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There are currently 18 member reviews
for Gomorrah
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Debi (Charleston SC)
Gomorrah
This book was hard to put down once I started reading it and at times I had to remind myself I wasn't reading a novel. I believe this book will have limited appeal due to the violence throughout. I think the book would benefit from an audio version read by the author. I admire Roberto Saviano for his fearlessness in sharing his story.
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Angelina (New York NY)
The Geneology of the Clothes We Wear
A fascinating account of how the Italian mob in Naples and the Chinese merchandise triangle get us the clothes we wear everyday, as well as the merchandise we see on celebrities. It'll seriously make you reconsider the labels on your clothes.
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Christine (Centerport NY)
Informative and Descriptive
This book is an extremely engrossing read about the real world of high stakes organized crime operating in and out of Italy today. It will have tremendous appeal to real life crime fighters and mob aficionados across the world, not to mention anyone with generational ties to Italy as a homeland. Well written and extremely informative, it engages the reader in a tell all approach of the extensive world wide implications of organized crime originating in and out of Naples today. Graphic and disturbing, it gives factual details only an "insider" would have access to. Particularly fascinating is the increasingly large part women play in the leading role of organized family clans. "The Godmother", if you will. One could only imagine a blockbuster film coming out of this information. This reader would have preferred more details about how the writer actually infiltrated "The System" but perhaps that will be a follow up to this this amazing read.
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Deanna (Port Jefferson NY)
Not the Naples my grandfather told me about!
In spite of an over use of metaphors and names and events that can be a bit confusing, this is a shocking piece of investigative reporting. It is an expose of the criminal activities of the Camorra {the system} in Naples. This book presents an engrossing and disturbing story not widely reported here in the States.
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Mary (River Forest IL)
A Reluctant Education
If Gomorrah were set in Chicago, I would have hung on every detail. Saviano, however, takes us to a Naples definitely not made for tourists. Peppered with the dark corners of unfamiliar alleyways, confused by scores of family names and lineage, I often just wanted to escape Gomorrah. Still, curiosity propelled me into the very current realities of the underbelly of moving drugs, jeans, and Barbie dolls around the world, of what "made in China" really means. And, behind the flood of family names was the peek inside the Camarrista and its women, including the ironically named Immacolata Capone. Perhaps most alluring was Saviano's very personal passion about his native neighborhood and - I can't help but wonder - his courage in naming its sinners.
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Patricia (San Antonio TX)
Violence of Organized Crime
The first paragraph of this book grabs your attention and keeps it. Taken everything together, this is not an easy read. For me personally there is the graphic details of violence that is described in detail. Putting that aside, this would be a book for those who are interested in organized crime and how it spreads its tentacles into every part of our life.
I think that the author took his life in his hands to find out all he did and I also wonder if he is safe even now that the book is published. I would certainly recommend this book if you are interested in organized crime and taking into consideration the graphic details.
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Carol (East Greenwich RI)
Gomorrah
Roberto Saviano takes us into the underworld of Naples by infiltrating the operations of the Camorra. The majority of this book is an exposé on clan dealings and clan wars - think The Godfather or the Sopranos but more vicious and intense. The chapter on the Secondigliano War (the bloody Camorra turf war) is extremely graphic.
I was most interested when Saviano talked about Naples’ ports, China’s ties with the black market fashion industry in Italy and the illegal dumping of toxic waste, but these topics are covered only in the first and last chapters. Everything in between is soaked in violence. While the author does try to penetrate the criminal psychology of the Camorra, it is the brutality that will stay in your mind.
I’m glad I read Gomorrah for what I learned, but it was far too violent for my taste.
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