The author\u2019s cousin Robert\u2019s life reads like a cautionary tale, with many pages devoted to his yearslong involvement in criminal activity and after-hours gambling. As readers take in the stories of Robert\u2019s shocking dealings with Irish gang members in New York City and his encounters with the law in the late 1960s and early \u201970s, it\u2019s easy to believe that these tales can\u2019t possibly be true\u2014and, yet, they are. Fabio presents this biographical, true-crime account alongside his own memoir in order to contrast Robert\u2019s decisions with his own. He recorded stories that his cousin told over an unspecified 30-month period and corroborated the tales with evidence from newspaper articles, accounts from family members, and other sources, resulting in a story that \u201cinvolves two cousins whose lives intersected for decades\u2026about whispered secrets, true and verified accounts; stories about how choices induce to good and evil, and how life takes sundry twists and turns that lead to either virtue or immorality.\u201d As such, it\u2019s packed with anecdotes about Robert\u2019s nefarious dealings, which included beatings (given and received), theft, intimidation, an arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, and big-money gambling\u2014all as seen through the eyes of his cousin, as they weaved in and out of each other\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
Fabio\u2019s strategy of contrasting Robert\u2019s shocking experiences with straightforward stories of his own spiritual journey, and his later pursuit of a career in pharmaceutical sales, proves to be a smart move. Although the book is primarily driven by tales from Robert\u2019s eventful life, the story of his author\u2019s path from a partying lifestyle in college to a devout life of faith provides essential balance, and it allows a buffer for the work\u2019s goal of allowing readers to \u201clearn from the consequences of our choices.\u201d That said, a few key elements of the book\u2019s structure and organization may cause readers to become confused at times. First, the use of italics, instead of quotation marks, to denote dialogue often has the effect of making paragraphs feel choppy and stilted, as in this passage: \u201cBobby how was it tonight?\u00a0\/ Pops, stop saying Bobby, I don\u2019t want these people knowing who I am.\u00a0\/ Bobby, how was 61st Street?\u00a0\/ Pops, I always win, I try my best. \/ Oh God Bless You, we love you!\u201d Also, over the course of the book, the author\u2019s method of dropping biblical quotes directly into the text without transitions will makes it hard for readers to take in how each passage from Scripture relates to the main text. The author also uses all-caps quotations from other sources\u2014including the works of Italian diplomat and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli and French critic and journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr\u2014at the start of each chapter; the effect of these can be jarring, and they sometimes reveal upcoming aspects of the main narrative in an awkward manner.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The author\u2019s cousin Robert\u2019s life reads like a cautionary tale, with many pages devoted to his yearslong involvement in criminal activity and after-hours gambling. As readers take in the stories of Robert\u2019s shocking dealings with Irish gang members in New York City and his encounters with the law in the late 1960s and early \u201970s, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7713"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}