Trajectory: A short story collection

RTE Guide's Book of the Year, 2018 Richard Russo's characters in these four expansive stories bear little similarity to the blue-collar citizens we're familiar with from many of his novels. In 'Horseman,' a professor confronts a young plagiarist as well as her own weaknesses as the Thanksgiving holiday looms closer and closer. In 'Intervention,' a real estate agent facing an ominous medical prognosis finds himself in his father's shadow while he presses forward - or not. In 'Voice,' a semi-retired academic is conned by his estranged brother into joining a group tour of the Venice Biennale, fleeing a mortifying incident with a traumatised student back in Massachusetts but encountering further complications in the maze of Venice. And in 'Milton and Marcus,' a lapsed novelist tries to rekindle his screenwriting career, only to be stymied by the pratfalls of that trade when he's called to an aging, iconic star's mountaintop retreat in Wyoming. Each of these stories is shot through with the humour, wisdom and surprise for which Richard Russo has long been acclaimed as Trajectory continues to extend the breadth of his achievements.

About the Author :
Richard Russo is the author of eight novels, two collections of stories, and On Helwig Street, a memoir. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which, like Nobody's Fool, was adapted to film, in a multiple-award-winning HBO miniseries. He lives in Maine.

Review :
So rich and flavoursome that the temptation is to devour it all at once. Thoughtful, soulful . . . It will abruptly break your heart. That's what Richard Russo does, without pretension or fuss, time and time again. Another of the author's peerless depictions of small-town life. Trajectory functions as a neat introduction to Russo's oeuvre and interests, exploring the constant friction between his thoughtful characters and the brashly confident people they rub up against. And the new story, Milton and Marcus, is worth the cover price alone, Russo finding a rare soulfulness in the life of a down-on-his luck Hollywood screenwriter. Thoughtful and warmhearted, [Russo's] fiction has the engaging quality of tales told by a friend, over drinks, about a person we know in common. And so we lean forward, eager to hear what happened next. The four terrific stories in Trajectory tackle themes that are instantly familiar...but Russo's seemingly effortless prose transforms them into something freshly seen. Russo has fashioned tales compact enough to make an immediate impression (and to read in a single sitting), but rich [in] believable characters, graceful plotting and pointed dialogue. Beautifully accomplished [Russo] casts a warm eye on life in all its knottiness in a masterly work that hits the bullseye.