Since when do homing devices have detonators built into them? Early sections when pipsqueaks Angelo and Pudge run a crime empire as teenagers are embarrassingly unconvincing. He pressed down on the button and turned his head away from the dock. picked up a black homing device with a green button in the center. Small details can be irritating, for example `The man. Paper characters killing even thinner ones. The scenes of violence in the book are childishly written and gory without having any impact.
There is no attention to detail, and seemingly no knowledge of the world in which the book is set - a great surprise considering Carcaterra's reputation for being born and bred within such an environment. The whole book feels like it is written by a teenager. Its living, breathing originality versus derivative, dead, sketchy and immature imitation.
Its three dimensions versus one dimension. Contrast ANY character from The Sicilian with ANY character from Gangster.
Contrast this with Sonny's assassination. Pudge's death is mildly sad but hardly operatic. The death of Vestieri's father is truly weak and incredible. The story itself is filled with parts which are just not credible. One wonders whether this may have been a draft, which was never polished. It is an OK story, but so poor in its final form. The book feels like a budget TV movie, a pseudo-epic. Moments intended to be emotionally powerful, are signposted far, far in advance, clumsily executed and go off like dud fireworks when you finally get there. If you are ever close to being so, it is not through the book itself, but rather through one's familiarity with the genre as a result of superior works by other authors. Carcaterra is present at all times, his hamfist hacking away at the rockface of this effort. One never ever forgets that this is a book whilst reading it. The characters, from main players Angelo Vestieri, Pudge, and Gabe right through to lesser characters like Richie Scarafino all suffer from a common ailment They are paper thin, unconvincing, shallow and intrusively so throughout reading the book. OK if you are hungry but imparting little nutrition and leaving you wishing you had consumed something better. It is a microwave meal of a gangster book. This book is essentially pulp fiction, worthy of an airport newsstand. Agreed, it is about organised crime, but there the similarities end. It cannot be mentioned in the same breath as The Godfather or The Sicilian. I do not understand how this book has garnered the reviews and acclaim that it has.
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