Point of View

Empire Falls is written largely from an omniscient point of view but frequently segues into Miles' Roby's naive observer voice or the dialogue of the characters.

Setting

Empire Falls, Maine is the setting for almost all of the action in the novel of the same name with frequent flashbacks to Martha's Vineyard and occasional vignettes in the Florida Keys. A few events also occur in Boston, St. Luke's College, and the Sigma Nu frat house at the University of Maine.

Language and Meaning

Richard Russo is a master of the English language and slips seamlessly from one voice to another. It seems Mr. Russo is incapable of coining a sentence that does not contain some measure of wit and even his vernacular is penned with a warm eloquence.

Structure

Empire Falls is a novel of moderate length of 32 contiguous chapters in four parts. The novel is...