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A review by atmeans
Freedomland by Richard Price
4.0
This is my first Richard Price novel and I'm very happy that I got around to reading it. I'm also glad that I didn't find out until I had pretty much finished the book that it's based on actual events.
I first picked this up because I also never got around to watching the movie (with Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson) which I thought looked pretty decent. This is the story of Brenda Martin (a white woman), whose car is jumped (by a black man) while her four-year-old son is asleep in the back and the investigation that follows.
The best part of this book for me was how as the story unfolds of what really happened that night, you're seeing how these events affect key players (Brenda - mother, Lorenzo - lead detective, Jesse - reporter) along with an entire community where the racial tensions this brings about are teaming in the background of every page. And all the while you remain unclear of who to put your faith into on not only about whose story to believe, but where your sympathies should lie. The finely drawn characters here pull at you from different emotional points where you can easily relate to each of them, even if they do or say things you wouldn't.
I am also a fan of stories where the perspective is switched from character to character and Price very successfully pulls that off throughout this novel. The timing is pretty much perfect because you never find yourself wondering what happened to a certain character, they are all represented and weaved in seamlessly so that you feel caught up on each of them and their contribution to the bigger picture.
I don't want to write any more only because I don't want to provide spoilers. I think this work stands not only on the plot, but even more-so on the writing and characters. For anyone who likes mysteries as well as crime novels, I'd say go for it.
I first picked this up because I also never got around to watching the movie (with Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson) which I thought looked pretty decent. This is the story of Brenda Martin (a white woman), whose car is jumped (by a black man) while her four-year-old son is asleep in the back and the investigation that follows.
The best part of this book for me was how as the story unfolds of what really happened that night, you're seeing how these events affect key players (Brenda - mother, Lorenzo - lead detective, Jesse - reporter) along with an entire community where the racial tensions this brings about are teaming in the background of every page. And all the while you remain unclear of who to put your faith into on not only about whose story to believe, but where your sympathies should lie. The finely drawn characters here pull at you from different emotional points where you can easily relate to each of them, even if they do or say things you wouldn't.
I am also a fan of stories where the perspective is switched from character to character and Price very successfully pulls that off throughout this novel. The timing is pretty much perfect because you never find yourself wondering what happened to a certain character, they are all represented and weaved in seamlessly so that you feel caught up on each of them and their contribution to the bigger picture.
I don't want to write any more only because I don't want to provide spoilers. I think this work stands not only on the plot, but even more-so on the writing and characters. For anyone who likes mysteries as well as crime novels, I'd say go for it.