It was a quick read and had a number of characters who were both likeable, but oftentimes seemed a bit whiny. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. From the Trade Paperback edition. Add a review * Required Review * How to write a great review Do. He could always tell what Release date: August 4, 2009 OverDrive Read. 1 Star - I hated it 2 Stars - I didn't like it 3 Stars - It was OK 4 Stars - I liked it 5 Stars - I loved it. A sweet and sardonic parable about how finding happiness in life is challenged by the continual collision of past and future with the present. Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Kindle Book. . But there's new ground here too, not least in the brevity and economy of the story. For Griffin, all paths, all memories, converge at Cape Cod. That Old Cape Magic is an interesting, funny, sometimes moving character study that unfolds over the course of two weddings held a year apart, interspersed with flashbacks. From the Trade Paperback edition. Griffin once churned … They have been married for over thirty years. This deals with a couple attending two different weddings. Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Kindle Book. (copied review) The book's two-part structure is simple and elegant: two weddings, a year apart, the first on Cape Cod, the second in Maine. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. It is also about the expectations we have of ourselves and those other have for us, and how those conflict and often disappoint. But fans know the heights he can scale. I find the title an apt description of the Cape’s simpler pleasures: walking on the beach, grilling in the backyard, and eating lobster rolls. 0 Save. Kyle Smith, a film critic for the New York Post, quotes a scene from the book: Mr. Smith says that scene "is, like so many in Richard Russo's writing, both cheerfully impertinent and stingingly true."[2]. Fundamentally, it is a story of a grown man coming to terms with his relationship with and understanding of his parents. There was almost as much drinking, cheating and dysfunction, but not as many interesting people. “That Old Cape Magic” does not disappoint. (His parents, both college English professors, view script-writing as akin to prostitution.) Russo departs today on a multi-city book tour, so catch him if you can. The academic snobbery hasn't changed with the century. That Old Cape Magic Quotes Showing 1-12 of 12 “He'd discovered that his memories of that summer were like bad movie montages - young lovers tossing a Frisbee in the park, sharing a melting ice-cream cone, bicycling along the river, laughing, talking, kissing, a sappy score drowning out the dialogue because the screenwriter had no idea what these two people might say to each other.” It was the worst lie there was, imprisoning and ultimately embittering the hearer, playing upon her terrible need to believe. Dining options: … Some have said it's about a man's midlife crisis, but I am not altogether sure that's what it's about at all. In the course of the novel, as we move backward and forward in time, all these foundations of his life are threatened. Nearing retirement age, over the course of a year, Jack is forced to come to grips with the deaths of both parents, and the long-repressed undercurrents of his own tenuous marriage. It's also a slim volume and is written with such economy that it's hard to find a spare word. That Old Cape Magic is the title of a Richard Russo book, an author who often sets his novels on Cape Cod. It is less … I say thi. What could be wrong with this book? This is a fun read that stays in your head and stretches your heart. This was a book read for a highly stimulating discussion with some GR friends (who've now become real-world friends), so below is more notes than a review. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. But this is Russo, so you know there's way more going on here. At the beginning, his return to Cape Cod to attend a wedding o, A sweet and sardonic parable about how finding happiness in life is challenged by the continual collision of past and future with the present. Improve this listing. ISBN: 9780307273307 Release date: August 4, 2009 EPUB ebook. He’s 57, married 34 years, a college English professor in Connecticut who occasionally takes time away from professing to write film scripts in Hollywood. From the Trade Paperback edition. The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding … But it leaves us hoping for better things from an author we know is eminently capable of them. No one does human nastiness better than Richard Russo. Russo created three somewhat likable and interesting females, but the rest of the cast is aggravating and/or uninspiring. Release date: August 4, 2009 THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC’s trip into one man’s less-than-compelling mid-life crisis is a pleasant enough way to while away a few hours on a sunny beach this August. There was almost as much drinking, cheating and dysfunction, but not as many interesting people. As usual in Russo’s stories we have a middle-aged man struggling in the present and reflecting back on his upbringing, trying to figure out how he got this way. This is my 3rd Russo read in a year, and I'm hooked. It is also about the expectations we have of ourselves and those other have for us, and how those conflict and often disappoint. I find Richard Russo's greatest strength to be the humanity he gives to his working-class, somewhat crude, and deeply flawed characters in the blue-collar New England and upstate New York towns he generally chronicles. It seems also to be about the inability of people to know anyone else in anything more than a surface way, even those we think we know completely. Above all, I found the faint whiff of mortality hovering over these pages, which gave the tale a sense of gravity and sobriety even in the midst of its comic moments. He's been carting his father's ashes around in the trunk of his car for nine months, waiting for just the right moment to let go of the mortal remains of the man who drove him crazy. 0 Dislike. Apr 26, 2018 - All of the books on this board take place on a cape (Cape Cod, Cape May, etc.) That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. Thomas Cameron tries -- and fails -- to like the narrator of Richard Russo's That Old Cape Magic. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=That_Old_Cape_Magic&oldid=973620389, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 18 August 2020, at 07:32. He’s 57, married 34 years, a college English professor in Connecticut who occasionally takes time away from professing to write film scripts in Hollywood. That Old Cape Magic follows the stumbling at mid-life-crisis of Jack Griffin, a one-time screenwriter, possibly fiction writer, presently college professor. That Old Cape Magic (eBook) : Russo, Richard : Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father's ashes in the trunk, but his mother is still very much alive, and not shy about calling on his cell phone. When he was growing up, they’d spent part of every summer on the Cape. (His parents, both college English professors, view script-writing as akin to prostitution.) I say this at the same time I claim Russo as a personal favorite; I’m grateful for dollops of any size. You May Also Like Straight Man: A Novel Not that’s he’s in a bad way. Griffin loves his wife, but "his dissatisfaction had become palpable." Restaurant details . Spoken in first person, we really get inside the skin of Jack Griffen, learning to empathize with all his baggage around his parents and how their stormy relationship and vacations in Cape Cod gets him stuck in behaviors that even he doesn't like, but can't change. From the Trade Paperback edition. Arrogance and snobbery get their their comic due. That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The title refers to a modification of the song “That Old Black Magic,” a tune sung with verve and hope by narrator Jack Griffin’s parents when they would cross the bridge into Cape Cod every summer for one month of relief from eleven months of misery. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg (mwn52@aol.com) on January 23, 2011. 3 Like. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Erin Adair-Hodges of Weekly Alibi writes: This article about a 2000s novel is a stub. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. I won't miss being part of their world. In middle-age, Jack and Joy return to the Cape with most, if not all, of their dreams having been realized, to attend the first of two weddings that bookend That Old Cape Magic, Richard Russo’s reflective new novel. At that point any tidy resolutions to Griffin’s problems weren’t going to work – further development was going to be needed. Whenever I give a book five stars and don't write much of a review, you all know that it moved me so much that I don't know what to say. August 2009. Refresh and try again. While I haven't read tons by Russo, I definitely will count on any of his books to engage me. That Old Cape Magic (eBook) : Russo, Richard : Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father's ashes in the trunk, but his mother is still very much alive, and not shy about calling on his cell phone. See more ideas about books, cape … That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The book opens with Jack Griffin, a writer nearing 60, on his way to a wedding. At that point any tidy resolutions to Griffin’s problems weren’t going to work – further development was going to be needed. That Old Cape Magic – Richard Russo (2009) That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo. Rick Russo's new book contains some familiar, beloved elements for Russo-philes-- a devoted, exhausted wife; a smart, snarky daughter; an irritating mother who doesn't stop meddling, even after death--and at the center, a restless, loving soul, this time the professor Griffin, who wrestles with life's meaning, love, and legacy. The man can write! This is the first book by Richard Russo that I have read and I know he has had some great reviews on previous publications. There is a lot to think about and enjoy in "That Old Cape Magic." You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Release date: August 4, 2009 This was my first Russo book (I know, shame on me, since he lives just up the road a piece) and I see why he is such a popular author. Another reviewer said it best, it was "thin"--would have been a great short story, but the second half really seemed lacking in substance and details. A meditation on marriage and other family ties, “That Old Cape Magic’’ was originally conceived as a short story. First published in 2009, the novel is much lighter in content than his previous work, the somber 2007 work Bridge of Sighs, which followed some upstate New York characters across several decades. In his first memoir, Elsewhere, the novelist writes about how his vivacious but volatile mother and his small hometown of Gloversville have shaped... To see what your friends thought of this book. It's about the influences and familial situations and relationships (real or imagined) that make us who we are. This was my first novel by Mr Russo and I did enjoy the oft told tale of a marriage that has soured over the years and the impact one's parents have on what you yourself become. 0 Meh. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo.This book is about a man who is travelling to Cape Cod to scatter the ashes of his father and to attend a wedding. He could feel the I love you forming on his lips. This book has moments in which you can see that Richard Russo has vision and could write a masterpiece. But at 261 pages, we could have used more. Release date: August 4, 2009 OverDrive Read. That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. Tell readers what you thought by rating and reviewing this book. Would he have said it if she hadn't interrupted?”, Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2009). ISBN: 9780307273307 File size: 2174 KB … He could always tell what kind of year it had been, moneywise, by when and where they stayed. As a child, Jack Griffin vacationed on Cape Cod with his parents, academics who sought respite on the Cape each summer after begrudgingly spending 11 months of the year in the Midwest. As I read this book, I remembered my eleventh grade AP English teacher asking the class incredulously, "My God. In 2002 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls, which like Nobody’s Fool was adapted to film, in a multiple-award-winning HBO miniseries. That Old Cape Magic is Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Richard Russo's seventh novel. At the time, I didn't have a clue what she meant. The Cape is where he took his childhood summer vacations, where he and his wife, Joy, honeymooned, where... Free Shipping on all orders over $10. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. Not that’s he’s in a bad way. ISBN: 9780307273307 File size: 2174 KB … Each of the book’s eleven chapters connects to some aspect of Cape Cod in Jack’s life, from summer vacations there as a kid, to his honeymoon to the wedding of his daughter’s friend, and later his daughter’s wedding. That Old Cape Magic (2009), a novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo, centers on the life of Jack Griffin, a former LA screenwriter who now lives in New England and works as a professor. To be honest, it felt a little thin. That Old Cape Magic - Ebook written by Richard Russo. See more ideas about books, cape … The discussion was interesting, but to be honest the book was less so, and did not leave me thinking I should read Russo again. You might also like similar books to That Old Cape Magic, like Bridge Of Sighs... 3. This is not it. If he could speak them, he might even convince her they were true, as his father had convinced his mother that Browning summer. More restaurant details. This is pretty much your predictable fluffy “marriage on the rocks, but we really love each other” novel. Russo, of course, is my dear friend, and so I'm biased. This is pretty much your predictable fluffy “marriage on the rocks, but we really love each other” novel. Is there some loaded charge to weddings that unleashes the past and threatens the future in a way unlike other events? Sometimes the things … Spoken in first person, we really get inside the skin of Jack Griffen, learning to empathize with all his baggage around his parents and how their stormy relationship and vacations in Cape Cod gets him stuck in behaviors that even he doesn't like, but can't change. It makes me wonder if this story (That Old Cape Magic) is also something that Russo has been dying to tell for years and perhaps he too has been sitting on it for a long time. These activities conjure up a certain enchantment that I fall for every time I visit. Be forewarned: When you gaze into the eyes of your future mate and proclaim "I do," odds are that you're tying the knot with three people, not one. See guidelines for writing about novels. Books shown include mysteries, romance, general fiction and non-fiction. August 4th 2009 by Richard Russo. I read this for a face to face discussion with a small group of GR friends. I love Richard Russo. This was my first novel by Mr Russo and I did enjoy the oft told tale of a marriage that has soured over the years and the impact one's parents have on what you yourself become. From the Trade Paperback edition. Read this book using Google Play Books app on your PC, android, iOS devices. Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group Kindle Book. Add to a … This was just an OK book for me. There is much satirical humor about academics as in Russo's "Straight Man". On page 68 Russo describes a sign, above the rear bar inside the restaurant. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. This is my 3rd Russo read in a year, and I'm hooked. He is also mulling whether to remain in New England or return to the uncertainty of Hollywood. By turns hilarious, rueful, and uplifting, That Old Cape Magic is a profoundly involving novel about marriage, family, and all the other ties that bind. That Old Cape Magic [a Novel] (Book) : Russo, Richard : Following Bridge of Sighs--a national best seller hailed by The Boston Globe as an astounding achievement and a masterpiece--Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth. Is wise and very funny ( 2009 ) that make us who are... Read: Error rating book page 68 Russo describes a sign, above the bar. 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