ROMANCE

Elsewhere: A Memoir

by Richard Russo
Knopf. 2012. 256p. ISBN 9780307959539. $25.95. LIT
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This memoir focuses on Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Russo's (Empire Falls) life as the only child of an emotionally ill mother. Single after a brief marriage to his father, Jean worked at General Electric in Schenectady, NY, not far from the Gloversville flat she rented in her parents' house, despite her pride in being independent. Prone to emotional outbursts followed by calm periods, Russo's mother thought happiness would be available if she could just be elsewhere. Finally, she quit her job to move to Arizona with Russo when he goes there to college; it was then that Russo acknowledged her illness. Even after he married, had children, and had established a career, his mother's demands continued to shape the family dynamics.
VERDICT Without sentimentality, Russo succeeds in writing a poignant and humorous account of coping with his beautiful, charming, yet destructive mother. Recommended for readers interested in Russo's life and his upstate New York roots, as well as anyone with a mentally ill loved one.
Reviewed by Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo , Dec 21, 2012
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