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3.0 out of 5 stars
Your Average Con Artist Story, March 3, 2006
This review is from: The Ballad of Low Lifes (Paperback)
I've always been interested in stories about con artists and scams, and I picked this up eager to see what the Italian take on the material would be. It kicks off in a bar in Turin where two grifters, Milo and Vittorio, shill fake ecstasy to dumb kids and dream about The Big C. The Big Con is an idea the two lifelong friends have been harboring for years, the one that will free them from their daily small-time hustles and move them up in the world. All they lack is the substantial stake money and organizational prowess required to implement it. In their late-20s, they realize time is slipping away and so enlist the help of Milo's Uncle Grissino (an older, wiser grifter) and Milo's beautiful fiancee Cristina (whom Vittorio pines for). It takes almost 2/3 of the book for the gang to gather momentum and pull off their initial scam to raise the stake money for The Big C. By this point, anyone who's a fan of con artistry and tales thereof (even if you're only seen The Sting and one or two of David Mamet's various films, such as House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, or Heist) will be able to predict the outcome. The Big C itself is almost incidental, a relatively simple long con, which naturally plays on the weaknesses of its targets. But I read through it somewhat resignedly hoping that the Remmert was going to pull something clever out at the end and confound my expectations. Unfortunately this was not the case, and the denouement runs a disappointingly predictable course.
To a certain extent, the plot itself may not actually be the point of the book. A great deal of it is taken up by Vittorio's rambling musings about life and the world. Much of this takes the form of little factoids about the disparities of wealth between the first and third world. There's also a lot of general railing against capitalism, the vacuousness of businessmen, the emptiness of consumerism, and kind of a running theme about how corrupt and meaningless the world is. While I'm in general accord with a great deal of the sentiment expressed, it often just feels shoehorned in and is ultimately as empty as what it attacks. It certainly doesn't help that the characters delivering these critiques of modern life are two-dimensional themselves. Milo is your basic uncomplicated bon vivant, Grissino is the florid wild-card, Cristina is the unknowable beauty, and as for Vittorio... Well, in order to try and engage the reader, Remmert directly addresses the "gentle reader" to inform them from time to time that "you are..." Vittorio. So, the book is largely written in second-person, which somewhat awkward and doesn't feel particularly necessary. You/Vittorio are basically a nice guy who worries a lot about things, pines for the girl, and to all appearances is kind of a sucker.
The book delivers a little bit of the color of Turin, but not much, nor is there much to recommend it as a genre piece. Which is not to say it's bad, because it isn't. It reads quickly and well, and there are some nice bits and pieces here and there, but don't enter it with high expectations.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining, instructive and disturbing, July 27, 2004
This review is from: The Ballad of Low Lifes (Paperback)
Leave it to the Italians. From thence comes a novel combining philosophical depth with a light and attractive humor. This story will grip you and draw you inside. Whether you are Joe, the race track tout or Herr Doktor Jaspers, the town phenomenologist, this butt naked look at the human condition will enthrall you. "The toy is broken" says the author, and there you have the hidden theme. The antics of Uncle Grisino and his three young assistants twist and turn around this idea. If you read this prepare to be enlightened, entertained and disturbed. Robert Elia
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Turin!!, July 23, 2004
This review is from: The Ballad of Low Lifes (Paperback)
The philistines in Hollywood may have moved The Italian Job out of Italy's best-kept secret of a city (Turin, that is), but hometown boy Enrico Remmert captures the vibe of this happening town (with great music and lit scenes) in his book about four oddball con men (and woman). From the Parco del Valentino to Via Po and all along the porticoes of the baroque city, Remmert's characters try to bring to life that one big con that will allow them to leave the game for good. Smart and funny, this is a great book! I hear that his first book "Rosenotte" is also coming soon in English. Can't wait!
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