By: Richard Price Publisher: Mariner Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Mariner Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 288 Publication Date: April 15, 1999
Product Description: Eighteen-year-old Stony De Coco is trapped in a working-class world that offers him only one way of proving his loyalty, and no way out.
first experience with Price, and I'll be back for more I decided to tiptoe in from the shallow end and read one of Price's shorter novels.
I've heard so much about his ear/imagination for dialogue, but found myself surprised by how much I enjoyed learning about Stoney DeCoco. This is one that you won't forget
Should Have Been Better I almost titled my review Could Have Been Better, but I changed the first word to Should, instead. Having read most of Richard Price's books, I know that he is capable of doing better than this. BLOOD BROTHERS is not as gripping as his first work, THE WANDERERS, nor as compelling as subsequent works, such as the staggeringly good CLOCKERS or even SAMARITAN. Although BLOOD BROTHERS is OK and I would recommend it to any fan of Price's, it simply does not measure up to the standard Price set for himself.
BLOOD BROTHERS covers much of the same ground as THE WANDERERS. Again, the reader feels the alienation and hopelessness of the world inhabited by the characters. The grit is so ever-present that washing one's hands after putting the book down is not out of the question. Yet the ground covered is a little too familiar. There is not much here that feels original. I am reminded of the trouble of being a good rock band. You need a sound that distinguishes your band from all the rest, but also need to make sure your songs do not all sound alike.
The main thing that distinguishes this novel from THE WANDERERS is that, whereas THE WANDERERS looks at several characters as part of a group, BLOOD BROTHERS sharpens that focus to a single main character, Stony De Coco. Such a shift in focus should have been sufficient to explore new ground and make the book more interesting than it is. Yet although the reader may feel for Stony, it is not enough to raise the story above mediocre.
One thing sorely missed are those standout scenes that made THE WANDERERS so chilling. As I mention in my review of that book, the venereal sandwich, the rooftop scene and the bowling game really stick in the reader's head. No similar scenes exist here. Although Price showed fantastic early promise and later grew tremendously as a writer, the middle books show, if not a collapse, at least some stumbling along the way.
Dark yet poetic view of Italian-American Working Class life No matter how miserable you think your life is, just be thankful you weren't living in New Jersey circa 1974 with the DeCoco clan and their circle. What a hopeless, nihilistic existence. Nobody here is going anywhere fast. They all seem to be in the grip of emotional traumas which none of them have the requisite education to explain and spend their whole lives trying to nullify through various means - alcohol, casual sex, whatever. Richard Price is one of the GREAT novelists of this or any other time. Just when you think that you've read every possible word that anyone could say about the human condition, along comes a blindingly intelligent talent such as he who opens your mind to something fresh that you had never previously grasped. What he gives you in his novels is absolute authenticity and understanding of what goes on in the souls of such folk. And he does it in a sensitive yet tough manner.
BloodBrothers is a novel that left me profoundly shaken after I'd read it. Although I preferred the surrealism and humor found in The Wanderers (the humor and racism are toned down slightly here), this book has more structure, is more of a novel in the classic sense of the word. They both have their own attributes and ultimately, I would encourage anyone who appreciates truth, humor and brilliant writing to seek both of these novels.
I don't know how he does it but... Richard Price is one of my favorite authors, and I have read all of his novels. This is by far my most favorite (and it was the last one I read!). This story really hit home with me...Stony has to chose between doing what he loves for s*** pay, or have a well-paying job that he loathes. When I read this book, I was going through a similar situation, and most of us at least have issues with our families that run deep and complicated. Something about the way Price makes his characters so true to life...I feel that in Blood Brothers even more so than his other books. After I finished the book I felt like I was going to run into one of the characters on the street someday. Highly recommended. If you're new to Richard Price, get this one first! ...but you will get hooked and have to buy all the rest eventually ;)
Although not his best seller, possibly his best Critics repeat ad-nauseam that Price is good with dialogue and Blood Brothers is no exception, propelled sometimes almost exclusively by conversation. It's similar in subject to The Wanderers but the scope is much more focused this time around. And unlike The Wanderers it doesn't boil down to a few vignettes. After finding long-awaited success with Clockers and Freedomland, Price's earlier work is being re-released, getting it the attention it deserves. Blood Brothers is maybe superior to his later work, possessing a frankness that makes it both accessible and intimate.
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