A review by davidwright
Lush Life by Richard Price

4.0

No suprise that this title is arousing the sort of genre/literary status discussions it has (eg. "good, but its just a crime novel" kind of stuff). For me, this was exactly the right book to turn to after feeling blue about the end of The Wire. As for me, I thought it was VERY good, and not unlike many of its brethren over in the mystery section in that regard. Readers who were impressed by this as a terrific social novel should consider hopping over the genre divide and checking out some of today's best writers on the crime beat. The other names will be familiar to seasoned fans - Pelecanos, Lehane, Elmore Leonard - there's a list on our library blog.

The audio version of this, read by Bobby Canavale, is fan-effing-TAStic. A truly masterful piece of polyglot impersonation across all the racial and social lines. It truly reflects Price's own gifts w/ speech.