Richard Price
I bought this book at the Strand in New York, after realizing that I had neglected to pack a book for my Spring Break trip; what better, I thought, to set the mood than a gritty murder mystery set in the city I was exploring? Lush Life is just the kind of book I was looking for, a rich mystery with layers of character depth and an unflinching portrayal of the class conflict engulfing neighborhoods like Manhattan's Lower East Side. Lush Life may attempt a bit too earnestly at times to enhance the conflict between those living in the projects and the shadow of the neighborhood's tenement past and the ultra-cool hipsters who use the grime as a marker of credibility, putting it into the words of his characters or, worse, in his exposition instead of allowing it to develop more naturally. For the most part, however, Price nails character development in a way very rarely seen in mystery novels. Each of his characters leaps off the page in full three-dimensional reality, and its easy to underscore the praise he receives for his dialogue, which is entirely realistic and which beautifully serves its dual purposes of advancing the plot and developing the characters speaking and responding.
Likewise, Price's decision to tell Lush Life with a shifting third-person focus rounds out his Lower East Side, presenting each of its entangled worlds and characters with a first-person familiarity that rounds out the complete picture of modern New York. We understand at once the necessary persistence of detectives Matty and Yolanda and the way that it slowly deteriorates Eric Cash. We understand the quiet desperation of the gunman while watching the havoc it wreaks on the murder victim's father. All bases are covered and what readers experience is akin to these stories as they manifest themselves in the real world. There is clearly a sense of right and wrong throughout the novel but there is also a hint of something more, a glimpse at the system that produces senseless killings like the one in the novel without heavy-handed moralizing or long soliloquies from the author. The characters get into this kind of discussion from time to time, but these discussions appear mostly to be in the vein of the characters and, with a few exceptions, do not infringe upon the story being told. Though the crime at its core is simple and the resolution quick as it comes, Lush Life excels as a study of New York's Lower East Side and the complex ecology of characters that inhabit it. Richard Price presents an unapologetic glimpse into this neighborhood and into the effects that murder has on the human psyche in many forms.
Grade: A
Likewise, Price's decision to tell Lush Life with a shifting third-person focus rounds out his Lower East Side, presenting each of its entangled worlds and characters with a first-person familiarity that rounds out the complete picture of modern New York. We understand at once the necessary persistence of detectives Matty and Yolanda and the way that it slowly deteriorates Eric Cash. We understand the quiet desperation of the gunman while watching the havoc it wreaks on the murder victim's father. All bases are covered and what readers experience is akin to these stories as they manifest themselves in the real world. There is clearly a sense of right and wrong throughout the novel but there is also a hint of something more, a glimpse at the system that produces senseless killings like the one in the novel without heavy-handed moralizing or long soliloquies from the author. The characters get into this kind of discussion from time to time, but these discussions appear mostly to be in the vein of the characters and, with a few exceptions, do not infringe upon the story being told. Though the crime at its core is simple and the resolution quick as it comes, Lush Life excels as a study of New York's Lower East Side and the complex ecology of characters that inhabit it. Richard Price presents an unapologetic glimpse into this neighborhood and into the effects that murder has on the human psyche in many forms.
Grade: A
2 comments:
I love The Strand!
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