Last Updated on February 23, 2023 by ellen
After a big Thanksgiving dinner, the only thing I wanted to do this weekend was curl up on the couch with a good book. Today I decided to read a new author that I wasn’t familiar with. The Beauty of the Fall by Rich Marcello was the book I decided on. 
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The Beauty of the Fall by Rich by Rich Marcello
Dan Underlight, a divorced, workaholic technology executive, suffers lingering grief over the death of his ten-year-old son, Zack. When Dan’s longtime friend and boss fires Dan from RadioRadio, the company that he helped create, he crashes and isolates himself.
Willow, a poet and domestic violence survivor, helps Dan regain his footing. With her support, Dan ventures on a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting Fortune 500 companies to flesh out a software start-up idea. He then recruits three former RadioRadio colleagues and starts Conversationworks, a company he believes will be at the vanguard of social change.
Guided by Dan’s leadership, Conversationworks enjoys some early successes, but its existence is soon threatened on multiple fronts. Will Dan survive the ensuing corporate battles and realize the potential of his company? Or will he be defeated by his enemies and consumed by his grief?
My thoughts:
Dan is a successful businessman who loses his son, his wife, his best friend and finally his job from a company he helped build. Since his previous way of dealing with problems was to work more, he’s at a loss and unable to deal with everything that’s happening in his life. He pushes everyone and everything away from him.
Willow runs a domestic violence center and helps Dan discover who he is and teaches him ways to deal with everything that he’s lost in his life. During his time with Willow, the two move from being friends to being lovers. Dan creates a new company that he hopes will help bring light to social issues that need to change like domestic abuse but it may not survive. He needs to deal with the feelings that’s causing to be successful and move ahead with his life.
The Beauty of the Fall is an interesting read about a man who had everything he wanted in life, slowly lost it all and needed to change his focus to recover. It’s very similar to the way the world really is which made it easy to identify with. I also love that the author wove in pieces of the real world into the story – like the economic issues in Detroit and struggles some families experience trying to make it on a limited income. If you enjoy stories with a lesson that make you think, I’d recommend The Beauty of the Fall.
You may want to read The Latecomers by Rich Marcello.
Ellen is a mom of a 25-year-old son and 30-year-old daughter. She is Grandma to one adorable toddler. In what little spare time she has, she loves to read, watch movies, and check out the latest toys and games.