Justice

by Carey Harrison

A novel about mid-20th century Italy: Miri, a Jewish girl from London marries an Italian communist nobleman, but her safety is threatened when Mussolini's Fascist government begins deporting Jews to the death camps. Miri escapes to England, leaving her son in her husband's hands. Local politics takes a hand in their fate, however, with terrible consequences. When the war ends, Miri returns to a devastated Italy, seeking a reckoning. If needs be, revenge.

Genres: Fiction

238 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2013

About the author

Carey Harrison was an English novelist and dramatist.

Reviews

[Paul Burnette · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you don't want dialogue, then you'll like Justice better than I did! It's all interior monologue recollecting significant events in a man's lifetime as he observed and has learned about the tragedies invading the lives of three or four persons he has observed closely during the years immediately before, during, and after WWII. Me, I just believe in the power and immediacy of how character and conflict are revealed when people are set talking and acting in each other's presence. I found some remembered dialogue here and there and enjoyed those pages, but after twenty more pages of monologue, I'd skip forward again, searching for speech and actions. I guess this says more about my tastes than Carey Harrison's skills as a writer. What did hold my attention was the subtlety and finely tuned observation powers of the narrator. Not since I read Joyce's Ulysses have I found a narrative where the monologue was so sustained and so suggestive.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh!!!! So, so terrible. Not the worst book I've ever read. I was at least able to finish it, but it was really hard! Absolutely hated this book. It is sooooo s....l.....o....w! I literally skimmed over pages as the author described the scenery for paragraph after paragraph after paragraph. Every thought by the main characters is discussed for 2-3 pages before they can utter a single sentence.
The thoughts running through MY head as I read this ran along the lines of, "Just spit it out already!!! Alright, I get it, move on!" This was a freebie through bookbub & worth every penny (wink-wink).

[Mark Kanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Carey Harrison's "Justice" evokes time and place so fully one can only describe his acheivement as Proustian. The flower of Harrison's compelling tale unfolds and becomes the reader's entire world. It is the world of mid-century Europe; reading this novel one palpably feels both the devastation and promise of that moment in our recent, fading past."

[Peggy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow reading for me. Dragging plot and I never cared about the main character even though she story was what drew me to the book.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enioyed this book about redemption and payback. A very surprising ending. Don't be disuaded by the synpsis of this very well done story.

[iza · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sort of narrattion of this story was entirely new and intriguing to me, as it unfolded from a side character's – a spectator's point of view – based on his memories, reconjured observations, "gossip", and a few letters. In my opinion, brilliant, along with the flow of the plot – like that of a stream during spring, with just a couple of sharp twists. One more shocking than the others, that's certain.

Overall, a calm, bittersweet dissection of loss, patience, pain and humanity, focusing on internal monologue.

The last few pages, although slowest in movement, dizzied me the most, as I found myself crying, in both painful understanding and utter bewilderment.

In conclusion, I loved this. But also, what the fuck.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book

You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA

[Sparrow .]

The story is very simple: a mother returns to Italy after World War II, seeking justice for her son Vittorio, who was killed in the Holocaust. We learn this in the first paragraph. One man is responsible for Vittorio's death: Renzo Cipriano, the police chief who deported him. The book is, in a sense, a murder mystery, where the crime is the extermination of the Jews.

Much of "Justice" is about waiting: waiting without knowing why, waiting for an unknown deliverance. (Miri, the mother, seeks revenge but hasn't chosen a particular punishment.) Justice only comes to those who nobly wait.

On one level, the book is about the relationship between doctors and nurses. (Miri is a nurse, Renzo a doctor.) It's also about pignolia nuts, a food freely offered by the hills of Italy.

I would call "Justice" a "geographical love story" -- the love between a writer and a landscape. Harrison expertly evokes the Calabria of 1948, a place trying to return to the sleep of centuries, but already bit by the vampire of modernity.

Carey knows what is a novel. Many of the works of fiction today are either genre or facile satires (the latter being the "hot" ones). This is an actual novel; in other words, the last line perfectly completes the logic of the book. The abstract title suggests Carey's ambition -- to explain all justice, for all time. And he succeeds.

I just realized: "Vittorio" means "victory"!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Harrison's writing is lovely, from the descriptions of the village, to the characters. This is my favorite of Harrison's books.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very intense story about love, revenge and betrayal. The plot is intricate and the characters are interesting--but not likable. I enjoyed it very much.