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)

Joan in Asheville

A slow dull story that is not worth the credit. I've gotten books before that were mediocre at best, despite the rating, but this one is intolerable.

Book with ambiance but no suspense

This book is a police drama but reads like true crime because you know from the second scene of the book "who done it." All you're left with is listening to the police chase every red herring in what sounds like a fairly realistic police investigation. There just isn't any suspense or drama when you know the police are following the wrong clues.
Where this story shines is the ambiance of the book. It's a fairly gritty setting that paints New York as a very depressing place to live. The reader also does an excellent job.

Had high hopes

I really expected to like, perhaps love, this book. Given that a favorite reviewer, whom I follow, gave it high praise. Add to that Bobby Cannavale and how could I miss? The writing is good but it is just too grim for me. Also, I had some of a hard time getting all the characters straight as the scenes switch back and forth between various settings, times, and people. You may not have that problem.

Bobby Cannavale ("Boardwalk Empire" and "Station Agent" to name just two amazing performances) was a disappointment as a narrator. He is simply a reader, in this format, not a performer. That only contributed to my difficulty distinguishing the various characters.

Bobby Cannavale is a great narrator but this story is totally ADD

I have a little over 3 hours to go but I can’t tell where the characters are which characters are doing what, there’s too much nonsense filler in between

poor read

Characters not real to life. Plot is so ;thin one falls through the ice!I guess the author just got tired, and ended the book. What a waste of time!

Should have been a movie

I agree with the previous reviewer who said this book was like a screen play. Heavy on the dialog, it places the action in the background. I ended up skipping to the end (something I never do) after two-thirds of the way in. I just couldn't take the boring speeches by the victim's father, who figures heavily in the plot line. The ending was also very anti-climatic, much like The Wire.

Huh???

I listen to books all the time as I travel/drive with my job. I can usually muddle through if I don't get into or like what I am listening to. But I could not handle this one - I stopped listening early on as I could not figure out who the book or what this book was about....not my kind of listen. It's in my library but don't think I will be giving it another try. Wish I could get my credits back......

unlistenable

i've listened to over 100 books this is the first review i've written save yourself there's no feeling of attachment to any of the characters and there are many, many minutes of police interviews that are boring and fruitless i can't tell you what is even going on after 5+ hours and even though i got this far i just can't go any further to see if it gets better or redeems itself at the end b.

Not a novel by anyone's standard

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Many \people must have, I can't imagine why.

Would you ever listen to anything by Richard Price again?

Yes, he's a great writer, but this one is missing.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Bobby Cannavale?

Yes.

What character would you cut from Lush Life?

There is no real character development, so I really can't say.

Any additional comments?

Like some other reviewers I thought surely there is more to this book--but it just ends. I suspect the author submitted this part for an advance and just left it at that.

Tough read (listen), kinda slow

I think the intent may have been to give the feel for how painful and slow a murder investigation can go - but there were times it was just too slow, to be observing anyway. One of the few audio books i considered stopping (i didn't). For example, the overnight interview with the initial suspect took forever, with the same questions again and again... I guess this is how they wear a suspect down - but it wore me down too. Sorry, i just felt it was too tedious. Narration was good.