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From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Browse and search another edition of this book.
STRIKE SPOTTED HER: baby fat, baby face, Shanelle or Shanette, fourteen years old maybe, standing there with that queasy smile, trying to work up the nerve. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Crime and Punishment," ca. 1992.,
By Tom Helleberg (Astoria, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Clockers (Paperback)
I first stumbled onto Richard Price with a fifty-cent used copy of "Ladies' Man." It was engaging and fun, kind of like an unusually smart episode of Seinfeld with an NC-17 rating. It convinced me to give "Blood Brothers" a try and after that, forget it. I went forward to "Samaritan," back to "The Wanderers," and tracked down copies of his screenplays in between. I couldn't read enough of this guy.However, Clockers remains Price's grand achievement to date. It's a crime novel of unusual depth that bears more in common with Dostoevsky than Elmore Leonard. Some reviewers have said Clockers fails as a mystery. I'll be the first to agree: as a genre mystery, Clockers does fail. But it's not a genre mystery. It's a map of the landscape, both urban and personal. It's a novel of morals and it's a tragedy. Price follows the drug-dealing Strike and detective Klein as their stories head inevitably towards collision. Both men are working to do the right thing, but are put directly at odds by forces out of their control. This is tragic to the capital T. Price accomplishes many astonishing feats here, not the least of which include making the world of Demsey real enough to touch and developing deep sympathy and understanding for both Strike and Klein without ever trading his gritty style for schmaltz. Price has incredible powers of observation, his eye for character and ear for dialogue, doubtless honed by his time working in housing project administration. I absolutely disagree with the reviewer who claims that Price falls short of Lethem, Gibson, and Leonard. Perhaps, if you evaluate a book solely by slickness and cleverness, he doesn't measure up, but Clockers has more heart than Jake LaMotta and Price has an eye for detail that would put the Splendid Splinterer himself to shame. Don't get me wrong: I really loved Motherless Brooklyn, Out of Sight, and Virtual Light, but those books are empty in comparison. Finally, I think Spike Lee's film adaptation was deeply flawed and does not do the novel justice, primarily because there's too much in Clockers to fit into a feature film. This problem was only exacerbated by the fact that Lee fragmented the film by bringing in his own soapbox issues (violence in video games, the need for strong parental figures) to crowd out more important plot elements. Even if you didn't like the movie, give the book a chance. And then go watch "Sea of Love," a Price screenplay that was done well.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty and Honest Fictional Portrayal Of Drug Dealer's World,
By
This review is from: Clockers (Paperback)
Richard Price's "Clockers" is a gritty, honest, brutally realistic portrayal of a young drug dealer trying to go straight, set in a bleak urban landscape of a fictional New Jersey city (In reality it is Jersey City, since Price mentions real streets in his gripping narrative.). Strike, the young dealer, is a mesmerizing protagonist, neither hero or villian, trapped by dire circumstances in his drug-infested, criminal world. Rocco, a delinquent husband and father, is a lackadaisal detective who finds new strength and appreciation for his work after trying to untangle a complex web of clues related to a bloody gangland-style homicide inside a local restaurant suspected of having strong ties to drug dealers such as Strike. Although I am quite impressed with Price's bleak tale, I can award it only four stars since it falls short in literary quality to some of the best work written in a similar vein by the likes of Elmore Leonard, William Gibson and Jonathan Lethem.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The devistated American urban landscape...,
By
This review is from: Clockers (Paperback)
Richard Price's Strike is an unforgettable character - a teenage drug dealer with moral fiber, smart enough to save his money and not draw attention to himself with a flashy lifestyle, who secretly feels protective of his young "clockers" and learns to respect the cop that investigates him for a murder he didn't commit. Great story, great writing.
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