The Goodbye Kiss
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Synopsis
A fugitive from justice returns to Italy where he is wanted for a series of crimes. To avoid prison he sells out his old friends, turns his back on his former ideals, and cuts deals with crooked cops. To achieve the guise of respectability he is willing to go even further, maybe even as far as murder.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am glad that they translated Carlotto into English. I guess there is something in this novel that English language readers will appreciate: that is, the story told by the Bad Guy. And this Bad Guy, the narrating I of this dark story of corruption, violence, and politics (plenty of politics), is as good (or as bad) as the charaters you may meet in the pages of that underrated genius of US fiction, Jim Thompson.
The man who tells the story is a former Red Brigades terrorist and exile. But he is above all a cynical, cold, amoral individual. His story is the grim tale of how you can be formally rehabilitated, thanks to good connections and a corrupt political system, yet remaining the insensitive thug you were. And such cold, cynical people are always appreciated in a world like the Italian Nordest in the 1990s, where only money and glamour and power count.
Carlotto's plain style has been berated as it doesn't meet the literary standards of critics who only care for the highest number of synonyms and adjectives and adverbs. Actually he writes in a language which is as simple, polished and piercing as a bullet. But some of his choices of words and details are simply powerful. And this is one of those books where you simply can't take away anything.
A remarkable thing is that in noir you always have the dark lady. This is an exception. Here you have the dark man. The lady is the only clean person in the story...
The man who tells the story is a former Red Brigades terrorist and exile. But he is above all a cynical, cold, amoral individual. His story is the grim tale of how you can be formally rehabilitated, thanks to good connections and a corrupt political system, yet remaining the insensitive thug you were. And such cold, cynical people are always appreciated in a world like the Italian Nordest in the 1990s, where only money and glamour and power count.
Carlotto's plain style has been berated as it doesn't meet the literary standards of critics who only care for the highest number of synonyms and adjectives and adverbs. Actually he writes in a language which is as simple, polished and piercing as a bullet. But some of his choices of words and details are simply powerful. And this is one of those books where you simply can't take away anything.
A remarkable thing is that in noir you always have the dark lady. This is an exception. Here you have the dark man. The lady is the only clean person in the story...
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Feanor
Format:Paperback
Massimo Carlotto's The Goodbye Kiss produces yet another anti-hero in the vein of Ripley. Pellegrini is an amoral and self-serving Italian fugitive who aims to set himself up for life in the home country after years of exile in South America following atrocities he committed with the Marxist Red Brigade in the 1970s. As part of his masterplan to reinvent himself, he bullies and blackmails weak women, rips off shady criminals, allies himself with a corrupt cop, starts a fine restaurant and claws his way into the upper classes. Meanwhile, ex-colleagues and sundry low life are gunning for him, Croatian terrorist and nihilists enter the action, and Pellegrini - true to his credo that death is the final solution to all problems - has to come up with ever more inventive ways to knock off his adversaries. There is no charm to him at all, but there is enough deviousness in this twisted person, and enough googlies in this twisted story that it is all becomes great fun.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Niccolo65
Format:Paperback
This is noir. As in: dark, very dark. Reminiscent of Jim Thompson on a bad day, reading this novel will rewrite the software currently running inside your brain. An unsettling and razor sharp character study of a man who is willing to do what is (as Machiavelli put it) "not good" in order to make ends meet. For anyone interested in the genre, this is an absolute must buy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By grampian1
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I don't usually like novels written in the first person but I was immediately drawn into the seedy world of the amoral anti-hero - a despicable self-serving individual who drives the storyline. This novel is peopled with despicable characters - there are no good guys - but because of the superb writing, characterisation and plot I found this book to be the best crime I have read in a long time and it left me wanting more!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Retroman
Format:Paperback
With Pellegrini Carlotto has created a totally amoral monster of a character very much taken from the same mould that Highsmith created with Ripley, Stark created with Parker and Jim Thompson created with Lou Ford. The character of Pellegrini is brutally established on the very first page and from then on he will murder anyone (leave no witnesses)who is remotely a threat to his ruthless climb to the top. He is totally incapable of forming any meaningful relationship with anyone male or female. This is noir at its most hard boiled. The narrative is stripped down to its bare essentials. And when you turn the last page Carlotto may leave you a little nauseous. In my view a very brutal but honest account of everyone one way or another on the make in modern Italy.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By MickW
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a fan of Italian crime writing, I came across this title in a recent write-up on the genre. What I didn't detect in the review was any note of caution to the reader. So...if you do choose to read this book, can I urge you to suppress any feelings of revulsion until you are well into it. Around two-thirds of the way through I was seriously questioning my good sense and was quite prepared to abandon the title. But I gave the book a rest and came back to it. Ultimately, it was worthwhile. And, it has certainly served to confirm the existence of the Italian stereotypical macho male character AND author!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews
3.9 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
