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    That Old Cape Magic: A Novel
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    That Old Cape Magic: A Novel
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    That Old Cape Magic: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    That Old Cape Magic: A Novel

    Written by Richard Russo

    Narrated by Arthur Morey

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Following Bridge of Sighs-a national best seller hailed by The Boston Globe as "an astounding achievement" and "a masterpiece"-Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth.

    Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father's ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura's best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents' respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, in the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that's now thirty years old and has largely come true. He'd left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they'd moved into an old house full of character; and they'd started a family. Check, check and check.

    But be careful what you pray for, especially if you manage to achieve it. By the end of this perfectly lovely weekend, the past has so thoroughly swamped the present that the future suddenly hangs in the balance. And when, a year later, a far more important wedding takes place, their beloved Laura's, on the coast of Maine, Griffin's chauffeuring two urns of ashes as he contends once more with Joy and her large, unruly family, and both he and she have brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?

    That Old Cape Magic is a novel of deep introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled one, his daughter's new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding and heart-stopping sadness, and its ending is at once surprising, uplifting and unlike anything this Pulitzer Prize winner has ever written.


    From the Hardcover edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 4, 2009
    ISBN9780739318935
    Unavailable
    That Old Cape Magic: A Novel
    Author

    Richard Russo

    Richard Russo is the author of nine novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and several produced screenplays. Empire Falls won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and his adaptation of the book for HBO was nominated for an Emmy. His collection of essays, The Destiny Thief, will be published in 2018. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Portland, Maine.

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    Reviews for That Old Cape Magic

    3.5/5

    691 ratings72 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      In That Old Cape Magic, Russo explores memory and disappointment and mid-life re-evaluation with sharp insight and gentle humor. He sees his characters’ flaws and isn’t afraid to expose them, but he does so with kindness and understanding. He illustrates the mundane intimacies of marriage and family life in heartbreaking detail, but he never fails to make us laugh along the way. In many ways, That Old Cape Magic is classic Russo. The themes and character outlines—and the presentation of hilariously humorless academics—will be familiar to readers who have enjoyed his other work, but the scope of this book is smaller, cozier, than anything he’s written previously. And I thought it was a refreshing shift. No other writer writes about relationships and expectations the way Richard Russo does, and That Old Cape Magic is simply not to be missed.Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog.
    • 3/5
      this book was funny at times, but also kinda boring at times. while i enjoyed it somewhat, i felt that it was lacking something.
    • 3/5
      Richard Russo gives us the story of a marriage, and of all the other ties that bind, from parents and in-laws to children and the promises of youth.

      Jack Griffin has been tooling around for nearly a year with his father’s ashes in the trunk, but his mother is very much alive and not shy about calling on his cell phone. She does so as he drives down to Cape Cod, where he and his wife, Joy, will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura’s best friend. For Griffin this is akin to driving into the past, since he took his childhood summer vacations here, his parents’ respite from the hated Midwest. And the Cape is where he and Joy honeymooned, during the course of which they drafted the Great Truro Accord, a plan for their lives together that’s now thirty years old and has largely come true. Griffin left screenwriting and Los Angeles behind for the sort of New England college his snobby academic parents had always aspired to in vain; they’d moved into an old house full of character and they’d started a family. Check, check and check.

      But be careful what you strive for, especially if you manage to achieve it. By the end of this perfectly lovely weekend, the past has so thoroughly swamped the present that the future suddenly hangs in the balance. And when, a year later, a far more important wedding takes place, their daughter Laura’s, on the coast of Maine, Griffin’s chauffeuring two urns of ashes as he contends once more with Joy and her large, unruly family, and both he and she have brought dates along. How in the world could this have happened?

      That Old Cape Magic is a novel of introspection and every family feeling imaginable, with a middle-aged man confronting his parents and their failed marriage, his own troubled marriage, his daughter’s new life and, finally, what it was he thought he wanted and what in fact he has. The storytelling is flawless throughout, moments of great comedy and even hilarity alternating with others of rueful understanding and heart-stopping sadness, and its ending is at once surprising and hopeful.

      I rate this novel 3.5 stars.
    • 5/5
      Just like Straight Man, That Old Cape Magic is funny and truthful. The narrator's parents are deliciously awful, and the rehearsal dinner gone wrong had me laughing so hard I was crying.
    • 4/5
      I think you have to have been married and possibly divorced to truly appreciate this book.
      If so, you will probably easily relate and laugh often at this book.
    • 4/5
      This book seemed to be going nowhere at the beginning. I kept waiting for something, anything to happen. But Russo has a way of making you fall in love with characters no matter their short comings and idiosyncrasies. That is what makes his stories so wonderful.By the end of the book I was totally enchanted.
    • 4/5
      One has to wonder whether Richard Russo had the film ?Four Weddings and a Funeral? in mind while writing this book. It begins and ends with weddings attended by the protagonist Jack Griffin. The first, which takes place on Cape Cod, is the wedding of a childhood friend of Jack?s daughter, while the second, held in Maine, is the wedding of the daughter herself. But also central to the story are three deaths, if not funerals, notably including the deaths of both of Jack?s parents, a year apart in time. Jack?s inability to scatter their ashes leads to his driving around with first his father?s, and then both his parents? cremains in the trunk of his car. So, ?Two Weddings and Three Deaths?.The book explores the complexities of family relationships, and in particular, the grip that one?s parents can have on one?s life, even long after growing up. Jack, though approaching 60, is still haunted by the influence of his parents: unpleasant, mean-spirited, and snobby academics, who had planned on Ivy League Careers, but ended up in what they refer to as the Mid-Fucking-West. (Disclaimer, since I?m a University of Michigan faculty member: they?re supposed to be at an unnamed college in Indiana.) Jack thinks he has completely disassociated himself from them, through actions both large?including marrying a woman who, gasp, has not done graduate work?and small. But his inability to part with his parents? ashes is just the most obvious indication of his failure to fully separate himself from them.The title of the book comes from the song that Jack?s parents used to sing, riffing on ?That Old Black Magic,? each summer when they vacationed in Cape Cod, the only place they were truly happy. While there, they?d scrutinize the local real-estate guide, and inevitably classify all the available houses into two categories: ?Can?t Have It? and ?Wouldn?t Have It As a Gift?. That dichotomous view of the world?everything is either too good for me or I?m too good for it?pervades Jack?s life for many years. Much of the book is told in flashbacks. One of these, involving a friend that Jack makes as a child during one his family?s Cape Cod vacations, becomes the subject of a short story that Jack tries to write as an adult. Another concerns Jack?s honeymoon, in Truro, Cape Cod, where he and his wife Joy imagine a particular future together, committing to it in what they call the Truro Accord. But the heart of the book is the story of the self-destructive path that Jack takes during the year between the two weddings, as he tries, finally, to separate from his parents.As with Russo?s other books, the serious themes here are countered with outrageously humorous events, including notably a chaotic accident that leaves Jack?s father-in-law hanging upside down in his wheelchair in a yew chair, with other guests scattered below after a ramp gives way. The book is perhaps not as compelling as some of Russo?s others, especially ?Empire Falls?, and at least some of the central characters?Griffin?s mother, as well as Marguerite and Harold?just don?t seem realistic. Nonetheless, overall it?s both a thought-provoking book and one that?s enjoyable to read.
    • 5/5
      Just like Straight Man, That Old Cape Magic is funny and truthful. The narrator's parents are deliciously awful, and the rehearsal dinner gone wrong had me laughing so hard I was crying.
    • 4/5
      Master storyteller. You can never go wrong picking up a Richard Russo novel. He makes writing seem effortless.
    • 1/5
      I picked up this book after one of the ladies in my book club said (and I quote), "It was the best book I ever read." Wow, I thought, with a glowing recommendation like that, it's got to be good! Not exactly. Too be fair, Richard Russo has written a lot of other books (none of which I've read) and won a Pulitzer prize, so I know he's a good author. And this book was well written. But.... I still didn't like it. At all. I couldn't relate with the characters, I didn't care about their struggles, I felt nothing.In fact, I kept forgetting that the main character was in his fifties (maybe sixties...), he felt too young to me. But I digress. It was written well, developed well, told well, it just didn't click with me. I really did want to like it. And there were moments when I laughed out loud (the wedding rehearsal dinner at the end is quite hilarious). To dumb down the plot, it's basically about a husband going through a late midlife crisis who can't decide what he wants out of life. Does he prove his miserable parents right or wrong? Does he leave Joy and go back out to LA to screen-write or stay with her in Maine and keep his teaching position? Whose opinion is more important: his, his wife's, or his parents? For fans of literature or Richard Russo.
    • 4/5
      Richard Russo writes quirky stories about very quirky characters who somehow become endearing. As in all his novels, Russo's subjects grow through a time of growth stemming from some life-cycle event. At the start of this novel, (Jack) Griffin is driving to Cape Cod, his fathers ashes in his trunk. He meets his wife the next day, and circumstances end up changing his life and that of all those involved. Told in flashbacks and current-day situations, the novel shows glimpses of Griffin's childhood, his overly academic parents, their visits to Cape Cod when he was a child, and how all of that shaped his life. It is a story filled with dark, disappointing moments, yet I found it to be full of hope and humor as well. I found myself rooting for Jack to find himself and to find a satisfying path for his life to take.
    • 4/5
      This was a very varied reading. Griffin, who did not like to live his parents' marriage, decided not to do the same in any case. But when he found the time, he did not get rid of them and his own life resembled more and more that of his parents. His parents followed him in his thoughts and his actions and it was a constant dialogue between him and his dead parents. There were also very funny moments that brought me laugh. Probably also because they were gripped so directly from life.
    • 4/5
      Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint. This book is smaller in scale than most of his novels, concentrating on one central character - Griffin - and his relationships with his wife, his parents and his in-laws. The scope of the book encompasses a single year, two weddings and two deaths. It's a marvelous character study with his particular brand of wry humor and, best of all for me, a return to his commentary on the life of an academic. While not my favorite of his novels (that remains Straight Man), still a worthwhile read.
    • 2/5
      Jack Griffin is on his way to the Cape again - this time, for the wedding of one of his daughter's childhood friends. Along the way, Griffin reflects on his rocky relationship with his parents, academics who came to the Cape every year in search of elusive happiness, and how he feels about his life's current direction - or lack thereof.This book is peppered with miserable characters. Griffin is miserable, his parents were miserable (or at least, from his perspective, they certainly seemed to be), and Griffin's wife Joy would be content with their life but Griffin's misery is making her miserable, too. Maybe because I'm a naturally optimistic person, I found Griffin and his parents irritating in their ability to see the negative. I have bad days, too, but here he is with a good life, as far as I can see, and all he can do is bemoan what he doesn't have and what might have been. As the story develops, there is some understanding - particularly as Griffin comes to realize that he didn't know everything he thought he did about his parents' lives - and through that, some redemption as well. But honestly, it was a case of too little, too late for me and I only carried on because I had to read it for work.
    • 5/5
      Most of the fiction I read is either crime fiction or suspense fiction. My forays into mainstream fiction are relatively rare.Had you asked me a month ago who my favorite mainstream fiction author was, I would have reflexively answered Ann Tyler. Her books have always resonated deeply with me.But if you asked me today, I'd say that she's one of my two favorite mainstream authors.Her competitor for my favor is Richard Russo. When I finally read EMPIRE FALLS last month, I thought it was by far the best novel I'd read in a year. Then I grabbed THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC, and I found it even more entrancing than Russo's Pulitzer Prize winner.So who's my favorite? As an old mentor would have said, that's a gold-plated problem.
    • 2/5
      This book was not what I expected it to be. It's largely about a man coming to grips with the death of his parents as well as with him acknowledging what they truly meant to him in life. His marital relationship and his relationship with his daughter are secondary. Also, it's a very slow read as not much action occurs.
    • 4/5
      Griffin struggles to deal with his marriage and his parents. A good bit of humor keeps the sad searching for the root of his frustrations on an enjoyable level. Another interesting book.
    • 4/5
      Laugh out loud funny, sad, uplifting and hopeful. A quick and delightful Russo.
    • 4/5
      One has to wonder whether Richard Russo had the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in mind while writing this book. It begins and ends with weddings attended by the protagonist Jack Griffin. The first, which takes place on Cape Cod, is the wedding of a childhood friend of Jack’s daughter, while the second, held in Maine, is the wedding of the daughter herself. But also central to the story are three deaths, if not funerals, notably including the deaths of both of Jack’s parents, a year apart in time. Jack’s inability to scatter their ashes leads to his driving around with first his father’s, and then both his parents’ cremains in the trunk of his car. So, “Two Weddings and Three Deaths”.The book explores the complexities of family relationships, and in particular, the grip that one’s parents can have on one’s life, even long after growing up. Jack, though approaching 60, is still haunted by the influence of his parents: unpleasant, mean-spirited, and snobby academics, who had planned on Ivy League Careers, but ended up in what they refer to as the Mid-Fucking-West. (Disclaimer, since I’m a University of Michigan faculty member: they’re supposed to be at an unnamed college in Indiana.) Jack thinks he has completely disassociated himself from them, through actions both large—including marrying a woman who, gasp, has not done graduate work—and small. But his inability to part with his parents’ ashes is just the most obvious indication of his failure to fully separate himself from them.The title of the book comes from the song that Jack’s parents used to sing, riffing on “That Old Black Magic,” each summer when they vacationed in Cape Cod, the only place they were truly happy. While there, they’d scrutinize the local real-estate guide, and inevitably classify all the available houses into two categories: “Can’t Have It” and “Wouldn’t Have It As a Gift”. That dichotomous view of the world—everything is either too good for me or I’m too good for it—pervades Jack’s life for many years. Much of the book is told in flashbacks. One of these, involving a friend that Jack makes as a child during one his family’s Cape Cod vacations, becomes the subject of a short story that Jack tries to write as an adult. Another concerns Jack’s honeymoon, in Truro, Cape Cod, where he and his wife Joy imagine a particular future together, committing to it in what they call the Truro Accord. But the heart of the book is the story of the self-destructive path that Jack takes during the year between the two weddings, as he tries, finally, to separate from his parents.As with Russo’s other books, the serious themes here are countered with outrageously humorous events, including notably a chaotic accident that leaves Jack’s father-in-law hanging upside down in his wheelchair in a yew chair, with other guests scattered below after a ramp gives way. The book is perhaps not as compelling as some of Russo’s others, especially “Empire Falls”, and at least some of the central characters—Griffin’s mother, as well as Marguerite and Harold—just don’t seem realistic. Nonetheless, overall it’s both a thought-provoking book and one that’s enjoyable to read.
    • 4/5
      That Old Cape Magic. Richard Russo. 2009. This may be the best novel I have read on marriage since Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose. When Griffin returns to Cape Cod for his daughter’s wedding memories of entire life flash in front of him: his childhood, his crazy parents and their marriage, his 30 year marriage to Joy, his screen writing career, the birth of his daughter and the year-long separation from his wife. Russo is such a skilled writer we are laughing one minute, crying the next, and recognizing his perfect insights into human nature the next.
    • 5/5
      A classic from one of our best writers. Its a big simple story of how we are and how we grow. This book only makes sense to readers who have flaws they didn't know about until the flaws smack them upside the head. While reading the Old Cape Magic, one can just ache with the characters as they struggle in their good-hearted, awkward, sometimes clueless, sometimes self-deniably manipulative ways. A treasure. All this and a handful of truly memorable scenes (the wheelchair scene!, the urns!, the thesis!, that old cape magic!
    • 4/5
      Der Originaltitel "That Old Cape Magic" trifft den Kern des Romans eindeutig besser als die deutsche Übersetzung. Zwar geht es irgendwie um Sehnsüchte, aber eigentlich geht es eher um Nostalgie. Darum, wie sich Dinge verklären (können), wenn die Vergangenheit weit genug zurückliegt und die Erinnerung gnädig ist. Russo hat einen melancholischen Roman geschrieben, der einer gewissen Situationskomik aber nicht entbehrt (etwa wenn die gesamte Hochzeitsgesellschaft von einer Holztribüne fällt und der im Rollstuhl sitzende Großvater in der darunter liegenden Hecke feststeckt). Wenn man als Leser älter als 40 Jahre ist, dürfte einem der Roman noch besser gefalllen, weil er zu denken gibt. Nachzudenken darüber, dass man noch in der Lage ist, essentielle Dinge des Lebens zu erfahren, zu rekunstruieren und zu verändern, bevor es - etwa mit dem Tod der eigenen Eltern - zu spät ist. Dass die Geschichte im universitären Umfeld angesiedelt ist, gibt dem ganzen noch einen zusätzlichen amüsanten Touch.
    • 3/5
      good storytelling. middleage man mid life crises. families historythe New England Cape Cod
    • 3/5
      I am a big fan of Richard Russo, and I enjoyed this book, but it was one of his weaker efforts. The story was engaging enough and sometimes amusing; I finished it in no time flat after purchasing it impulsively at a sidewalk book sale. He's very good at capturing the little interactions and phrases that make a relationship or interaction seem real. However, the writing was a bit sloppy. For example, twice within the same extended scene he described the same character as departing "in the general direction" of something, and he misused the phrase "begging the question" not once but three or four times. (I realize I'm a fuddy-duddy on this matter and would be willing to put up with its incorrect usage once in a while from a writer as good as Russo, but reusing the same phrase that many times, even if he had used it correctly, starts to seem tired and stale.) In addition, the ridiculous rehearsal dinner scene near the end of the novel, funny as it was, seemed over the top. Maybe it was intended as comic relief from the heavier emotional material of the rest of the novel, but it came across as overworked and unreal. The beginning of the book seemed better overall, and I got the impression toward the end that he was just winding things up as best he could. As far as I'm concerned, Russo is still worth spending a few hours with, but this is no Empire Falls.
    • 3/5
      A tale of two weddings. The story begins with Joy and Griffin at the wedding of their daughter's friend. AT the second wedding, the following year, things have changed.Throughout it all, Griffin is hounded by the voice of his parents - who his has spent his whole life trying not to become.The first and last parts are a good enough story, but somewhere round the middle it gets lost and difficult to work out what's happening.
    • 4/5
      While a short book, this one will make you think about relationships: marriages, parents, and children, perhaps even friends. Russo has written a serious book that centers on such relationships, centered around Cape Cod and the memories of his parents. The book is a deep one - not a particularly light read. Is it uplifting? It depends. There were times I wanted to shake Griffin, then times I loved him. Will I read it again? Probably not. Did it make me think? Most definitely.
    • 4/5
      Russo always writes about relationships. In this case, it is as much about Jack's relationship to his parents as it is about his struggles within his marriage. With Russo, relationships are never what they seem on the surface.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed the quirky characters and their ultimate decency. Russo's characters remind me a bit of the Simpsons cartoon characters--selfish, self centered, quirky but ultimately the pull together to form the semblance at least of a family. The book seems more like a series of encounters and accounts than a coherent novel. It kept feeling like it was being set up but the set up lasts for the entire length of the book. At some level there is a bit of a catharsis in that the main character eventually seems (kind of) to come to terms with the passing of both of his parents. But if this is the main reason for his strange melt down, it is never totally clear. The main character just seems to wander from point to point without a clear game plan. And there is little reason to think at the end of the book that this character trait has changed much. This wandering characteristic made me wonder how the guy was as successful as he appeared to be--at least up to the year described in the book. I found this ongoing angst without a clear reason for it a bit off putting. But then, maybe that is just the way life works. Despite the fact that I didnt find this fitting together very well in terms of a unified whole, nonetheless, the author has an incredible knack for structuring flawed but ultimately human characters that are totally recognizable.
    • 4/5
      One has to wonder whether Richard Russo had the film “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in mind while writing this book. It begins and ends with weddings attended by the protagonist Jack Griffin. The first, which takes place on Cape Cod, is the wedding of a childhood friend of Jack’s daughter, while the second, held in Maine, is the wedding of the daughter herself. But also central to the story are three deaths, if not funerals, notably including the deaths of both of Jack’s parents, a year apart in time. Jack’s inability to scatter their ashes leads to his driving around with first his father’s, and then both his parents’ cremains in the trunk of his car. So, “Two Weddings and Three Deaths”.The book explores the complexities of family relationships, and in particular, the grip that one’s parents can have on one’s life, even long after growing up. Jack, though approaching 60, is still haunted by the influence of his parents: unpleasant, mean-spirited, and snobby academics, who had planned on Ivy League Careers, but ended up in what they refer to as the Mid-Fucking-West. (Disclaimer, since I’m a University of Michigan faculty member: they’re supposed to be at an unnamed college in Indiana.) Jack thinks he has completely disassociated himself from them, through actions both large—including marrying a woman who, gasp, has not done graduate work—and small. But his inability to part with his parents’ ashes is just the most obvious indication of his failure to fully separate himself from them.The title of the book comes from the song that Jack’s parents used to sing, riffing on “That Old Black Magic,” each summer when they vacationed in Cape Cod, the only place they were truly happy. While there, they’d scrutinize the local real-estate guide, and inevitably classify all the available houses into two categories: “Can’t Have It” and “Wouldn’t Have It As a Gift”. That dichotomous view of the world—everything is either too good for me or I’m too good for it—pervades Jack’s life for many years. Much of the book is told in flashbacks. One of these, involving a friend that Jack makes as a child during one his family’s Cape Cod vacations, becomes the subject of a short story that Jack tries to write as an adult. Another concerns Jack’s honeymoon, in Truro, Cape Cod, where he and his wife Joy imagine a particular future together, committing to it in what they call the Truro Accord. But the heart of the book is the story of the self-destructive path that Jack takes during the year between the two weddings, as he tries, finally, to separate from his parents.As with Russo’s other books, the serious themes here are countered with outrageously humorous events, including notably a chaotic accident that leaves Jack’s father-in-law hanging upside down in his wheelchair in a yew chair, with other guests scattered below after a ramp gives way. The book is perhaps not as compelling as some of Russo’s others, especially “Empire Falls”, and at least some of the central characters—Griffin’s mother, as well as Marguerite and Harold—just don’t seem realistic. Nonetheless, overall it’s both a thought-provoking book and one that’s enjoyable to read.
    • 2/5
      This was ok but read as if it was written with half the mind engaged, half on auto. You could read it the same way. The ending was a put-up job. Was this a failed screenplay? All the signs were there.