#26: Straight Man by Richard Russo

I really connected to this story and the main character William Henry Deveraux, Jr., but it took me a while to figure out why. The protagonist, Hank, is an English professor about to turn 50 who is experiencing some kind of life mid-life crisis. On the surface, this is the complete opposite of me. It’s through his first person account, however, that we learn the reason for all his thoughts and actions even if they seem completely unnecessary. Russo is a fantastic storyteller and as he allows Hank to develop, a sense of understanding grows from the reader. We begin to understand that we are all Hank. We have love, insecurities, friends, jobs, pets, children, and experience that lead us to take action in our lives. Some of these actions only make sense to us, and that’s ok. Reading a book like this also made me realize that I’ve started to think of my life from an author’s point of view and I guess that’s one thing I like about books; they give color and life to what you thought would be just an ordinary day. Not only do fictional people lead simple yet extraordinary lives, so do we.