Customer Reviews

Blood Brothers

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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 ;)

At eighteen, Stony de Coco's future is predictable, the distillation of his family's expectations. His father, Tommy, and uncle, Chubby, are middle-aged union men, electricians who anticipate Stony joining them on the job mid-summer. Hard-working, hard-drinking womanizers, Tommy and Chubby have waited for years for Stony to carry on the family tradition. Residents of Co-Op City in the Bronx, the de Coco brothers are working guys who spend their off-hours drinking and carousing, holding their failing youth at bay. But Stony isn't sure he wants to follow in his father's footsteps. Lately, he has been yearning for something else, another path than a union paycheck. But this isn't a family where "no" is tolerated.

Given an opportunity to work with children in a local hospital, Stony finds the work exhilarating. But telling his father and uncle is another story, Stony at odds with his own needs and the demands of family. And it doesn't help that Stony's mother, Marie, takes her rage and unhappiness out on eight-year-old Albert, who is showing signs of anorexia. Stony is conflicted about watching out for Albert, while Tommy, as usual, remains oblivious. Making a Faustian bargain with his father, the moment of decision fast approaches. The closer the confrontation with Tommy, the more confused Stony gets, an emotional rollercoaster exacerbated by the increasing chaos of his family's dysfunction. Stony can't find a quiet place to think things through and Price doesn't provide one, the de Coco home rocked with rage, violence and frustration. In a drama filled with expletives and threat, this working class family loudly excises demons and without restraint.

Price's canvas is bloody, splattered with the detritus of failed expectations, assailed by the blunt force trauma of reality. Ambushed by his feelings, Stony lurches from one inclination to another, trapped in a family dynamic that chains him to the past. Reflecting the stifled spirits of middle-aged men, their depressed, unhappy wives and the children who shadow them, Price holds nothing back, bitterness poisoning every relationship, Stony about to hurl headlong into the same nightmare. Choice looms like a bad dream, Stony caught between saving himself and breaking his father's heart. It's almost too much to ask. Luan Gaines/ 2009.

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

Richard Price. I was going to keep this review strictly to Bloodbrothers. However, I am compelled to expand it to anything and everything that Richard Price has had published. Now and in the future.
I'll keep it simple.
He IS a master of dialogue.
He tells a story that even if you have absolutely no interest in, will respect and absorb.
He(Price) is possibly the greatest living American storyteller of his genre.
He writes it. I buy it. And I love it. Bloodbrothers is a sterling example of what I am trying to impart.

Admittedly I am a huge Richard Price fan. But I believe that Bloodbrothers is not only Price's best novel but also one of the best novels of the second half of the 20th century. Price nails the Bronx working-class milieu of his characters--their speech, their aspirations, their resignations. Every character is distinct, credible, and memorable. Every subplot fits. Every word fits. I defy you to read this book without being moved to tears, being angered, or finding yourself nodding in recognition.

I really liked this book, but the most important thing I would tell a reader who knows Price from his crime-fiction work is that it's not crime fiction. Although, ultimately I wasn't disappointed with it. It reflected the same urban energy as the crime novels, with the extra heart of rooting for Stony as he tries to realize his dreams and protect his little brother.It's touching and well-written if not perfect.

Stony De Coco is a sensitive person under the gruff exterior. At seventeen he's grown up with a working class Italian family. His mother treats his younger seven year old brother terribly. His father Tommy is an electrician who is a big drinker and is on the prowl for extra-marital sex. Tommy's brother Chubby is more of the same. His father and his uncle want Stony to become an electrician and follow in the family tradition. Stony gets a job in a hospital where he seems to truly enjoy relating to and working with kids. However, the family pressures are too much for him. And, with misgivings, he follows the family route. Along the way, Stony had several romantic involvements. Neither of which worked out. To me, Stony was a somewhat sympathetic character. Particularly how he tried to look out for his younger brother and the kids in the hospital. Good read.

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.