I’ve been on kind of a Richard Price tear lately – Lush Life, Samaritan – and after finishing Samaritan the next book I picked up was Robert B. Parker’s novel, Love and Glory.
And it’s interesting to compare the two. It’s almost like they’re the same writer in different eras. The same writer fifty years apart. (I know, Love and Glory was written in 1983. Hush!) lol mostly because they’re both so intense. Love and Glory was written from a late 50s early 60s perspective, and Lush Life and Samaritan are contemporary with their publishing dates, but it’s like the same guy was born fifty years apart.
Both books are so impressive. They grab you hard. And that’s so rare. That kind of intensity, in a writer. It’s almost as though these authors grab you by the arm and demand that you read. They get right up in your face and say this right here. Read this. And if you ask why there’s no answer. You just have to do it, to find out why.
And I’m sure not sorry I did. I do wish Parker had read Factotum first, before trying to write that way (some of his book is a kind of halfass attempt to do what Bukowski did). Or maybe he did read it and just didn’t think he was up to it. Which would not be surprising; only one guy has ever written that way (Factotum), in any language. (Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve only read English, so I can’t really know!)
But that’s really a minor quibble. These guys are gods, and we don’t get many of those.
EDIT: Trying to edit the post title: the book’s name is not The Samaritan, but Samaritan. Sorry!
by tolkienfan2759