Lush Life [Kindle Edition]

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.

Richard Price is a heavyweight of a writer that's for sure.

For the first seven rounds of Lush Life, he's out like Cassius Clay, speed and footwork, nifty combinations and power, mouth and trousers. From then on, it's more of a case of the later Ali, all rope-a-dope with the occasional flurry of brilliance (and sometimes merely a flurry).

Lush Life is set in Manhattan. The beginning centres upon a group of characters whose lives are soon to intertwine, each of them vividly described and full of life - full of life, that is, until one of them is shot. The fallout from the murder is huge and the police are quick to arrest the victims boss, barman Eric, on the grounds that he's been identified by two eye-witnesses.

Eric is put under immense pressure as the cops try to find the information they need. As the investigation proceeds, the locality is laid bare and explored quite beautifully.

The day-to-day of police work and cop-politics are also exposed. Loyalties are stretched. Favours called in. Relationships explored. The need for people to `become something' is analysed.

Most importantly, the interest level is maintained at a high-pitch. The descriptions are superb and the dialogue purrs.

A new dimension is introduced when the victim's father arrives in town. He falls apart as the pages turn and it's a painful thing to witness as it seems so very true to life.

So far, so very good.

Up until the point where conflicting stories to those of the eye-witnesses come into play and the resolution to that particular issue is reached I was completely involved and delighted that there was so much more of the book to enjoy.

Not long after this point, I found myself having to make a real effort to move forwards. There was a lot of revisiting of themes, scenes seemed to be repeated, situations seemed to drag on without any sense of moving towards resolution and it actually felt like the author had lost the plot.

I became rather bored. It wasn't that the writing was of a lesser quality taken sentence by sentence, it just seemed that there was a dilution of purpose. I had a feeling that Mr Price wanted to include all the ideas and knowledge he'd picked up during research and was determined to find angles that would allow him to do so.

I did battle with my fatigue and made it to the end, mainly because of the investment I'd made by then and because I really cared what happened to each of the main characters.

The book is far too long for my liking and I really feel the same story could have been told in half the space and would have produced a wonderful result if it had.

Richard Price has written great books, but for me this isn't among them. It almost made it, but lost on a split decision. 5 stars for Part 1, 2 Stars for Part 2 - overall, somewhere in-between.

Richard Price has a reputation for possessing the unique ability to capture the pulse of New York City and it's inhabitants. In the case of Lush Life, the pulse is erratic and it appears that the patient will require life support to survive. The dialogue is hard to follow and the story itself is a bit too "realistic" for my taste.

The New York featured here is not the city of Madison Avenue and Broadway plays. This city is dirty and unforgiving, most of the characters, from cops to thugs, tend to be the failures of society who lack any sort of moral compass (but, of course, we are urged to cut them a little slack since their shortcomings are due to unfulfilled dreams and circumstances over which they have no control). Situations are not "lush" and the "life" we observe is little more than just mere existence. This is just a little too "front page news" for me. There is the same lack of accountability for ones actions that we observe on a daily basis as we read our daily newspaper or catch the evening news. The news is depressing.......and so is this novel.