Two Words, One Answer.
Giovanni Falcone
 Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic $16.00 I guess that too many facts in each page, shifting and adding more info as it goes along. Not very entertaining and that is why I bought it. I guess I expected something like Mario Puzo's wonderful telling of the Godfather, where besides learning about the inner world of the mafia, you also have a great read. Plenty informative, though, and please do not think for a moment I did not acknowledge that fact. I found out that Italy really had its share of drama with these people. Probably worst in many ways than the contract killings in Colombia, which at the time they were happening it was hard to believe how much terror and power the corrupted few could inflict on a whole country. Italy obviously, from the pages of this book, had to endure a period of total chaos and rampant violence. After a while, though, I started loosing that kind of attention reserved for the juiciest of best sellers. The history is clearly approached but the style of writing a little too tedious, not very fluid for me. Which of course may expose my weaknesses as an avid reader but it is my ongoing philosophy that the best reading is the one you just can't seem to put down. Not homework assignments, boring subjects one needs (not wants) to master, technical writings, etc. My fellow reviewers were very enthusiastic for this book and to their credit that is the reason I bought it. Prosecutors, political parties involved, manipulative forces as old as sin, Italy's ordeal are really something. How can these people keep a whole nation under their thumbs? Money? Violence? Whatever the reasons it is hard to imagine a european nation acting like a third world country. The old legacy of "omerta", the few ruling the masses and punishing those who do not endorse their wicked ways. I thought that the criminal element is supposed to hide and not raise much attention to themselves! Boy, I was wrong. I seen it in Colombia until they annihilated Escobar, see it in Mexico even these days and read it in Excellent Cadavers, so much details in fact, that I burned out and lost interest. I guess I was waiting for the heroes in the tale but they never came they simply got slain until the shame of a nation finally acted in a concerted effort to put a stop to this ruthless behavior. Good for them, Long Live Italy but give me some brilliant soccer,cannelloni, pasta tuti de mare, minestrone instead of the scary predicament they found themselves in Excellent Cadavers! 3.5 Stars |
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