HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Samaritan by Richard Price
Loading...

Samaritan (original 2003; edition 2004)

by Richard Price

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
674933,963 (3.67)9
Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer who has left Hollywood under a cloud, returns to urban Dempsy, New Jersey, hoping to make a difference in the lives of his struggling neighbors. Instead, his very public and emotionally suspect generosity gets him beaten nearly to death. Ray refuses to name his assailant, which makes him intensely interesting to Detective Nerese Ammons, a friend from childhood, who now sets out to unlock the secret of his reticence. Set against the intensely realized backdrop of urban America, the cat and mouse game that unfolds is both morally complex and utterly gripping.… (more)
Member:tobin
Title:Samaritan
Authors:Richard Price
Info:Vintage (2004), Paperback, 400 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Samaritan by Richard Price (2003)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 9 mentions

English (7)  Spanish (1)  French (1)  All languages (9)
Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
Excellent; a fantastic story line combined with realistic and intriguing characters. It is unusual to get both in a book. I look forward to reading more by this perceptive author. ( )
  lucylove73 | Aug 31, 2021 |
Really excellent. I was worried after I didn't enjoy the last Price novel I read, but this is really great - keeps you guessing and, by the end, on the edge of your seat. ( )
  skolastic | Feb 2, 2021 |
This is a very good read.
Clever and original
Keeps you reading.
Ray who is a writes for TV moves back to New Jersey to give something back. He helps children write.
He gets attacked in his house, his old school friend Nerese a retiring Police woman investigates. Ray is very reluctant to talk but after a while Nerese works it out. Lots of interesting characters in this book. ( )
  Daftboy1 | Sep 3, 2015 |
Ray Mitchell grew up in public housing in Richard Price’s fictional city of Dempsy, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. After a stint as an English teacher, then as a cocaine-addled cab driver he worked for a former student as a television writer in L.A. When that’s over he returns to New Jersey, teaches a class at his old school, and tries to help a few of the people that now live where he used to.

Ray’s story is one of guilt and unintended consequences. He truly wants to help the downtrodden, but his motives are questioned. Ray’s teenage daughter lives with his ex-wife in New York but guilt overwhelms his relationship with her too.

Ray really is a good guy and tries to do right, but with Samaritan Price seems to be saying that you can’t always help those that need help, and sometimes it’s best not to try. But I think he’s thankful there are people like Ray Mitchell that don’t realize it. ( )
  Hagelstein | Dec 30, 2014 |
Innner city story of the clash between black street culture and a middle classs white guy. Convincing. ( )
  Gary10 | Dec 10, 2008 |
Showing 1-5 of 7 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

Belongs to Series

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
For Judy, Annie and Gen,
with love

And for Archie A. —in memory
First words
Ray Mitchell, forty-three, and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Ruby, sat perched on the top slat of a playground bench in the heart of the Hopewell Houses, a twenty-four-tower low-income housing project in the city of Dempsy, New Jersey.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Ray Mitchell, a former TV writer who has left Hollywood under a cloud, returns to urban Dempsy, New Jersey, hoping to make a difference in the lives of his struggling neighbors. Instead, his very public and emotionally suspect generosity gets him beaten nearly to death. Ray refuses to name his assailant, which makes him intensely interesting to Detective Nerese Ammons, a friend from childhood, who now sets out to unlock the secret of his reticence. Set against the intensely realized backdrop of urban America, the cat and mouse game that unfolds is both morally complex and utterly gripping.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.67)
0.5
1 1
1.5 1
2 6
2.5 2
3 37
3.5 11
4 59
4.5 4
5 16

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,243,247 books! | Top bar: Always visible