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The Breaks
Rejected by law school, college graduate Peter Keller takes on a series of jobs that expose him to alternative lifestyles and attitudes and becomes involved in a love triangle with an older woman and her estranged husband
446 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
7 people are currently reading
283 people want to read
About the author
Richard Price
131 books963 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 27, 2021
I have now read all nine of Richard Price's novels (including the Harry Brandt experiment), and this is by some measure the worst of them. His next novel, published a decade later, would see Price undergo one of the great literary transformations in recent memory, moving from first-person portraits of oversexed bullshit artists to panoramic crime odysseys, from stand-up routines to carefully-plotted doorstops, and now I can see why: The Breaks reads like Price took the rhythms and preoccupations of his first four novels as far as he could go, and it took him a long time to figure out his next move. (A drug habit and a lucrative screenwriting career also contributed, no doubt.)
There are parts of this novel that really sing, and there are individual scenes that will stay with me. But at 446 pages, this book is nearly twice as long as anything he'd yet written, and it feels like it: this story meanders in places, spins its wheels in others, loses momentum frequently. It survives only on the sheer madcap energy of Peter Keller's narration, whose indefatigable ability to riff and perform is both funny and utterly exhausting.
The biggest problem is that The Breaks feels like a lesser, more bloated rewrite of Ladies' Man, with not enough to distinguish Keller from Kenny Becker besides the college degree.
2.5 stars, rounding down because I hold Price to the highest of standards.
There are parts of this novel that really sing, and there are individual scenes that will stay with me. But at 446 pages, this book is nearly twice as long as anything he'd yet written, and it feels like it: this story meanders in places, spins its wheels in others, loses momentum frequently. It survives only on the sheer madcap energy of Peter Keller's narration, whose indefatigable ability to riff and perform is both funny and utterly exhausting.
The biggest problem is that The Breaks feels like a lesser, more bloated rewrite of Ladies' Man, with not enough to distinguish Keller from Kenny Becker besides the college degree.
2.5 stars, rounding down because I hold Price to the highest of standards.
December 24, 2015
Richard Price's novel The Breaks has been out of print for a while, and Price himself has said he's a bit embarrassed by the book. It is a very raw and vulnerable book for someone to write, especially when it is so transparent in its subject matter: Price himself. He reveals his own jealousy, self-doubt, and neediness with Peter's actions, and it can be very cringy to read the casual racism and sexism at play here. There are some wonderful scenes and some great monologues, but it's a book of great moments rather than a great book. While he constantly adhere's to the old 'show don't tell' adage, there are some long moments before he gets anywhere, and sometimes he's just self-indulgent. It had its ups and downs and it wasn't a bad book. It's a struggled work of a very good writer, and maybe should have been a journal that had its best bits turned into short stories instead. Nobody really changes over the course of the novel and the ending is not satisfying (although the ending had some great moments!!)
March 19, 2008
This book severely impeded my reading progress for the year -- I should have just put it down and started something else, but I'm stubborn and I have trouble not reading a book straight through even when I'm not a fan. Plus, I was trying to give Price the benefit of the doubt since I enjoyed some of his other novels ("Samaritan", "Clockers") and I thought he would eventually take this novel somewhere. Instead, I endured 450 pages just to come out rather depressed by the general tone of the book.
July 26, 2016
bailed on this after 275 pages with 200 to go. there's just enough offbeat humor to the first movement and price is great on drawing scenes - particularly good here on the decor/demeanor of bicentennial american humans. i was buying pretty hard as the action shifted from a dead end job in NYC to a gig upstate teaching college comp (which the job i am starting in three weeks, also the narrator has the same first name as me) ... but then it nose dives into sub-philip roth male coming of age turdville. cue "price is right" you-guessed-wrong noise.
May 12, 2009
One of the greatest lost youth books i have ever read, this story moved like an epic saga through the life of the protagonist and seemed dickensian in its length and its minutiae, but at the same time, was more thoroughly enjoyable than anything dickens has ever written. it is like reading catcher in the rye being written during the 80s and is one of richard price's most enjoyable works, as he has turned out to be a complete bore in his old age with novels like samaritan and freedomland.
August 25, 2011
The Breaks was like two different books smushed into one. I loved the first half, the half about the wiseacre kid graduating from college trying to find himself, working odd jobs and encountering strange characters. The second part, during which the narrator becomes embroiled in a frustratingly miserable relationship, is a major drop off and killed the book for me.
August 6, 2016
Richard Price is a great "scene writer." His scenes really leap off the page. This is probably because he's so good at dialogue. There are scenes that really read well in this book. There are also funny moments throughout. I couldn't finish this book, though. It's almost 500 pages and it doesn't really move along at a pace that I could handle...
May 27, 2008
I just recently discovered Richard Price.... I read his most recent book (The Lush Life) first, and it was good, but finding this book at the library was truly a great find. This book is perfect for anyone who is struggling to figure out what the hell they want to do with their life.
September 2, 2009
I found this to be a first rate book about a young man coming of age. Never predictable and always entertaining...even had me cringing in embarrassment at times....did I see some of myself in him??
May 8, 2019
Can't say I actually enjoyed reading this, and that is a first for a Richard Price novel........."What a jerk", I don't know how many times I found myself thinking that thought in regard to Peter Keller. I believe he is the most unlikable protagonist.
April 29, 2008
There needs to be half stars on this rating system. This book was largely unenjoyable but kept you to the finish out of curiosity, is it really this pointless? Maybe.
July 29, 2019
Tedious and overblown.
February 28, 2021
Peter Heller is at loose ends. He just graduated college, a great Ivy League university. But he didn't get into the law school of his dreams and he doesn't want to go to the university that did accept him. He thought he was geared for success but now he's moved back home with his father and stepmother. He gets a series of dead-end jobs such as selling various items over the phone, soul deadening jobs. Peter doesn't know what he wants in life now. Should he become a standup comedian? Go for a second-rate law degree?
At loose ends, he drifts back to his college town where he still knows a number of the faculty. One of his favorite professors is now head of the English department and he hires Peter to teach a freshman composition class. Peter likes it at first but grows to dislike it. He meets Kim, a secretary at the university and starts a relationship with her but worries that she is still in love with her ex-husband, another English professor. Can Peter find a way forward?
Richard Price is acknowledged as one of the greats in American literature; his forte writing about city life, especially the law enforcement and criminal worlds. This book, however, has a collection of unlikeable personalities and unfortunately, Peter is among them. He seems to have no idea what to do with his life and his whining about it isn't pleasant to read. The book is well written and Price definitely has the measure of someone at loose ends. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction that want to read one of Price's lesser known works.
At loose ends, he drifts back to his college town where he still knows a number of the faculty. One of his favorite professors is now head of the English department and he hires Peter to teach a freshman composition class. Peter likes it at first but grows to dislike it. He meets Kim, a secretary at the university and starts a relationship with her but worries that she is still in love with her ex-husband, another English professor. Can Peter find a way forward?
Richard Price is acknowledged as one of the greats in American literature; his forte writing about city life, especially the law enforcement and criminal worlds. This book, however, has a collection of unlikeable personalities and unfortunately, Peter is among them. He seems to have no idea what to do with his life and his whining about it isn't pleasant to read. The book is well written and Price definitely has the measure of someone at loose ends. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction that want to read one of Price's lesser known works.
December 7, 2022
Initially I found the young protagonist's stream of repartee amusingly irreverent and savvy, in particular, the descriptions of his early foray into working life. By halfway through the book, I found myself struggling to maintain interest in this self-absorbed slacker. I rarely get this far then decide to bail out, but I did here.
June 2, 2023
Richard Price has written some great books. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of them. Since I’m a bit of a completist I felt compelled to read this one. It’s out of print and it’s easy to see why. 460+ pages of a tale of a smart-ass loser. Rather interminable.
September 19, 2023
Peter Keller has to be one of the most frustrating characters I've ever read! A man who is capable of great success yet chooses to self sabotage at every chance. Pete's relationship with Kim and Tony is infuriating as well. I wish we saw a bit more of his relationship with his father and Vy. As frustrating as Pete is I can relate with him. I've often done many great and wonderful acts of self sabotage that have ended with great memories.
August 19, 2018
Loved the first few acts, fInal act lost me
May 1, 2020
This is okay. It’s unpolished and not close to Peak Price. The dialogue is excellent. Sort of like a worse version of Wonder Boys.
April 6, 2021
People are tripping on the negative reviews. This was an absorbing, rich, funny, heartbreaking and nuanced gem of a novel. I absolutely loved it and love Price's writing so much!
November 2, 2014
The energy of ‘The Breaks’ is enough to drive you to write your own 5,000 word memoir about those first 18 to 20 months after graduating high school, or university. It’s not a comfortable read but like punk rock ‘The Breaks’ puts you in a place that recovers the vitality factor nestled deep in the hard uncomfortable bits of our life, the parts we prefer to gloss over, or elide completely. Especially if we think anyone else was going to revisit it.
Price’s study of insecurity is by no means all comedy as the back cover would have us believe. It follows class of ’71 college graduate Peter Keller for 18 or so months and plays like a Hunter S Thompson first person narrative meets Richard Yates inner conundrum fiction. In particular it addresses the problem of flicking the switch to authenticity after we’ve been ‘playing to the crowd’ for more years than has been good for us, a difficulty most of us have to traverse more than once.. That’s a really hard gig for anyone and Peter Keller’s experience is a cautionary tale for all.
Keller goes about making his way in the world so badly most of us can relate to it, bringing up memories of callow youth. He is trying to slip the ties of youth, because for a kid out of the Bronx and Yonkers, they are an inexhaustible horizon of conformity that brings on waves of self- loathing. However, Keller does have a much better excuse than most of us. He was very close to his mother as a kid and she died when he was nine.
The re-emergence of his mother’s shadow at key moments points to a depth in Peter Keller we empathise with, perhaps even admire, not that he is what you would think of as a likeable character, or a hero, or in any way plays to his depths. Like most 22 year olds he’s skating like crazy to stay on the surface in the face of decisions he knows requires more, much more than the facade he lives behind. He’s a self-absorbed kid with no idea about how he wants to make his way in the world. All he’s got to go on are a few traces of something burning in him, with no real conviction he can locate their source before they burn out. And not many of us get more than that.
The novel is a minor masterpiece written in the early 1980’s and set in 1970s New York. Price gives his readers an unflinching view of Keller’s world, complete with dysfunctional adults at every turn. Keller’s young injured worldview distorts all feedback, some which would be well worth reflecting on. Ahh, if only Keller (and us) had been able to conjure that magic trick when it was most needed.
Price’s study of insecurity is by no means all comedy as the back cover would have us believe. It follows class of ’71 college graduate Peter Keller for 18 or so months and plays like a Hunter S Thompson first person narrative meets Richard Yates inner conundrum fiction. In particular it addresses the problem of flicking the switch to authenticity after we’ve been ‘playing to the crowd’ for more years than has been good for us, a difficulty most of us have to traverse more than once.. That’s a really hard gig for anyone and Peter Keller’s experience is a cautionary tale for all.
Keller goes about making his way in the world so badly most of us can relate to it, bringing up memories of callow youth. He is trying to slip the ties of youth, because for a kid out of the Bronx and Yonkers, they are an inexhaustible horizon of conformity that brings on waves of self- loathing. However, Keller does have a much better excuse than most of us. He was very close to his mother as a kid and she died when he was nine.
The re-emergence of his mother’s shadow at key moments points to a depth in Peter Keller we empathise with, perhaps even admire, not that he is what you would think of as a likeable character, or a hero, or in any way plays to his depths. Like most 22 year olds he’s skating like crazy to stay on the surface in the face of decisions he knows requires more, much more than the facade he lives behind. He’s a self-absorbed kid with no idea about how he wants to make his way in the world. All he’s got to go on are a few traces of something burning in him, with no real conviction he can locate their source before they burn out. And not many of us get more than that.
The novel is a minor masterpiece written in the early 1980’s and set in 1970s New York. Price gives his readers an unflinching view of Keller’s world, complete with dysfunctional adults at every turn. Keller’s young injured worldview distorts all feedback, some which would be well worth reflecting on. Ahh, if only Keller (and us) had been able to conjure that magic trick when it was most needed.
December 2, 2016
Pete Keller is from Yonkers but finds himself in Buchanon, New York, some distance from Manhattan. He tries a variety of jobs, ending as a soliciting phone caller in a bullpen in which he learns how to lie and finagle and generally lose respect for himself. His dream is to make it to New York as a standup comedian or an actor or anything other than what he is doing. Through connections he lands a part-time job as a teacher of short stories. He’s lucky because to escape the boredom of his last job he began phoning in bomb threats to his parents wherever they may be. Arrested and given a light sentence, he lands in trouble again when he falls in love with Kim, the estranged wife of Tony Fonseca, a large English teacher in the same English department that hires Pete to teach the short story. Pete lives in constant fear of Fonseca but pursues Kim anyway. Meanwhile, he befriends yet another colleague in the department, Fat Jack, who is addicted to cigars and sloth with equal enthusiasm. Jack cannot help him when the romance begins to waver under the pressure of Kim’s psychotic episodes and Pete’s inability to get on with his life and get to New York. He even gets to New York and does an ad-libbed stand up routine that goes over well enough that he’s tempted to go to the next level. But there’s Kim, back in Buchanon, saying that she loves him while going hysterical thinking she’s falling off a tree limb in the forest after making love with him. She also flirts with going back to Tony who is a convicted spouse abuser. This is a very frustrating novel, however well-written, because its protagonist can’t seem to move forward no matter the encouragement. Kim is a walking non-sequitur, her son, Anthony, is a non-communicative sort who opens up only occasionally and without signs as too what is successful in getting him to be human. Most of the characters, in fact, are emotionally inhibited to an extreme degree, which makes for interesting potentials of growth for them but little fulfillment. Price writes well about the frustrated and frustrating middle classes of America and this is no exception. The only problem with his characters is that few of them are ever loveable and thus they are difficult to root for. Peter Keller is no exception. We cannot root for him; we can merely wish him well.
June 13, 2010
This book might have gotten a higher rating from me had I not already read other books by Richard Price. In this book, Price again features a young man who is very smart and very funny--probably a kid much like the writer. But although all the wit and excitement and foolish situations that make has earlier books so great are here as well, it doesn't seem to go anywhere. Or, at least, it doesn't seem to be going anywhere new. And it's a fairly long book, 464 pages.
The story is about a kid who graduates from college and deliberately avoids going to law school in some novel ways. He can't figure out what he wants to do, but he can't bring himself to leave his father & stepmother's home in the Bronx. He tries various jobs, all of which have the ring of the awful truth and end rather soon. Finally, he can no longer stand the strain of waiting for his father to kick him out and so he begins to force his father's hand. He manages to elude jail time. He sees a good shrink as part of this effort, and during their few sessions she helps him pry himself out, and into his car, and back to his college town where he had been, after all, happy. What happens from there involves complicated relationships with members of the English faculty, which he joins as an adjunct teacher. But some ways into this section, about page 275, I got bored and stopped reading.
I'm sorry to report that I have abandoned this book. Price's other books have been so wonderful. Surely he deserves a dud. But I wish I'd read it sooner so the next ones would be a fine and gratifying experience to read. He's a great writer. Anyhow.
The story is about a kid who graduates from college and deliberately avoids going to law school in some novel ways. He can't figure out what he wants to do, but he can't bring himself to leave his father & stepmother's home in the Bronx. He tries various jobs, all of which have the ring of the awful truth and end rather soon. Finally, he can no longer stand the strain of waiting for his father to kick him out and so he begins to force his father's hand. He manages to elude jail time. He sees a good shrink as part of this effort, and during their few sessions she helps him pry himself out, and into his car, and back to his college town where he had been, after all, happy. What happens from there involves complicated relationships with members of the English faculty, which he joins as an adjunct teacher. But some ways into this section, about page 275, I got bored and stopped reading.
I'm sorry to report that I have abandoned this book. Price's other books have been so wonderful. Surely he deserves a dud. But I wish I'd read it sooner so the next ones would be a fine and gratifying experience to read. He's a great writer. Anyhow.
Read
November 23, 2019Peter Keller reçoit son diplôme de lettres et fait la fierté de son père , c’est le premier de cette famille modeste à être diplômé
Son père savoure sa victoire en côtoyant sur un pied d’égalité , enfin c’est l’impression qu’il a , les parents de riches rejetons , des familles établies qui produisent des universitaires de générations en générations depuis la nuit des temps .
Quand Peter apprend qu’il n’est pas admis d’office dans la prestigieuse fac de droit de Columbia mais est sur liste d’attente , il se rend compte qu’il va devoir changer ses plans , revoir ses ambitions à la baisse .
Commence un long parcours du combattant où le jeune homme enchaîne les petits boulots , pour corser le tout , sa vie amoureuse est un désastre .
La vie de Peter n’est pas du tout un long fleuve tranquille , il enchaîne les mauvaises expériences , il n’est encore qu’un jeune homme immature , impulsif , indécis , heureusement comme le dit le titre , l’espoir n’est pas mort puisque New York sera toujours là en janvier .
Je ne connaissais pas du tout l’auteur qui est né dans le Bronx en 1949 , ce roman est inspiré de sa vie d’étudiant .
Je n’ai pas apprécié ce roman sans pouvoir l’expliquer clairement , un rendez vous manqué avec l’auteur .
Son père savoure sa victoire en côtoyant sur un pied d’égalité , enfin c’est l’impression qu’il a , les parents de riches rejetons , des familles établies qui produisent des universitaires de générations en générations depuis la nuit des temps .
Quand Peter apprend qu’il n’est pas admis d’office dans la prestigieuse fac de droit de Columbia mais est sur liste d’attente , il se rend compte qu’il va devoir changer ses plans , revoir ses ambitions à la baisse .
Commence un long parcours du combattant où le jeune homme enchaîne les petits boulots , pour corser le tout , sa vie amoureuse est un désastre .
La vie de Peter n’est pas du tout un long fleuve tranquille , il enchaîne les mauvaises expériences , il n’est encore qu’un jeune homme immature , impulsif , indécis , heureusement comme le dit le titre , l’espoir n’est pas mort puisque New York sera toujours là en janvier .
Je ne connaissais pas du tout l’auteur qui est né dans le Bronx en 1949 , ce roman est inspiré de sa vie d’étudiant .
Je n’ai pas apprécié ce roman sans pouvoir l’expliquer clairement , un rendez vous manqué avec l’auteur .
Currently reading
September 29, 2008I have learned so far (only 50 pages in) that Richard Price has a unique ability, even at the beginning of his career, to capture the distinct voice of the American youth.
The protagonist in this tale, Peter Keller, is confronted with the same existential crisis that seems to affect the protagonists in all of Price's eight novels. When "adulthood" appears and a "child" is forced to make a decision about his future, independent of his cultural surroundings, how will he respond?
Price's "children," of course are not the children who watch Sesame Street and play video games. They are gang members, failed writers, single parents, police officers, abused children, and crack dealers.
Peter Keller is a college graduate. His life is supposed to be better. So why is he stuck in Yonkers with his father and his step mother?
(I'll be sure to write more when I figure it out.)
The protagonist in this tale, Peter Keller, is confronted with the same existential crisis that seems to affect the protagonists in all of Price's eight novels. When "adulthood" appears and a "child" is forced to make a decision about his future, independent of his cultural surroundings, how will he respond?
Price's "children," of course are not the children who watch Sesame Street and play video games. They are gang members, failed writers, single parents, police officers, abused children, and crack dealers.
Peter Keller is a college graduate. His life is supposed to be better. So why is he stuck in Yonkers with his father and his step mother?
(I'll be sure to write more when I figure it out.)
March 18, 2013
Where to begin? Price gets a big thumbs up for describing manic impulses, but strangely he doesn't quite do the protagonist much justice in telling his story. Peter Keller's obvious mental illness merely serves as some funny quirky behavior. Only once do we really get a glimpse into his emotional life, leaving Keller to be more two dimensional than is deserved! Other problems in the Picador edition were some poor lapses in editing. Lenny Bruce/Brace ... one time a character is saying she had to find a nursery school for her kid asap (due to domestic violence), later it's a boarding school (huge difference). I was at first thinking that these lapses were signs of an unreliable narrator, but no. They were simply signs of sloppiness and an out of control '78 Chevy Impala going freaking nowhere.
September 30, 2010
An honest, dark and slightly satirical view of the post-graduation experience from the perspective of a typically delusional, 100% effed-up and painfully familiar twenty-two year old kid.
I would also note that it is positively frightening how accurate I found Price's depiction of the English/Writing/Theater faculty at a celebrated US liberal arts college. This milieu has been done about a million times before and somehow this version reads truer than most.
Much better than anticipated.
I would also note that it is positively frightening how accurate I found Price's depiction of the English/Writing/Theater faculty at a celebrated US liberal arts college. This milieu has been done about a million times before and somehow this version reads truer than most.
Much better than anticipated.
July 5, 2013
I really like Price but didn't realize when I bought this at Strand that it was one of his first novels. It's still pretty good, but not the taut crime writing he's become known for. It's about a recent college grad, a working class guy from Yonkers, finding his footing after attending an elite college. And it evokes that uncertainty, punctuated by cockiness, really well. The protagonist ends up obsessed with a former prof who's totally unattractive as a character, a macho car coat-wearing novelist, which seems true to the character but is still really annoying at times.
August 3, 2011
Richard Price's third novel, it shows, like the first two, an amazing amount of talent. Not always executed well, it is nonetheless a compelling read. If you're a fan, you'll like to see what he was up to earlier in his career. If you're not a fan, there's better places to start.
January 10, 2012
A rollicking tale of private pain and public passion, of a city and a college town, of college classrooms and the American class system.
July 2, 2016
3.5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews