Russo a Mysogynist?

In a recent Newsweek review of Richard Russo’s new novel, That Old Cape Magic, reviewer Jennie Yabroff asks, “Is Author Richard Russo A Misogynist?” Yabroff’s review—which is subtitled “He might have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, but his female characters are flat, contrived, and maybe even insulting.”—has made a lot of people very angry.

Edward Champion posts “An Open Letter to Newsweek’s Richard Smith and Jon Meacham” that concludes:

I demand an explanation for how you could allow so many mistakes and so many curdish and tone-deaf observations to pass through your ratty cheesecloth.

The Elegant Variation thinks:

labelling a hard working (and from what we've heard, generally decent) writer with the label misogynist simply because he doesn't write fully realized dimensional female characters - perhaps he's simply a writer who's reached the limit of his gifts - is a cheap shot that's beneath Newsweek. It's irresponsible and disheartening. The race to the bottom has a new frontrunner.

Bethanne Patrick at The Book Studio has a less enraged, but equally thoughtful, response. Personally, I’ve read a fair amount of Russo, and I agree with the dissenters. Misogynist he is not. In Yabroff’s defense, though, Russo’s female characters aren’t his strength.