Having read all his other books, Mohawk bears similarity to several though far less engaging. Russo has the folksy tone necessary to tell small town stories, and this one bears the hallmarks of the Pulitzer winner, Empire Falls, though the over use of back story dampens the pace. Focused on the Mather family, we meet an array of characters including Wild Bill who hangs out at the Mohawk Grill for handouts. Russo always interjects humor with characters like these to offset themes of loss, redemption and discovery. Being that this is one of if not his first, it's delightful to see how his skill evolved over time. That said, "Nobody's Fool" and "Straight Man" remain the favorites though I've enjoyed every one of them at varying degrees. Worth reading if you seek an introduction to his style but far from his best work. ( )

So much of what characterizes Russo shows up here in this early book. ( )

Richard Russo, born in 1949, from upstate New York, is one of American's foremost living novelists. After Mohawk, his first novel, Russo went on to author seven other novels, including The Risk Pool, Empire Falls, Nobody's Fool and Straight Man.

Compelling portrait of small town USA, Richard Russo's small town is located in the state of New York during the year 1970 and features the interlinking lives of seven main characters, men and women, young and old, but in many ways the year could range from 1915 to 2015 and the locale could be any of the fifty states since there is an undeniable sameness about what it means to grow up, live and, if you do not leave, grow old and die in a small town. Here are snapshots from the novel, snapshots easily recognized by anyone who has ever lived in a small town:

Mrs. Grouse and Anne, her thirty-five year old daughter, find old Mather Grouse collapsed on the living room floor. Mrs. Grouse demands nothing to be done but call an ambulance. Anne defies her mother and gets her father breathing, thus saving his life. One of Anne’s friends, a guy named Dan, tells her, “You’re old enough to know better than to disobey your mother. Just who did you think you were, saving your old man’s life after you’d been expressly forbidden to?”

Randall is extremely intelligent and learns rapidly, qualities much appreciated at the private school he attended prior to coming to the small town of Mohawk. But once enrolled in Mohawk High School, everyone snickered and sneered. Randall quickly learned what he had to do to be accepted by his classmates: occasionally flub up and play dumb. As Richard Russo writes: “Perfection rankled just about everyone, including the teachers, whereas mediocrity made people feel comfortable.”


At the very center of small town USA - the high school football team

Old Mather Grouse has been afflicted with serious health issues these last few years revolving around his lungs and breathing. Mather listens to his wife’s tuneless humming and when the sound becomes very faint and he knows she is at the other end of their house, he pulls out a loose board above the cellar window and removes a plastic bag he’d hidden with some Camels and matches. Mather then puts on his windbreaker and goes out for a solitary walk – the high point of his day.

Henry is the owner of the Mohawk Grill on Main Street. He is the one man in town who befriends Wild Bill Gaffney, who never uses the front door but always enters by the door at the rear in the alley. Although Richard Russo doesn’t have the objective narrator or have any of the Mohawk residents use the well-worn term, it is quite clear Wild Bill is what is referred to traditionally as the village idiot. And, perhaps predictably, Wild Bill Gaffney is a key player in the unfolding drama for the novel’s central characters.

The gloomiest times in a small town can be holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is one telling scene on Thanksgiving Day when we read: “Then Dallas borrowed fifty from Harry and joined the poker game upstairs. The other players were family men who’s seen enough of their families and grown depressed by the sight of the turkey carcass.” Ah, when all else fails, at least there is the reliable second-floor hide-out where you can drink whiskey and do some illegal gambling.

One of the most heart wrenching parts of the novel is where old Mather Grouse reflects on the future of his bright, beautiful daughter: “What if, despite her great gifts, she also ended up trapped? Would she pity some poor boy and marry him, set up house in some rundown second floor flat to wait patiently for him to come home from the corner bar, their meager meal sitting idly on the back burner? In another year would she be pregnant beneath her flowing graduation robes?” I’m quite sure this reflection has been repeated thousands of times by small town fathers and mothers as they pondered the future of their small town sons and daughters, particularly if those sons and daughters exhibit potential that will quickly be snuffed out if they never leave their small town.

Here are two of my favorite quotes about small towns:

“In small towns, news travels at the speed of boredom.”
― Carlos Ruiz Zafón

“People fear anyone who differs from what is considered normal, and in a small town the idea of normal can be as narrow as the streets.” -- Elizabeth Chandler

Lastly, here is a micro fiction of mine published years ago:

SMALL TOWN MENTALITY
From watching their Fourth of July parade and going to their county fair you wouldn’t ever guess this small town is home to such sordid, twisted, sadistic minds.

A few outsiders think it starts when kids bob for apples. The adults hold their heads underwater until their little fingers turn blue and clutch at the air.

Although, some say it begins at home, at night, behind closed doors, when every light in town is required to be put out. ( )

Richard Russo has long been one of my favorite authors. His books, Empire Falls, Nobody's Fool, and Straight Man are American classics. So I decided to go back and read his first novel, Mohawk, written more than 20 years ago. Again we're talking small town upstate New York, lives of ordinary people and characters that leave an impression. It was interesting to see the beginnings of Russo's plot sketching. In this one, 67 small chapters intertwine the stories of 6-8 characters, characters that in his later writing become some of my favorite. Harry, who owns the Mohawk Grill, serves breakfast to the men who come downstairs from the all night poker game, men who play the horses, drink too much and dole out opinions freely. The NYTs noted that " The writing, moreover, is brisk, colorful and often witty. These qualities and the impressive scope of the novel bode well for Richard Russo's future, "
How right they were. ( )

I am somewhat familiar with the Mohawk Valley between Utica and Schenectady so this book had resonance to me. The "Mohawk" village in the novel surely is Gloversville where there was a flourishing leather industry until the mid-twentieth century. Mohawk is one of a number of small towns on the "outs", where nothing much is happening except young people leaving for greener pastures. (There is an actual village named Mohawk and it's a lot like Gloversville.)

Russo captures the lives of the town's inhabitants well. They understand that things will not get better for them; in a sense, they are trapped by history and family ties that they know they will never escape.

Anne Younger, a bright and attractive woman, did not follow until too late her father's advice to leave Mohawk for the greater opportunities in more prosperous places. She married Dallas Younger, a high school star who was self-centered and unreliable. Their marriage did not last and Anne, after a stint in the big city returns to Mohawk with her young son, Randall. Anne lives with father and mother, Mather and Mrs. Grouse. Mather is a reticent and principled man, retired from the tannery, somewhat austere and friendless. Mrs. Grouse is a bit punctilious and difficult. Anne has been in love for years with Dan Wood, the husband of her cousin. Dallas is not closely connected to his family, often drunk and involved in gambling.

Wild Bill Gaffney is the son of Rory, a domineering man, retired from the tannery where Mather also worked. Wild Bill is mentally retarded from some incident vaguely described that we later learn was a severe beating by Rory. His uncle, Rory's brother, is the town cop who seems ineffectual and held in low esteem by the towns people. Harry Saunders runs the Mohawk Grill, a hangout and social gathering spot in the town.

While the story is much focused on portraying the lives of the characters in this decaying town, many of whom are of low character and shiftlessness, there is a plot line involving Randall. Randall grows up and leaves for college where after a few semesters he drops out and returns to Mohawk, planning on somehow avoiding the draft (this around 1972). Randall takes up with BG, a girl a few years younger who is staying in a trailer behind Rory's house. Rory has been stealing hides from the tannery and enlists Randall to take them downstate. Randall plans on double crossing Rory, but ends up in a situation where Officer Gaffney (who has been going mad) shoots Rory, Wild Bill and then himself. Randall is charged with murder, but his story, backed up by BG, is so strong that the charges are dropped. At the novel's conclusion, Randall runs away to keep from being drafted.

Anne's cousin, Diana, dies and Anne could at last fulfill her and Dan's desire for each other. It isn't clear whether this is going to happen and it looks more likely that the lives of the people of Mohawk will continue on the same plane as before.

What makes Russo's novel so good is his depiction of the characters. They are trapped by circumstances that they can't or won't attempt to control. Their lives are linked to Mohawk's fortunes and not much positive with happen to them or the town. ( )