Overview
To me, some people lived in the real world and others lived in Brooklyn. . . .
It’s the summer of 1978, and Samantha Bonti is fifteen years old, half Jewish and half Italian, and hesitantly edging toward pure Brooklyn, even if her dreams of something more are bigger than the neighborhood girls’ teased hair. She lives in Bensonhurst with her mother, Joan, a woman abandoned and scarred in a ruinous marriage, poisoned with cynicism, and shackled by addictions; and with her Grandma Ruth, Samantha’s loudest and most opinionated source of encouragement. As flawed as they are, they are family.
Samantha’s best friend is Janice Caputo, a girl who understands, as well as Samantha does, this close-knit community of ancestors and traditions that stand like roadblocks, this insular overcrowded little world of controlling mobsters who mold their women like Jell-O; and of the wannabes, the charismatic young guys who are willing to engage in anything illegal to get a shot at playing with the big boys. Yet, Samantha has something Janice doesn’t—a desire to become a writer and to escape the destiny that is assumed for all of them in the outer reaches of Bensonhurst. And it’s to be had just across the Brooklyn Bridge.
Then comes Tony Kroon.
Older than Samantha, Tony is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, half-Sicilian, half-Dutch mobster wannabe. A Bensonhurst Adonis. Taken in by his adoring attention, and empathetic to Tony’s own struggles with identity, Samantha is falling in love, even when she’s warned never to ask imprudent questions of Tony’s life. Even when her family and friends warn her to stay away. Even when Samantha knows she’s too smart to fall this deep . . . but the last thing she wants is the first thing to happen. Unable to resist Tony’s seductive charms, Samantha soon finds herself swallowed up by dangerous circumstances that threaten to jeopardize more than her dreams. Grandma Ruth’s advice: Samantha had better write herself out this story and into a new one, fast.
Told from the adult perspective, this is a powerful, true-to-life novel of leaving the past to history and the future to fate—of restoring hope where there was none, and reaching for dreams in an inspiring promise of paradise called Manhattan.
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Recommended: Yes, you need to check it out!
About Brooklyn Story
Available as: Paperback $6.00 from Amazon.com, E-book $9.99 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition , Paperback $15.00 from The Book Depository
Available as: Paperback $6.00 from Amazon.com, E-book $9.99 from Amazon.com Kindle's Edition , Paperback $15.00 from The Book Depository
Recommended Ages: 17 and Up
Paperback: 320 pgs.
Published: December 28th 2010 by Pocket (first published December 8th 2010)
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Here this is a book that showcases the sweetness of life but is no stranger to the disappointments in life. Its a blunt novel of those held aspirations in life that can easily be lost when we let ourselves forget ourselves. An eye-opening novel with some beauty. Have to recommend so much outright. Don't believe would disappoint a reader who picks it up.
Samantha Bonti is a young woman living in Brooklyn during 1970's when it's a time that lots of boys in her neighborhood a involved in the mob. Samantha has always believed was much she is much too smart to fall in with the crowd of her neighborhood involved with crime and violence until she unexpectedly does. Her bestfriend, Janice Caputo, introduces her to Tony Kroon a gorgeous blond Adonis that Samantha can hardly tear herself away from. He not only has striking fair Dutch features but happens to be a mix of Italian descent. In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn this characteristic can set you apart from the rest of everyone who happens to be of Italian descent. Samantha feels her and Tony couldn't be anymore similar. What she doesn't realize is that he doesn't have the same dreams as her that consist of moving from their neighborhood to a less violent one. He dreams of being the top mobster on the rise while Samantha wishes to leave Brooklyn for the pleasant world of Manhattan, New York City. It would be a real battle of wills for them.
With Brooklyn Story there is an obvious sense, Suzanne Corso, relishes writing. With its native Brooklyn slang voice your getting a genuine story here. There is true emotion in the lines of Brooklyn Story. Now let me get into the characters a little and the overall story. Brooklyn Story as it turns out would be a tragic sort of love story of first love where abuse is terribly present and dreams are re-evaluated and finally hard won. At times even when things seem so glaring to us, the reader, but no to Samantha, we truly see how young love is blind and often so naive. Samantha in Brooklyn Story in the end is a strong individual for pulling through from the ashes of the frequent indifferent world which makes this a powerful novel.
So glad Suzanne got this book out there. She has done a genius feat. And as of now a fan of her work!
Overall: Amazing read!
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Romance
About the Author
Suzanne Corso's Website: http://www.suzannecorso.com
Suzanne Corso is the author of two novels. Brooklyn Story (Simon&Schuster, Jan 2011), a young woman’s coming of age tale and Brooklyn Story; Over the Bridge (Simon&Schuster) due out Spring 2013, the sequel. She has also penned the screenplay to Brooklyn Story. Corso has produced for the New York and London stages Roman Nights, about screen legend Anna Magnani and playwright Tennessee Williams. She has also produced two documentaries; Indonesia, A Personal Journey and HEAR THEM ROAR, shot entirely at the Endangered Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Citra, Florida. Narrated by Lorraine Bracco. This documentary was the foundation that inspired her children’s book Sammy & Sue™ Go Green Too! (Beaufort Books Apr 2009) an eco-friendly, environmentally educational book of this mother/daughter explorer team, geared for 5 yrs and older. Currently, she is working on the last installment to the trilogy Brooklyn Story; Hello Hollywood. Corso is a contributing editor to Downtown Magazine NYC.
2 comments:
This sounds like a great read! Thanks for the review!
Glad you find the book intriguing:)
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