Sunday, September 6, 2009

New Book

I've just started reading Gomorra, a book about the Italian mafia whose cover is adorned by the above picture, which I believe comes from the Italian movie based on the book. One of the impediments to me digging into the book in earnest is the cover itself: I inevitably stare at the image for several minutes at a time before I start reading, and I never advance more than three pages at a time without returning to the cover. I find everything about it, from the bleak beach backdrop to their attire to their apparent screams to their machine guns, fascinating. 

2 comments:

jd said...

Yep, the image is indeed from the movie. I haven't read the book, but the movie was really interesting. The funny thing is that the US marketing effort distorted the film by linking it to the US mafia movie tradition, complete with giant letters quote from Scorsese on the poster outside the theater. I saw it in Manhattan and there were a bunch of dudes behind me clearly amped up Godfather Part 4. I think they were disappointed. To me it was much more in the vein of a 'hood movie than a typical US mafia movie. No glorification was part of its marketing shtick, but it really didn't have the (melo)dramatic arc that is part and parcel of the mob flick.

pc said...

You convinced me, I can't wait. Unfortunately, it won't get to Mexico until 2011 or so. Maybe with itunes.