Lush Life: A Novel by Richard Price Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.17 You Save: $23.83 (92%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Lush Life: A Novel
Book Review: Disappointing, shallow, mean-spirited, and a waste of time
Summary: 1 Stars
This is an overblown, contrived and thin satire masquerading as social realism. I had high expectations, but I found the book predictable and self-important. Price seems to think he's wiser and more street-smart than any of his characters, but to me the book just showed how limited his vision is, whether he's looking at cops, criminals, poor young Hispanics, hipsters.... He has a good ear for voices but to make a great novel, you also need sympathetic characters and a compelling plot. This is one of those books where I felt really cheated of the time and money I had spent on it.Book Review: Dumb
Summary: 1 Stars
Stupid, dumb, stupid, boring, stupid, brainless, stupid, tiresome, stupid, dreary, stupid, senseless, etc., stupid, etc.
I note that other reviewers had said that they had trouble getting into the book, or worse. I should have listened to them.
Book Review: East Side Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Book Review: Ensemble
Summary: 4 Stars
Book Review: Eventually slightly boring
Summary: 3 Stars
There were four glowing blurb testimonials on the back of the dust jacket for this book. Dennis Lehane calls Price the greatest writer of dialog this country has ever produced. Ehh. Not so sure about that.
Russell Banks says he's a whole lot funnier than Balzac. Well, Balzac isn't your go to guy for comedy but I didn't laugh once while reading this book. I think I smiled one time.
Francine Prose (not sure if that's a real name) says his writing has the desperation of someone desperate to tell the absolute truth. And, I guess I'd agree with that. But that only goes so far. Someone can tell you an absolutely true story and do it in a boring or unenlightening way.
The last blurb is by Charles Taylor of Salon who remarks that "Perhaps we are no longer used to novelists who are superb reporters . . ." and that is exactly the right way to think of this book. It's fiction but a superb bit of reporting. But after getting through a large portion of the 455 pages, the reader starts to want something more than a good grasp of lower level detail. Even the much lauded ear for dialog seems to be detecting just two types of speech among New Yorkers, world weary and semi-literate. I'd like to have given this book 3.5 stars and I don't really understand at all giving it 5. Shouldn't 5 stars be reserved for books infused with some philosophical content or meta level message?