The strings that tie us together

(I)t reminded Sully of one of those cockamamie theories his young philosophy professor had so enjoyed tossing out. According to him, everybody, all the people in the world, were linked by invisible strings, and when you moved you were really exerting influence on other people. Even if you couldn't see the strings pulling, they were there just the same.

Richard Russo, Nobody's Fool

I have often enjoyed the movie version of Richard Russo's 1993 novel Nobody's Fool featuring Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy (her last film), Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith and a host of other capable actors. As good as the movie is, the novel itself is even better, I have finally discovered. While Robert Benton's film is, despite a number of shortcuts, faithful to the novel, both in terms of its plot and its spirit, Russo gives us the whole story, and what a story it is.

Donald Sullivan (Sully) is a man in his early sixties who when facing a choice will almost invariably choose wrong. Although collecting government checks for full disability because of an injured knee, he decides to go back to work anyway. We could compile quite a list of other bad choices, including slugging a cop, in a story that covers just a few weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve in an upstate New York small town,  but Russo's novel is less about bad choices than it is about those "invisible strings" Sully discovers that tie him to other people.

The son he ignored in his youth returns to town after losing both his job and his wife, and looks to his father for emotional support. Sully's timid grandson, Will, needs his grandpa to teach him how to be brave. His elderly landlady depends upon him for snow removal and a host of other things. His friends depend upon him more than he ever imagined. Maybe independent, carefree Sully needs these people, too.

Perhaps the most significant invisible string connects Sully to his long-dead father, whom he has never forgiven for his abusive treatment of him, his brother and his mother. Sully's self-destructive behavior stems from his father and that string he cannot sever.

A plot summary cannot suggest how funny this novel is. Sully, for all his flaws, is a witty conversationalist, and the banter between him and other characters constantly entertains, even when his banter also becomes self-destructive.

Having enjoyed Russo's novel as much as I did, I hope I will be able to continue to enjoy Benton's film.