Samaritan

By: Richard Price

Narrated by: Richard Allen

Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

After a successful L.A. television career, Ray Mitchell returns to the New Jersey housing project where he grew up, to rethink his life, reconnect with his teenage daughter, and give back to the community. Things are looking up: he's seeing a woman from the old neighborhood and teaching at his high school. But suddenly, he is found savagely beaten. He knows who did it, but won't talk. It's up to Nerese Ammons, a childhood acquaintance and now a police detective, to get Ray to tell what happened. As he slips in and out of consciousness, we enter the years in which he and Nerese encountered each other across lines of money, class, and race, the same lines Nerese must reach across now so that Ray will reveal the truth before it's too late.

©2003 Richard Price (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"Masterful detail, vivid scene-setting, and acutely observed, naturalistic dialogue." (Booklist)

another fix for Wire fans

As noted in a review for Lush Life, Wire fans will recognize themes and richly drawn, nuanced characters (even names are recycled - Omar, Butchie) from the two novels available on audible.com. Both are narrated beautifully, and I thought Samaritan was even better than Lush Life.

17 of 18 people found this review helpful

Great book-Terrible Narration

Price is a great writer who has an uncanny ear for the dialect and expressions of the places he writes about (where I grew up). Unfortunately, someone hired the wrong guy to do the narration. It is hard to listen to someone with a courtly Southern sounding accent who barely even tries to capture the essence of the New Jersey characters who populate this book. Bobby Canavale, who narrated Price's Lush Life, would have been a much better choice. Allen just does not do justice to the voices of the characters who live in the gritty towns across the Hudson from New York. A good story that could have made great listening with the right reader.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Compelling & honest

Every character is nuanced to contrast the stereotypes. His dialogues are uncanny, direct and intrinsic towards character development. This is a snapshot of life in emotional confusion and realism. Though the narration isn't quite as great as in "Lush Life" the story is still worth the listen.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Complexities

While trying to "help" is Ray really just a narcissist? Is he looking to "feel good" at the expense of others, even his own daughter? What lengths will a person go to trying to prove to at least themselves their honest intentions?

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Tedious, overly long, poorly developed characters

Having really enjoyed Lush Life I tried out this book but was disappointed. Among other flaws was too much pop psychology, and that the book seemed to be about 3 hours too long. Also, I don't think the author adequately explored the white-black dimensions he set up with his plot. After all, the protoganist was a white Jewish guy who returns to the overwhelmingly minority housing project where he grew up in the '60s. Yet, nothing much is done with an obvious racial conflict. The protaganist was just one of the boys. As an adult, he's just a middle class guy who is spending time with characters from his childhood (or their children). In general, all the characters seem very poorly developed. The narrator was very good in eliciting voices and dialects from all the non-white characters; his voicing of the white protaganist was terrible and greatly detracted from the listening experience.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

weak storyline, slow moving

I almost gave up on it but the author is talented and managed to hook me. hopefully he learns how to write a more captivating plot.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

loved it.

a beautiful, interconnected novel about doing the right thing. performance was fine after I got used to the narrator.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Time consuming, slow development, loses some focus

I did not enjoy this book because it was slow moving, drawn out way too long, and it was difficult to distinguish the voices of the characters. After a while, the plot was lost as the author tried too hard to demonstrate the psychological aspect of the main character. I found myself shutting off the book many times, and eventually, I finished the book and felt disappointed. I would not recommend this credit.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful