- Paperback: 464 pages
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC; Export ed edition (4 Mar 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0747595445
- ISBN-13: 978-0747595441
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 3.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 729,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Lush Life
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Product Description
Review
'With 'Lush Life' Richard Price has become our post-modern American Balzac. Except that he's a whole lot funnier than Balzac and writes the language we hear and speak better than any novelist around, living or dead, American or French. He's a writer I hope my great-grandchildren will read, so they'll know what it was like to be truly alive in the early 21st century.' Russell Banks 'This is it, folks. The novel about gentrified New York, circa right now, that we've been waiting for. Richard Price understands what's happened to our beloved city, he writes dialogue like a genius, and he absolutely, genuinely cares. Unforgettable.' Gary Shteyngart
Review
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR 'LUSH LIFE' 'This is it, folks. The novel about gentrified New York, circa right now, that we've been waiting for. Richard Price understands what's happened to our beloved city, he writes dialogue like a genius, and he absolutely, genuinely cares. Unforgettable.' Gary Shteyngart 'With 'Lush Life' Richard Price has become our post-modern American Balzac. Except that he's a whole lot funnier than Balzac and writes the language we hear and speak better than any novelist around, living or dead, American or French. He's a writer I hope my great-grandchildren will read, so they'll know what it was like to be truly alive in the early 21st century.' Russell Banks
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Let me start by saying that I'm a huge Richard Price fan. His earlier books--Bloodbrothers and The Breaks in particular--were epiphanies to me. For my money, Clockers is a contender for the Great American Novel. Technically, Lush Life is just as adroit--the snappy pacing, the spot-on descriptions, the breathtaking attention to detail, the surefire characterisations, all of which are Price specialities, are there, honed to stiletto sharpness. But while the plot would appear to offer plenty of opportunities for emotion--a 20-something man is murdered during an aborted hold-up, and in the course of the investigation we meet his mad-with-grief father--the overall effect is clinical rather than empathetic. That may be because none of the characters are really sympathetic; even the murdered man comes across as someone you'd avoid speaking to at a party for more than a few minutes. The result is a gripping read that keeps you flipping the pages so that you can absorb Price's dazzling word wizardry and learn the outcome of the investigation. Yet once you finish the book, the story and the characters, unlike those of Price's best books, are unlikely to remain with you.
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great book: Superb dialogue,riveting plot,well drawn characters and all within a run-down area of New York. The description of the contrast between the poor residents and the increasing number of white wannabes is particularly effective
The main characters,Matty Wright and Yolanda Bello, can join the pantheon of great detectives with John Rebus and Steve Carella.
This the first book by Richard Price which I have read and my enjoyment was not impaired by seeing "The Wire". I look forward to reading more.
The main characters,Matty Wright and Yolanda Bello, can join the pantheon of great detectives with John Rebus and Steve Carella.
This the first book by Richard Price which I have read and my enjoyment was not impaired by seeing "The Wire". I look forward to reading more.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As Eric Cash and Ike Marcus are walking Ike's drunk friend, Steve Boulware, home from an all-nighter in New York City, they are confronted by two "dark" males, intent upon robbery. Eric immediately "gives it up," but Ike quietly approaches the robbers, saying "Not tonight, my man." Within seconds, he is dead, shot in the chest. Accounts of the robbery and murder differ among the witnesses, and the police, led by Det. Matty Clark, a long-time Irish cop, take Eric, a victim, into custody on suspicion, interrogating him and turning him into a permanent enemy.
New York's Lower East Side, where the action takes place, is changing. Bohemian students wanting to be poets and writers, like Eric and Ike, have moved in. Many long-time immigrant populations have moved out, and the neighborhood is racially and culturally mixed. Almost anything seems to go, socially, and drugs are an active part of the scene. Looming over the area are the Lemlichs, a series of project houses in which the residents do whatever they can to survive, often ganging up against a hostile outside world and resorting to drug sales for income and escape.
Det. Matty Clark, running the investigation, is stymied by the lack of evidence and witnesses, the reluctance of the neighborhood to talk, and the desire of his own department to close the case as soon as possible--without involving the press. Ike's father, Billy Marcus, numbed by the news of his son's murder, is reliving his life with Ike, alternately blaming himself, the police, and Ike's companions for Ike's death. Eric Cash, wanting to escape the horrors of the murder, is hoping to move elsewhere, the fruitlessness of his life as a writer finally recognized.
Famous for his ability to tell a story in the dialogue of street slang, author Richard Price creates a panorama of life in the city so vivid that it feels like an unpleasant movie unreeling behind one's eyes. The dialogue and the images it inspires are realistic, gritty, and often full of heartache, as characters grow before our eyes. Their interactions become the clashes and miseries we experience in nightmares. As Price explores various points of view, he also shows the randomness of the characters' interconnections and the power of the city itself to alter dreams and the future.
As Price explores his characters and their behavior, he sometimes veers off into subplots which delay the story without adding significant new information. Matty Clark's problems with his sons, his brief flirtation with Billy Marcus's distraught wife, and a long section in which Steve Boulware conducts Ike's memorial service could have been shortened significantly, while still retaining thematic integrity. Price's vision is huge, and his ability to show the widening circles by which one event can draw in large numbers of unsuspecting characters is successful, however, despite the novel's excesses. Mary Whipple
New York's Lower East Side, where the action takes place, is changing. Bohemian students wanting to be poets and writers, like Eric and Ike, have moved in. Many long-time immigrant populations have moved out, and the neighborhood is racially and culturally mixed. Almost anything seems to go, socially, and drugs are an active part of the scene. Looming over the area are the Lemlichs, a series of project houses in which the residents do whatever they can to survive, often ganging up against a hostile outside world and resorting to drug sales for income and escape.
Det. Matty Clark, running the investigation, is stymied by the lack of evidence and witnesses, the reluctance of the neighborhood to talk, and the desire of his own department to close the case as soon as possible--without involving the press. Ike's father, Billy Marcus, numbed by the news of his son's murder, is reliving his life with Ike, alternately blaming himself, the police, and Ike's companions for Ike's death. Eric Cash, wanting to escape the horrors of the murder, is hoping to move elsewhere, the fruitlessness of his life as a writer finally recognized.
Famous for his ability to tell a story in the dialogue of street slang, author Richard Price creates a panorama of life in the city so vivid that it feels like an unpleasant movie unreeling behind one's eyes. The dialogue and the images it inspires are realistic, gritty, and often full of heartache, as characters grow before our eyes. Their interactions become the clashes and miseries we experience in nightmares. As Price explores various points of view, he also shows the randomness of the characters' interconnections and the power of the city itself to alter dreams and the future.
As Price explores his characters and their behavior, he sometimes veers off into subplots which delay the story without adding significant new information. Matty Clark's problems with his sons, his brief flirtation with Billy Marcus's distraught wife, and a long section in which Steve Boulware conducts Ike's memorial service could have been shortened significantly, while still retaining thematic integrity. Price's vision is huge, and his ability to show the widening circles by which one event can draw in large numbers of unsuspecting characters is successful, however, despite the novel's excesses. Mary Whipple
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
fine buy, worse literature
Very good quality, totally unused. Very fast delivery. A good opportunity to get know more about this author. Whom i really don't like. This is US-Culture of the worst. Read more
Published 18 months ago by actic3
A long slog of a book
I found it really hard to finish this book - although it could be that it was not the genre I prefer as I was reading it for a book club. Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2010 by P. Comben
A teeming, multi-layered `tour de force' ....
To say that Richard Price writes superb dialogue is almost like stating a given - like water is wet - but it is a given that we should nonetheless both acknowledge and admire. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2010 by bressons_puddle
A Symphony In Words!
Lush Life, the latest book from Richard Price, is, as the jacket describes, essentially a story of two Lower East Sides in New York City: one a high priced bohemia, the other a... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by bobbewig
A hard slog
Really at a loss regarding the praise for this book. The only one by Richard Price I have read and I am willing to believe he has written better but it will be a long time before I... Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2009 by M. BURNS
Excellent police procedural
Many people will be tempted to pick this book up due to the author's connections to the tv show 'The Wire', and they will be richly rewarded for doing so. Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2009 by Dublinia
Compelling police procedural
Sparkling dialogue throughout. The interrogation scene was compelling as Cash moved from key witness to prime suspect. Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2009 by Officer Dibble
What's all the fuss about?
If you're one of those people who wang on at dinner parties about how good The Wire is (even though it took you "6 episodes to really get into it") then this book is for you. Read more
Published on 8 Sep 2009 by Strong Cheddar
Absorbing crime novel
It takes time to get into this but is definitely worth it. Price builds a mosaic of a crime novel that explores community, family and poverty,and the meaning of success, using an... Read more
Published on 13 Aug 2009 by J. H. Bretts
Very Good - but not brilliant
Lush Life documents the story of a shooting in New York involving an actor (read: waiter)and the ensuing investigation.
The trademark Price ingredients are here. Read more
The trademark Price ingredients are here. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 2009 by MrShev
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