A Beautiful Review for a So-So Book

Maud Newton has written an excellent review of Richard Price's new book Lush Life for the Boston Globe. It ends with this lovely paragraph:

At a friend's wedding last fall, I was talking with the jazz singer Mary Foster Conklin about the transformation we've seen over the past decade. "Do you think the city has lost its soul?" I asked her. She didn't. "The image I've always had," she told me, "is that New York is like a compulsive gambler. When times are good, it's flashy suits and drinks all round. When times are bad, the clothes are threadbare, and friends disappear." Whether and where crime might increase or what form it may take if the city slides into recession in the next few years is anyone's guess. But one thing is certain: If we're lucky, Richard Price will be there to get it all down.

I enjoyed reading Maud's review much more than I enjoyed reading Lush Life, which I found interminably dull.