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I Will Have Vengeance - Maurizio De Giovanni
by fizzywizzy
The year is 1931, the setting the Italian city of Naples. Commissario Luigi Alfredo Ricciardi is working late one evening when he is summoned to the famous San Carlo Opera House where a mysterious death has been reported. There he is faced with the dead body of Maestro Vezzi, one of the country's foremost operatic singers and a ... particular favourite of Il Duce. The singer is sitting at a table in his dressing room, an arm out-stretched, a tear running down one cheek and a shard of glass from a smashed mirror sticking out of his neck. Vezzi's death could be the result of a tragic accident but for a couple of items in the room that Ricciardi thinks odd.
As the Commissario and his assistant Brigadier Maione start to investigate, it soon becomes clear that the singer was a difficult and unlikeable man with whom many other members of the company had a strained relationship. However, such was the Maestro's talent that his arrogance and violent outbursts were generally tolerated by those who relied on him for their own living.
'I Will Have Vengeance' is a good solid piece of historical crime fiction in the form of a police procedural. Throw in the 'foreign' setting and you can see why the publishers think they're onto a winner.
There is one twist: Ricciardi has a 'gift', the ability to see in his mind the final the seconds of a murder victim's life. It's explained early on that as a child Ricciardi witnessed a murder, the event affecting him in a profound way and the reason why he felt always destined to become a policeman. Although the gift helps Ricciardi in his investigations, it also means he leads a rather sad and lonely life. I'm not a fan of the supernatural in fiction so when this aspect of Ricciardi's persona was introduced at the outset, I was put immediately on my guard. Personally I would have liked the character much better without the visions but as it stands the idea is executed rather well with Ricciardi quietly accepting his lot rather than the outcome of the story being dependent on it. The focus of the investigation is primarily based on the evidence collected and not Ricciardi's unusual insight anyway so the bounds of credibility don't get stretched too far.
We can add Ricciardi to the ranks of policemen and detectives for whom loneliness and isolation, as well as a mistrust of his superiors, are common characteristics. He exists for his job, the only person with whom he has a real relationship with outside the Questura is his elderly tata Rosa; then there's Enrica, a young woman who lives in the apartment opposite his - he only knows her from what he sees peering into her apartment from his own. I loved the utter simplicity of Ricciardi's life in spite of his rather grand origins. In spite of the attempts of Rosa to make her beloved Luigi enjoy his food the policeman's diet consists on alternate days of pizza and sfogliattella.
So simple is the Commissario's life that he even has to have the world of opera - that great passion of Italy (and if you read Tobias Jones's 'The Dark Heart of Italy' you might believe that opera runs through the veins of all Italians) - explained to him in order to determine where he should focus the investigation. De Giovanni paints a fascinating picture of the operatic world and cleverly manages just to weave just the right level of coincidence between the story and the opera that Vezzi was appearing in.
Judging by the amount of effort De Giovanni invests in developing the main characters it's clear that this is just the first of a series to feature Commissario Ricciardi. As a stand alone novel this still works very well but in setting up a meaty conflict between Ricciardi and his superior, the odious Vice-Questore Angelo Garzo, we have a situation that embodies the political situation of the era. When Garzo tries to suggest that certain witnesses - people with certain 'roles' - need not be required to give a statement regarding their whereabouts at the time of the murder, the Commissario responds flatly 'My role is to find a murderer'. We learn of Garzo that he achieved his position 'above all by the skillful exploitation of his subordinates capacities'.
'I Will Have Vengeance' is a colourful novel that imparts a strong sense of time and place. There are plenty of details of Italian culture woven into the story and rather than interrupt the flow of the story to set the scene, an editor's note provides a useful insight. The shadow of the fascist regime looms over the story but doesn't dominate and we learn more about the effects of the regime from witnessing the huge chasm between the social classes than from overt references to Mussolini.
There's more than a touch of Agatha Christie in this tale with a closed murder scene and a fairly lengthy list of people who might have a motive to kill Vezzi. However, the story goes deeper to look more closely at Vezzi himself and why he was a person who turned people against him. There's a bit of a twist in the investigation but I did find the murder plot a little uninspiring, enjoying the setting and characterisation a great deal more.To achieve all this is such a short novel is to De Giovanni's credit.
This is a tantalising introduction and the setting up of the characters offers several interesting possibilities for future installments.Despite my initial doubts about how much I'd enjoy this novel, I have to concede that I enjoyed it a great deal and I do hope that Hersilia Press decide to commission the translation of more from the series.
216 pages
Published by Hersilia Press, February 2012
With thanks to publisher for providing a review copy. This review first appeared at www.curiousbookfans.co.uk
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Fairytale of New York - Miranda Dickinson
by xd-o-n-z-x
Fairytale of New York is a chick-lit book by Miranda Dickinson. The book was released in the United Kingdom in 2009. I bought my copy from The Works as part of a '2 books for £3' offer which I thought was excellent value for money.
The Plot: Meet Rosie, a British florist who has moved to New York. She runs a florist. Before ... coming to New York, she was in Boston where she suffered a terrible heartbreak. Since then she has found it hard to move on? What will happen when she's reunited with her past? Read Fairytale of New York to find out!
First of all, I am a very fast reader - I can get through a novel in a couple of days and so I was surprised to discover that it took me a few weeks to finish this book - I just did not have the 'urge' to pick up the book and read it. In fact picking up to read was actually a bit of a chore for me. I only continued reading it because I didn't want to 'give in' beings as I had started reading it.
Don't be fooled by the cover!! It is such a pretty and girlie looking cover that I thought that the book was going to be perfect read. It turned out to be a really boring read, and one that I would not recommend.
I thought that the plot was different, even though it kept along the lines of the typical chick-lit book. The plot was ok - I think it was the bits surrounding the plot that put me off. I didn't understand why the character couldn't have come straight from Britain, why she had to go to Boston first?
The book was written in first person from the main character's perspective. This allowed us to get to know Rosie really well. The other characters I found were a bit dull; Ed seemed like a fussy old character, Marnie seemed in a world of her own, and Celia reminded me of someone not to trust (even though she was ok). I thought that Nate was going to be a nice guy; obviously not and I couldn't trust David either. So all in all, not a great bunch of characters.
I did find the book to be quite annoying. The first and major thing which really annoyed me about the book was Rosie's 'big, massive, secret'. Throughout the book Rosie refers to the big secret which changed her life - I couldn't wait to find out what this big secret was and this was one of the only reasons I continued reading the book. Rosie also annoyed me at how 'affected' she was by the big event - quite spoilt in a way - 'oh my god I can't believe you just said that and you know what happened'. It got me thinking 'oh my god, what did happen?' and when I found out, how disappointed I was. All I could think was 'is that it?'.
Rosie's brother makes an appearance in the book and for what reason I do not know. When I first started reading when he had come to visit, I thought 'ooh this is going to be something big to do with the story' - it wasn't and the part about what he did just sounded so stupid and over the top.
Also, Rosie made such a big fuss of how she was worried about her brother, yet she soon forgot about him. Also, he didn't say goodbye, he just disappeared, and Rosie didn't even mention that he had gone or wondered where he was?
Another annoying thing about the book; Rosie's overuse of 'mate'. I mean come on, who actually uses the word 'mate'. It seemed to be repeated over and over again to remind the reader that the character is British, but I mean who uses the word 'mate' here anyway, especially women?
The main character is a florist and sometimes I found that the author went on and on just a bit too much about the colours of flowers a certain customer chose blah blah blah and I just thought 'get on with the story'. I don't know anything about flowers and so I didn't really care.
This wasn't the kind of book I could read whilst relaxing. When I'm reading chick-lit books I like to just let the writing 'take me' and not have to think too much. However, I found I had to think a lot and really concentrate when reading this book. Some parts I had to re-read again because I had lost concentration which was annoying.
The book is very predictable - I knew what was going to happen - apart from the 'big secret' and I predicted the ending long before the ending happened.
Thanks for reading!
March 2012
Xdonzx / xd-o-n-z-x
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The Paris Wife - Paula McLain
by linzeelou
About the book
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain was published by Virago on 5th January 2012 and the book is 400 pages long.
Plot
Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness--until she meets Ernest Hemingway and her life changes forever. Following a ... whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group--the fabled "Lost Generation"--that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.
Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill-prepared for the hard-drinking and fast-living life of Jazz Age Paris, which hardly values traditional notions of family and monogamy. Surrounded by beautiful women and competing egos, Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history, pouring all the richness and intensity of his life with Hadley and their circle of friends into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises. Hadley, meanwhile, strives to hold on to her sense of self as the demands of life with Ernest grow costly and her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Despite their extraordinary bond, they eventually find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage--a deception that will lead to the unravelling of everything they've fought so hard for.
What I thought
Having a massive thing about books set in Paris or about Paris, when I saw this one at the train station I just knew I had to have it although having not heard of it before so I didn't know quite what to expect.
The Paris Wife is pretty much a fictionalised retelling of Hemingway's life with his first wife, Hadley. The book begins in Chicago in the '20s where the couple meet and is told from Hadley's perspective. She was a strange character to me to begin with as her personality is a bit mixed. Although she comes across as strong and independent, due to things happening beforehand, she also seems very timid and not altogether sure of herself. Meeting Hemingway brings out a different side to her and I saw her character change really quickly. As the book goes on, she changes more and more, becomes quite the doormat. I think her backbone went missing somewhere in-between Chicago and Paris.
Obviously, as a book about Hemingway's first wife, he does feature a lot throughout the book. I'm not altogether sure whether or not this was the author's intent but I actually quite hated him. Yes, he was nice to begin with in the relationship but it didn't take long for me to see him for the arse of a man that he was. In this depiction of their life, Hemingway is rude, insensitive and extremely selfish. While these traits were written exceptionally, deep down I was hoping for him to have some nice qualities hidden in there somewhere but that just didn't happen.
I'll be honest and admit that I did only really get this book because of the title and I was disappointed when I realised how much of the book is not set in Paris. It takes a long time for Hadley and Ernest to make the move but once they did, it was quite something. McLain is obviously passionate about Paris herself and puts a lot of effort and detail into describing the city which was something I was extremely thankful for. Paris is a big a part of the story at certain points as the characters themselves and it was wonderful to see it intertwined with the plot so well.
The plot moves effortlessly over the life of Hadley and Ernest with the addition of some wonderful characters that break up the monotony of their boring life together. Characters like Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ezra Pound make the story a lot more interesting than if it had been solely about the Hemmingway's. Each of these fantastic characters make the book a lot more interesting and exciting and throw in some much needed distractions from what would have been quite a plain and boring story otherwise. It was great to see other writers interact with Hemingway and to see how they all saw each other and what they may have thought of each other's works.
While I did really enjoy this book, I don't think it is for everyone. I loved reading about different parts of the world and people from the past but I wanted to slap both Hadley and Ernest for making such stupid decision and for being such annoying people. The Paris Wife is a bit of a mixed bag for me overall.
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