"I wanted to portray this external high/low disparity that exists here,” he said. “You might think this is disingenuous but I never thought of myself as a mystery writer or a thriller writer or any sort of genre writer. I have a very complicated landscape. But I’ve discovered that if I follow the course of an investigation, it’s a very convenient horse to ride because the natural progression of an investigation will take you into all the worlds you want to touch in a very organized way. I don’t even care who did it. It’s an excuse to get into the world. I would rather say who did it in the first sentence and get it out of the way. There are so many dead ends in this book, so many things that go nowhere. This thing solves itself almost out of spite.”Price explains that the novel was not completely focused on Ike's murder, but rather used his murder as a way to explore many different aspects of city life.
The novel revolves around the investigation of Ike's murder, allowing Price to give the reader a glimpse into life in the city through Matty and Yolanda's investigation. Price effectively explores various cultures and people's lives in New York, thus complicating the reader's depiction of "good guys" vs "bad guys." For example, even though Tristan killed Ike, he is not portrayed as a dangerous killer, but rather as a victim of the city. By exploring the details of Tristan's life, Price is able to give the reader a different perspective of the murder and of life in the city. The reader's first impression of Tristan is a negative one, but as the novel continues and Tristan's living situation is further explored, it becomes apparent that Tristan is a victim of his environment. Through Tristan, Price describes environmental determinism in the city. The Washington Post's Stephen Amidon writes,
"Lush Life remains a vivid study of contemporary urban landscape. Price's knowledge of his Lower East Side locale is positively synoptic, from his take on its tenements, haunted by the ghosts of the Jewish dead and now crammed with poor Asian laborers, to the posh clubs and restaurants, where those inclined can drink "a bottle of $250 Johnnie Walker Blue Label" or catch "a midnight puppet porno show." In this "Candyland of a neighborhood," where kids from all over the nation come to "walk around starring in the movie of their lives," it is hardly surprising that an ambitious suburban boy believes he can front up to armed muggers and live to write a treatment about it."Similarly, the novel explores the investigation through detectives Matty Clark and Yolanda Bello, further complicating the reader's perspective of the police force and the role of the detective. Throughout the novel, Price portrays both Matty and Yolanda as parental figures, suggesting that the role of the detective in the city is more important than it would appear. Upon hearing about the murder, Matty requests a paraffin test, but is unable to get permission to get one from his superiors. Later, when Matty is called into the police station to be scolded about the investigation of Ike's murder, he is asked why he did not call for a paraffin test, suggesting that the police system is corrupt.
In addition to Price's exploration of police corruption and environmental determinism, he also touches on the changing environment of the city and the effects that a new wave of immigrants has brought to the city.
Works Cited
- http://www.alvahsbooks.com/tag/richard-price/
- http://www.amazon.com/Lush-Life-Novel-Richard-Price/dp/product-description/B002ZNJXZS/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books
- http://www.bookslut.com/mystery_strumpet/2008_01_012356.php
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