Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
24th out of 30 books
—
50 voters
Samaritan
Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer who has left Hollywood under a cloud, returns to urban Dempsy, New Jersey, hoping to make a difference in the lives of his struggling neighbors. Instead, his very public and emotionally suspect generosity gets him beaten nearly to death. Ray refuses to name his assailant, which makes him intensely interesting to Detective Nerese Ammons, a f...more
Paperback, 378 pages
Published
June 8th 2004
by Vintage
(first published September 6th 2002)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,425)
I absolutely loved this book. I read it because of a recommendation of a coworker who knows I'm obsessed with The Wire - I never would have picked up this book on my own, even though I knew he wrote some episodes for the show. I didn't think I was capable of enjoying a crime novel. So I was pleasantly surprised when it was clear early on in the book that the crime mystery was actually secondary - it provided a good structure for the novel that I think kept the story focused throughout, even thro...more
I enjoyed this mystery much more than some of the Amazon reviewers. There are two main characters, a former TV writer named Ray and his high school friend, Tweetie. Ray is back in town trying to reestablish a connection to his daughter Ruby. When Ray is beaten nearly to death, Tweetie, an almost retured cop, comes in to figure out what happened. I found the plot to be interesting, and the characters to be complicated enough to hold my attention. Price does a nice job with the atmosphere and dial...more
Very good addition to modern urban-setting fiction by Richard Price. As with his other books he uses misdirection in the plot to make a point -- the book essentially is about how even the best intentions can be propelled by vanity, and the consequences of that for both any given individual and this modern moment. The plot involves a television writer who moves back to his boyhood home in northeastern New Jersey, and who, after starting a job at a local school where he teaches writing, is found s...more
Apr 23, 2008
Melody
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Melody by:
Craig
Ray Mitchell lived in the housing projects in Dempsey, New Jersey when he was a kid, but, despite many setbacks, he has become successful, writing for an award winning TV series about inner city high school students. He’s divorced, with a 12 year old daughter that he hardly knows, and hell bent on making life easier for folks still living in the projects.
Richard Price knows the language and characters of the streets. His descriptions and dialog create fully formed images in your head of the cha...more
Richard Price knows the language and characters of the streets. His descriptions and dialog create fully formed images in your head of the cha...more
More literary than Leonard and a little less dark than Ellroy, Price ranks among the masters of modern crime fiction. His procedural detail is quite competent, but he excels at character nuance and offers some of the truest American dialog around.
Set in the public schools and projects of New Jersey's Dempsey neighborhoods, the novel is a natural extension of issues addressed in the fourth season of HBO's The Wire. It explores race, crime and poverty, and gives an unnerving account of the less-th...more
Set in the public schools and projects of New Jersey's Dempsey neighborhoods, the novel is a natural extension of issues addressed in the fourth season of HBO's The Wire. It explores race, crime and poverty, and gives an unnerving account of the less-th...more
Samaritan was the first Richerd Price novel I read. I did so because Price introduced the re-issued Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby, Jr., and being a huge fan of Selby, I had to read someone who became a writer because of Selby, as I had a very similar experience. Anyway, I was not disappointed. Price does not have the pyschological depth of Selby, but he has a clear, distinct voice that has plenty to say. Samartian is gripping pyschological tale of a man done in by his own deeds. Price i...more
Who bashed in Ray Mitchell's head, and why? That would seem to be the central question in Richard Price's Samaritan, but the author uses this event to weave an intricate thriller that is as much character-driven as plot-driven. Beginning in medias res, as we are told to do, the book begins with Ray lying in a hospital bed trying to make sense out of a world that seems hopelessly jumbled after his attack. Price skillfully provides his protagonist's backstory, a writer who has had some recent succ...more
It's easy to forget what a good writer Price is. Writing for movies and TV has sharpened his sense of character and dialogue. Ray is one of the most complex characters I've come across in fiction in awhile. What really does motivate us to try to do "good?" And how do we react when the consequences of our acts of "charity" aren't what we expect? Or worse, when those consequences are negative and we feel they are what "we deserve?" The twist at the end was wrenching.
This book was lent to me by a friend who didn't have the time to read it. At first I put it off for a while, thinking that it was just a standard run-of-the-mill crime novel - which I love, but have to be in the right mood for. However, within reading the first few pages of starting to read this I realised I had seriously underrated it.
The 'whodunnit' of this novel is the attack that the main character Ray suffers, but the solving of the crime is second to the fascinating character study that un...more
The 'whodunnit' of this novel is the attack that the main character Ray suffers, but the solving of the crime is second to the fascinating character study that un...more
Excellent gritty urban crime fiction with definite literary quality. Ray Mitchell grew up in the projects of fictional Dempsey New Jersey and he returns there after a checkered career and a stint as a TV writer. He is compelled to help people and he is nearly killed for his trouble. An old friend from the projects, Nerese Ammons, now police, investigates the crime. Reminds me of Updike in the strength and centrality of Ray's point of view.
Price got on my "amazing writers" list with "Lush Life" and stayed there when I backtracked to "Clockers." Both books strike me as 'modern classics,' in that they're epic and relatable and photorealistic, and it's no shock to learn Price wrote for a season or two of The Wire.
This is my third go-round with him, and it's the weakest of the three, but remains a strong book. It tackles pretty head-on the good intentions and horrible self-awareness of deliberate (white) do-gooders and what their imp...more
This is my third go-round with him, and it's the weakest of the three, but remains a strong book. It tackles pretty head-on the good intentions and horrible self-awareness of deliberate (white) do-gooders and what their imp...more
May 28, 2008
Matt
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
McGyver5 Shesintomalakas
Shelves:
fiction
The scenes were well set with high resolution imagery. The character flaws make the book, not forced plot devices. The story telling within the book is a treat. Overall, I'd say the man knows how to turn a phrase.
However, the book lost a little steam towards the end.
It isn't a relatively highly rated book of Price's, so I'm excited to read more.
However, the book lost a little steam towards the end.
It isn't a relatively highly rated book of Price's, so I'm excited to read more.
I have been reading Price since 1980. I found this particular title last summer in the cut out bin. By the time you get halfway through it, you might think you have a good idea of "who done it," but most likely you'll be wrong.
Price's protagonist is a hollywood TV writer who goes back to New York City. He likes to "help" people, and no good deed goes unpunished. Add the complications of divorce, a previous addiction problem, a user girlfriend, and you have yourself a story.
Price lives in New Y...more
Price's protagonist is a hollywood TV writer who goes back to New York City. He likes to "help" people, and no good deed goes unpunished. Add the complications of divorce, a previous addiction problem, a user girlfriend, and you have yourself a story.
Price lives in New Y...more
A good read, and about what you've come to expect if you're familiar with Richard Price's work. The police officer, Nerese, feels a little familiar, but the victim on the case, Ray Mitchell, is one of his better-drawn characters (perhaps because it's rare in a price novel for the victim to survive and thus get a chance to experience the aftermath of the crime). And at any rate, the reason to read a price novel isn't for drastic new directions or characters, it's for his ability to make familiar...more
almost five star. This book is really good. Price is remarkable at driving so much character development, NY/NJ devotion/stroking through simple whodunit plots that would almost be disappointing if one wasn't so attached to the characters by the time of the tell. Not quite Clockers but damn near.
A decent story about the struggles of a man who is trying to fix the life he has splintered into so many pieces...and who tries to grasp firmly of his past as a way to venture into his future. Not nearly as good or involving as Lush Life, Price's most current work, but a well played out portrait.
I've enjoyed everything I've read of Richard Price (Clockers, Freedomland). He's got a nail-on gift for inner-city dialogue, and his character development is gritty and absolutely believable. The story's not as interesting as Clockers, but still deserves a 5-star for his prose.
To be fair, this book is outside the realm of what I usually like to read. One, I don't really enjoy mysteries because trying to figure out what happened or is going to happen feels like an annoying distraction to me, and two, I feel like this type of book focuses too much on blow-by-blow sequence of events and not enough on character development or any sort of reflection, which I find kind of boring. That said, I felt like the pacing in the book was pretty good, and the main characters were int...more
I absolutely could not put this book down! Price, the author of "Clockers," writes the dialogue so effectively it felt like the characters were having their conversations right in front of me. It's pretty gritty, but absolutely one of the most fun reads I have had in a while!
Pretty good. Not as good as the reviews gave it though. Urban Fic of Ray, a man who comes back home to Jersey projects to feel better about himself, teach kids at local high school, reconnect with daughter, etc. Ray receives a near-death beating. His childhood friend, Tweetie, who's now a cop and a month away from retirement becomes determined to find his beater. Turns out it was the son of the married woman he was seeing. The son hated his incarcerated father and when Ray left, the son felt bet...more
This book has been sitting around my house for months and I finally picked it up. Wow! I have never read a crime pop fiction that has so much character devo in it. It is so well written and fascinating... enjoyed every page.
Lush Life has been getting a lot of super press, so found this earlier novel for a non-twenty-five dollar price. Eh. Lots of wonderfully drawn minor characters shoehorned into a less than compelling mystery plot.
This story is about a man who grew up in the housing projects who comes back home after a short career writing for a television show. He begins to reconnect with his old classmates and teaches a class at his old school as a volunteer and begins to reconnect with his daughter. Then comes an assault which leaves him near death.
The story in the last half of the book revolves around this assault and why he might not be willing to reveal who assaulted him even if he knows. I liked the surprise ending...more
The story in the last half of the book revolves around this assault and why he might not be willing to reveal who assaulted him even if he knows. I liked the surprise ending...more
Jul 27, 2011
Luke
added it
A very good novel. The plot centers around a mystery, but it would be reductive to call this a mystery novel. Price is much more concerned with his characters and the world they live in than in twist and turns. The fact that the mystery is engrossing and the ending is genuinely surprising is just an added bonus.
Price is a master of dialogue. I think he's even better than Elmore Leonard. His characters are also incredibly vivid. Even his minor characters are fully realized. They are always real...more
Price is a master of dialogue. I think he's even better than Elmore Leonard. His characters are also incredibly vivid. Even his minor characters are fully realized. They are always real...more
Reading Richard Price is all about enjoying the dialogue. The verbal interactions are just superb - at times funny and at times crushingly sad, but always, always brilliantly observed. Like Clockers and Lush Life (the other Price novels I've read) it's set in the less glamorous parts of New York and the stars of the tale are all from 'the projects', the high rise public housing built for low and moderate income families. I won't tell you how the story unfolds but I would urge just about anybody...more
I think I'm getting used to how good Price is going to be, so I expect more and more from him. This covers a lot of the same ground as "Freedomland," but not with the same socioeconomic depth of focus: it's closer to the characters, farther from the macro picture of the community. All the same, it deals with the same issues of race, poverty, guilt, and responsibility as that book and his others. A strong and worthy read, though compared to, say, "Clockers," it's not as huge and cohesive. Still,...more
view 1 comment
It made me deliciously anxious.
A "white guy from the projects" who overcomes addiction, then becomes a writer for a gritty TV drama returns to his old stomping grounds to 1) make amends with his teen daughter and 2) become a do-gooder to the people still living in the projects. Things go badly wrong & he survives a near-deadly assault. A childhood acquaintance who is now a nearing-retirement cop overcomes Ray's stonewalling efforts to solve the case. Not up to the gold standard of Clockers, Freedomland, etc. but hey, Pric...more
Ray Mitchell, who went from a housing project in the fictional city of Dempsey, New Jersey, to teaching high-school to driving a cab to writing for a TV series in LA, returns to his hometown a wealthy man, and he decides to “give back” to the community he came from. When a woman he knew from the housing project calls him to ask for a loan of a hundred dollars so she can bury her son (who’s either dead of an overdose or murdered, it’s never clear), Mitchell decides to give her the whole three tho...more
Liked Lush Life so checked this out of the library. Liked it fine, but the main guy, Ray, doesn't click. The other lead character, Nerese, is real, however. Addicted to giving, Ray uses other people like fixes. Nerese examines her motives more deeply, but she's not the former cocaine addict. And, hey, what's up w/ the name Ruby for children in recent novels? I'm over it.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
A self-described "middle class Jewish kid," Price grew up in a housing project in the northeast Bronx. Today, he lives in New York City with his family.
Price graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1967 and obtained a BA from Cornell University and an MFA from C...more
More about Richard Price...
A self-described "middle class Jewish kid," Price grew up in a housing project in the northeast Bronx. Today, he lives in New York City with his family.
Price graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1967 and obtained a BA from Cornell University and an MFA from C...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
