The Risk Pool

Set in the fictional working-class town of Mohawk, New York, American author Richard Russo’s novel The Risk Pool (1988) depicts the tumultuous childhood and young adulthood of Ned Hall, a character loosely based on Russo. The title refers to the lowest tier of the car insurance "risk pool," to which Ned's negligent father belongs.

According to Ned's grandfather, a year in Mohawk is divided into four separate "seasons": Fourth of July, Mohawk Fair, Eat the Bird, and Winter. Winter has no special nickname because it is interminably long and exceedingly harsh in Mohawk. The book is divided into those four categories. When the first part begins, Ned has not been born yet. The man who will be his father, Sam, has just come home after serving in World War II. Eager to live life to the fullest after facing death during the war, Sam adopts a hard-partying lifestyle. At first, his wife, Jenny goes along with his festive, irresponsible attitude toward life. However, before long, she tires of the drinking and dancing, wishing instead to settle down and start a family.

Jenny discovers she is pregnant with Ned, causing a rift between her and Sam that is never repaired. Deep into Jenny's pregnancy, Sam abandons his wife, who gives birth to Ned shortly thereafter. Six months later, Jenny files for divorce. Nevertheless, despite Sam's earlier abandonment, he does everything in his power to prevent the divorce from taking place, including physically assaulting Jenny's lawyer and subjecting Jenny to harassment. Eventually, Sam leaves town before the divorce can be finalized.



Over the coming years, Ned and his mother live a fairly happy existence, though Ned acutely feels the absence of a father figure. At times, his father sends him a message through an associate of his named Skinny. Before long, Ned's relatively happy existence is disrupted when his mother begins to suffer bouts of extreme anxiety and nervousness. This culminates in a nervous breakdown that ultimately lands her in a psychiatric facility. As a result, Sam returns to raise his son. He rents a cheap apartment, spending most of time in shady establishments like bars, pool halls, gambling dens, and the racetrack. Meanwhile, Sam drags Ned along to all of these questionable locales.

Ned and Sam usually eat dinners at either the Mohawk Grill or Eileen’s. Frankly, Ned prefers to eat dinner alone at the apartment because social interactions involving Sam usually end with some sort of fight, particularly with a fellow roustabout named Drew. Ned does enjoy learning to play Liar's Poker using the serial numbers on dollar bills. It is telling, however, that one of the only activities Sam teaches his son involves gambling.

To make up for poor parenting, a number of individuals in the neighborhood help pick up the slack. For example, Mrs. Ward brings Ned along on car trips during which she teaches her daughter, Tria, to drive. One day, Tria almost runs off the road, but Ned saves the day by instinctively reaching over to the gear-shift and putting the car into park. Ned also befriends an elderly woman named Mrs. Agajanian. Mrs. Agajanian suffers from dementia and during Ned's first visit chastises Ned for sitting on her imaginary son, Ralph. Despite her mental infirmities, Ned enjoys spending time at Mrs. Agajanian's house and listening to 78 RPM records on her cherry Victrola. She also entertains Ned and his friend Claude with wild stories of her youth that may or may not be true but are fun to listen to, nonetheless.



When Ned reaches high school, his mother is released from the psychiatric hospital. Although her anxiety is under control, she has become addicted to the benzodiazepine, Librium. Nevertheless, Ned enjoys a few relatively stable years until he reaches the age of eighteen. As a "late graduation present," Sam drives Ned in his convertible to the Big Bend Hunting Lodge, which apparently also functions as a bordello. Ned wakes up the next morning in bed with a woman who calls herself Marion because she hails from Marion, Illinois. On the way out, Ned encounters a short-statured police officer named Andy Winkler; fortunately, Winkler is friends with Sam and lets Ned off with a warning.

Back in Mohawk, Ned and Tria work together editing Mrs. Ward's father’s book on the town's history. That night during a thunderstorm, the two youths have sex, kindling a relationship. The experience is far more rewarding than Ned's first sexual encounter with Marion, mostly because he can actually remember it. Meanwhile, his mother has suffered another nervous breakdown and Ned finds it difficult to communicate with her.

With little left for him in Mohawk, Ned skips town. The final chapters take place ten years after Ned has departed. He has become a book editor in Manhattan and only sees Sam once or twice a year, despite the fact that there is a bus route connecting Manhattan's Port Authority and downtown Mohawk.



According to The New York Times, The Risk Pool is a "superbly original, maliciously funny book."