On the HahaFiction shelf

Nobody's Fool

North Bath Trilogy · Book 1 · 1993

Audiobook available · 24 hr 52 min

Sixty-year-old handyman Donald “Sully” Sullivan is short of money and nursing a bad knee in North Bath, a New York town with troubles of its own. His estranged son comes home with a failing marriage. Sully has trouble helping himself, let alone keeping the next generation from repeating his mistakes.

Contemporary & literary Banter Dry wit

From the publisher’s blurb

“Sully, one of its unluckiest citizens”

Read the full description at Vintage publisher description

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What makes it funny?

Sully and his friends communicate through teasing insults, with a wisecrack ready whenever a conversation gets too close. The opening gives his former teacher Miss Beryl the same dry precision: watching an expert taste her diseased elm, she wonders whether he expected strawberry shortcake. Book-group readers single out Sully as a lovable loser.

The comedy at work

Sully’s jokes help him keep people at a distance, even when he needs them. His stubbornness also contributes to his bad luck, giving the people around him plenty to answer back to.

Try this if…

Much of the pleasure lies in spending time with a combative small-town cast. Readers who enjoy sharp dialogue and flawed people may appreciate the leisurely approach to plot; some book-group readers found that pace frustrating or disliked the characters.

Good to know

Family damage matters alongside the jokes, including an abusive father, estrangement and adultery. This is the starting point for the North Bath trilogy, followed by Everybody’s Fool and Somebody’s Fool.