Trajectory

Russo's characters in these four expansive stories bear little similarity to the blue-collar citizens we're familiar with from many of his novels. In "Horseman," a professor confronts a young plagiarist as well as her own weaknesses as the Thanksgiving holiday looms closer and closer: "And after that, who knew?" In "Intervention," a realtor facing an ominous medical prognosis finds himself in his father's shadow while he presses forward--or not. In "Voice," a semiretired academic is conned by his increasingly estranged brother into coming along on a group tour of the Venice Biennale, fleeing a mortifying incident with a traumatized student back in Massachusetts but encountering further complications in the maze of Venice. And in "Milton and Marcus," a lapsed novelist struggles with his wife's illness and tries to rekindle his screenwriting career, only to be stymied by the pratfalls of that trade when he's called to an aging, iconic star's mountaintop retreat in Wyoming.

Personajele lui Russo din aceste patru povesti expansive au putina asemanare cu cetatenii cu guler albastru pe care ii cunoastem din multe dintre romanele sale. In „Calaret”, un profesor se confrunta cu o tanara plagiata, precum si cu propriile ei slabiciuni, pe masura ce sarbatoarea Ziua Recunostintei se apropie din ce in ce mai aproape: „Si dupa aceea, cine stia?” In „Interventie”, un agent imobiliar care se confrunta cu un prognostic medical de rau augur se regaseste in umbra tatalui sau in timp ce el inainteaza - sau nu.