First off, I'm kind of biased on this because I grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. I loved reading a story set in the city I love, about the same kind of stuff my buddies and I used to get mixed up with. Also, most of my friends love listening to The Stones and other classic rock the author mentions. I remember times in bars just like the ones Joseph Cahan and his boys have. But, even if I wasn't from Buff, I'd love this book. So many of my friends from Pittsburgh or Cleveland who've moved from their hometowns to somewhere unfamiliar talk about the same stuff Cahan does. They miss the friends, the bars, their families, and they now wonder what the hell they're working for anymore. I feel the same way. Farrell tells the story of these feelings well. Since I finished the book on Tuesday, I've already bought three copies for family members who've moved away from Buffalo, and one for a friend who had to move away from Scranton, PA. Even though she's not a Buffalo Bills fan (which the lead character Cahan is), I know she's gonna love this book. For anyone looking for a good fall read, get this book!

I finished this novel two weeks ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. The struggles of the protagonist are like every other 20-something (including myself) I've come into to contact with over the past five or six years. Optimism in the face of frustration and confusion seems to be the order of the times these days, and Farrell nails this home through the travels of Joseph Cahan. I recommend this book to anyone who's at a crossroads in their life, whether as a recent graduate or entering their early 30s. I also highly recommend this for anyone who wants to understand the mindset of an entire generation who is now exhausted by unyielding rejection and information overload. "Running with Buffalo" follows a theme of simplicity for a complicated time. I think everyone longs for a little taste of this, right?