Tagged: mob
Mafia Girl by Deborah Blumenthal
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
What’s in a name? Everything if you have my name.” At her exclusive Manhattan high school, seventeen-year-old Gia is the most hated/loved girl in school. Why? Her father doesn’t have a boss. He is the boss–the capo di tutti cappi, boss of all bosses. Not that Gia cares. But life gets complicated when she meets a cop she calls “Officer Hottie” and feels a suprising chemistry. Then Vogue magazine wants to feature Gia in a fashion spread about real-life bad girls. On top of this, she’s running for class president. Can Gia step out from under her dad’s shadow and show everyone there’s more to her than “Mafia Girl?
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
My thoughts on this book in a nutshell? Go read Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman instead. You’ll get better characters, a better story and most importantly, a more realistic ending.
There were times I was rooting for Gia, like when she tried to advocate for the people at her exclusive private school to step up in the community. Other times I absolutely hated her. Mainly when she displayed the disturbing side of her nature as she stalked ‘Officer Hottie’ to his favourite bars and hangouts. That is just plain creepy, not a romantic or really healthy sort of fascination with a person. I get that she’s 17 and we all do stupid things at that age, but she is just so ridiculously immature at times that I wanted to slap her. Her behaviour around Officer Hottie was one of those.
There are times when I had to really suspend disbelief. For example there is a scene where $250,000 is found inside an ordinarily small object. According to the US Treasury, $100 bills are .0043inches thick. You need 2,500 bills to make $250,000 and according to my calculations the total width of those bills would be 10.75in or almost one foot. I doubt that much money could fit inside the object in question unless it was larger than the descriptions Deborah Blumenthal supplied. Another inaccuracy I found was the use of the word ‘patso’ to describe someone. As anyone with a basic knowledge of Italian knows, ‘patso’ is the phonetic pronunciation of ‘pazzo’ (literally ‘crazy’). While I can usually ignore such things, when they happen over and over I start to lose sight of the story and can’t keep my mind off of all the little mistakes that weren’t caught.
Basically, the plot of Mafia Girl dragged on because Gia was a poor character. She has such an annoying perspective that I had a hard time actually finishing the book even though it’s only 256 pages. Mafia Girl had such great potential like Gordon Korman’s book, but it just fell so flat. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone.
I give this book 0.5/5 stars.
Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle by Gordon Korman
(Cover picture courtesy of Scholastic Canada.)
When Vince heads out to sunny L.A. to go to film school, he’s sure he’s left his family and their criminal dealings behind him.
But then Vince finds out the hard way that you can take the kid out of the mob, but you can’t take the mob out of the kid. Soon, his brother Tommy is shacking up in his dorm room, and a steady stream of “uncles” are showing up with his mother’s homemade rigatoni, and a whole lot of trouble, in hand.
Fans of Son of the Mob will enjoy reading more about Vince as he navigates his way through another hilarious adventure, while trying to keep his integrity—not to mention his life—intact.
Most sequels to originally stand alone novels are horrible, but Son of the Mob 2: Hollywood Hustle is definitely a great sequel to Son of the Mob. Gordon Korman fills every page with his usual over-the-top sense of humour that will literally make you laugh out loud in parts. But it does tackle some serious issues and not every part of the book is hilarious, which is partly why I love it. Gordon Korman is one of the few authors I know of that can tackle serious issues with a good sense of humour.
Vince Luca is a great protagonist and is very three dimensional. He is a good guy at heart, but he is definitely not perfect. With his newfound freedom, Vince gives in to the temptation to be lazy, but what college student doesn’t? Despite his faults, readers will cheer him on the whole way through the novel, especially during the climax.
Of course the plot of Hollywood Hustle zips right along in the usual Gordon Korman fashion. It goes along quite quickly, but the pace fits the story without being ridiculous. For young adults who are sick of all the doom and gloom that seems to be the trend in YA literature, this is the perfect book.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
*For some reason, Barnes and Noble does not have this book. The link will take you to their home page, so maybe you can find it and prove I’m blind.
Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
(Cover picture courtesy of BookHound.)
Vince Luca is just like any other high-school guy…with one exception. His father happens to be the head of a powerful crime organization.
While Vince’s family connections can be handy—like when teachers are afraid to give him a bad grade—they put a serious crimp in his dating life. How is he supposed to explain to a girl what his father does for a living? And when Vince finally meets one who seems to be worth the trouble, her family turns out to be the biggest problem of all. Because her father is an FBI agent—the one who wants to put Vince’s father away for good.
Are you tired of angst-ridden, miserable YA books that revolve around magical creatures? Well, Son of the Mob is certainly the novel for you!
In his first novel aimed at teens, Gordon Korman stays true to his over-the-top, laugh-out-loud sense of humour. Vince Luca is the son of a mob boss and that puts a serious crimp in his dating life, especially when his date finds the unconscious body of Jimmy Rat (one of his father’s customers) in the trunk of Vince’s car.
The first chapter of this amazing novel certainly sets the tone well. Gordon Korman’s signature humour is present throughout the novel, yet he balances it perfectly in the climax when all seems lost for Vince. Readers will certainly enjoy the plot twists and turns as well as the three dimensional characters who are sometimes not all that they seem.
Son of the Mob tackles some heavy moral issues involved in organized crime as well as the issues of love and loyalty. Vince doesn’t like how his father makes his money, yet he knows that if the cops found out, his father would go to jail and his family would lose everything. He struggles with this moral dilemma throughout the novel, but finally comes to terms with it in the end.
I give this book 5/5 stars.