Customer Reviews

Gangster

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Gangland -- or at least its literary environs -- hasn't been the same since the late Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" pumped a little ba-da-bing into the phrase "family saga."

Lorenzo Carcaterra`s "Gangster" is a rich tale about the rise of an Italian mobster, from his roots in turn-of-the-century Italy to the mean streets of New York City. By hook or crook -- mostly crook -- he rises to the highest echelons of the underworld and, having survived the bullets and mayhem, is dying rather ignominiously as an old man. And his likeliest successor is uncertain he wants to claim his iniquitous inheritance. Sound familiar?

Well, fuhgeddaboudit. There's one word even the most astute reader will not find in "Gangster": Godfather.

Puzo admitted he never met an "honest-to-God real-life gangster," but Carcaterra ate, drank and lived with them most of his life. The author of "Sleepers" and "Apaches" knows these wiseguys intimately, and he understands the public`s long-standing fascination with the Mafia. These characters are not denizens of his vivid and proven imagination; they were his friends and neighbors in Hell's Kitchen, the tough New York neighborhood where he grew up. The son of a convicted murderer didn't hang out with the kids of doctors and lawyers. The goodfellas of Carcaterra's youth weren't today's Russian mobsters and urban street gangs; the best of the Old World gangsters embraced friendship, loyalty and revenge as equally noble. And those very "qualities" have played a role in each of Carcaterra's books.

His familiarity with the underworld, however peripheral, shines through in "Gangster." Yes, comparisons between Angelo Vestieri and Vito Corleone are inevitable, but they are different in significant ways, too.

"Gangster" is not "The Godfather." Both are eloquent works on the mob oeuvre. "Gangster" is more panoramic, an epic that embraces not only a handful of flawed men and women on the margins of society, but their time and place, too. "Gangster" is a story of fathers and sons, not just godfathers and guns. It is a complex morality play in which the reader occasionally roots for the villains and frowns upon the good guys. Carcaterra knows the underworld's rhythms and philosophy as well as he knows its dirty streets, rain-slicked piers and smoke-filled social clubs.

Gangland is Carcaterra's country.

There are certain mild mannered individuals like me, who adore gangster and mafia stuff.I'd thoroughly recommend this book to afficionados or people who enjoyed "Godfather".
Gabe is a young boy who has been raised by foster parents,mostly by people who are only in it for the money-the government allowances made to couples who are willing to house,feed and send to school,orphaned children.He's a lonely little boy who meets Angelo Vestieri,a local gangster in a New York district.Angelo befriends Gabe and introduces him to his friend and off-sider,Pudge. The two gangsters virtually adopt the boy and give him a secure home in a loving environment,for the first time in his life although, at the same time, they are instilling in him the things he needs to know to follow the way of life of gangsters.This story follows Gabes life through to adulthood when he begins to question the way of life mapped out for him by his mentors.

I just finished GANGSTER, and it was definitely a cannot-put-down book. I have read all of Carcaterra's books and found them well-written and riveting (particularly SLEEPERS). But I must confess, when I started GANGSTER, having read other reviews, I was expecting a so-so rehash of Puzo's GODFATHER. I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that was not only original, but one that was both entertaining and spine-chilling. I will admit that the ending was fairly predictable (in my opinion), but this did not detract from the book itself. The main character, Angelo Vestieri, was a gangster who was the ultimate in unpredictability. This left the ending open to any number of possibilities. It is obvious that Lorenzo Carcaterra knows the streets of Hell's Kitchen, as well as the people who rule there. It takes a writer of his caliber to create a story of this nature, in which the reader feels such a closeness to the "bad guys" as to engender feelings of loss when one of them is eliminated. I look forward to Carcaterra's next work. He just keeps getting better.

I have already proclaimed myself to be a huge Carcaterra fan in previous Amazon reviews of his two other books, Sleepers and Apaches. I could not wait to get my hands on this one and, once again, was not disappointed by this "master of all storytelling." In an effort to be objective, I tried to imagine that it was written by someone else just to see if I would feel the same way about it. As hard as I tried, reminders of Carcaterra's writing style kept breaking through and those "comfort" recollections of things nostalgic to me came to the surface. I have yet to read one of his books where he doesn't mention The Yankees, St. Jude, The Count of Monte Cristo and playing stoopball. You've got to love this guy.

In this book, Carcaterra brings us back, once again, to the streets of Manhattan -- although instead of hanging out in Hell's Kitchen of "Sleepers" fame, we are in the Chelsea section down on 28th Street and Broadway. The story begins with Paolini Vestieri fleeing his homeland of Italy so his soon to be born son won't be influenced by the arm of the MAFIA. Little does he know that this arm is longer than he thinks and it has already reached out to America. It will eventually grab his son Angelo who will end up becoming one of New York's biggest crime bosses. Lorenzo Carcaterra has a knack for introducing you and endearing you to his criminals when they are young boys. By the time they become grown men, you have so much empathy for them, having witnessed their growing up without mothers and most times without money, that you tend to look the other way when they're shooting people dead without a second glance. He also uses the REVENGE theme in each of his books and this one is no exception. When Angelo Vestieri is nine years old, he comes under the guiding hand of two very colorful crime lords, Angus McQueen and Ida The Goose, performing small jobs for them along with his friend Pudge. Together, he and Pudge form an alliance and their loyalty to each other will only be broken if one of them dies. Pudge is the shooter and Angelo is the conscience and the thinker. It isn't until the thing that Angelo holds most dear is taken away from him that he becomes the most ruthless gangster of them all. This is where REVENGE will be "sweet".

The story is told through the eyes of a narrator, Gabe, who, as a young foster child, was taken under Angelo's and Pudge's wing to hopefully pick up where Angelo and Pudge will eventually leave off when they are too old to run the "family". Gabe is at Angelo's bedside as Angelo, now an old man, is finally succumbing to the ravages of the hard and sometimes brutal life he has led. He is joined at the bedside by Mary -- someone Gabe has never met yet someone who loved Angelo as much as he. Between the two of them, all the blanks of Angelo's life are filled in as we finally come to realize what drove Angelo to do all he has done. They both will walk away from this experience as changed people as truths and secrets are finally revealed.

I love it when I learn something in a book. While this may never be a question on the millionaire show, I learned what the letters MAFIA stand for -- Morte Alla Francese in Italia -- Death to the French in Italy. Apparently, many many years ago, the French had come into Italy and taken land belonging to the Italians. In his book, Carcaterra says, "No gangster is ever happy when he's at peace. The main reason he's in the business is to eliminate his enemies." There are plenty of "survivors" in this book. While the TV show claims that the survivors will "outwit, outplay and outlast" each other, the survivors of Carcaterra's GANGSTER will "outgun, outnumber and outrun" anyone who gets in their way. For me, this author has given me another few days of pure reading enjoyment. In his book, he says "To trust someone is to take a risk." If you trust my reviews, you will read this book -- you won't be risking anything.

Those who remember Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna's menace laced readings of "Get Shorty," "Sleepers" and "The Last Don" would probably bet that he's the one authentic voice for this panoramic underworld tale - and they'd be right. Whether it's on-the-take cop, tough female bartender or gangster, Mr. Mantegna delivers a stellar rendering.

Young Angelo Vestieri finds a home among the gangland toughs in Roaring 20s New York. His buddy, Pudge, has the brawn while Angelo has the brains to eventually elevate themselves to mob bosses.

The story of Angelo's Mafia life has enough betrayal and bad guys to send Tony Soprano running again to his shrink. "Gangland" is clearly author Lorenzo Carcaterra's ground; Joe Mantegna is his voice.

This recent book by Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of "Sleepers" and other bestsellers, has a familiar theme. This is a story of a Mafia boss and the boy he raised to be a gangster but has nevertheless rejected the life. The younger man, Gabe, now sits in a hospital room as the old man is dying and recalls the old man's story and the lessons he taught him about life. Alternating between flashbacks and narrative insights, the tale of Angelo Vestieri unfolds. We learn the secret that traveled with him from Italy; we see his lonely childhood on the streets of New York, the people who influenced him, his friends and his enemies. We follow his rise to power and cheer him on, understanding what makes him tick and identifying with him. And again get a sense of the crime culture in New York in the early and mid 20th Century.

Of course there's violence. It's gruesome and ugly and awful. But, like many other books of this kind, there are bad gangsters and good gangsters. The bad gangsters are cruel to children and animals and say mean things to insult the good gangsters. Certainly, they all deserve to die. The good gangsters have a sense of honor and have suffered betrayal and tragedy and loss. They protect the innocent and drink milk or coffee instead of alcohol. They have good manners and keep a low profile and are always smarter than the bad gangsters. It's stereotype all the way for everyone, including a colorful female character who runs a café and is not only a mother figure, but also knows how to use a gun.

Carcaterra writes well. His words just slide across the page and make it all seem real. This is the Hudson River before Battery Park City. This is downtown Manhattan before the World Trade Center. This is violence and evil without blowing up buildings or biological terrorism. This is nostalgia for the more innocent world of mob wars and retribution and revenge. Ah - the simple life! I loved it. Couldn't put it down. And will probably forget about it tomorrow. Highly recommended.

Carcaterra narrates the story of Angelo's (Bones') life in a way that draws the reader in, its almost like you're sitting in a dark bar when a stranger leans over and starts telling a story and everything else, the atmosphere, your drink, the conversation becomes a backdrop for a wonderful story. I could feel the ups and downs of the story as I observed the lives of Angleo and Pudge. I've read many books based on the mafia and gangsetrs including all of Puzo's novels but this is the best! As a matter of fact this is one of the best novels I've ever read. Thumbs up Carcaterra!

This novel is the 3rd book I have read over the past decade by this author and this is by far the best!
Gangster is so much more than what I thought it would be in terms of sheer storytelling and great characters from all walks of life. This is truly epic storytelling in both colorful characters as well as a kind of biography. Carcaterra takes us on a journey of breath-taking proportions that NO hollywood movie has even touched. Now I love movies like GODFATHER and GOODFELLAS and such, but let me tell you - this is by far superior in all aspects. I am really looking forward to his newest work coming.

Comparisons to Mario Puzo's work are always going to be made when a new Author adds his work to the organized crime genre, especially when the tale spans generations. Readers seem to be unusually protective of the Godfather Saga so an Author must tread carefully if he or she decides to enter this arena at all. The feeling of territoriality with Mr. Puzo is understandable, as he created the classic by which all others will be judged.

Mr. Carcaterra has produced a worthwhile and enjoyable read about his fictional characters in 20th century organized crime. "Gangster", is familiar in the sense it is derivative, but the Author's knowledge and occasional use of real members of the crime world allow the reader to slip into a sense of reading Historical Fiction. He does not glamorize the lifestyle, his players are very tough, and when violence is used it is with brutal and graphic finality. There are no shades of gray in this depiction of crime, loyalty may be absolute without being forever, and the idea that no one can be trusted extends to the people you have known since you were a child.

The three primary characters are all brought together in unusual ways and the Author maintains the entirety and hidden detail of the relationships until the final page. This may sound contrived, and with a weaker Author it would be. Happily, Mr. Carcaterra clearly knows and enjoys that which he writes about. The world he presents is one of obsessive pursuit of power for its own sake. The material gains that are a by-product of "success" in the word his characters occupy quickly become relatively meaningless. He illustrates this beautifully when far younger generations of Gangsters decide their time has come, and that of the old men has passed. The different motivations of the groups determine conduct, demonstrate the most casual concern for lives, and finally determine the outcome of the conflicts.

It was noted that this story was to become a television event. My initial reaction was to leave it and move on, as books/scripts and screenplays hold no interest for me. These tend to be compromises in writing style with the result being mediocre at best. This is absolutely not the case with, "Gangster"; it is well written and enjoyable to read. And one player accomplishes something even Michael Corleone never did.

I recently read Gangster by Lorenzo Caracaterra in the hopes that I would enjoy it as much as the movie Sleepers which was based on the book by Mr. Carcaterra. Unfortunately this book didn't quite measure up to Sleepers for emotional impact but I also seriously question if any book on this subject will ever equal the magnitude of Mario Puzo's, The Godfather.

In the prologue of the book, Angelo Vestiere, the gangster of the title, lies in a hosptial bed dying. Next to him sits a man named Gabe who we have yet to learn how he figures into this story. A woman named Mary enters the room, introduces herself to Gabe and offers to tell Gabe the complete story of Vestiere, the gangsters life.

Part I begins with Angelo and his family living in Italy. From there we watch as the family journeys to America as part of the mass immigration which took place to this country and then Angelo's life on the streets of New York. Finally we read about his rise to power as one the most feared gangsters. Interspersed in the chapters are relationships Angelo makes along the way which influence him; his marraige to Isabella which ends in tragedy and the gang wars which make him more and more feared and stronger and stronger within the organized crime network. Perhaps its a bit too much of same old, same old but Part I of the book was rather ho hum and I only continued at this point to see if Part II would be more interesting.

And Part II did prove to be much better. The character of Gabe,a 10 year old oprphan is introduced as the reader watches him come into Angelo's world, is taken under his wing, tutored by Angelo to become a ganster and the decision which Gabe must make about his future. And now we are able to make the connection between the man sitting at Angelo's bed and the young orphan from years go. As Mary concludes her telling of Angelo Vestiere's life with a startling revelation, Gabe is finally able to complete a puzzle which has haunted him and ths tale of Angelo and Gabe comes full circle.

I finally did enjoy the book and now look forward to Mr. Carcaterra's next book.