It's wonderful in SO Many Ways - -

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	• Freedomland Richard Price Dell, 1999 - 736 pages average customer review:based on 76 reviews view larger image
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It's wonderful in SO Many Ways - - - BUT.....

Undoubtedly, Price is among the most gifted writers I've ever had the priviledge to read. His characters, his dialogue, incredible! Some of the reviewers said "too long" and they're right, I guess... BUT this is such a unique book, it really doesn't matter, unless you're looking to zap thru and speed-read for a "story." Myself, I don't read that way; but the joy is so different from those Can't-Put-Down books -- you CAN put this down and take time to analyze (what would you have done differently? What if this happens, then what?) -- so, while I can understand the discontent among those who criticize, this just ain't a "for-everyone" type books -- and I haven't finished it yet!! Page 581, and still about 70 or so yet to read..... but I'll cherish (or, at least, I THINK I will) the experience of an awfully looooong book, just jam-packed with such amazing insight - - it's great! And I have a few more Richard Price books yet to open - have already read three or four before this - - this guy's an Artist! And I wonder what agony it must have been in crafting it. Thus, if you're not impatient, give it a try.

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Price novices, Start here (I'm guessing)

I've never read anything by Richard Price before and I was enthralled by this book. I'm usually a pretty slow reader, but I knocked back about 200 pages a day. I could not put this book down. I cancelled (or reluctantly attended) social engagements because of this book. One afternoon my hand went numb twice because I simply neglected to move it while its counterpart was furiously turning pages. The social commentary is astute, and Dempsy was a world I hated to leave. And yes, the other reviewers are right, the dialogue is razor-sharp precise. I felt like I was reading transcriptions of real conversations.

From looking at the other reviews, this is not a favorite among Price fans. So I'm glad I started here. I've already purchased Lush Life, Clockers, and Samaritan, and hope to read them soon. If you're like me, and you've never read anything by Richard Price, I'm guessing this is an ideal starting point: you won't have anything of (evidently) superior quality to compare it to, you won't be disappointed, you'll get a fantastic read and it's only up from there (or so I hope).

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In 1998, Richard Price returned to the gritty urban landscape of his national bestseller Clockers to produce Freedomland, a searing and unforgettable novel about a hijacked car, a missing child, and an embattled neighborhood polarized by racism, distrust, and accusation. Freedomland hit bestseller lists from coast to coast, including those of the Boston Globe, USA Today and Los Angeles Times; garnered universally rave reviews; and was selected as the Grand Prize Winner of the Imus American Book Award and as a New York Times Notable Book. On May 11, this highly lauded bestseller is available in paperback for the first time.

A white woman, her hands gashed and bloody, stumbles into an inner-city emergency room and announces that she has just been carjacked by a black man. But then comes the horrifying twist: Her young son was asleep in the back seat, and he has now disappeared into the night.

So begins Richard Price's electrifying new novel, a tale set on the same turf--Dempsey, New Jersey--as Clockers. Assigned to investigate the case of Brenda Martin's missing child is detective Lorenzo Council, a local son of the very housing project targeted as the scene of the crime. Under a white-hot media glare, Lorenzo launches an all-out search for the abducted boy, even as he quietly explores a different possibility: Does Brenda Martin know a lot more about her son's disappearance than she's admitting?

Right behind Lorenzo is Jesse Haus, an ambitious young reporter from the city's evening paper. Almost immediately, Jesse suspects Brenda of hiding something. Relentlessly, she works her way into the distraught mother's fragile world, befriending her even as she looks for the chance to break the biggest story of her career.

As the search for the alleged carjacker intensifies, so does the simmering racial tension between Dempsey and its mostly white neighbor, Gannon. And when the Gannon police arrest a black man from Dempsey and declare him a suspect, the animosity between the two cities threatens to boil over into violence. With the media swarming and the mood turning increasingly ugly, Lorenzo must take desperate measures to get to the bottom of Brenda Martin's story.

At once a suspenseful mystery and a brilliant portrait of two cities locked in a death-grip of explosive rage, Freedomland reveals the heart of the urban American experience--dislocated, furious, yearning--as never before. Richard Price has created a vibrant, gut-wrenching masterpiece whose images will remain long after the final, devastating pages.

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