Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors. Nobody's Fool is a similar view of small town America as Empire Falls with quirky characters. Sully has never ventured far from the town he has lived in for decades and currently resides as a lodger in the home of his elementary school teacher.
From the cover:
Sully has been doing the wrong thing triumphantly for fifty years. Divorced from his own wife and carrying on halfheatrtedly with another man's, saddled with a bum knee and friends who make enemies redundant, Sully now has one new problem to cope with - a long-estranged son who is in imminent danger of following in his father's footsteps.
