Oddly funny and moving story

Oh, the humanity! From the bad stench, and unstable cemetery to the lowlife criminals, the small town of Bath is packed with memorable characters trying to stay one step ahead of disasters. ( )

20-plus years later, this writer has managed to write a book that is either as good as, or even better than, the first. I believe that is unprecedented. How did he combine his character-driven masterpiece with this combo character/plot driven follow up? I'm at a loss. Every sentence was joyful. It's like a Harry Potter book long in the making happened just for me. I loved every moment. Truly great. ( )

Despite feeling that the book was too long (maybe what I mean is "too heavy to hold comfortably for very long"?) I really enjoyed this novel. Lots of extremely quirky-but-real characters, some sympathetic, some wicked, some truly likeable; many story lines tangled together but not confusing; several laugh-out-loud moments (very welcome just now); wonderful dialog and farcical situations. Couldn't help picturing Paul Newman and Bruce Willis in the roles of Sully and Carl (which they played in Nobody's Fool years ago), and that didn't hurt either.
Review written in 2016 ( )

Everybody's Fool is a wonderful example of how a book can grow on you just like a person can grow on you. Because, it took me quite a while to get into this book. Mostly because I didn't care about the characters. They all seemed to me to be a bunch of whiney, self pitying, losers. But as Russo revealed each characters' back story, I came to see where all that hurt was coming from, and started to get behind them, cheer them them on, and in the end, really like them. ( )

A fitting sequel to "Nobody's Fool", it's hard not to envision Paul Newman while reading the chapters focused on Donald Sully Sullivan, or the late SP Hoffman in the role of Doug Reymer whose character is explored in far more depth here. I would love to have seen more humor, though overall its hard not to like this story especially with Russo's folksy style narrative. I like how he's added some other story elements to this while keeping the core focus of small town life in Bath, NY. A true master storyteller, this is a wonderful read and highly recommended. ( )