I've really fallen in love with the characters in this one. 
 To me, the most difficult thing to do in literature is develop a character. Character-driven novels are a gamble because if they are not handled correctly, they can crash and burn before they've taken off. Plot-driven novels are a safer bet, but then you'd miss out on an opportunity to really provoke your reader. I liked Empire Falls primarily because of how real Miles and Max and Mrs. Whiting, etc. felt to me. 
 This book encompasses what it must have been like (although I'm only imagining here) to live in a small New England town suffering through a period of economic decay. It is depressing, and yet it isn't--because of the characters. Somehow Miles inspires hope in the reader, and Max's frustrating personality actually serves to make a point (in addition to providing comic relief), which is that you don't actually have to take life so seriously. I mean, you can if you want. But you don't have to. And even Mrs. Whiting speaks volumes. She may be vicious and manipulative on the surface, but the more the reader discovers about her, the more he is able to empathize with her. She has struggled more than any other character in the novel and yet she presents herself stoically. How very "New England" of her. And so do we find out for sure whether there's a heart of gold underneath all that armor? Nope! Because really, not much happens in this story plot-wise. But it almost doesn't matter because it is the great set of characters in this book that, for me, made it most enjoyable.