Gangster by Lorenzo Carcaterra / Review
Upon the recommendation of my boss, I decided to try a genre that was a little different to my usual tastes. I enjoy the crime fiction of Chris Carter and Jeffrey Deaver and am a sucker for anything romantic, but this novel posed a new theme: gang culture. For my History GCSE, I studied the life of Al Capone, marvelling at how, in the end, it was tax evasion that caught him out as opposed to the crimes he committed in the game. But never before had I found the urge to further delve into the history of gang culture, until now. This book has changed everything and has fast become my new absolute favourite.
The story predominately follows the life of Angelo Vestieri, born on a sinking ship full of Italian immigrants leading to a new life in America. His father is an honest man and looks to teach his son the ways of earning an honest living. However, he is cursed by a past in Italy and the guilt of his own actions, which, upon discovery of such secrets, ultimately leads to the demise of Angelo's relationship with his father. As a young boy growing up in America, he faces a choice between his father's honest and tiring way of living and the gangster attitude he is introduced to where everything seems to come so easily. The power, the money and the violence draws him into a game in which the only escape is death. The influences of his Aunty and gangster influences Ida the Goose and Angus McQueen show Angelo how everything could be his for the taking should he be willing to pay the price.
Along the way, Angelo suffers from much heartache and betrayal but finds comfort in his one trusted acquaintance, Pudge, a bully with a temper to begin with but later is shown to be Angelo's chalk to his cheese with personal skills and a lovability about his character. Together, the two raise a young orphan named Gabe, teaching him the ways of the gangster in the hope of forming a man they can trust to continue their business after death. But Gabe appearing in their lives is not just coincidence, as it later discovered in the novel, as more secrets of Angelo's past are revealed.
Angelo's brute force is apparent and his nickname Bones Vestieri highlights the fear surrounding him, but he is a complicated character with deeper levels of emotion, revealed by the narration of Gabe himself, the young orphan Angelo takes on, and a woman named Mary who seems to know a lot more about Gabe and Angelo's lives.
This novel will break your heart and reduce you to tears unlike any other. During the three days it took me to read the 376 pages, I came to live in that world not just in a literal sense but in every other way imaginable.
The story predominately follows the life of Angelo Vestieri, born on a sinking ship full of Italian immigrants leading to a new life in America. His father is an honest man and looks to teach his son the ways of earning an honest living. However, he is cursed by a past in Italy and the guilt of his own actions, which, upon discovery of such secrets, ultimately leads to the demise of Angelo's relationship with his father. As a young boy growing up in America, he faces a choice between his father's honest and tiring way of living and the gangster attitude he is introduced to where everything seems to come so easily. The power, the money and the violence draws him into a game in which the only escape is death. The influences of his Aunty and gangster influences Ida the Goose and Angus McQueen show Angelo how everything could be his for the taking should he be willing to pay the price.
Along the way, Angelo suffers from much heartache and betrayal but finds comfort in his one trusted acquaintance, Pudge, a bully with a temper to begin with but later is shown to be Angelo's chalk to his cheese with personal skills and a lovability about his character. Together, the two raise a young orphan named Gabe, teaching him the ways of the gangster in the hope of forming a man they can trust to continue their business after death. But Gabe appearing in their lives is not just coincidence, as it later discovered in the novel, as more secrets of Angelo's past are revealed.
Angelo's brute force is apparent and his nickname Bones Vestieri highlights the fear surrounding him, but he is a complicated character with deeper levels of emotion, revealed by the narration of Gabe himself, the young orphan Angelo takes on, and a woman named Mary who seems to know a lot more about Gabe and Angelo's lives.
This novel will break your heart and reduce you to tears unlike any other. During the three days it took me to read the 376 pages, I came to live in that world not just in a literal sense but in every other way imaginable.