I have to admit I failed to read the introduction to the book before deciding to read the book. I simply read the first paragraph of the blurb on the cover and thought “This is my cup of tea”.
Well it was and it wasn’t. I was not overly attached to any of the characters in the book. I was not curious to see what happens to any and had absolutely no feelings towards them. What kept me going was the hope that the book would go into the rivalry of Pinkie’s ‘gang’ and Mr Colleoni’s. I’ll save you the trouble: it did not. Again not the author’s fault just my own pre-conceived idea of the kind of book I was reading.
The book is more of a psychological novel focusing on Pinkie’s turmoil and his attempt to reconcile his religious upbringing with his illegal lifestyle after committing murder. After killing one , he kills another and sees no issue with plotting a third. I won’t spoil it for you by giving away too much. It might be something you’ll enjoy.
I struggled with the slang of pre World War II times. I found myslef reading the same sentence twice and reaching out for Google search to descipher what I am reading. I should have made a note of all but did not think of it until it was too late.
Sorry!
I do remember a couple of my searched terms:
“polony” – defined as bologna a type of sausage. In the book it is used to refer to Rose so I took it as a derogatory term for a ceratin type of woman or girl.
“buer” – defined as a sexually promiscuous woman. This is Ida.
“blarney” – talk whch aims to charm
“the stove was full of coke” and “crunching on coke” got me baffled, I could not find anything to explain what would this mean given the context.
I finished it so it wasn’t that bad.
Would I read it again? Nope. But that’s not saying much as I rarely read the same book twice.
Ink And Inquiry 