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pitosalas's review against another edition
4.0
Gritty, believable story about NYC police and lots of other characters trying to get along. Great read. Had a hard time gettingused to the style at the start, but really got into it.
jeffrossbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Okay. The dialog is excellent and it feels real (actually it feels like a couple of episodes of The First 48 on A
sbelasco40's review against another edition
4.0
This book meandered a bit at times but is still a hell of a character-driven mystery. It's not even so much about the police work as it is about the Lower East Side and grief, cultures clashing. Price writes New York in this way that makes it so you can feel the dirt and history under your fingernails.
nssutton's review against another edition
4.0
read 52 books' review, remembered how weathered my copy of clockers was in middle school. oh, you didn't read crime stories in elementary school? uuhh.... me either.
the first thing i noticed was how much the dialogue read like an episode of the wire. but then i saw in the inside flap and noticed price had won an edgar allen poe for working on the show. i felt a little stupid for not having made the connection sooner and immediately fell into the story, disregarding chores and homework and anything else that wasn't within the pages of the book.
but because it felt like an episode of the wire, i kept getting sort of irritated at all the references with regards to the lower east side. i didn't want to be there, i wanted to be with price in the bars and harbors of baltimore. it was too much like the wire, although, to be fair, clockers could have been as well.
but it did reignite my love for price's writing and i'm glad i still have at least a half dozen of his novels left to play catch up with.
the first thing i noticed was how much the dialogue read like an episode of the wire. but then i saw in the inside flap and noticed price had won an edgar allen poe for working on the show. i felt a little stupid for not having made the connection sooner and immediately fell into the story, disregarding chores and homework and anything else that wasn't within the pages of the book.
but because it felt like an episode of the wire, i kept getting sort of irritated at all the references with regards to the lower east side. i didn't want to be there, i wanted to be with price in the bars and harbors of baltimore. it was too much like the wire, although, to be fair, clockers could have been as well.
but it did reignite my love for price's writing and i'm glad i still have at least a half dozen of his novels left to play catch up with.
librariandest's review against another edition
4.0
According to the KCLS blog, the author wrote some episodes of The Wire. The Wire! And, friends, this is just as absorbing and trenchant. It made me slightly afraid to visit the Lower East Side when I visit New York (I mean, not really, but kinda). Even though it's not a whodunit, it still grips you, keeps you guessing. I couldn't help picturing Matty as McNulty. And he even stuck the name Stinkum in there! Awesome.
neerajams's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book so quickly - found it to be a total page-turner, fell into Price's characters and dialogue so easily, and got all nostalgic for my old New York neighborhood, where this book takes place.
Beyond enjoying it in the moment (on a Caribbean beach - not tough to enjoy!), I'm not going to give it much thought. It consistently felt like there was an opportunity to do more with this story - draw more conclusions about gentrification and its impact on neighborhoods and people, better highlight the systems and incentives that lead to police over-reach...those themes were there, but always tangential. I think further exploring those would have added more meaning to what was essentially the book version of a good Law & Order episode.
Beyond enjoying it in the moment (on a Caribbean beach - not tough to enjoy!), I'm not going to give it much thought. It consistently felt like there was an opportunity to do more with this story - draw more conclusions about gentrification and its impact on neighborhoods and people, better highlight the systems and incentives that lead to police over-reach...those themes were there, but always tangential. I think further exploring those would have added more meaning to what was essentially the book version of a good Law & Order episode.
traciemasek's review against another edition
2.0
I was really excited to read this after hearing Richard Price's interview on Fresh Air. Maybe my expectations were too high. I mean, it was on the good side of okay, but despite reading it in 1.5 days at the beach, it just never grabbed me to the point where I couldn't put it down. Also, there's something about Price's punctuation habits that irked me in places. For what it's worth, I did like the way it ended, though.
Also, even though I've lived in New York for 2.5 years, I can still count on one hand the number of meaningful trips I've made to the LES. I can't really decide if I'm proud of that or not.
Also, even though I've lived in New York for 2.5 years, I can still count on one hand the number of meaningful trips I've made to the LES. I can't really decide if I'm proud of that or not.
moirastone's review against another edition
4.0
Law & Order directed by Orson Wells. Or The Bonfire of the Vanities written by someone with a beating human heart. In other words, pretty fucking satisfying. (And jesus, the dialogue on this guy. I see from reading the blurbs that I am not the only person to notice this, but ...damn. It's so vivid that each time I closed the book, I swear my apartment got quieter.)
bryce_is_a_librarian's review against another edition
5.0
Great Altmanesque novel about the post 9/11 lower east side.
It's a crime novel but only in the loosest sense, as the main themes is how little good the detectives detecting actually does. Instead it uses the murder to set off a bomb that reverberates in all the classes, races, and religions that have some how packed themselves into this single neighborhood.
A great kaleidoscopic piece of atmosphere and character.
It's a crime novel but only in the loosest sense, as the main themes is how little good the detectives detecting actually does. Instead it uses the murder to set off a bomb that reverberates in all the classes, races, and religions that have some how packed themselves into this single neighborhood.
A great kaleidoscopic piece of atmosphere and character.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
5.0
Lush Life turned out to be every bit as good as critics say. I was a little put off by the hype when it came out, but humbly admit the praise was justified. The writing, especially the dialogue, is perfect. The cops, thugs and hipsters are carefully drawn, complex and realistic. I suppose you could say this isn't a plot-driven book. It's basically about a robbery gone wrong, and the effect it has on the people directly and indirectly involved. No plot twists, no shiny magic tricks. Yet I stayed up all night to find out in what way Billy Marcus would finally go off the rails, whether Eric would ever stop feeling sorry for himself, if Matty would give his no-good sons, The Big One and The Other One, a good talking to. Too bad there was only one female character with any kind of agency. The others were minor characters whose only purpose was to serve as objects of desire. But it's SO good, I can't get grumpy about that.
I doubt this book will lure any tourists to NYC, but it might get Price some new readers.
I doubt this book will lure any tourists to NYC, but it might get Price some new readers.