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Twisted Head: An Italian American Memoir
What's in a name? For Carl Capotorto, everything is in a name. The literal translation from Italian to English of Capotorto is "twisted head." This is no accident. Carl grew up in the Bronx in the 1960s and ’70s with the Mangialardis ("eat fat") and Mrs. Sabella ("so beautiful"), incessant fryers and a dolled-up glamour queen. Carl's father, Philip Vito Capotorto, was the obsessive, tyrannical head of the family--"I'm not your friend, I'm the father" was a common refrain in their household. The father ran Cappi's Pizza and Sangwheech Shoppe, whose motto was "We Don't Spel Good, Just Cook Nice." It was a time of great upheaval in the Bronx, and Carl's father was right in the middle of it, if not the cause of it, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering mother.
Twisted Head is the comedic story of a hardscrabble, working-class family's life that represents the real legacy of Italian-Americans--labor, not crime. It is also the poignant memoir of the author's struggle to become himself in a world that demanded he act like someone else. Tragic and funny in equal measure, Carl's story is propelled by a cast of only-in-New-York customers at the family pizza shop, public school teachers, nuns and priests at church, shop owners and merchants--all wildly entertaining and sometimes frightening. Somewhere in all the rage and madness that surrounded Carl in his youth, he found the bottom he loved his family, but he had to let them go. Twisted Head is an exorcism of sorts. With plenty of laughs.
Twisted Head is the comedic story of a hardscrabble, working-class family's life that represents the real legacy of Italian-Americans--labor, not crime. It is also the poignant memoir of the author's struggle to become himself in a world that demanded he act like someone else. Tragic and funny in equal measure, Carl's story is propelled by a cast of only-in-New-York customers at the family pizza shop, public school teachers, nuns and priests at church, shop owners and merchants--all wildly entertaining and sometimes frightening. Somewhere in all the rage and madness that surrounded Carl in his youth, he found the bottom he loved his family, but he had to let them go. Twisted Head is an exorcism of sorts. With plenty of laughs.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 9, 2020
Very enjoyable memoir written with a lot of heart, emotion and humor. I would guess most people drawn to this book would be of Italian heritage, like myself..and there was a lot of it I identified with. It should be noted though that it's also a memoir that would appeal to those who wonder what it was like for someone who was gay, growing up in the 60's and 70's.
May 29, 2009
I love memoirs if they're well-written, and this was definitely well-written. Lately I especially seem to love memoirs about Italian-American families and/or about people who own restaurants or grew up in New York City, so this book was right up my alley. Carl Capotorto has a fun and engaging style - he has that gift of managing to take us [the readers:] with him so it feels like we're right there with him experiencing what he's experiencing. His depictions of family life are funny and interesting, and I didn't want it to end. I really enjoyed this very much.
May 9, 2010
I love memoirs and this was a great one! Carl's father was a tough guy and hard to live with- you can feel the conflicting tension between him and his son, especially as it relates to Carl's homosexuality. His sweet, beautiful mother is a model of long suffering. Rounding it out are three sisters, cousins, aunts & uncles. Funny, sweet, and very real!
July 1, 2012
Carl Capotorto gives a very real picture, I believe, of what growing up gay was like with a father like his. Of course his story is not just about being gay. It is a very honest and heart-felt portrait of what it was like to be himself in that time and place. I believe most people would be able to relate to his feelings and experiences on some level.
September 30, 2017
I came upon this book in the craziest way.
My partner and I like to take walks in our neighborhood. We must've passed this one house dozens of times. But one afternoon this spring, I stop and take notice of the house, and how it sits away from the street. There's a bit of a small rock cliff and you'd have to venture up a staircase to get to it. It doesn't fit in with any of the other buildings in the surrounding blocks, which are all standard 6-story NYC apartment buildings of early to mid 20th-century vintage.
So on this afternoon, it occurs to me to wonder if it's one of the original farm houses, from when "The Broncks" was sparsely settled. I Google the address and learn that it is not quite that old, but a few clicks in to the city building database, I discover that a kid who grew up in the house in the 70s went on to become an actor and playwright, and wrote a memoir about his childhood. How neat!
It was so great to learn things I never knew about my neighborhood, and businesses that used to be here. As a real estate oggler who was admiring the house, despite its tacky vinyl siding, it was kind of fascinating and sad to read the author talk about he and his father demolishing so much of the house's original details and replacing them with humdrum basic features. Molding torn away, wide entry ways replaced with narrow doors, grand windows replaced with much smaller windows. He never had an answer for why his father would want to do that to a beautiful house, but as anyone familiar with old houses knows, he certainly wasn't alone. Some people just don't appreciate classic architecture, I guess.
Anyway. Sad to say the house was recently sold by the family to an LLC, which probably means the house's days are numbered, and a new apartment building is probably on its way in that space. The Fordham McDonald's where he describes his first job, working for local celebrity Curtis Sliwa, was also bulldozed, just a week or two ago. You can't stop the march of time, I guess. But I'm so glad Carl wrote this book. My partner also grew up in this neighborhood, two decades behind the author, so between their stories, I feel like I'm blessed with a rich picture of this area over time.
My partner and I like to take walks in our neighborhood. We must've passed this one house dozens of times. But one afternoon this spring, I stop and take notice of the house, and how it sits away from the street. There's a bit of a small rock cliff and you'd have to venture up a staircase to get to it. It doesn't fit in with any of the other buildings in the surrounding blocks, which are all standard 6-story NYC apartment buildings of early to mid 20th-century vintage.
So on this afternoon, it occurs to me to wonder if it's one of the original farm houses, from when "The Broncks" was sparsely settled. I Google the address and learn that it is not quite that old, but a few clicks in to the city building database, I discover that a kid who grew up in the house in the 70s went on to become an actor and playwright, and wrote a memoir about his childhood. How neat!
It was so great to learn things I never knew about my neighborhood, and businesses that used to be here. As a real estate oggler who was admiring the house, despite its tacky vinyl siding, it was kind of fascinating and sad to read the author talk about he and his father demolishing so much of the house's original details and replacing them with humdrum basic features. Molding torn away, wide entry ways replaced with narrow doors, grand windows replaced with much smaller windows. He never had an answer for why his father would want to do that to a beautiful house, but as anyone familiar with old houses knows, he certainly wasn't alone. Some people just don't appreciate classic architecture, I guess.
Anyway. Sad to say the house was recently sold by the family to an LLC, which probably means the house's days are numbered, and a new apartment building is probably on its way in that space. The Fordham McDonald's where he describes his first job, working for local celebrity Curtis Sliwa, was also bulldozed, just a week or two ago. You can't stop the march of time, I guess. But I'm so glad Carl wrote this book. My partner also grew up in this neighborhood, two decades behind the author, so between their stories, I feel like I'm blessed with a rich picture of this area over time.
December 30, 2021
This was really fantastic. To be honest, I went into this expecting something funny, somewhat light, stories from the old neighborhood, etc. There's a little bit of that, but it's also a super vivid, honest, complex, and often dark portrait of a family, and of the Bronx in the 60s-70s. I was really impressed by the way Capotorto was able to take such a large cast of characters and render everyone so clearly: neighbors, neighborhood friends, school friends, teachers, distant relatives, etc. But the most interesting and heartfelt stuff here is the material dealing with Capotorto and his father. Carl wants his father to love him, but his father has too much pain of his own that he doesn't know how to deal with, pain that expresses itself as rage and a desperate need to control. I also loved the parts of the book that dealt with Capotorto gradually coming to accept his sexuality. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that this is a really specific, powerful memoir.
October 7, 2008
"Twisted Head" is a memoir by Carl Capotorto, reminising about growing up in an Italian-American family in the sixties and seventies. While parts are sad, the majority is heartwarming, tinged with nastalgia and humor. The up-close look at his family lets the reader get to know his loving mother, the stern but quirky father, two Italian born grandmothers, and Carl's three sisters.
His father, Cappi, owns and operates an Italian restaruant while his family is young, having his children help out. Later, they buy a large Victorian home, which Cappi drafts Carl into helping him remodel.
Mr. Capotorto's descriptions of the clothes, music, accents, and social structure of the times makes it easy to visualize everything that goes on in book.
I enjoyed reading this book. My only criticism is that in a few parts, the scene shifts quickly or brings in a new charater abruptly, which could be a bit confusing. Other than that, this was a fun read.
His father, Cappi, owns and operates an Italian restaruant while his family is young, having his children help out. Later, they buy a large Victorian home, which Cappi drafts Carl into helping him remodel.
Mr. Capotorto's descriptions of the clothes, music, accents, and social structure of the times makes it easy to visualize everything that goes on in book.
I enjoyed reading this book. My only criticism is that in a few parts, the scene shifts quickly or brings in a new charater abruptly, which could be a bit confusing. Other than that, this was a fun read.
August 30, 2009
Your basic Italian-American in New York City memoir.
First of all, my cover looks not even remotely close to this. Granted, mine is an ARC, but I mean, not even at all the same. To the point...I expected this to be much funnier than it was. I have no idea who Capotorto is; I just thought it looked like a good read. But I guess maybe not everyone should write a memoir. It wasn't awful - Capotorto does have some talent as a writer - but it was never really that interesting. My biggest problem was the division of the chapters. It seemed very awkward to me. They weren't contained episodes of his life and often they just ended quite abruptly. It just didn't work for me. For the last third of the book, I was much more interested and I did cry a little reading the epilogue, but for the most part, I didn't find this to be an extraordinarily well-done memoir.
First of all, my cover looks not even remotely close to this. Granted, mine is an ARC, but I mean, not even at all the same. To the point...I expected this to be much funnier than it was. I have no idea who Capotorto is; I just thought it looked like a good read. But I guess maybe not everyone should write a memoir. It wasn't awful - Capotorto does have some talent as a writer - but it was never really that interesting. My biggest problem was the division of the chapters. It seemed very awkward to me. They weren't contained episodes of his life and often they just ended quite abruptly. It just didn't work for me. For the last third of the book, I was much more interested and I did cry a little reading the epilogue, but for the most part, I didn't find this to be an extraordinarily well-done memoir.
September 30, 2013
When I saw this on the shelf in the library, I immediately thought of Patricia Volk’s very funny memoir, “Stuffed”, the story of a Jewish family and the restaurants they owned in New York City. Carl Capotorto’s Italian family owned a pizzeria in the Bronx called Cappi’s Pizza and Sangwich Shoppe. Their motto was, “We don’t spel good, just cook nice.” Capotorto is the Italian for “twisted head” – hence the title of the book. After the family sold the restaurant, early on in the book, the story becomes just an account of Carl and his three sisters growing up in a large, loving Italian family. Carl played the role of Pauli on “The Sopranos” for six years and has also played in a one man show called “Twisted Head”, upon which this book is based. Perhaps I shouldn't have been, but I was somewhat put off by Carl's attempts to come to terms with his homosexuality.
October 4, 2014
From the moment this memoir began, I was mesmerized, Carl Capotorto (his name means Twisted head, hence the title) starts his story, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry- I did both. In the vise of Cappi, his crazed but unforgettable pizza-place owning father , Carl grows up napping on sacks of pizza flour in the pizza place that is both prison and fertile ground for his imagination...His father lists dozens of rare entrees that Carl's poor mother must cook on the occasion someone actually orders an obscure delicacy. Cappi seals the windows at home and throws people out of his pizza place...and he is rough on his only son...Fortunately Carl is also beloved by his mother and sisters and survives to write this tale of the triumph of his spirit...and talent. Spicy and soul-satisfying, don't miss ordering from Twisted head's diverse literary menu. Highly recommended.
March 3, 2010
Not a fan. Simple, inoffensive and played look into the life of a "typical" and perhaps stereotypical Italian American family in the Bronx during the 50's.
I did not hate this book but found the writing tedious, sporadic and uninteresting. There were plenty of chapters that stood out and captured my attention, therefore the 3 star rating.
I am interested in knowing how Italian American authors sidestep the stereotypes of Italian Americans and I felt like this book fell flat into the pasta "gravy."
I did not hate this book but found the writing tedious, sporadic and uninteresting. There were plenty of chapters that stood out and captured my attention, therefore the 3 star rating.
I am interested in knowing how Italian American authors sidestep the stereotypes of Italian Americans and I felt like this book fell flat into the pasta "gravy."
November 3, 2009
I absolutely LOVE memoirs. This one written by Carl Capatorto (which means "twisted head") who is an actor from the Sopranos. Growing up in an Italian-American family, a tough father who ran a pizza place, a loving suffering mother, sisters, grandmas & many cousins & aunts & uncles, this guy has many funny moments. There was sadness of course that all families go thru & his dilemma of growing up gay. I loved this.
March 6, 2013
Agree with another reviewer that it's an okay memoir, some good writing, but rather poorly edited, I think. It doesn't hang together very well. I bought it because I grew up in his nabe and in fact went to school and was in Girl Scouts with his oldest sister. And I did love his father's pizza. We have some other things in common, as well--in fact, my mother and grandfather are mentioned in the book. So my reaction to a lot of it was more emotional than others might be.
June 18, 2011
Very intersting and funny Memoir of Italian/Amercian coming of age in the late 60's.. well written and lol funny. Reminded me of many of my own instances growing up with Immigrant Grandparents, uncles, etc... fast reading if reading on it's own.. took me awhile as I was also reading 2 other books at the same time!
November 20, 2008
Cute autobigraphy of an Italian American and his family growing up in the Pelham Parkway Section of the Bronx. A good light, enjoyable read for former Pelham Parkway residents and all Italian Americans!
February 25, 2009
Thoroughly enjoyable memoir. As one with Italian heritage myself, I chuckled in several places. Like most books of its kind, there is an certain degree of universality to the childhood experience, no matter the circumstances.
July 10, 2008
An inoffensive memoir chock-a-block with hack writing. Good story, bad execution. Nonfiction sux.
April 15, 2009
Who knew Little Paulie writes! This is a decent memoir, not my favorite. I think it was a little disconnected. But entertaining, sad, and all that stuff.
May 22, 2009
Really enjoyed this book. Love a memoir like this. Love to read people's stories. What the author's father did to that Victorian house broke my heart. Sad.
July 22, 2009
Starts out as an Italian family memoir including the kids all working in the family owned Italian restaurant but quickly becomes more about his being gay than being Italian American.
July 23, 2009
Awesome! Funny, heartfelt, moving...did I mention FUNNY?!?! Wonderful memoir of growing up Italian, artistic and gay in the Bronx in the 70's. Bravo Carl!
January 13, 2015
A good read if you're Italian and are familiar with the Bronx. Otherwise it could be boring.
June 28, 2016
did not finish it, really boring to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2024
Really entertaining memoir from an interesting perspective. I was using this book to help me gauge life in the Bronx of the time and this ended up being a perfect look-in.
December 22, 2008
Interesting. Maybe in my next life I'll grow up in NYC.
May 2, 2009
A memoir growing up Italian. It's funny by sad.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews