Samaritan

Samaritan is a novel by Richard Price, first published in 2003. It tells the story of a wealthy screenwriter who returns to his impoverished neighborhood in Dempsey, New Jersey, where he begins to help others. His motivations and their ramifications are explored. Throughout the novel, various characters help others, with each good deed having different repercussions. Setting Dempsey – A fictional city that is the setting for most of Richard Price's books. The residents are predominantly African-American and poor. Price based Dempsey on the real city of Jersey City, but felt that by fictionalizing it, he would have more freedom to create characters and settings. Dempsey Housing Projects – A set of buildings in Dempsey where much of the novel takes place. Little Venice - An affluent area that appears to have a predominantly elderly Jewish population. Plot summary As the novel opens, Ray Mitchell is lying in a hospital, having been attacked and gravely injured by being hit over the head with a large vase. He refuses to press charges and it appears he will survive, so the police drop the case. However, an old friend of his from childhood, Nerese Ammons, pays a visit to her (and Ray's) old high school, to give a talk to the kids, and the principal tells her of a man who has been volunteer teaching at the school, and who was almost killed in an attack. When Nerese learns that the man involved is Ray, she is pleased. Nerese has a philosophy of always repaying acts of kindness—it helps her make sense of the world, and Ray once did her a great kindness: when she was around 10 years old and Ray around 12, she received a bad cut on her face during a game of stickball, causing all of the children present to run away... except Ray. He stanched the blood with his shirt, helped take her to the hospital, and sat with her and comforted her throughout the ER visit. She therefore begins to pursue the case, despite Ray's refusal to cooperate and refusal to press charges. The novel then alternates between scenes of the events leading up to the attack, and Nerese's investigations.