Moving On Musings on Richard Price's 'Lush Life'

Notes: This is also a moving on book mainly because it talks about a transitioning period that happens when one's grown up child gets murdered in the Lower East Side (LES) of Manhattan. You deal with it the best way you can, given the grim circumstances. And others are always involved, as nobody's death is considered a vacuum when it happens - each one of us is connected with others. We don't die in a void. Stylish characterizations, well-crafted descriptions, lots of good research ---these are all can be found in this book, which got me into thinking about a lot of happenings taking place in the LES when I used to live there. I think I met again a lot of the characters I met when as lived on East Broadway when I read this book. 

Lush Life by Richard Price
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I took some time thinking what to say about this book, which intrigued me because of the feedback I read from others. On the surface it's not exactly among the many books I'd be reading, except that I thought I could learn a thing or two from the author's really cool style of writing. He could get away with a lot of what can be considered 'wrong English' if an editor's checking the work of someone whose English is not his / her first language -- but as expected with how publishers and editors treat writers coming from this side of the English-speaking shores, the author was given the leeway. And of course, I was intrigued far more because I knew the area which was being used in the narrative of the book. I used to live myself on East Broadway, very close the stop of the F train. The book's set in the Lower East Side (LES) of Manhattan, very contiguous to the East Village, Chinatown, City Hall, Soho or other nearby areas being described in other publications; they share the same imagined borders.

I've to say I had the pleasure of taking my time reading the book, as I went through the experience of understanding the near-crude language, which was in English (I supposed!) that was a major element to help characterize the many personalities you'll encounter when you read this book. In real life, unless you go about researching and meeting first hand people who speak in the same crude way of communicating, you'll have difficulties in facing your encounters with such types. It's almost like watching a TV show on the police, crime, syndicates, sophisticated forms of corruption, social upheavals that are just brimming on the top of the social lid at this very moment as you read the book. At times, the narrative's dragging (probably, it's the state of my mind, as I had to be doing other stuff, too, in between reading this book!).

I didn't find most of the text disturbing at all, personally. I've seen worst conditions, situations in my own life (although I have not been involved in a homicide myself; thank God!). This is a definitive must-read book for those who'd like to pursue a career as a cop, which is an honorable profession that's reserved for those who are courageous and strong. It just amazes me why people would even pursue professional careers in the police force when they are exposed to too much danger as well the mean side of the human condition. I think it's the excitement that's intrinsic while engaged in the process of doing one's job as a cop that makes one to decide on this career.

Read the book if you're thinking of moving to NYC (or in any other big city), as it's a more honest text about what happens really in many neighborhoods of the city, without the need to be exposed to romantic notions about being here in NYC. It takes a lot of exposure to the elements, so to speak, just to be able to figure out how to be a good person while being around here in NYC. And this book provides great introduction to what you may have been thinking about when you hear about crimes (happening even among the best neighborhoods, actually) taking place in these corners of Gotham City.


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