Lush Life

1 Aug 2008 | Kommentarer ()

Jag började läsa Richard Prices Lush Life på Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop, utan att fatta att den utspelade sig i just de här Lower East Side-kvarteren, och framför allt utan att fatta att restaurangen på andra sidan gatan förmodligen är den Berkmann's som figurerar i boken (men jag kan ha fel). Det börjar bli pinsamt att rabbla upp den här typen av sammanträffanden. (Och visst är det löjligt hur upplevelsen av New York fortfarande ändå är medierad genom filmer, böcker och musik).

Hur som helst har jag sen streckläst den på parkbänkar, tunnelbaneresor och kaféer eftersom den fullständigt slukar en, och det måste vara den mest perfekta New York-läsningen. Om du har sett The Wire (som Price ju skrivit manus för) känner du igen stilen - samma händelse sett ur olika perspektiv, polisens, offrens och brottslingarnas - framför allt den knivskarpa dialogen (dock bitvis obegriplig).

Från en intervju med Price:

The Lower East Side is my ancestral home, and right now there's complete chaos of culture. It's also got a million ghosts. Historically, everybody staggered off the boat at Ellis Island, landed on the Lower East Side, and then instantly proceeded to figure out how to get out of there. After five generations we've come full circle back to the Lower East Side. My kids who know the neighborhood so well as it is now only have a marginal awareness that 100 yards away from where they are listening to bands, their great-grandfather was in a kill-or-be-killed situation every day.

Från New York Times recension i mars:

"Lush Life" is a novel that gives us a wide, 3-D Imax portrait of a small corner of New York City (the Lower East Side of a few years ago, at that hinge point in time, when young hipsters were beginning to push out the immigrants and the working poor), a novel that captures Manhattan's magnetic appeal to dreamers and drifters, and its ability to crush the weak and unlucky and turn their dreams into disappointment and rage.

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The Lower East Side is my ancestral home, and right now there's\ncomplete chaos of culture. It's also got a million ghosts.\nHistorically, everybody staggered off the boat at Ellis Island, landed\non the Lower East Side, and then instantly proceeded to figure out how\nto get out of there. After five generations we've come full circle back\nto the Lower East Side. My kids who know the neighborhood so well as it\nis now only have a marginal awareness that 100 yards away from where\nthey are listening to bands, their great-grandfather was in a\nkill-or-be-killed situation every day.

Från New York Times recension i mars:

\"Lush Life\" is a novel that gives us a wide, 3-D Imax portrait of a\nsmall corner of New York City (the Lower East Side of a few years ago,\nat that hinge point in time, when young hipsters were beginning to push\nout the immigrants and the working poor), a novel that captures\nManhattan's magnetic appeal to dreamers and drifters, and its ability\nto crush the weak and unlucky and turn their dreams into disappointment\nand rage.

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Jag heter Erik Stattin och det här är min blogg. Jag skriver om digital kultur, ungefär. Du får gärna tipsa mig om saker. Kontakta mig på erik.stattin@gmail.com. Jag är mymarkup på Twitter och Delicious.

Lush Life

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