting up on Martha’s Vineyard for a reunion weekend. Mickey, a struggling musician, and Teddy, a small-time publisher who is fighting mental illness, join Lincoln, a commercial real estate broker, at the rundown island home that’s been in Lincoln’s family for generations. Only now he may have to sell it to shore up his personal finances.
But iI turns out to be NOT your typical reunion. Because all three are haunted by the absence of the fourth member of their college group, Jacy, a complex woman all of them were in love with. Jacy disappeared in 1971 while the four of them were on Martha’s Vineyard in this very same house. Was she running away from her fiancé? Did she meet with foul play? Why have none of them heard from her in 40 years?
I won’t tell more about the plot. But the novel turns out to be more about the nature of friendship — how much truth friends actually reveal about themselves to each other, and what can happen when important information is hidden for decades. It also explores, in the absence of that knowledge, how suggestible people can be to swallowing theories and speculations — even from total strangers. And we, the readers, are also kept in the dark until close to the end of the story. So, you might say it’s an object lesson in why it’s good to be more honest with your close friends.
Russo manages to again create distinctive and completely believable characters, who are fully three-dimensional. (He’s very good at this!) My chief complaint with the book is how manufactured the end felt to me. I guess I felt a bit manipulated because SO MUCH had been hidden that it began to feel TOO contrived.
However, I can totally imagine that others would not react the same as I did. So I’d still recommend you give this one a try. If nothing else, it’s a good mystery.
Well written, sort of. The prose was good but the dialog was corny.
4 believable characters who are flawed but you like them. Not sure until last pages what happened.
The story lens is a Martha’s Vineyard reunion of three close college friends–now men in their late sixties–all of whom were in love with and equally close to Jacy, a sorority girl, in an “all for one and one for all” relationship. The friendships (non-sexual, but not for lack of fantasizing by the guys) survive Jacy’s inexplicably becoming engaged before graduation to a wealthy Republican hawk from another school although the four friends were very anti Vietnam war. The three men gather on Martha’s Vineyard at the house, now inherited from his parents by one of them, to drink and reminisce. Separately and together they consider how their lives have turned out forty-four years post college, and to–still–ponder what happened to the Jacy, who disappeared from the island at the end of a weekend the four of them spent together at the same house following their graduation and right before all of their lives would diverge forever: Jacy was to be married to a man her friends couldn’t abide, Mickey was to be inducted due to his 9th-drawn draft number, Lincoln to head back west to work and get married, and Teddy to start a job in Boston. The case went cold; no trace of Jacy was ever found. It’s the great unanswered question underlying the novel, and, apparently, the mens’ lives.
There’s a great deal of telling in this novel, especially of the backstories, which are rich and complete, but much of which do not happen in scene. The current story, with Lincoln beginning to actively re-investigate one theory of what might have happened to Jacy and pick at loose threads, provides a cross between a mystery and a whodunnit, but I’d read the novel for the engaging writing and the depth of character study. Russo does males particularly well, and the portrayals of the psyches of three aging men are accomplished with sensitivity, awareness, and skill.
Just ok
A look at life through a rear-view mirror. Three college friends of the Vietnam era reunite after 40 years to say goodbye to the house they spent an unforgettable weekend with their friend Jacy, each with their own remembrances of this girl they loved. . .two of them wondering whatever became of her, but one knowing the truth. The enduring bind of friendship is explored here as well as the secrets we hold and the power of memory. Once again, Russo brings these characters to life with all their faults and weaknesses. Well done!
Loved this masterful novel.
Don’t read this novel if you’re looking for a Whodunit — from that standpoint it’s pretty flaccid. It’s actually another one of Richard Russo’s insightful character studies. Russo is always better with male characters than female, and that’s true here. But his wonderful portraits of the three male protagonists do much to make up for that shortcoming.
Not Russo’s best, but still a good read.
The accurately described Martha’s Vineyard experience enhances this well written story of 3 college friends and the young woman they were all in love with. The alternating chapters focusing on the experience of each of the friends beautifully enhanced character development and the understanding of interrelationships.
One of Russo’s best!
Oh my goodness this book takes me back! My husband, who was then my boyfriend, and I also sat in front of a TV in 1969 when the draft lottery was televised. He had a college deferment and fortunately his number was high, but the anxiety of that particular time was off the charts high. Imagine your future decided by the random calling out of a number, whether you were able to continue on the path you were leading or got sent to Vietnam. None of my friends believed in this war, barely understanding it, and yet many were sent there, died, were held prisoner or returned with bodies and minds mangled by this tragedy.
In this novel three college friends sat and waited for their numbers to be called, watching on a small TV at the back of the kitchen of the sorority house where they worked. Mickey had the lowest number and was most certainly going to be called, then Lincoln and Teddy. This day affected them all in different ways. The fourth member of their close group of friends was Lacy, the girl that everyone falls in love with . . . . beautiful, caring, charismatic, devil may care, they all loved her. She was waiting with arms open to Mickey when they left the building, she had been waiting to hear the numbers they all received.
Fast forward over forty years and the three friends have decided to reunite on Martha’s Vineyard, at the house that Lincoln’s wife owns, the last place they were all together. They are all still wondering what happened to Jacy, how they never got to say goodbye and never heard from her. She left behind a fiance whom she didn’t seem to love and parents that were grieving for their lost daughter.
As they visit the old places that held so many memories they find out the truth of how they have lived their lives. There are medical issues, financial issues, marital problems, and yet when they are together they still feel the ties that bind.
Eventually we do find out what happened that last day on the Vineyard and it is a believable though haunting ending.
Russo has crafted yet again a strongly character driven novel, this time with a mystery tied to it. I felt comfortable back in the hands of a gifted storyteller and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I don’t feel it is quite as strong a book as Nobody’s Fool or Empire Falls but it’s still one great story and I highly recommend it.
I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.