Set in Naples in 1931, during the early years of Mussolini’s rule, this novel is a study of character, especially that of Ricciardi, the Commissario of the police, who has the occult ability to hear the final thoughts of murder victims. Here he investigates the death of the world’s greatest tenor, just before his performance of Pagliacci. Consummately romantic at heart, with exaggerated but likable characters and heart-breaking situations more akin to opera than to real life, Maurizio De Giovanni’s surprising mystery is both dramatic and compassionate, filled with a kind of charm rare among dark mysteries. Lovers of opera, and I am one, will be intrigued with all the references to love, vengeance, murder, sorrow, pride, envy, and jealousy which seem to motivate most operas, and, Ricciardi would have us believe, most murders. As is also the case with opera, the characters are sometimes stereotyped, their actions pre-ordained by the traditions of operatic plot. Having established Ricciardi’s occult talents in the opening pages, the reader understands that a significant amount of “willing suspension of disbelief” is necessary here, and as Ricciardi’s own life, like those of the other main characters, is also its own romantic opera, there is no pretense of realism.
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With unusual insight and great enthusiasm, Ross King has several times written books about monumental works of art, placing them in historical context, characterizing the artist, and emphasizing what makes these artistic achievements unique. Each of these books about an artwork – the dome of a cathedral, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and the Last Supper mural – has received international recognition for its literary style, the accuracy of the research, and the excitement King generates as he details the trials and troubles the artist faced while creating his work for a sometimes less-than-adoring public. Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture was Non-Fiction Book of the Year for Book Sense in 2000. Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling was nominated for both the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award (Canada), and this year Leonardo and the Last Supper was winner of the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction – all well deserved prizes. King’s fast-paced narrative style, his vibrant descriptions (aided by well chosen illustrations), and intuitive understanding of what makes art come alive for readers make him unique among contemporary authors, a man whose writing about an artwork pays true homage to the art itself. This is an exciting and utterly absorbing study of an artist, his work, his frustrations, and his glory.
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Posted in 9-2012 Reviews, Algeria, Humor, Satire, Absurdity, Italy, Literary, Mystery, Thriller, Noir, Social and Political Issues on Dec 13th, 2012
Algerian author Amara Lakhous, now an Italian resident, pens a sly satire of an immigrant’s life in Italy, using the murder of a young man in the elevator of an apartment building adjacent to Piazza Vittorio as the catalyst through which he explores the hidden and not-so-hidden prejudices of Roman residents toward “outsiders.” The victim, Lorenzo Manfredini, also known as the Gladiator, drew nasty pictures, wrote obscenities, and urinated in the building’s elevator, earning the enmity of every resident. When the police investigate, each of the residents and merchants in the immediate vicinity tells his story, revealing hidden agendas and casual resentments against immigrants. Amedeo, a respected resident thought to be an Italian volunteer helping immigrants deal with Roman bureaucracy, is sought for the crime. No one has seen him since the murder. Lakhous cleverly creates twelve unique voices, with each person telling “the truth according to…” These separate voices alternate with “wails” from Amadeo, as he gives his own “take” in response to each statement. Amedeo is not, in fact, an Italian, though he speaks Italian like a native, and his running commentary on life in the apartment building and in Rome, as an immigrant sees it, points up the contrasts between what people say when they think he is Italian and what they say and do about their immigrant neighbors behind their backs.
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When three middle-aged losers independently and simultaneously show up to look at an old farmhouse for sale in the countryside of Campania, outside of Naples, each sees it for its potential as a Bed and Breakfast retreat. For each of these men, creating such a retreat would represent a whole new way of life, one far more satisfying than anything he has known to date. None of them can afford this dream, however. Though they do not know each other, they are (barely) smart enough to realize that the only way any of them can afford to participate in the B & B project, is to pool their resources and buy it together. Within a month, this disparate group has signed the papers together and received the keys to a farm that someone else once tried to restore but has abandoned. The novel is clever and well developed, great fun for those who are looking for a different kind of novel, a wonderful break from the bleak and often depressing noir novels which have also been coming from Italy recently. If this were summer, I might say that this is the perfect “beach read,” full of fun, very funny, and very exciting, but as it is not, I will say only that readers here and now will be wise to pay particular attention to the titles of the last three chapters, each of which is from the point of view of a different main character. The cumulative effect of these chapters provides the real conclusion which will delight readers, even in the short, dark days of winter.
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During the one week in August in which the action in this novel takes place, the city of Florence is almost claustrophobic with the heat, with temperatures over a hundred degrees (Fahrenheit), paralyzing the city during the day, with little respite at night. In a welcome change from the darkly violent noir novels which have been so popular among mystery aficionados in recent years, author Christobel Kent uses this setting to create a character-based “summer mystery,” focusing on several groups of characters as they cope with the summer heat and with a mystery which the author presents through their eyes. The novel is effectively plotted, with plenty of excitement, but it develops as the outcome of the characters’ actions and their thoughts as they deal with a disappearance and the eventual determination of murder, rather than through author-initiated violent twists, turns, and fast-paced dramatic action in which the characters are pawns of the author. The unique characters reflect many different aspects of life in a realistically depicted Florence, and as in any other city, crime does exist here, and murders and disappearances do take place. Author Christobel Kent creates a taut and psychologically intriguing novel about characters dealing with crises of life-changing dimensions during a period in which the August heat ratchets up the drama by its claustrophobic intensity.
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