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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not the Best, But one of The Best - The Italian Jim Thompson?, January 2, 2006
This review is from: The Goodbye Kiss (Paperback)
Well, I am glad that they translated Carlotto in English. I guess there is something in this novel that US crime/noir readers will appreciate: that is, the story told by the Bad Guy. And this Bad Guy, the narrating I of this dark story of corruption, violence, and politics (plenty of politics), is as good (or as bad) as the charaters you may meet in the pages of that underrated genius of US fiction, Jim Thompson.
The man who tells the story is a former Brigate Rosse terrorist and exile. But he is above all a cynical, cold, amoral individual. His story is the grim tale of how you can be formally rehabilitated, thanks to good connections and a corrupt political system, yet remaining the insensitive thug you were. And such cold, cynical people are always appreciated in a world like the Italian Nordest in the 90s, where only money and glamour and power count.
Carlotto's simple style has been criticized because it doesn't meet the literary standards of critics who only care for a high number of synonims and adjectives and adverbs. Actually he writes in a language which is as simple, polished and piercing as a bullet. But some of his choices of words and details are simply powerful. And this book is one of those where you couldn't take away anything.
A remarkable thing is that in noir you always have the dark lady. This is an exception. Here you have the dark man. The lady is the only clean person in the story...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A black and white picture of obscure society corners, October 14, 2007
This review is from: The Goodbye Kiss (Paperback)
I add this review above all as I disagree with a previous review from another reader. Comparing books, as he does, is a tricky and complex task. Thompson and Carlotto books are quite different under any aspect. Background, aims, means. Thompson and Carlotto are interested on focusing and bringing into light different aspects of crime. Some 50 more years have gone by between the two books. To advise re-reading Thompson in writing on Carlotto is as advising to re-read "Crime and Punishment" commenting on Thompson. Carlotto depicts a provocative and enlighting scenario of the post-70s european generation (non-UK, especially French, Italian, Spanish and German), of the 80s need of conformism and modern hypocrisy. The noir plot is, as in best writers (as Durenmatt), an excuse for bringing into light dark places of our societies.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A dark voyage into Italy's underworld, September 1, 2010
This review is from: The Goodbye Kiss (Paperback)
You would have to look hard in modern literature for a `hero' of a book to be quite so despicable as the central character in The Goodbye Kiss. He starts out idealistic enough. He and his young chum have joined the Red Brigade for idealistic reasons. When things go wrong and the police are on their trail, they flee to South America to join the guerrillas. While there, the central character, Giorgio Pellegrini, commits an act under orders from his commander that finally convinces him that idealism is for the birds and that from then on he's in it for himself.
And in it he is. He returns to Italy to face the music and, through a cynical deal, gets a short sentence. While in prison, he practices the exploitative skills that will stand him in good stead when he is released.
Pelligrini will commit any crime, including a series of cold, conscienceless murders, to get what he wants: respectability and a life of financial ease. Slowly but surely, he works his way up, a trail of blood behind him, until he is faced with an ultimate crisis to resolve.
It was, at times, difficult to bear the character's total lack of conscience. But his fanatical devotion to his own cause was mesmerizing. The novel shows a side of Italy not well known to outsiders and probably not to most Italians themselves. Whores, pimps, Albanian gangs, drug dealers, crooked cops populate the novel. Their world is one of power and betrayal.
Carlottto, who had personal familiarity with Italy's prisons, has achieved the pinnacle of noir novels. In spite of his moral deformities, you can't help rooting for Giorgio and be impressed with his manipulative skills. The one virtue that he possesses is courage. He takes risks, calculated ones, but knows that if he fails it will either be life in prison or a very certain death.
I recommend the book highly for its tense atmosphere, hard hitting prose and, most of all, a memorable character.
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