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Gomorrah: Italy's Other Mafia
unfortunately, this is JUST the top of the iceberg..
Date: 2008-11-27 Rating: 10 out of 10
I.T.A.L.I.A. = In This Area Law Is Absent
I'm italian.. I can tell you that we are full of laws, but they are meaningless, because against certain strong powers there is no defence in Italy.. in our parliament there are members that have committed crimes and that have been judged guilty, but nobody can touch them, and they happily rule.. Saviano has been able to reveal ONLY the top of the iceberg, that is how the criminal organizations work, but he will never be allowed to reveal the hidden part of the iceberg, that is how the Italian lobbies and politicians are linked to these criminals.. nobody is allowed to investigate here.
Sorry, but I cannot say more that this, because for now I still have to live in Italy.
BewertungenThe other mobs in ItalyDatum 2008-11-18 Rang: 8 von 10Interesting overview of how integrated the mob is in Italian society. We hear all the time about the Sicilians - this book is strictly about Italian crime syndicates. Soon to be released as a movie...Interesting look into real-life crimeDatum 2008-08-21 Rang: 8 von 10In America, we've almost romanticized the gangster lifestyle with depictions like those in the Godfather movies, Goodfellas, and the Sopranos. The diminished public presence of the American mafia has probably allowed us to forget the dark, violent gears that allow these machines to run. In this book, Roberto Saviano vividly describes the workings and rivalries of the Naples area, a place where crime families have nearly crippled the city.
When you begin reading this, it is evident that some of the translation from Italian to English did not come through clearly. Some of Saviano's metaphors and similies come across as downright odd, but blame this on the difference of the languages rather than the author or the translator. The book jumps around to different topics in a seemingly random way. Nonetheless Saviano's writing is clear enough to show just how horrifying and violent these criminal endeavors can be.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in organized crime nonfiction. We're saturated with fictional stories of the mafia, and it's truly striking to hear these real-life accounts of extreme violence and corruption. An interesting book all around, never feeling tedious despite the oddities of translation.
BoringDatum 2008-07-17 Rang: 4 von 10I picked this up expecting an interesting and in-depth look at the author's infiltration of the Mafia in Sicily. I didn't make it far enough to see if it actually happened. This book failed the 50 page rule, meaning that it didn't get to the point and was not interesting enough to compel me to read past page 50. A Stilted Trip Through Unfamiliar ItalyDatum 2008-07-08 Rang: 4 von 10A full-throttle look at Cammora crime from the nitty gritty ground level, "Gomorrah" is a look behind the curtain that suffers from an author with too intimate an approach to his subject. For a Neopolitan perhaps the geography, family and clan names, capos and underbosses, murders, victims and characters are a uniting thread; but, to the average American reader I think this translation of Saviano's originial Italian work lacks some critical elements that would help to make this story more than the timeline of crime it ends up being.
There is no real protagonist to unite the series of seemingly only loosely-related vignettes, unless one counts Saviano himself, but his role is more that of tour guide, standard-bearer and narrator.
Mixed in are some really interesting details about Cammora business, the purpose and organization of the system, and the lifestyle both for the connected and unconnected. But, these are sprinkled in among dizzying references to different criminal systems, families, clans and characters. Further complicating matters, the translation (I can't speak for whether it reflects the original work) is stark and breathless. In spite of the occasional turn of phrase, metaphor or analogy, the writing is spare and unadorned.
All in all, a staccato and stilted trip through what remains -- even after reading -- an unfamiliar vantage point on Italy.
Produkt InformationAutor:
Roberto Saviano
Recording label: Macmillan Hersteller: MacmillanEAN: 9780230017764Format: HardcoverISBN: 0230017762Seitenzahl: 424Erscheinungsdatum: 2008-01-18Format: Import, Sprache: English (Original Language)
Sprache: English (Unknown)
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