The novel is full of people struggling - with addiction, bills, relationships. It’s about putting in the time and trying to make life livable. In this gritty environment, we are on the edges of things and events, often seeing the aftermath, the struggle to rise up again and power through. Lazarus is a biblical character who is miraculously resurrected and, indeed, one of the characters in this novel experiences something of the sort. I had trouble keeping all the rest of the characters and storylines straight however. The audiobook narration was good but I couldn’t always tell who we were talking about at times. 3.6 rounded up for this compelling look into the lives of these urban residents.
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook for review purposes. This book was recently published.

Lazarus Man is a beautifully written literary fiction novel by Richard Price which follows the lives of several characters after a building in East Harlem collapses. Anthony Carter is an unemployed teacher with an addiction problem. He is trapped under the rubble of the building for 36 hours before being finally dug out. After his miraculous survival, he finds himself something of a celebrity with requests to speak publicly about his experience. Mary Roe is a police officer trying to balance her homelife with locating the missing. Felix Pearl is a freelance journalist who sets out to document the disaster. Royal Davis is the owner of a failing funeral parlour. For each of these people, the disaster will have a profound and transformative effect.

The story rotates among these four characters as well as others, all well-drawn and fully realized as they each cope with and overcome the effects of the disaster. This is a quiet tale, beautifully told, with characters whose stories draw the reader in and who it is easy to care about, the kind of tale that will stay with you long after finishing it. I read this book while listening to the audiobook version narrated by Rob Mereira who does an impeccable of giving a clear and distinct voice to each of the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to read and listen to this book. All opinions are my own.

Price's novels explore late 20th century urban America in a gritty, realistic manner that has brought him considerable literary acclaim. His latest, Lazarus Man, is a slow moving, character driven novel about a neighborhood in East Harlem, a mix of poverty and spurts of gentrification, where the sudden collapse of a five-story tenement impacts both residents and passers-by. I enjoyed the audiobook, ably narrated by Robb Moreira. I found the characters interesting but not compelling. Each of the main characters experienced some changes over the course of the novel, some as a direct result of the building's collapse, others more incidental. I was a little disappointed by the lack of narrative arc; it was never clear where the story was going, if it was going anywhere at all. Overall, a rather flat reading experience for me. Other readers more attuned to the day-to-day life of the city may enjoy it more than I did.

First I'm gonna say I'd never read anything by this author before, so I cannot compare this book to Price's previous ones.
At first I was enjoying the setting, the plot (the mystery) and how the (many) characters were being introduced, but after a few chapters I found myself disconnected to it all. I personally didn't connect or relate to any characters and even though I really liked the audiobook narration by Robb Moreira (especially the tones and different voices he makes for diffferent characters), I struggled a little to follow so many characters. I did enjoy the mystery (sometimes creepy) vibes this book delivers but I lacked connection to the characters as a whole. If I can't connect, or even care, with the characters I cannot fully enjoy a story.
But I'd recommend this book to anyone who has read a book by this author and enjoyed it.
The audiobook is really well done, but you gotta make sure you're the kind of reader who doesn't mind following a vast cast of characters only on audio.
Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for allowing me to listen to this audiobook.

4.5 stars rounded up.

When a five-story building collapses in New York city's East Harlem neighborhood in 2008, the blast intertwines the stories of a cast of very diverse individuals: Felix Pearl, a young amateur photographer who recently moved to the city; Mary Roe, a local police officer whose home life is in shambles; Royal Lyons, the begrudging owner of a failing funeral parlor; and Lazarus Man himself, Anthony Carter, pulled from the building's ashes and rubble thirty-six hours after its collapse. The shared tragedy that brings them together also fills all of them individually with a new sense of purpose.

Richard Price's books succeed at capturing vivid snapshots of the respective neighborhoods they take place in, and "Lazarus Man" is no exception. It is an electrifying and deeply human portrait of the local community as a whole, yet in a testament to the author's immense talent, he also manages to keep the reader invested in the personal stories of the novel's main characters, for whom the building collapse brings the chance of renewal, reinvention, or even redemption. "Lazarus Man" is a poignantly written tale of beauty from ashes, and above all a testament to the strength and perseverance of the human spirit.

I loved the story, its beautiful dialogue, and its well-developed characters.

I will say that, having listened to the audiobook version, I found it very hard to determine when the story moved between the different characters, as it does so (and often) without starting a new chapter or any kind of announcement, and I regularly found myself still very much immersed in a previous scene and unaware for a while that the story had moved on to another protagonist. At times it reminded me of a TV show presented as an audiobook, moving very quickly back and forth between different scenes, except the setting changes would have been discernible on TV. Other than that, the audiobook production, narrated impeccably by a stellar Robb Moreira, was flawless.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Lazarus Man" is slated to be released on November 12, 2024.

Actual rating - 2.5 rounded up.

This book wasn't bad. But it had way too many characters, and -- in audio book format, at least -- they were incredibly hard to keep up with.

It also didn't help that there were no real breaks between POV shifts. Just suddenly, it goes from Jack to Jill (made up names to make a point) with no more than a pause for breath.

Again, that may not be as difficult or problematic in written format. But listening on audio? Yeah.... not great. Sometimes the POV shifted, and I didn't realize it until two characters were interacting in a way they shouldn't. Then, I'd figure out that we shifted and 'rewind'to try to find where the change happened.

Finally, the big OMG moment was Hella predictable. I may not have realized when a new character was in charge of a section, but I saw that from 150 pages away.

And maybe it wasn't SUPPOSED to be a surprise. Maybe we were supposed to know the whole time and I just missed something among all the 2 million characters and random POV shifts. But I don't THINK so. I THINK it was supposed to be a surprise at the least and an outright shock at the high end.

All in all, this book just fell flat for me. Though it may have ranked higher if I had read it instead of listening to it. As it was, though, it only ranked as high as it did for the authentic voice and the honest and interesting look at life in Harlem.

It's funny, there are two reviews for this book and it seems like the things the other review didn't enjoy are the reasons I really liked it. Sometimes that's how it goes! I really like this type of book, where there's a BIG EVENT, and that's just a jumping off point to meet the characters and explore the world they're in. I've never been to New York but I loved how it felt like I was walking around the neighborhood with someone who had lived there his whole life.

I picked this up knowing it was going to be character driven. However, even character driven books need some sort of plot. I listened to the first third of the book, and other than the collapsed building, there was nothing connecting all of these characters. And little happening.

Now, I think this will be enjoyed by those familiar with the setting. I grew up in the suburban Midwest, so I severely lack that connection. I worked in Detroit for years, but Detroit is nothing like Harlem. Downtown is flourishing of late, but is made up of commuters. There just aren't dense, diverse, mixed use neighborhoods. Detroit has a pretty low population density.

So, as I am listening, I was not connected with the book. Not the characters, not the setting, and definitely not the plot. I opted not to finish.

I did enjoy Robb Moreira's narration.