The main character of this book, Donald ‘Sully’ Sullivan, is a routinely careless man who left his wife and had almost nothing to do with raising his son. He’s had an affair with a married woman for twenty years, and he’s lusting after yet another man’s wife. Sully also drinks and gambles on a near daily basis. At one point in this book he pimp slaps a woman, and there's another part in which he engages in an act that probably meets the legal definition of animal cruelty. Sounds like a real bast...

4.5 Stars - Sometimes funny.......Sometimes Sad.......Sometimes even made me mad!NOBODY'S FOOL is a story about nothing really.......just every day life in a small failing town with unusual and addictive characters, each with their own problems and unorthodox ways.A flawed 60 year old Donald Sullivan, (Sully) with his sarcastic mouth and bum knee lead the reader on a memorable and often humorous ride through some of the unluckiest days of his life (which is most of them) while his big heart and

I listened to Nobody's Fool while driving a rented moving van across country and regretted only that I was by myself and had no one else to laugh with, cry with, commiserate with, or just plain hug when it ended. I've read a few of Richard Russo's books and I don't understand why he doesn't have a statue on the National Mall. Must be only because he is still alive. Of all his books, Nobody's Fool is, by far, my favorite. And Sully, the main character, is, to my mind, an American hero. A beat up

Well, it was kinda good while it lasted, but I'm really glad it's all over Richard Russo's, Nobody's Fool was too long by half. For sure, he writes a rich, detailed, character based story well enough - he creates the sense of place well enough too - and there's even a couple of laughs. But for me it was just TOO LOOOONG and too detailed - it really, for me, was a story of nothing much at all. You know how you can watch a drama series on television and then take a break and come back to it, only

I've long said that I don't do well with "hilarious" novels, or the kind that states somewhere on a blurb on the cover of the book that it's the "funniest thing ever". I feel these books are trying to make me laugh and that's exhausting. "Whoops, was I supposed to laugh at that? Let me go back and see if it's funny... Nope, still barely made me crack a smiler." Books that feature characters that were written with the sole purpose of getting laughs, mean kind of laughs, at a character's expense.

Richard Russo is a god! Okay, well, maybe only a demigod, but he's a literary deity for sure. He's the only author I know of who can write a story where nothing much of anything happens and yet it's so enjoyable to read. He's created his own genre---"dying small towns in northeastern U.S." He creates the most vivid, real characters of any author I've read. He also has a sneaky, quirky sense of humor that I love.Nobody's Fool centers on Sully, a sixty-year-old lovable ne'er-do-well who can never

I’m fascinated by the idea of small town America. I’ve never experienced it in person, just read about it in books or seen it depicted in films and television programmes. The concept seems just so different to any English town I can think of, all of which seem too close to their nearly identical neighbour to offer up anything but another homogeneous collection of chain stores, Costa Coffee shops and charity outlets. Ok, I’m probably being a little harsh on small towns in my own country here, or

Throughout his life a case study of underachiever, Sully - people still remarked - was nobody's fool, a phrase that Sully no doubt appreciated without ever sensing its literal application - that at sixty, he was divorced from his own wife, carrying on halfheartedly with another man's, estranged from his son, devoid of self-knowledge, badly crippled and virtually unemployable - all of which he stubbornly confused with independence. Donald Sullivan believes that if he keeps his head down, travels

Donald Sullivan, Sully to his friends, has always been a bit of a go with the flow kind of guy, not really planning ahead, or pausing to think of the ramifications of some adventure. Regardless of the outcome, it takes a while for him to ponder a notion that would allow for his having made the wrong choice. He’s managed so far, but at sixty, he’s not managing quite as well as he used to, at least not physically. Divorced, with an occasional lady-friend who is married, a group of friends, the per...

“Throughout his life a case study underachiever, Sully - people still remarked - was nobody’s fool, a phrase that Sully no doubt appreciated without ever sensing itsliteral application - that at sixty, he was divorced from his own wife, carrying on halfheartedly with another man’s, estranged from his son, devoid of self-knowledge, badly crippled and virtually unemployable - all of which he stubbornly confused with independence.”Meet enigmatic Donald “Sully” Sullivan, lifelong resident of the sma...

This is interesting, I have five likes, and I haven't finished reading the book, nor have I made any comments on it. I think that some people like that I am reading this most boring, interesting, and somewhat raunchy book. Every day I pick it up and try to make myself read 20 pages. Sometimes they give me a chuckle, other times my mind floats away, and the book is great for going to bed and falling to sleep easily, but then you forget what you have read. My husband was a construction worker like...

I was once seated at a dinner table for a wedding with a gentleman who fashioned a peashooter from a straw. I watched in disbelief as he shot spit balls at his co-workers and thought it was funny. He was about 45 years old.While I read "Nobody's Fool", I kept thinking about the man described above. The main character in the book, Sully, would have thought this prank to be funny, too. The last time I experienced spit balls was in 8th grade. Sully and his friends seemed to be arrested in 8th grade...