TRINITES

by Nick Tosches, Élisabeth Guinsbourg (Translator)

Un gang chinois et un gang italien se battent pour le contrôle du trafic d'héroïne à New York. Ce simple affrontement inter-ethnique autour de la possession d'un territoire devient aussi un conflit entre plusieurs générations de gangsters, pour qui la lutte contre les membres de leur propre famille peut être aussi mortelle. Trinités est un roman qui, sous les dehors d'une saga classique, renouvelle complètement le genre et pose un regard neuf, précis, documenté, très contemplatif, presque méditatif sur la nouvelle génération des mafieux, fils d'immigrés mais désormais complètement américanisés, confrontés à leur désir d'expansion et au respect des valeurs ancestrales.
Nick Tosches est reconnu comme l'un des journalistes les plus doués de sa génération. Son œuvre littéraire est traversée par une seule et unique obsession : la mafia, ou comment la minorité italienne dont il est issu s'est constituée en bandes organisées pour finir par contrôler le monde du crime.
Trinités marque le sommet de l'œuvre de Tosches : il est à coup sûr le livre le plus marquant écrit sur la mafia depuis Burnett et Le Parrain.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, American

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Nick Tosches was an American journalist, novelist, biographer, and poet. His 1982 biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, Hellfire, was praised by Rolling Stone magazine as "the best rock and roll biography ever written."

Reviews

[Susan]

Leave it to Nick Tosches to make me fall in love with a book about gangsters. And, as an extra bonus, I learned more about the great Eastern philosophies of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism that I expected. And, of course, Tosches' writing is sublime. Here's a taste:
"They walked quietly, with the light of the setting sun behind them. The lush green leaves in the boughs overhead turned dark and moved like a glimmering nighttime sea, and their rustling was like the sound of conjuring-gourds, the hissing of snake vertebrae and bone dust in slow, rhythmic, ghostly invocation." .... or how 'bout this first sentence of chapter twenty-two: "With his killing hand, Johnny raised a cup of coffee to his lips."

[Kevin Coates]

I recently read the book Trinities by Nick Tosches. It is a first-person perspective of New York’s mafia and drug trade. Out of all the books I have read in Literary Analysis, it is by far the best.
The book is told from three different perspectives: the Italian Mafia, Chinese Triads, and a D.E.A. agent Bob Marshall. The book gives a window into the personal lives of these men and their families. You find out the motivation that they have behind doing what they do, which often includes disgusting acts of violence. The main character, Johnny Di Pietro, struggles with many issues throughout the book including relationship problems, family loyalty, judging good vs. evil, backstabbers, and survival.
I enjoyed the book because I saw a lot of myself in Johnny and it was interesting to see what decisions he made. The book seems like it is written in a higher reading level then any of the other books I have read and can get confusing at times. I liked how the author used different writing styles for each perspective, so it was easy to tell who he was writing about.

[David]

Please understand that my two-star review is no indictment of Nick Tosches as a writer. The fact is, Trinities is very well written. It also contains really impressive research. It felt like half of the dialog was in Italian or a dialect of Chinese or anything but English. I was impressed. And I dare say I even learned some things. But darn it, I did not enjoy reading it!

The foreign-language dialog got old really quickly (I'd sometimes sigh when I saw yet another page littered with italic text). And the huge multi-page swaths of descriptions were interesting, but just acted as barriers between me and the end of the book. I admire and respect the scholarship, but I didn't enjoy it.

[Brandyn Curd]

This book is absolutely one of the best mafia books I've read and I've read many. It tells of an aging, decaying organization in it's declining years, and of how their brilliant leader brings them back to glory. I love how it takes you from the streets of New York, then all across the globe as they plot to take their power back from the hands of the men who have usurped it. Surprisingly, not many people seem to have read this book. If you liked the Godfather or Gangster by Lorenzo Carcatera, you're sure to love this book. Glorious.

[Frank Consalvo]

I kept hearing about this writer. So I checked him out and bought this book. Mobster book that was complex and really well done. I have to admit I got a little confused with some of the Asian characters and which side they were on and if they were going to be important as the story unfolded. Aside from that it was really a fine read. Scary ending.

[G]

The best crime fiction I've ever read. This isn't just hard boiled, it is brutal, real and gorgeous. It's a shame so few people seem to know this book...and this auther.

[Joseph Mccarron]

The "insight" bogged me down. I prefer a quicker moving story line.

[David DeLuca]

Perfect. Just read it.

[DAVID F]

One of the best novels of the 20th Century. Highly literate yet thoroughly street smart, it merges the majesty of Dante with the gutter-trash of Charles Bukowski. Deftly written, immaculately researched. A compelling plot nestled in a philosophical wrapper. Highly, highly recommended. This book puts almost everything else written in the last 30 years to shame.

[Chris Horn]

In the late 1980s and early 90s, the Italian Mafia decided to get back into the heroin trafficking business. They'd not been involved in this business since police busted the "Pizza Connection"--i.e. the "French Connection" in the mid-70s. To do so this time around, they needed to broker relationships with the Hong Kong triads, New York Chinatown gangs, and the Sicilian Mafia. Much blood-spilling, back-stabbing, and double-crossing ensues, with a backdrop meditation on the nature of good and evil, and the differences between how each is perceived in the east and west. Tosches spins his usual spell-binding tale, offering no easy answers about this slice of the war on drugs that undoubtedly continues today.

[Nancy]

Nancy 2.5 stars

[Dennis Koers]

Best book on organized crime I have read.

[Catherine]

Educational must-read