Lush Life

A Novel

By: Richard Price

Narrated by: Bobby Cannavale

Length: 12 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

What do you do?

Whenever people asked him, Eric Cash used to have a dozen answers: artist, actor, screenwriter....But now he's 35 years old and he's still living downtown, still in the restaurant business, working night shifts and serving the people he always wanted to be. What does Eric do? He manages. Not like Ike Marcus. Ike Marcus had what the Lower East Side wanted: he was young, good-looking, people liked him. Ask him what he did, and he wouldn't say "tend bar". He was going places, and he was going to live forever - until two street kids stepped up to him and Eric on Eldridge Street one night and pulled a gun. Ike's last words were "Not tonight, my man".

At least, that's Eric's version.

©2008 Richard Price (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Price writes with the slightly manic desperation of someone determined to tell the absolute truth....This heightened, anxious awareness of moral and psychological complexity is one of the great accomplishments of first-rate writing." ( The New York Times Book Review)

FREAKING AMAZING BOOK

Gritty and well developed characters
Phenomenal narration
Like I am in the middle of a crazy city- sights and smells and noise and people
Will read more of Mr Price and will look for Mr Cannavale
I do not know why I did not listen sooner. Kept putting it off. One of my faves

Eerily real

From Sea of Love to Clockers to Lush Life, Richard Price is a genius at helping us see the extraordinary world in which these people live. I am a forensic psychologist who evaluates the defendants, works with the lawyers, and sees in therapy the cops who appear in Price's novels. I listen, and I know these people. I know their conflicts, their burdens, their passions, all the complicated influences that propel them to crash into each other. I almost lost him in the first interrogation of Eric Cash, which went on way too long, but if you hang in, you get completely caught up. I had never heard of Bobby Cannavale before, but his reading is so thrilling that he bears a little bit of comparison to the giant of this field, the sorely missed Frank Muller. At the beginning I feared this might go on too long; at the end I wanted it to go on for days and days.

absorbing

I found this audiobook difficult to follow at first, but then got hooked on the plot, the well-developed characters, and the shifting back and forth between the various characters' points of view. I don't normally listen to "crime novels" since the characters are too often 2 dimensional, but this is more than "just" a crime novel. recommended.

A masterpiece

Would you consider the audio edition of Lush Life to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version but I might guess is that it is a wonderful book. The narration of the book is one of the best I have ever heard.

What other book might you compare Lush Life to and why?

This is a Shakespearean tragedy in the truest sense of the word. Although it sounds like hyperbole, a book this good and written so well, together with the plot, characterization, and narration mean to me that it can only be compared to a shakepeare play.

Which character – as performed by Bobby Cannavale – was your favorite?

They are all finely drawn, heroic but flawed.

Any additional comments?

This book ranks in the top five among the 800+ books I have listened to in the last four years.

One of my favorite recent downloads

There are certain books that seem to just be meant to be read. This is one of them. There's something very audial about Price's writing, and the narrator does a fine job of picking up on those moments. On finding the humor in a description, a pause, the pacing. While the storyline is nothing like any of Sandford's novels, I would equate that element of magic that comes from hearing his novels read by Ferrone, to this matchup here, complete with the noir quality. I will pick up anything Price writes next.

Lower East Side masterpiece

A masterful police procedural with a gritty look at the Lower East Side of New York. Only criticism is that the descriptions of the area circa the mid 2000s are so realistic, that when the author takes creative license, it seems glaringly obvious.

Highly recommended for police procedural fans especially those who have some connection to the area.

character driven cop drama

Would you listen to Lush Life again? Why?

I've already listened to it twice--it is so good. It is contemporary, with deep knowledge of police procedural as well as sharp and believable realism of other characters. Bobby Cannavale knocks it out of the park. I like books that are strongly researched in many genres--I like to feel like I'm actually learning about a job or a situation, and it's imperative it rings true--I hate cliches in dialogue or over-explaining situations or motivations--leaving nuance is very important in good writing. I've listened to literally 1000s of books and this is the first review I've written. One comment, in this book I had to really stay on top of the characters in the beginning of the book, it's hard to know which characters you need to follow closely until about 1/3 through, I listened to the first hour a couple times just to remember what was going on and also because it was good.

TYPICAL PRICE -- BRILLIANT, ENGAGING, DEPRESSING

First of all, I have to say, Bobby Cannavale is fantastic. Simply couldn't be better for this material. Second, Richard Price writes the best New York dialogue probably ever. His ear for cop-speak is amazing. The story is, however, deeply depressing. The characters are flawed, but by no means terrible. We can only guess why they have descended to this hell they are sharing.

A Crime Story for the Rest of Us

This is such a great book! I never read crime novels, but saw that the NY Times gave this a "Bear in Mind" review, which means they liked it. The story has such depth in its descriptions of the people - all the people that are involved with the crime - the family, the victims, and the police who try their best to solve this. Although there is tension to the plot, that is not really the whole point - this author is creating a feel for the characters and the setting. The reading is excellent, and I found this to be a very enjoyable and engaging book - something I wanted to listen to as much as I could, as fast as I could!

Great narration, so-so story

For me, this book was all about the narration. Bobby Cannavale really brings this book to life and gives the story a true New York feel (as a New Yorker I appreciate the care and authenticity of his accents, inflections, tone, and style). The book was enjoyable enough I guess, but I didn't feel a great sense of drama or tension as it unfolded-- maybe because we (the reader) knows who the culprit is from the beginning. I didn't care a great deal about any of the characters. To me it felt mostly like a great portrait of New York and the Lower East Side, but not really a riveting mystery or crime drama.