Freedomland (Cassette)

Rating:
Summary: Compelling characterizations, terrific imagery
Review: It took me two months of on and off reading to finish this book, but I just could not abandon the characters. Once I settled in for a couple of long "reads" I finished in two days. It held me to the end. Clockers and Freedomland both took me into the inner city in such a way that I could almost feel the tension. I would recommend Freedomland to anyone interested in a novel set in a very gritty contempory environment.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre.
Review: Disappointing considering his earlier novels (especially BLOODBROTHERS). This is hard work which is unrewarded. Everything about it is merely okay: the plot, the characters, the writing. It is not a very satisfying read. He used to be really funny (BLOODBROTHERS again- read that instead), but this is just an average, standard, mediocre story

Rating:
Summary: Too reminiscent of Clockers, not as exciting.
Review: In which Price's obsession with cops (see Clockers, Sea of Love, Night and the City, etc., ad nauseum) continues. The book is just plain too long with too many passages that DO NOT MOVE THE PLOT ALONG. I can't help but feel that Price in some way is showing off, using a bigger word instead of the immediate one at hand. Nevertheless, the characterizations are usually right on, as is the dialogue. I have read all six of Price's books, and this is not his best; it's his least satisfying except for maybe The Breaks. Clockers covers the same territory much more effectively. Elements of Freedomland are too predictable. But the attempt is noble, and very few other writers would even go into this territory.

Rating:
Summary: What a letdown after Clockers.
Review: After reading Clockers, I snatched up Freedomland, looking for more of Mr. Price's brilliant characters and his vivid descriptions of life in the inner city. I finally gave up about halfway through. This book was just too painful to read. I don't mean empathetic pain for the characters and their plight. It was just sooooo boring, I finally decided I just don't care enough about any of them to waste any more time. This was a lousy follow up to the terrific Clockers. I hope Mr. Price can come back with a better effort next time.

Rating:
Summary: Richard Price is a genius of detail
Review: Fine- perhaps it's a bit long, and perhaps Brenda's character comes across as underdeveloped. But it's long on purpose- to give you a sense of the unbearable, gut-wrenching weight that rests on the characters who cannot leave this place. This book is not about race relations. It transcends race relations to detail in the most frighteningly real way with the most basic of human issues: loss, confusion, and a sense of inability to act. If Freedomland differs from your expectations, it makes you reflect on who we are and where we are going in the most profoundly detailed account of inner city life I've read in years .

Rating:
Summary: FREEDOMLAND FALLS WELL BELOW MY EXPECTATIONS
Review: As an black woman, I selected this book with the expecatation that it would explore the long-standing rift between blacks and whites. Instead, what I read was 500+ pages (300 pages too long) of racist overtures that confirm the sterotypical images of blacks in general as well as working-class whites. For example, Mr. Price was at ease with the word "nigger", to express the dialogue between blacks. Yet, had Mr. Price did a little more research, he would discover that the "N" word he is looking for is spelled "NIGGA"-which has a different meaning from "Nigger." I did not read CLOCKER (and after this book, I would never read it), but FREEDOMLAND is a book that I can never recommend to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A tedious, frustrating read that left me disappointed
Review: Price hit a homerun with Clockers but took a called strike three on this one. Although the characterizations of Lorenzo and Jesse were rich and right on, and his vivid texture of description of the various locales put you right there, the rest of the cast was fairly stereotypical. Brenda, perhaps the whiniest and dreariest character ever in literature evoked absolutely no emotion except boredom and let's get on with it, shall we? Reading an average of a novel a week, I can honestly say this is the most tedious book I have read since Bonfire of the Vanities. The plot goes nowhere, is blatantly predictable, and is the book is about 300 pages too long - perhaps enough for a short story but little more. I couldn't wait for it to end when I realized about halfway through that absolutely nothing was going to happen.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling story that is drawn out at the end.
Review: Although the dialogue is authentic, the realistic characters are self serving and often unsympathic, even at the expense of other people's pain. A well written novel that slows down tremendously in the last quarter of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Too wordy
Review: Although this book has an interesting plot and characters that you can truly care about, it could be improved with some editing. Too much information that adds nothing to the story. Although I found myself wanting to read the entire novel through to the end, some chapters put me to sleep.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and thought provoking
Review: I for one enjoyed this book a lot. It is not a fast paced thriller, and maybe that accounts for some people's qualms about it. It's a slowly unfolding tale of a complicated crime occurring in a complicated age. Price's dialogue and character development are really compelling, and this book makes you do a lot of thinking about issues of race and the media.