Cover of Straight Man
Read Time: ~6.5 hr

Straight Man

by Richard Russo (1997)

About this book

William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at West Central Pennsylvania University. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a goose, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park.

Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraModern Era
Protagonist / CoreStraight Man Lead Character

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Straight Man by Richard Russo | Literally Just Books