Freedomland
If you’re a fan of Richard Price you’re probably excited to the see the trailers for Freedomland on the tube. The novel is one of my favorite books even though the narrative has more stops than the number seven train from the Bronx, Price manages to whip the reader through long after the ending was a foregone conclusion. He’s written the screenplay which bodes well for the movie. Or does it?
Two of the more difficult topics a writer can tackle are race and child abuse. Freedomland has elements that make your hair stand on end as Lorenzo Council, a black detective, sets out to locate a missing child, taken by force during a car jacking. Because the action is set in the projects of North Jersey the assumption is the doers are bangers from the hood. The set up becomes a story about the world Lorenzo inhabits, a state within a state, the world of the Armstrong projects, black, violent and dismal.
My reaction to Freedomland was complicated by remembering ads for the old theme park, ads as cheezy and weird in memory as Murray the K claiming to be the Fifth Beatle, as disjointed as an afternoon in the Shea Stadium parking lot with a friend who sold hot dogs. The wind never stops off Jamaica Bay and we dodged flying objects dealing out the franks, which is how I felt reading the book. If that make any sense to you go to the head of the line.