Lush Life (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Lush Life
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover to first edition hardcover of "Lush Life".
author = Richard Price
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux
pub_date = March 4, 2008
english_pub_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 464 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-374-29925-0
preceded_by = Samaritan
followed_by =

"Lush Life" is a contemporary social novel by Richard Price. It is Price's eighth novel, and was published in 2008 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Plot summary

The book is set in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and begins with a crime that at first seems straightforward, but quickly expands into a thicket of complications. On the way home from a night of drinking, three men—cafe manager Eric Cash, bartender Ike Marcus, and a friend of Marcus'—are accosted by two muggers. [cite news
last = Gibson
first = Ralph
title = Richard Price Details a Gritty 'Lush Life'
pages =
publisher = NPR
date = 2008-03-05
url = http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87893862
accessdate = 2008-03-15 ] Marcus is shot and killed, in a manner reminiscent of the real-life murder of Nicole duFresne, [ [http://gothamist.com/2008/03/04/richard_prices.php "Richard Price's "Lush Life" Stars Turbulent LES"] Gothamist. 2008-03-04.] or the case of Willie Bosket (who is explicitly referenced by Price in the novel). NYPD Detective Matty Clark winds up investigating the crime, and keeping an eye on Ike's distraught father Billy, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic. Cash is initially arrested for the crime, but later released when the accounts of other witnesses back up his own; his own behavior is affected as he has difficulty coping with the memory of the incident.

Reception

The novel received mostly rave reviews from a wide variety of media sources. [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Were We Right or Were We Right: Richard Price's "Lush Life"
work = Publishers Weekly
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 2008-03-06
url = http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6538912.html
accessdate = 2008-04-28] [cite news
last = Kois
first = Dan
coauthors = Brown, Lane
title = Richard Price on ‘Lush Life,’ Martin Scorsese, and Michael Jackson
work = New York
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 2008-03-04
url = http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2008/03/richard_price.html
accessdate = 2008-04-28] [cite news
last = Anderson
first = Sam
coauthors =
title = Stalking the Gramno: A book-review procedural about Richard Price’s Lush Life
work = New York
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 2008-03-03
url = http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/44616/
accessdate = 2008-03-15] Michiko Kakutani of the "New York Times" wrote that "Lush Life" was "a visceral, heart-thumping portrait of New York City" and "no one writes better dialogue than Richard Price—not Elmore Leonard, not David Mamet, not even David Chase."cite news
last = Kakutani
first = Michiko
title = A Kaleidoscopic Perspective on a Murder, and Dreams Lost and Found
pages =
work = The New York Times
date = 2008-03-04
url = http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/books/04kaku.html?ref=books
accessdate = 2008-03-15 ] The "Hartford Courant" praised Price's ability to "embrace irony without ever being ham-handed and to create characters who refuse to be pinned down". [cite news
last = Goldberg
first = Carole
title = Review: 'Lush Life' by Richard Price, a mystery that shakes and stirs
pages =
work = The Hartford Courant
date =
url = http://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/booksmags/sfl-bkcarolepricesbmar09,0,5571057.story
accessdate = 2008-03-15] Others called it "powerful" [cite news
last = Reese
first = Jennifer
coauthors =
title = Review: Richard Price's "Lush Life"
work = Entertainment Weekly
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 2008-02-28
url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20180939,00.html
accessdate = 2008-04-28] and a "damned good book", [cite news
last = Moore
first = Clayton
coauthors =
title = Richard Price and the Lush Life
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Bookslut.com
date = January 2008
url = http://www.bookslut.com/mystery_strumpet/2008_01_012356.php
accessdate = 2008-04-28] and said that "every sentence is a pleasure". [cite news
last = Richardson
first = John H
coauthors =
title = Big Important Book of the Month: Lush Life
work = Esquire
pages =
language =
publisher =
date = 2008-02-28
url = http://www.esquire.com/fiction/book-review/lush-life-0308
accessdate = 2008-04-28]

Some reviewers were equally positive, but not without some reservations. Salon.com writer Richard B. Woodward called the book "astonishing", but "more a collection of brilliantly realistic scenes than a book with moral weight or a convincing vision of the way New York functions in the Bloomberg era". [cite news
last = Woodward
first = Richard B
title = Richard Price's criminal intelligence
pages =
publisher = Salon.com
date = 2008-03-10
url = http://www.salon.com/books/review/2008/03/10/richard_price/
accessdate = 2008-03-15] The "Los Angeles Times" praised it as "deftly written" and "beautifully expressive", but thought that "Price can't quite bridge the gap between this social novel and the subtleties of real life".cite news
last = Ulin
first = David L
title = Book Review: Lush Life
pages =
work = Los Angeles Times
date = 2008-03-02
url = http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bk-ulin2mar02,0,1314213.story
accessdate = 2008-03-15 ]

References