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Summary: From Same City in Connecticut
Review: A screen player writer, the author has given us a book that cries out to be a movie and apparently is going to be. It has an innocence and reminded me so much of "Stand By Me"
Even the chimpanzee who appears charmed me and I can hardly wait to see who is cast in this tour de force for actors.
Great little book!
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Summary: Rights, Lefts and Rites of Passage thru the Junk Yard
Review: A screen player writer, the author has given us a book that cries out to be a movie and apparently is going to be. It has an innocence and reminded me so much of "Stand By Me"
Even the chimpanzee who appears charmed me and I can hardly wait to see who is cast in this tour de force for actors.
Great little book!
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Summary: Not Your Father's Mystery Novel
Review: As a fan of bestselling writers Lorenzo Carcaterra and Val McDermid I agree with their respective reviews of this book. It is not to be confused with genre crime fiction (as some shallow reviewers here have misread); it's a rich hybrid of blue-collar murder mystery and ethnic coming-of-age tale. If you
liked THE PRINCE OF TIDES or DANDELION WINE, you'll love this one.
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Summary: ROADS THAT LEAD TO NOWHERE
Review: Hollywood screenwriter John Fusco (Young Guns, Thunderheart) has tossed his plot in the suspense writer's ring with "Paradise Salvage," an Italian peopled let's find out who-dun-it. Regrettably, his debut novel lacks the edgy excitement of his film work as his narrative labors through a blizzard of minutia and slow on the trigger dialogue. Twelve-year-old Nunzio Paradisco is spending the summer working in the junkyard owned by his dad, Big Dan. This job has some small rewards as Nunzio often finds loose change, magazines, and other items of interest in the abandoned vehicles. He never expected to find a corpse in the trunk of a '73 Pontiac. As even worse luck would have it, the Pontiac is crushed before Nunzio can bring his father and brother to see his grisly discovery. Neither believe him when the boy attempts to describe what has happened. Eventually, evidence is found convincing his brother that Nunzio told the truth. Now, the boy can enlist the aid of his brother and a cousin to help solve the mystery. There are few clues for the trio to trace, and little zip to keep the reader turning pages. - Gail Cooke
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Summary: From Same City in Connecticut
Review: I am from the same city in CT that John Fusco grew up. I could not put this book down. I clearly remember the political problems that the author refers to. Fusco's description of the city and of his neighborhood is so colorful and accurate that I always knew exactly where he was referring to even when names were changed. My in-laws are "1st generation" Italians living in the neighborhood that Fusco describes in his book as his own and the description of the family dynamics is hysterical and accurate. I cannot emphasize how much I enjoyed this book. Anyone who enjoys family dynamics and a good mystery will enjoy this book.
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Summary: Rich taste story !
Review: I love this story. Because when I finished reading this book, it made me smile. Last three words remain in my heart and made me feel the same cool wind (toward the future) which 12-boy Nunzio should've felt after the last summer in his boyhood. I think "PARADISE SALVAGE" is about an Italian-American boy's coming-of-age story as well as universal children's one. I was surpried at some critical reviews here and considered why? When we were childs, small things were not small things. So once you see the world from Nunzio's viewpoint,things were filled with wonders and I smiled,laughed,wept,thrilled, and was moved while reading. I enjoyed several episodes about Italian-American lives. Those are realistic and visual. I've read this book as "a novel" and I recommend you who want to read a mix-cultured and adventurous boy's story.
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Summary: Fantastic story about growing up in two cultures
Review: I loved the book. Fusco tells a story of an Italian-American family outside New York, but it is not for those of Italian ascent only. It is a warm story about growing up in two cultures, being third generation, which should appeal to those from Mayflower on and immigrants alike. Nunzio, the 12 year old I of the book, who cares about his big brother and dad to the point where his stomach aches, who is thinking, loving, scared of crimes, awakening sexually, superstitious, and unforgettable. Oh yes, it's also a crime story. But most of all it is a tale about growing up, reminding me of Mark Twain. The characters around Nunzio are also a treat, like the female gypsy cab driver Johnny from the Deep South, an ex-cop distant cousin in a wheel-chair with a monkey assistant, and much more. Also his Scottish mother and Italian relatives are quite a crowd. Don't miss it, the humor is great. It's more a coming of age story than a thriller, but the thriller theme is all right, too.
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Summary: A page turner!
Review: I picked this book off of the shelf hoping for a gripping crime mystery. I wasn't able to put it down because it is so much more. Being raised in a blue collar Italian/American community, much like the setting of this novel, reading this book did more than keep me on the edge of my seat. It brought me back home. The author brings to life with remarkable realism, Saukiwog Mills, a once booming industrial town whose manufatcuring mills are now in ruins. Through the Paradiso family we follow a mystery that is taut with intrigue and we experiemce through young Nunzio, a 3rd generation Italian/American, the magical and sometimes mysterious culture of our first generation. Through "La Strega" and "ma'occhio" young Nunzio's America is one that is influenced by Old Country witches and evil eyes. Along with Sunday sauces whose ingredients bring old country to an American kicthen. The author uses a family business, a junkyard, whose discarded automobiles sometimes yield unexpected treasures (like golf clubs, 1940's Police gazettes, and catcher's mitts) as a metaphor in salvaging a city that is going to scrap. But small treasures are not the only things that the skeletons of junked car wrecks disclose in this story. The contents of a Pontiac trunk lead young Nunzio and his brother Danny Boy on a mission that takes us to places that are tense with danger, riveting with quirky characters, and rich with family history. Delightful in its humor and touching in its conflict of three ethnic generations, Paradise salvage works beautifully on several levels. This is a real page turner that exudes mystery, celebration of culture, a hard look into family, political corruption, and coming of age, all set in an enviorment that is stark in reality yet rich with dreams. A splendid piece of story telling alive with unforgettable characters. I loved this book.
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Summary: Right on the money
Review: It is the vivid descriptions in this book that are its strength. Growing up in "Nunzi's" neighborhood, I feel that John Fusco has captured the experience of what it is like to be part of the Italian-American culture, and how it is viewed from within, and without. His portrayals of the ethnic diversity of a melting-pot town of different neighborhoods are authentically real, right down to the Italian ladies with the flowered smocks and rolled-down nylons. Also the suspicion of different cultures from different neighborhoods. It made me remember what a shock it was to enter high school and find that not everyone had dark hair and eyes! A great book on cultural dynamics, and the essence of the Italian experience.
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Summary: Fantastic story about growing up in two cultures
Review: This is a perfect example of someone in Hollywood who thinks they can write a book but so obviously cannot. The descriptive passages are endless (and badly written) (and worse: BORING). Every cliche seems to be used, every ugly stereotype (the character names alone are like out of a bad 70's sitcom). The pacing is rather like being at a wake for the dead relative you only met once when you were five. WHEN WILL IT END? I kept reading thinking maybe the ending would make it all worth while. NOT! But it wasn't even an ending that made me want to throw the book against the wall, at that point I just didn't care any longer. I bought this book because someone (the author's friend I think) compared it to "Catcher In The Rye" (I thought COOL! A mystery with Catcher elements) - and to that I say: YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! Salinger should sue.
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