Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Freedomland” as Want to Read:

Freedomland

by
Richard Price

Other editions

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Freedomland

Richard Price

3.57 · Rating details · 1,921 ratings · 145 reviews

In Freedomland, Richard Price returns to the gritty terrain he first explored in Clockers. This time, the fictional (but all too convincing) urban eyesore of Dempsy, New Jersey, is convulsed by a high-profile carjacking. A single mom named Brenda Martin insists that a man stopped her car, yanked her from behind the wheel, and drove off with the vehicle--and her young son. ...more

Get A Copy

Or buy for

Kindle Edition

Published (first published January 1st 1998)

More Details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Freedomland, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Freedomland

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Rating details

Sort: Default

Filter

Sep 28, 2007 Paul Bryant rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: gangsters-floozies-and-creeps, novels

I reviewed Clockers and Lush Life but not this mighty novel. What's that all about, hmm? Exhaustion, I think, because all these novels are quite similar and told in the same manically detailed no-stone-unturned way and they all do the same thing, which is to take a tale from the urban underbelly which could be easily summarised in two sentences and expand it into a 700 page brainmelt.

I love them all, but I read Freedomland first (5 stars), then Lush Life (4 stars), then Clockers (3 stars). So h ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 29, 2007 Matthew rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: most

this is an amazing book. After reading it I put it down and then read four more by Price--there's quite an evolution in his plotting. But throughout his books, the dialogue is as good as any I've read. His novels are as novels should be: deceptively easy to read--simple at first glance, but filled with complex prose and just enough wisdom that the reader doesn't notice until the last page is turned.

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Oct 04, 2017 Jenn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017-cover-to-cover

That was a loooooong book. Over 700 pages. I’m surprised I finished it as I somewhat remembered the movie. I knew how it ended. But I didn’t recall the actual ending. I had forgotten certain key points. I knew there was a race thing going on but I didn’t remember the walk and the clash that happened near the end. I expected a clash and envisioned a much more violent one.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2012 Seth rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This book could have been a three or even four star book if it didn't have a major fatal flaw. The story is overly ambitious and not primarily feasible. The author made a good attempt to write an "epic small town" story, he remembered that it's important to have likable characters, true to form dialogue and a writing style that moves with ease inspite of the 700+ page total. But this book is full of side stories, some of which sound pretty interesting to be honest, but they don't have anything t This book could have been a three or even four star book if it didn't have a major fatal flaw. The story is overly ambitious and not primarily feasible. The author made a good attempt to write an "epic small town" story, he remembered that it's important to have likable characters, true to form dialogue and a writing style that moves with ease inspite of the 700+ page total. But this book is full of side stories, some of which sound pretty interesting to be honest, but they don't have anything to do with the main plot theme and in most cases are not resolved in any redeeming way. I don't think the author is a fool, I think he was trying to cater to what he believes is the true experience of the police detective. Ask a person what they might have seen relative to a major crime, they might not have seen anything, but they'll let you figure that out for yourself while they fill your head with their personal troubles which you didn't come to investigate today. Two points for good narrative, but why did he have to invent a fictional Northern New Jersey county and two towns within that county? Wish he had picked actual communities, and also turned on the TV (in his Manhattan apartment) long enough to understand that New York City based Television newscasts do not send their van based reporters to report on NJ street crime. When Newark burns, they fly their helicopters over head, Why? It's easier, you don't have to fight the traffic or pay the tolls returning to Manhattan. After all, the action reporter and her girlfriends have five star dinner reservations at 8, and a private booth at Webster Hall later. They don't want to be late.. Same thing happens in Philadelphia. It's also important to recognize that more than 60% of their viewing demographics are New York State residents and they don't give two $&i!'s about who was murdered or robbed in Hoboken, East Orange or Jersey City. Those stories are left for the NJ edition print newspapers and the local access cable channels. Anyway, enough about that. Good story over all, but two or three times flawed and receives a lesser rating as a result. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2009 Jack rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2008 Daisy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of The Wire

Shelves: recommended

Price is an author in the vein of David Simon. He's a white man who, for whatever reason, can really write about the black experience. I don't know if that's a fair or accurate assessment - or one that he would even want to claim - but it's the feeling I get when reading his novels.

Price uses some of the same tricks as Simon, the most prominent being his unwillingness to dumb down or explain street slang, his jumping straight into a story without bothering to lay out an easily understood back s ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2008 Leora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

After reading Freedomland, Richard Price quickly became my guilty pleasure. I have since listened to the audio version of "Lush Life" (great audio, fantastic text), and read "Clockers." There are one or two more sitting on my bookshelf. Yes it's a cops novel, but the questions is not whodunnit, it's something deeper and better. Here, there are real racial tension issues and questions of the role of a reporter, a cop, and a mother, in figuring out what happened to a kid. No one's motivations are ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 04, 2017 Ned Andrew Solomon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Freedomland is an epic novel. The fact that the action takes place over the course of just 72 hours, and the geographic reach encompasses only a few square miles in New Jersey does not alter that description. This is a big story that asks big questions in great depth. It's about law and order, truth and lies, the role and boundaries of the media and law enforcement, race relations, friendship, family, trust and loyalty.

At it's core is the death of a small child, which may have occurred by accide ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 16, 2017 Guy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Surprisingly, the slow, 'Dickensian' pace and richness that gave most of his other novels a sense of space, was actually this novel's biggest flaw. Pedestrian, even lumbering, and almost too tedious to finish.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2017 Željko Obrenović rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books

Neću više uopšte da trošim reči na genijalnost RIčarda Prajsa. Uzmite, čitajte!

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2014 Ana Laura De Romero rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reto-desempolvando-libros

Debo admitir que me costó más tiempo del que esperé, tardé en meterme en la trama y una vez pasado ‘el climax’ de la historia me perdieron de nuevo.

Me gustan las historias de investigación y ésta es una buena historia pero siento que tiene muchos elementos extra que nada pasaría si se eliminaran de la trama.

La historia empieza lenta y conforme avanza logra atraer más la atención: Una madre que sufre el robo de su auto donde va su hijo de 4 años, la ciudad se pone de cabeza buscándolo, la inve ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Oct 10, 2015 Debbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Richard Price, where have you been all my life? Seriously, how could I have missed this guy for so long? His credentials include being the screenwriter for "The Color of Money", "Sea of Love" and "Ransom".
This novel is akin to a top-notch "Law and Order" miniseries, only more profound. His characters get under your skin in ways that make you think about them long after you put the book down. He's one of those writers that can make the setting a character, you know like Thomas Hardy does with th ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 19, 2010 Emily rated it liked it · review of another edition

I was obsessed with Clockers after I slogged through it and got sucked in halfway through, so I had high hopes for Price's follow-up, which is set in the same fictional NJ town of Dempsy. Unfortunately it is a little overwrought and tends to rely a bit too much on Price's favorite device of ruined and abandoned places. My favorite scene in Clockers was the 'baby hospital' chapter, which literally took my breath away, but in Freedomland we see at least 2 scenes set in ruins, and it gets to be a b ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

May 15, 2011 Richard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This novel is alive in ways that so many others aren't. Price digs in and explores every aspect of the tragedy at the center of this book through the eyes of his two main characters using a verbal writing style (deos that make sense?) that keeps things cooking but never feels rushed. His descriptions, his dialogue, his insight -- I came away from this book a better writer than when I went in.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Sep 05, 2007 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I don't know what I expected from this -- certainly not the brilliant exposure & exploration of racism in America I got. Price's dialogue is dead-on, and his stories are just heartbreaking. Un-put-downable.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 21, 2009 Thomas rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I heard the movie was terrible but don't let that scare you away. I read this when it came out and thought it was the best book I had read in years. The characters are alive and you can talk to them (scream at them).

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2014 Pete rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: race

Overly long, drawn out, melodramatic, anticlimactic waste of time.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Mar 05, 2016 Pradeep Badatiya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Excellent theory of author which compels you to contemplate about your freedom.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Apr 22, 2018 Dave Cohen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Freedomland tells a story about a white woman who apparently has her child taken from her by a black man in a carjacking in a carjacking. In the bulk of the book, the police - or specifically one specific cop - search for the culprit, or at least the truth. There is a lot of suspense regarding how the crime will play out. Price does a good job of bringing the main characters to life: the woman whose child was taken, the reporter, the cop.

I only gave the book 3 stars mainly due to my tastes. The ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 24, 2018 Theodore Kinni rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Racially-charged social dynamics swirl around this story a mother who reports her 4-yr-old son taken in a carjacking in the New Jersey projects. Amazing how Price can strip away stereotypes and create fully human characters.

flag Like · see review

Jul 29, 2017 Steph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I always love the intensity of the books of Richard Price. Although this one is not as great as Clockers, it was still an enjoyable read.

flag Like · see review

Mar 05, 2017 Nial rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Very realistic and gritty but was a bit too long for my liking.

flag Like · see review

May 20, 2018 Aaron rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Way better than the movie.

flag Like · see review

Oct 10, 2018 Phil Parker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

true and fantastically written

flag Like · see review

May 07, 2012 Carl R. rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Richard Price has been around for a while, but I’m just now discovering him, thanks to Toby. Most people know him as Tobias Wolff. All right, let’s quit pretending I’m buds with a modern literary icon. A friend asked him for book recommendations at a lecture, and he said anything by Richard Price, so I picked up Freedomland. I also put myself on the waiting list for his latest, Lush Life, at the library. So, yeah, he may become my literary discovery for this year. Not that he’s a discovery for Richard Price has been around for a while, but I’m just now discovering him, thanks to Toby. Most people know him as Tobias Wolff. All right, let’s quit pretending I’m buds with a modern literary icon. A friend asked him for book recommendations at a lecture, and he said anything by Richard Price, so I picked up Freedomland. I also put myself on the waiting list for his latest, Lush Life, at the library. So, yeah, he may become my literary discovery for this year. Not that he’s a discovery for most people, I guess. Anyone who has a number of prestigious books and an academy award screenwriting nomination (for The Color of Money) to his credit can’t be considered a rookie. But to Freedomland.
At first, this seemed like a high-quality urban thriller/detective novel. It reminded me of the realistic grit you find in such TV series as The Wire or The Shield. Lots of moral ambiguity. Cops with problems sometimes almost as serious as the criminals. A white woman (sort of a wannabe black) who works in a tutoring program in a New Jersey black ghetto project presents with injuries, explaining that a black man carjacked her vehicle which contains her four-year-old son. The said project is literally across the street from a predominantly white community, and tensions are always high.
Enter a recovering addict of a fiftyish detective with asthma who has lived/worked in the project all his life and enter as well a freelance lady reporter who walks a tightrope between the criminal and law enforcement communities trying to dig out stories. She doesn’t really write her stories, though, just phones facts and quotes to a copy editor who puts them into printable prose. So there’s a question whether she’s really a reporter or just kind of a voyeur and gossip.
Anyhow, as the investigation continues, it slowly becomes apparent that the crime and its fallout is both magnet and metaphor for seething social and racial conflicts endemic to modern America. In other words, it’s not just another mystery. The Freedomland of the title is a defunct New York theme park, whose copycat New Jersey version is also defunct. Decaying relics of a philosophical ideal turned commercial, then turned four paws in the air. A tawdry manikin of an angel figures prominently in the story and brings religion into the social/political picture. Most every principal in Freedomland tells at least one important lie at some point, which exacerbates the already raw miscommunication and misapprehension inherent in a situation where white cops bust into a black community jamming everyone about the fate of a white child when there are plenty of crimes against black children which have received little or no attention.
Finally, it becomes apparent that the crime and its various aftermaths are not really what the story is about at all. Price gives us a long denouement, which places the events of the novel in the context of the characters’ lives and makes it clear that though the mystery itself has been solved, little or nothing of the issues it highlighted have been ameliorated at all. There’s no warm feeling that at least in the midst of all the grimness we’ve found the possibility of a Rodney King universe where we can all just get along.
Yet, Freedomland is strangely positive. For all their failures and misfires, Price’s characters achieve a kind of nobility in their striving. Flawed as their characters and their efforts might be, they refuse to sit down and put their feet up or to flee to greener pastures. Futile as it might seem, the front lines is where they--and probably we--all belong. ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 20, 2016 Mithun Prasad rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: in-my-library, richard-price

Like many, I got acquainted with Richard Price after watching the TV series 'The Wire'. Like many, I got hooked to the authenticity and its realistic approach and scoured around for every writer that supported 'David Simon' in writing it. I knew many names that popped up; one of them was my favorite as well. Except this guy.

'Freedomland' starts with a white woman, entering the emergency room, all bloody and claims she was carjacked by a black man, and almost emits a crucial piece of informatio Like many, I got acquainted with Richard Price after watching the TV series 'The Wire'. Like many, I got hooked to the authenticity and its realistic approach and scoured around for every writer that supported 'David Simon' in writing it. I knew many names that popped up; one of them was my favorite as well. Except this guy.

'Freedomland' starts with a white woman, entering the emergency room, all bloody and claims she was carjacked by a black man, and almost emits a crucial piece of information, until the case in charge detective Lorenzo Council coaxed it out of her. That her four year old son was in the rear seat and has now disappeared. What follows is the all out search for the missing child and the cacophony of racial tensions erupting sky high as police go bullying though the minority group, which intensifies even more when a black man is arrested out of suspicion. Its usual time conditioned response to which no one bats an eye when the protocols are being followed even the protocol means to charge through the houses of black people disrupting their peace, but when strong suspicion lingers around in your mind about the complainant herself and the whole supposedly carjacking story things get a lot more dubious and edgy, specially for Officer Council.

This is my second Richard Price book that I read now, ‘ The Whites’ was the first. I knew the guy had mastered the street dialogues and the black Amercian lingo and you can see that he has relayed all his mastery in this book to near perfection.

But dialogues won’t fill 700 pages; it’s the description of the grim environment, the desolate state of minds, and inescapable world of rage and despair that gets into you. It’s fascinating how the author has got literary equivalent words to describe every expressions and actions the characters exhibit. I guess you can see why he is an Oscar-nominated screenplay writer; every sentence creates a vivid description of the mind and the mood.

It’s a fiction book written with great concern and care to be close to its real world situation with a scant hope of betterment some day.
Only a few writers could excel the way Richard Price did considering the high strung nature of the chosen plot. Writing this book is not everyone’s cup of tea, likewise reading as well. ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 24, 2013 ElphaReads rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reading-list-2013, thrillers-adventure-and-suspense, tragic

Brenda Martin stumbles into the local ER, dazed and confused. Saying she is the victim of a carjacking by an African American male, she also says that her son Cody was in the back seat of the car when it was stolen from her. Detective Lorenzo Council, a black detective who has connections to the local housing projects, is assigned the case, which almost immediately becomes sensationalized by the media. Aided by an up and coming reporter named Jesse, and trying to keep the lid on a racial firesto Brenda Martin stumbles into the local ER, dazed and confused. Saying she is the victim of a carjacking by an African American male, she also says that her son Cody was in the back seat of the car when it was stolen from her. Detective Lorenzo Council, a black detective who has connections to the local housing projects, is assigned the case, which almost immediately becomes sensationalized by the media. Aided by an up and coming reporter named Jesse, and trying to keep the lid on a racial firestorm that is about to erupt in the city, Lorenzo wants to find out what happened to Cody Martin, and why Brenda is acting so strange. Once the possibility that she isn't telling the truth becomes greater and greater, Lorenzo races to find out just what the truth is, no matter how horrifying.

Well just saying this next sentence is going to be kind of spoilery, so you've been warned. With some reminiscence to the Susan Smith case, FREEDOMLAND questions American society's eagerness to believe in the phantom black man who wishes to do us harm instead of examining all the facts at hand. It also takes on the role that the media plays in both sensationalizing a story and harassing those who are part of it, and how some people will take advantage of certain situations to further their own agendas, reveling in the chaos they stir or the attention it will get themselves. FREEDOMLAND wasn't exactly a surprising novel in it's outcome: I could guess all of the outcomes with little to no difficulty. But as much as I knew what was going to happen, it was as if I needed that confirmation. Just in case it didn't happen like that. Just in case I could have something surprise me, or reassure me. But that didn't happen. And I don't think that it should have. It raises questions, it doesn't give answers, and overall it left me feeling very much unsatisfied with how it all ended. But then, that's life, isn't it?

Well written and frustrating, FREEDOMLAND is for those who can stomach the fact that some things are just going to keep on repeating themselves, and that all we can do is keep on fighting against it. Lorenzo does that. He is one of the few people in the book who actually has good intentions in his heart when it comes to fighting against it. Frustrating, yes. But still a decent read. ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 29, 2011 Allison Means rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is my first Richard Price novel and I'm very happy that I got around to reading it. I'm also glad that I didn't find out until I had pretty much finished the book that it's based on actual events.

I first picked this up because I also never got around to watching the movie (with Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson) which I thought looked pretty decent. This is the story of Brenda Martin (a white woman), whose car is jumped (by a black man) while her four-year-old son is asleep in the back ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 13, 2015 Chris Sutton rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Richard Price creates an authentic, immersive atmosphere with spot on dialogue, but don't look for a fast-moving plot. From page 50 to 300 I became restless and frustrated at the slow progress of the story even while I appreciated the author's knack for realism.

There were also a dizzying array of characters to track. Was Bobby a cop or a hood? Who was George again? Or Eight-Ball? But eventually the story picks up steam as Brenda, the woman who claimed a black man stole her car with her son insi ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 27, 2014 Jonathan Anderson rated it liked it · review of another edition

Part of the inspiration for my recent Richard Price introduction was this book. I knew, from the trailers for the film, that it involved racial tensions and rioting and controversial actions by the police, and given recent events I figured that'd make this one a timely read on my part.

On that count, I was right. Those parts are good. You just have to slog through a lot of other stuff to get there.

I see a lot of reviews as I'm putting these books to "Currently Reading", and a lot of them seem to ...more

flag Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Freedomland	2	21	Dec 10, 2012 07:47PM

Readers Also Enjoyed

Genres

Fiction

91 users

Mystery

30 users

Mystery > Crime

23 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

6 users

See top shelves…

About Richard Price

Richard Price

531 followers

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Also writes under the pen name Harry Brandt

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 f Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Also writes under the pen name Harry Brandt

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 Columbia. He also did graduate work at Stanford. He has taught writing at Columbia, Yale, and New York University. He was one of the first people interviewed on the NPR show Fresh Air when it began airing nationally in 1987. In 1999, he received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

Price's novels explore late 20th century urban America in a gritty, realistic manner that has brought him considerable literary acclaim. Several of his novels are set in a fictional northern New Jersey city called Dempsy. In his review of Lush Life (2008), Walter Kirn compared Price to Raymond Chandler and Saul Bellow.

Price's first novel was The Wanderers (1974), a coming-of-age story set in the Bronx in 1962, written when Price was 24 years old. It was adapted into a movie in 1979, with a screenplay by Rose and Philip Kaufman and directed by the latter.
Clockers (1992) was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. It has been praised for its humor, suspense, dialogue, and characterizations. In 1995, it was made into a movie directed by Spike Lee; Price and Lee shared writing credits for the screenplay.

Price has written numerous screenplays, of which the best known are The Color of Money (1986), for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Life Lessons (the Martin Scorsese segment of New York Stories) (1989), Sea of Love (1989), Mad Dog and Glory (1992), Ransom (1996), and Shaft (2000). He also wrote for the HBO series The Wire. Price was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the fifth season of The Wire. He is often cast in cameo roles in the films he writes.

Price also wrote and conceptualized the 15 minute film surrounding Michael Jackson's "Bad" video.
Additionally, he has published articles in the The New York Times, Esquire Magazine, The New Yorker, Village Voice, Rolling Stone, and others. ...more