Lush Life

Lush Life is my 2nd Richard Price novel of the summer. While it wasn't as good as Clockers, it was pure Richard Price.

And that's a great thing.

Forget plot.

Price writes dialogue and characters better than anyone I've read. Ever.

Characters unfold at a deliberate pace. Price doesn't force anything. He allows the characters room to breathe and simply be. Every bit of dialogue doesn't have to push plot. Dialogue, in the case of Price's novels, do as much to reveal and build character.

And don't really forget plot. Plot is still important. Price's novels explore the differences (and similarities) between people and the clash that can inevitably take place when cultures collide. In the case of Lush Life, the clash takes place on the Lower East Side of New York City where established immigrants are finding themselves slowly pushed out by young aspiring bohemians and they're all surrounded by towers of broken promises in the housing projects. The event that pushes the novel takes place early on (and the perpetrator is revealed fairly early, too) and the joy of reading Price is how (and if) you reach the conclusion.

He doesn't disappoint.