"So, what do you do?" Whenever people asked him, Eric Cash used to have a dozen answers. Artist, actor, screenwriter...But now he's thirty-five years old and he's still living on the Lower East Side, still in the restaurant business, still serving the people he always wanted to be. What does Eric do? He manages. Not like Ike Marcus. Ike was young, good-looking, people liked him. Ask him what he did, he wouldn't say tending bar. He was going places—until two street kids stepped up to him and Eric on Eldridge Street one night and pulled a gun. At least, that's Eric's version.
In Lush Life, Richard Price tears the shiny veneer off the "new" New York to show us the hidden cracks, the underground networks of control and violence beneath the glamour. Lush Life is an X-ray of the street in the age of no broken windows and "quality of life" squads, from a writer whose "tough, gritty brand of social realism...reads like a movie in prose" (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times).
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"Whoadamn this was good. One of the few works of crime-fiction in which both sides of the story (both criminal & police POV) were told in a way that was so engaging, the necessary threads slightly left to pull together for the end of the story didn't seem like predictable/frayed tails. "
— April (5 out of 5 stars)
" I joined a book club and this is our first book. "
— Ellen, 2/19/2014" When I first read this book, I didn't think much of it but it keep coming back to me. Every time I'm in the East Village, I think of scenes from this book that I didn't even know that I remembered. Now, I couldn't forget this book if I wanted to. "
— Trevor, 2/17/2014" Entirely forgettable, well written, kind of a word candy book, fun to read but no substance. "
— Ej, 2/2/2014" An at times frustrating mashup of the overly familiar ("Law & Order" episode plotting, gruff burnout cops who really care) and the oft-dazzling way Price has with dialogue, most of which is masterly here. A cut above most police procedurals, but never transcends the genre (and if any genre writer could do that, it's Price). "
— Jeff, 1/29/2014" The best book I have read in a long time. "
— Diane, 1/28/2014" Ok - Watching 'The Wire' is better... "
— Marta, 1/24/2014" Im a big Price fan but this one fell flat for me. Price is working so hard to build a masterpiece about a neighborhood in transition that in the process sketches in charachters that don't move or grow. "
— Nick, 12/25/2013" Pretty good, once I got into it. It reminded me of a gritty Law & Order. "
— Allison, 12/25/2013" CP = Criminal Possession "
— M, 12/10/2013" The dialogue is crackling, but i didn't think there was enough going on in this to warrant its 500+ pages. I finished it, but about 1/3 of the way through, I started thinking that there wasn't enough to the story. "
— Howard, 12/1/2013" Well written, too long, wait for the movie.... "
— Patrick, 11/25/2013Richard Price is the author of six previous novels, including the national bestsellers Freedomland and Clockers, which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1999 he received a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His fiction, articles, and essays have appeared in Best American Essays 2002, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, New Yorker, Esquire, Village Voice, and Rolling Stone. He has also written numerous screenplays, including Sea of Love, Ransom, and The Color of Money. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughters.
Bobby Cannavale is a film, stage, and television actor. He has appeared in numerous television shows and films, but he is perhaps best known for his role as a reincarnated matchmaker on ABC's Cupid. He won an Emmy for his guest appearance on the hit show Will & Grace.