The Fallen

by Stephen Finucan

In the winter of 1944, the newly liberated city of Naples has become an ever more dangerous place. Among those charged with maintaining the military security of the city is a young Canadian, Lieutenant Thomas Greaves. Greaves seems naïve at first, but it soon becomes clear that he has demons to exorcise and that he sees his time in Naples as the opportunity to make amends for a tragic mistake made on the battlefield. But his plans go awry, and Greaves lands in the murky world of gangsters and black marketeers.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Andrea P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review and others can be found on Cozy Up With A Good Read

I have to be honest, this book was one of the most difficult for me to get through of the ones I chose to read this month. I loved the idea behind it, having the setting in Naples following the liberation from the Nazi's and seeing what is now happening. I love Italian settings as I have mentioned before, and I'm always interested in WWII and how certain countries recuperated following those events.

The main issue I had with this book was that there were so many characters that readers follow along with, and I felt confused in the beginning as to what exactly was happening. I felt like the story jumped around a lot, and it took me awhile to understand who I was following and what exactly was happening (I think I was fairly close to the end of the story when things finally started getting put together). I also felt like some of the chapters dragged on and I lost focus a few times during my reading of this book, but I will say the ending of this book redeemed itself and I found myself a little more interested in the story and how things would end for everyone.

What I really enjoyed about this book were the characters, even though I felt confused at times with them, each of them have issues. You can really see right from the beginning of this story how the war has affected each of them, and in a way is still affecting them now even though the Nazi's are gone from their area. Greaves is the one character who is trying to help everyone around him and he is naive to everything that is happening in Naples, it definitely is a scary place at this time.

I think I was most confused with Greaves' POV in the beginning, but also there is the world of the gangsters that took awhile to wrap my head around. Once I was able to figure out what was going on I was intrigued at how the world these gangsters inhabited worked, and Finucan really makes his readers know that this is not a safe place for anyone. Corruption is such a large theme in this novel, and it is so surprising to see everything that people do at this time.

The tone of this book is very dark and gritty, and I think Stephen Finucan did a great job at bringing the misery these people went through at this time to life in the book. The way the setting and the characters are described goes along well with the feeling of the story, everyone is down on their luck and will take whatever means possible to get by each day.

Honestly, I was ready to give up on this book, but I had invested so much time and it was a fairly short book that I wanted to finish it. And by the end I am glad, I had my issues but this book was definitely a gritty and dark book, with characters that all had issues, making them very real in a time where nothing is pretty. What I really wish with this book was that there was not so many characters that readers follow, that makes the reading and understanding of the book quite difficult.

[Carrie Marcotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short read, but an interesting character study of 'fallen' characters based in war-torn Italy.

[Dan Eickmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up randomly at our local used book store. It was a bit expensive as it was signed but I was intrigued so I took the plunge in spite of the cost.

Normally I’m a genre fiction guy who stick to sci fi, horror and fantasy in that order but lately I’ve been reading a decent amount of historical fiction. Particularly stuff about the first half of the twentieth century.

Some readers have found the large number of characters a challenge. I get that feeling as well, particularly at the beginning but about half way though everyone starts to gel and it becomes much easier to keep the characters straight. I wonder as well if part of the challenge is the fact that we really don’t have a likeable character to follow. Everyone has/is fallen.

There really isn’t a lot of action. It’s more of an atmospheric story. You are part of the wartime culture of Naples. The poverty, corruption, violence and uncertainty drip from every scene. You are sitting in the cafe with a grappa watching the world unfold.

I enjoyed the book. It’s not an absolutely top tier work but it’s solid and truly enjoyable if you like just watching the world go by.

[Jane Judd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written by one of Brandon's Martingrove teacher who taught "Writer's Craft". Interesting read that unfolded slowly but led to some surprising or unexpected conclusions.

The writing was not epic but it was strong. Not sure I would have appreciated it as much had I not had a connection to the author.

[Lauraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is so much to like about this story, but I found the ending so strange, and not very clear, that it ruined everything for me.

[Angela]

Well.....I'm going to play the "Life's too Short" card here which I DON'T often do. But it's summer and it's a inter-library loan (with fines of a dollar a day...) and I just canNOT concentrate on this book. I keep reading and rereading the same paragraph with no clue about what's going on. I can't keep the characters straight in my short-term memory and, frankly, I've been procrastinating every night-checking FB, twitter, Goodreads notifications, anything to delay the nighttime reading ritual. It's just so NOT me; usually I cut corners at bedtime so I can dive back into my favourite part of the day: bedtime reading. Sigh. I won't blame the author or give a bad rating because it's unfair to do so when I got only 66 pages in. Sorry Mr. Finucan...I feel like I've let you down.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stephen Finnucan's story of redemption in war torn Naples during WWII gets points for being an overall interesting tale. However, it loses points for just about every other avenue.

Finnucan's writing style is bland and unimaginative, with two dimensional and uninspired characters. Because of this, an otherwise good story ultimately falls flat. Nothing really begins to happen until page 189, and considering that this book is only 226 pages long, it seems like an awful long and dragged out build up to a conclusion that is wrapped up in under 50 pages.

I was very disappointed by this book, it could have been so much more than it was, and I wanted very much to enjoy it, but found reading it to be a chore. A chore that I was only too happy to finish.

[Drini Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was overall a very good book. I did find that it "dragged on" a little, and it had no real plot. The novel felt like a short story, that had been simply extended to fit the confines of a book. The ending also reminded me of a short story, because it was open-ended. Not to mention the ending was somewhat confusing and difficult to make sense of. Still, this novel was very emotional, and I was close to tears at its conclusion. A book such as this would be worth analyzing, for I believe it is full of symbolism. A worthwhile read.