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Book Reviews Title Sasso Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story We learned that
the girl had been on top when the two made love: a
mapwork of contusions and abrasions lined her knees
and the boy's back, and a sprinkling of pebbly tufa
clung to what had once been hot skin. The boy had
held onto her sides tightly during the sex. There
were hickeys and scratches, and finger-shaped
bruises contouring her ribs. Each other's skin was
under their fingernails. From all the evidence, the
couple had enjoyed themselves immensely before they
went crazy. And before they went dead. There were
people who said 'That's the way to die'.
Alive, both the
boy and girl had been young, handsome, healthy;
nineteen years old and objectively desirable. In
death, they were gruesome. But what people wondered
about was the sex. We
Say The tag line on
the front cover of 'Sasso' by James Sturz says 'A
small Italian Town. Two dead teenagers. And a fatal
secret.' Those short sentences, full of drama,
death and intrigue read almost like a film poster.
However, if 'Sasso' had been a film I'd probably
have cut my losses and walked out half way through.
James Sturz is
undoubtedly a knowledgeable man when it comes to
the history, culture and politics of Italy.
Unfortunately, though the body count grows, the
tension doesn't and there is only so much you can
take when it comes to reading about landscapes and
rock formation. This book is billed as a thriller
and as such it surely isn't too much to ask to have
some action. 'Sasso' is quite simply far too slow
and meandering to hold your attention. The writing is
not entirely without merit and there are some
examples of interesting imagery. It's just a shame
that most of the true gems are hidden amongst a
swathe of self-conscious and pretentious excess.
Wasted words such as when the lifestyle of the
foreigners is described as 'a single world of calm
violent succulence - where Calypso herself lolled
in her cave, while the warrior Odysseus forswore
immortality but went along with the sex'. James
Sturz seems to be so preoccupied with letting the
reader know how clever he is that he forgets to
construct an interesting plot. This is book full
of mysticism, signs in the weather and gnarly but
prophetic old women. Here, even confessions of
infidelity read like essays. In fairness, a big
theme in the novel is the importance of culture in
shaping people's actions but the whole tone is too
self absorbed and self-indulgent to make this
interesting. The main
character of this novel is collecting stories from
the locals and manages to find some. I, on the
other hand, reached the end of the book and felt
like I'd missed the story altogether. Review by: Rachel
Taylor |
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