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Title: Samaritan by Richard Price ISBN: 0-375-41115-1 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.19 (37 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Good Old Fashioned Story
Comment: Somebody brained Ray Mitchel, nearly beat him to death, someone he knows, but when he wakes in the hospital, childhood friend, but now lady cop Nerese Ammons, wants to know who and why, but Ray isn't talking, he seems more afraid of the truth that catching someone who tried to kill him.
Ray, a successful writer, has recently returned to his childhood home of Dempsy. Since he's been back he's reunited with his estranged teenage daughter, started a romance with a woman from the projects and is teaching writing to bored high-school kids. However Ray is a needy soul and his judgment is usually pretty bad. He lends money to anyone, deserving or not, and his kind deeds all seem to backfire.
Nerese, a black tough-minded single mother and a good detective, is close to retirement, but is determined to crack this case, if only because Ray once did her a kind deed when they were both kids in the projects.
SAMARITAN is often somber, deals with serious emotions, is sometimes funny and Price certainly knows how to draw likeable, but flawed characters that are believable and easy to understand. And it's easy to understand why many think that Richard Price is simply one of the best writers writing today. I know that's my belief.
Jeremiah McCain
Rating: 5
Summary: The slums of Dempsey, N.J.
Comment: Ray Mitchell grew up in the housing projects of Dempsey, N.J., went to LA to become a successful TV writer, and now returned to Dempsey with enough money to allow himself a few quirks. Mainly, re wants to reconnect with his 13-year old daughter Ruby.
Nerese Ammons, a black detective within months of retirement, knows Ray from childhood and remembers him as being on her side when the other school children gave her grief.
Ray wants to do good so that people will love him. But he does not know how to do it without coming across like the Salvation Army. He gets lied to, he gets ripped off, he just simply cannot connect because he forgot about the slums and no longer speaks their language.
And then Ray is brutally beaten up. Nerese takes over the investigation, because she owes him from way back. But Ray won't tell her who did it. and she has to detect the hard way.
By now this book should be a mystery. But it refuses to. It is the story of the people living in the project, their hopes and aspirations. They will not make it out of that slum, and they know it. But still they keep trying. They act like mafia godfathers hoping the image will put them on a higher level. The children visit prison and the criminals become superman. Yet at all times they have a clear understanding of their surroundings and the psychological facts of their diminished lives.
The author gives us an uncanny picture of people and locations but presents them almost like a stream of conscience. While it is fun to dig deeper here or there, the main attraction is in the swimming on the surface and let it all parade by.
Rating: 4
Summary: The motives of a do-gooder
Comment: I read The Wanderers, Richard Price's first novel, when I was a teenager and have read every one of his subsequent (seven including the present one) books. Although I've liked some better than others, they've all kept me thoroughly entertained and intrigued with the gritty street life Price so expertly evokes. Samaritan, like his last two novels, takes place in Dempsey, the fictional but believable small New Jersey city only a tunnel ride away from Manhattan. Samaritan is a combination mystery and psychological study. The title refers to Ray Mitchell, a man in his forties who abandons a writing career in Los Angeles to return to his hometown of Dempsey to teach. Ray is at loose ends. A recovering drug addict, he is estranged from his ex-wife and Ruby, his teenaged daughter and has no concrete plans for the future. He hopes that by returning to the home of his youth and helping some young people he will find direction. It is his need to help and be appreciated that is his downfall. For Ray is not the kind of "samaritan" who only gives help when it is truly needed; he is the kind who desperately needs to feel appreciated and will do practically anything to meet this need. The story is told partly in the present, after Ray has been assaulted and nearly killed, and partly in flashback as the events leading up to the assault are revealed. A childhood neighbor of Ray's, Nerese Ammons, is the policewoman who tries to figure out who attacked Ray and why. The problem is, Ray won't tell her and she (and the reader) cannot understand why. Nerese, a black woman who is about to retire from the police force, has problems of her own; she is a single mother with a family that includes criminals and drug abusers. In describing all this, I realize that a lot of it may sound familiar, even cliched (e.g. the cop about to retire), but Price has an unusual talent for transforming such material into a compelling story. His knack for dialogue, especially that of the city streets, is unsurpassed. Some popular writers write dialogue that sounds like writing; with Price, you can always *hear* the words and inflections. Samaritan is also helped by several interesting supporting characters, such as Salim, a troubled youth who Ray may be harming more than helping, and Tom Potenza, an ex-addict who counsels people around the projects. Race is a major factor throughout the novel, especially the question of what motivates a white man like Ray in his quest to "save" people who are mostly black. If Samaritan were presented as some kind of lesson in ethics or race relations, it would be simplistic and heavy-handed, but it isn't really that. Ray is a complex character whose motives are not entirely noble, but he is not a mere hypocrite. The novel explores the fine line that divides helping people for genuine as opposed to selfish reasons. Samaritan, like its main character, has its flaws and it's not my favorite Richard Price novel, but it is still an enjoyable and thought provoking tale.
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Title: This Just In: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV by Bob Schieffer ISBN: 0399149716 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 27 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Clockers by Richard Price ISBN: 0060934980 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Traveler's Gift : Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success by Andy Andrews ISBN: 0785264280 Publisher: Thomas Nelson Pub. Date: 05 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Shutter Island: A Novel by Dennis Lehane ISBN: 0688163173 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Freedomland by Richard Price ISBN: 0440226449 Publisher: Dell Publishing Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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