Novel: Ladies' Man

Overview

Ladies' Man, published in 1978 by Richard Price, is a gritty exploration of masculinity, desire, and the pressures of working-class urban life. Set in the late 1970s New York area, the novel follows a young man whose swagger and bravado mask deeper insecurity. Price uses close observation and sharp dialogue to render a portrait of a generation negotiating sex, status, and survival in a changing city.

Plot

The narrative tracks the protagonist as he drifts through a series of relationships and encounters that both sustain and expose him. His reputation as a "ladies' man" is part performance and part defense: he cultivates sexual conquests to shore up an identity that often feels precarious. As he moves between jobs, friends, and lovers, episodes of flirtation, jealousy, and humiliation accumulate, revealing the emotional cost of his posture.
Tension builds as the consequences of casual choices ripple outward. Small betrayals and misjudgments compound, forcing the central figure into moments of confrontation with friends, lovers, and himself. Rather than offering neat resolutions, the novel tends toward a hard-earned, ambiguous reckoning that leaves the character, and the reader, aware of both the limits of bravado and the difficulty of genuine change.

Characters

The protagonist is at once charismatic and evasive: talkative, quick with humor, and prone to self-justification. The women in the novel are portrayed with varying degrees of agency; some mirror his needs while others push back, exposing contradictions in his self-image. A circle of male friends and rivals provides a social barometer, reflecting different responses to aging, work, and masculinity. Secondary figures are drawn in precise strokes, contributing to a sense of a lived community rather than mere backdrop.

Themes and Style

Price interrogates the myths of male entitlement and emotional invulnerability. Themes of performance versus authenticity recur throughout: sex and swagger function as armor against loneliness and impotence, while economic precarity and social expectation shape choices. Class and place are ever-present forces, grounding personal dramas in a wider cultural landscape.
Stylistically, Ladies' Man is notable for its ear for dialogue and its unsentimental realism. Price's prose captures the rhythms of street talk and intimate confession, alternating between brisk, cinematic scenes and quieter, reflective passages. The novel's energy comes from a combination of detailed observation, moral ambiguity, and the tension between youthful bravado and the slower lessons of maturity.

Legacy

As an early work by Richard Price, Ladies' Man helped establish his reputation for incisive portrayals of urban life and male psychology. The novel complements his other early fiction in exploring how personal identity is shaped by community, class, and desire. Readers familiar with Price's later work will recognize the seeds of his continuing concerns: the costs of performance, the language of the streets, and a persistent sympathy for flawed, struggling characters.