Another Reason Why Richard Russo is a Great Writer

Richard Russo is a great writer. His novel, Straight Man is a wonderful book. It is very fun and at the same time serious. I am very envious of his writing ability.

Russo wrote a piece in Sunday’s Washington Post about Eliot Spitzer as a character in a novel. Russo makes some good points about how character in novels should be complex–not entirely good or bad, but flawed. Spitzer is obviously a good choice.

One of the things that makes Russo great is his use of humor. In the article, Russo provides a character sketch of Spitzer and then he adds this humorous bit:

The novel’s getting pretty dark, and that worries me. Time for a little comic relief. Real-life Eliot has few friends, we’re told, the natural result of what some people like to call his arrogance, though my Eliot has never thought of it in those terms until now. Arrogant? He’d simply tried to put criminals in jail where they belonged. Wasn’t that his job? Is that any reason he should be friendless now? So I’ll give my Eliot one friend, someone to help him put what he’s done into perspective. I’ll give this friend some of my own cynical humor. Ah, what the hell, I’ll give him my name. Call him Rick. I can change that later with a keystroke.

Before everything begins to unravel, Eliot confides to Rick that he’s made a mess of things, betrayed everyone he loves, that he isn’t even sure who he is anymore. But Rick will tell him not to be melodramatic. It’s true that he’s made mistakes, big ones, Rick explains, but they aren’t what Eliot thinks they are. Rick admits he’s outraged that Eliot has spent $80,000 on prostitutes, because it shouldn’t cost that much to get a little action in America. It’s like one of those $500 Pentagon hammers. Downright wasteful. And why order a hammer from New Jersey and pay the shipping? There are perfectly good hammers in Washington — it’s a damned city of hammers, when you think about it. Where on earth did Eliot get the idea that New Jersey hammers were superior? All he wanted to do was nail something, right?

I wish I could write like that. If you haven’t read Straight Man, buy it.