Fortezza’s characters — Vinnie, Kathy, and Rocco — are well detailed and easy to know. Vinnie is an introspective novelist, the son of a classic doting Italian mother who refuses to learn English. Kathy is young, insecure, single, and dealing with post-abortion emotions. Rocco is blue collar through-and-through, a little obsessive, romantic, and nurses a crush on a girl who isn’t remotely interested in him. Fortezza deals with each character's troubling issues with amazing delicacy and insight.
The novel begins on Thursday, alternately detailing the lives of the three individuals. Drawing the reader into the separate worlds of each character, Fortezza describes their mannerisms and thoughts with care, skill, and good humor. All three are looking for love, for that “other half” to complete their empty lives.
Part two takes place on Friday and leads the trio into an intricate web from which they will not emerge. For a first novel, Fortezza seems to puts his soul on paper. One can’t help but feel he speaks from the streets he writes about, imitating speech patterns (“Does she still follow ya aroun’ all the time?”), verbalizing the frustration Vinnie faces living at home and trying to write (“I’ll rest when I’m dead”), and reflecting on life in Brooklyn (Kathy is ecstatic when she finds an empty seat on the subway).
There are a few technical problems with the book. The standard format of italicizing foreign words and book titles isn’t followed and tends to be confusing at times. The copy editing is a little sloppy and distracting.
But in general, the story moves forward steadily, the characters are real enough, and the ending packs a heck of a punch in the mouth.
This book can be ordered in paperback or read online at 1st Library.com.
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