Rating: 
Summary: The critics are wrong!
Review: I usually don't fall for the critical blurbs on the back of books, but I did in this case. The book was long, and immensely conventional. Nothing happened. You kept waiting for some big revelation, but everything was very predictable. Trite, boring, and a complete waste of time. Buy another book and let this one sit on the shelf and hopefully go out of print.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Grab Me
Review: I am not a fan of books of this type, but I read the blurb onthe back and thought, "Well, what the hey". I quit after acouple of hundred pages, after it became apparent that the story was going nowhere. The dialogue may be authentic but I found it very distracting. It almost read like a court transcript in places, as though the author was trying WAAAAY too hard to tell us exactly how these inner-city speech patterns go. This book was a snore.
Rating: 
Summary: A vivid, draining read
Review: After I finished reading Freedomland I mulled over the fact that the book took 546 pages to tell its story, a relatively simple plot. But that is the ingenuity of Richard Price. Mr. Price is a masterful craftsman, playing on our every emotion, creating characters with such real life dialogue, you seem to be watching a real event unfold, rather than reading a novel. Not a book for impatient readers, but for the reader willing to sacrifice hours to a truly breathtaking book, it is a story that will not leave your consciousness very soon.
Rating: 
Summary: An Emotionally Exhausting Trip!
Review: I bought the mass market PB version of this novel. You know, the one with the excerpted reviews on the cover: "GRIPPING!" or, as the NYT book reviewer wrote: it has many "unforseeable turnarounds". I was intrigued by these raves and love crime genre that moves quickly along. Well, about 100 pages into this 721 page novel, I decided to re-read the reviews. I was enjoying the novel, and it WAS actually quite compelling, but the book seems to be selling itself as a thriller, when it is a much more serious look at this all too familiar racial divide we are forever trying to bridge. Once I knew how to take it, I enjoyed it all that much more. It does drag a bit in the middle, but I was always eager to turn the page, even when I realized that there was no mystery in Brenda Martin. But, I kept hoping, I suppose. Most of all, the characters are stunningly human, some strangly creepy, like the Kenters, Ben, and Billy. As far as the comparisons to "Bonfire of the Vanities", Price avoids cartoon-characterization and gives a truly tragic story an all-too human face. Great Job!
Rating:
Summary: good characterization, predictable plot
Review: I was very impressed by Richard Price's newest novel. Like in Clockers, Price has given readers an intricate portrait of people that few of us encounter, let alone think about, in our day-to-day lives. As a collection of character sketches, this book is amazing. The women of the Friends of Kent are particularly well-drawn. The problem is the plot is ridiculously predictable. Even if the summary on the back of the book didn't give it away, anyone familiar with suspense novels can figure out what's going to happen. The utter predictability of the plot distracts from the detailed character portraits that Price has created.
Rating:
Summary: Too well-done to meet the expectations of some--
Review: Some of the reviews here say that this book is boring. Well, if you start out expecting a mystery novel with clear-cut good guys and bad guys, you'll be disappointed. Instead, here you have a major novel, dealing with important themes, characters that are human rather than cliches, and situations that ask the reader to think rather than merely react. I believe that Richard Price has become a major novelist. This book was...Tom Wolfe with greater control.
Rating:
Summary: a good fast read
Review: I liked this book a lot and believe me, I'm not that easy to please. True crime is my favorite read. Thanks to some really skillful writing, I became interested in the characters right away and wanted to know more about them. I hope there's another book featuring the cop, the reporter and her brother (a truly strange character). The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I felt the ending could have given us a little more. I think we should have known the mother better and gotten to know her family. Otherwise, just a roller coaster of a great read.
Rating:
Summary: way too long
Review: How I got through this book I don't know. I kept reading hoping for something unexpected to happen but nothing did. I am usually very affected when stories are about children dying but the author did not succeed to bring any emotion out of me. I trade books with a friend but since she is a friend this one will not be heading her way.
Rating:
Summary: Too long but still holds your interest
Review: 'Freedomland' is at times a powerful book of race, murder, and survival. The First half dozen chapters are brilllant in describing the tension, atmosphere, and characters as they make there way towards there eventual destiny. The book begins to bog down in the middle due to the author's tendacy to overwrite. I found myself saying 'Ok..i got it' ..But still near the end, the author finds his voice ( and maybe his editor..hehhehe) and delivers the goods..
Rating:
Summary: Long and Even Worse - BORING!!
Review: I bought this book with great interest as the cover blurbs are "Gripping, Powerful" etc etc. Should have said "Long and Dull" in my opinion. Starts out well, the kid is missing and the mom is in the hospital. From there.... On Page 463 (I checked) I was thinking "So when is ANYTHING going to happen other than them talking and talking and talking". I really had to struggle to finish it and am very disappointed.
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