A Death in Calabria - Michele Giuttari
Well, this is new; a book I'm reading almost entirely because the punctuation amuses the hell out of me, and for no other reason. Apparently it's an international bestseller, according to the cover, which tells me only how the word 'bestseller' has been devalued nowadays.
Okay, this book. It's a police procedrual about a bunch of cops tracking down some mafioso after a mafia killing in New York. Now the author is apparently an ex-cop and I can believe it, because he's captured the low-key nature of most police work, even large operations, perfectly. As in reality, it's not one detective hunting the killers, it's a half a dozen spread across two countries and several agencies. None of them have any distingushing personalities: they're all pretty generic cops and I keep getting them mixed up, but it doesn't really matter. The mafioso are mafioso.
There are women in this story. They are either a) cop wives b) mafia wives c) cops with mostly non-speaking parts d) a prostitute. Basically, it's just sort of boring. Until you get to the punctuation, becuase Giuttari loves exclamation marks.
"Evening, Mike!" One seasoned cop greeting another at a murder scene.
"They may be able to identify the make and model of the motorcycle."
"That's going to take time!"
"A couple of days if we're lucky"
Reynolds looked at her, surprised, "All right, follow me!" Said to the sister of the murder victim at the crime scene.
They don't merely talk with exclamation marks, they think in them also. A FBI agent waits for a call from his anonymous informant (although you'd be forgiven for thinking they're quarreling lovers):
He hadn't called!
He hadn't left a message!
Dick Moore was shaking his head from side to side.
He had finished going through the list of calls.
He had gone through it again and again.
Again and again...
Nothing.
He hadn't found the call that mattered the most to him.
Formatted exactly like that. Now, maybe this is a translation issue; maybe it's normal in Italian to punctuate like that, but an editor still should have caught it because in English the tone is bizarre. I've read both Umberto Eco and Primo Levi translated from Italian and neither of them had these issues.
The prose is quite simple and occasionally redundant - again an editing issue. The overall effect is an odd kind of storybook feel; it should be called Spot Works in Homicide or My First Mafioso Story. Still, I remain entertained...sort of.
Okay, this book. It's a police procedrual about a bunch of cops tracking down some mafioso after a mafia killing in New York. Now the author is apparently an ex-cop and I can believe it, because he's captured the low-key nature of most police work, even large operations, perfectly. As in reality, it's not one detective hunting the killers, it's a half a dozen spread across two countries and several agencies. None of them have any distingushing personalities: they're all pretty generic cops and I keep getting them mixed up, but it doesn't really matter. The mafioso are mafioso.
There are women in this story. They are either a) cop wives b) mafia wives c) cops with mostly non-speaking parts d) a prostitute. Basically, it's just sort of boring. Until you get to the punctuation, becuase Giuttari loves exclamation marks.
"Evening, Mike!" One seasoned cop greeting another at a murder scene.
"They may be able to identify the make and model of the motorcycle."
"That's going to take time!"
"A couple of days if we're lucky"
Reynolds looked at her, surprised, "All right, follow me!" Said to the sister of the murder victim at the crime scene.
They don't merely talk with exclamation marks, they think in them also. A FBI agent waits for a call from his anonymous informant (although you'd be forgiven for thinking they're quarreling lovers):
He hadn't called!
He hadn't left a message!
Dick Moore was shaking his head from side to side.
He had finished going through the list of calls.
He had gone through it again and again.
Again and again...
Nothing.
He hadn't found the call that mattered the most to him.
Formatted exactly like that. Now, maybe this is a translation issue; maybe it's normal in Italian to punctuate like that, but an editor still should have caught it because in English the tone is bizarre. I've read both Umberto Eco and Primo Levi translated from Italian and neither of them had these issues.
The prose is quite simple and occasionally redundant - again an editing issue. The overall effect is an odd kind of storybook feel; it should be called Spot Works in Homicide or My First Mafioso Story. Still, I remain entertained...sort of.