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Narrows Gate
An epic novel in the spirit of The Godfather and On the Waterfront, Narrows Gate follows the lives of three men in the dangerous and seductive environment of a Mob-riddled New Jersey waterfront town before, during, and after World War II.
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First published August 25, 2011
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About the author
Jim Fusilli
48 books47 followersJim Fusilli is the author of nine novels including “The Mayor of Polk Street” and “Narrows Gate,” which George Pelecanos called “equal parts Ellroy, Puzo and Scorsese” and Mystery Scene magazine said “must be ranked among the half-dozen most memorable novels about the Mob.”
Jim’s debut novel “Closing Time” was the last work of fiction set in New York City published prior to the 9/11 attacks. The following year, his novel, “A Well-Known Secret” addressed the impact of 9/11 on the residents of lower Manhattan. Subsequent novels include “Tribeca Blues” and “Hard, Hard City,” which Mystery Ink magazine named its Novel of the Year. “Closing Time,” “A Well-Known Secret” and “Tribeca Blues” were reissued by Open Road Media in October 2018. Lawrence Block provided a new foreword for “Closing Time.”
Jim has published short stories that have appeared in a variety of magazines as well as anthologies edited by Lee Child, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman and other masters of the mystery genre. He edited and contributed to the anthologies “The Chopin Manuscript” and “The Copper Bracelet.” His “Chellini’s Solution” was included in an edition of the Best American Mystery Stories and his “Digby, Attorney at Law” was nominated for the Edgar and Macavity awards. The novel “Narrows Gate” was nominated for a Macavity in the Best Historical Fiction category.
The former Rock & Pop Critic of The Wall Street Journal and an occasional contributor to National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Jim is the author of two books of non-fiction, both related to popular music. “Pet Sounds” is his tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ classic album. It was translated for a Japanese language edition by Haruki Murakami Combining his interests, Jim edited and contributed a chapter to “Crime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir,” published in 2017.
His novel for young adults “Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin” was published by Dutton Juvenile.
Jim is married to the former Diane Holuk, a global communications executive. They currently reside just north of New York City. Find out more about them at https://jimfusilli.com/.
Jim’s debut novel “Closing Time” was the last work of fiction set in New York City published prior to the 9/11 attacks. The following year, his novel, “A Well-Known Secret” addressed the impact of 9/11 on the residents of lower Manhattan. Subsequent novels include “Tribeca Blues” and “Hard, Hard City,” which Mystery Ink magazine named its Novel of the Year. “Closing Time,” “A Well-Known Secret” and “Tribeca Blues” were reissued by Open Road Media in October 2018. Lawrence Block provided a new foreword for “Closing Time.”
Jim has published short stories that have appeared in a variety of magazines as well as anthologies edited by Lee Child, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman and other masters of the mystery genre. He edited and contributed to the anthologies “The Chopin Manuscript” and “The Copper Bracelet.” His “Chellini’s Solution” was included in an edition of the Best American Mystery Stories and his “Digby, Attorney at Law” was nominated for the Edgar and Macavity awards. The novel “Narrows Gate” was nominated for a Macavity in the Best Historical Fiction category.
The former Rock & Pop Critic of The Wall Street Journal and an occasional contributor to National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Jim is the author of two books of non-fiction, both related to popular music. “Pet Sounds” is his tribute to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ classic album. It was translated for a Japanese language edition by Haruki Murakami Combining his interests, Jim edited and contributed a chapter to “Crime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir,” published in 2017.
His novel for young adults “Marley Z and the Bloodstained Violin” was published by Dutton Juvenile.
Jim is married to the former Diane Holuk, a global communications executive. They currently reside just north of New York City. Find out more about them at https://jimfusilli.com/.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
March 21, 2014
This is a sprawling, epic novel set in a fictional New Jersey town that sounds a lot like Hoboken. It takes place in the years surrounding the Second World War, a time when this waterfront community was deeply infested by the mob. Different Mafia factions are struggling for power and place, and against that backdrop, the lives of a number of characters play out.
The three principal characters have known each other since childhood. The first, Leo Bell, is anxious to escape the boundaries of the community in which he's lived all his young life. He's bright, determined to get a good education, and sees a path to the future during the war when he joins the fledgling agency that would become the CIA.
Leo's best friend, Sal Benno, has no such ambitions. He had no appetite for school and became an errand boy for the local mobsters, but without climbing very far up the ladder of the criminal clique he serves. Sal and Leo have each others' backs, but the world they live in will ultimately serve up some harsh tests.
The third major character is Bebe Marsala, a gifted singer, but a deeply flawed character. Bebe rises to national prominence during the war, but gradually sells his soul in the hope of grasping the fame and fortune to which he aspires. On a good night, in front of a responsive and adoring audience, Bebe experiences the highest of the highs. But when things don't go so well, he basically becomes a jumbled up mess.
There's a rich class of supporting characters, and Fusilli portrays them all with great sensitivity. He's also expertly drawn the time and place in which the story is set. It's an engrossing tale that will appeal to a large number of readers who enjoy books like The Godfather and who relish a story vividly told.
The three principal characters have known each other since childhood. The first, Leo Bell, is anxious to escape the boundaries of the community in which he's lived all his young life. He's bright, determined to get a good education, and sees a path to the future during the war when he joins the fledgling agency that would become the CIA.
Leo's best friend, Sal Benno, has no such ambitions. He had no appetite for school and became an errand boy for the local mobsters, but without climbing very far up the ladder of the criminal clique he serves. Sal and Leo have each others' backs, but the world they live in will ultimately serve up some harsh tests.
The third major character is Bebe Marsala, a gifted singer, but a deeply flawed character. Bebe rises to national prominence during the war, but gradually sells his soul in the hope of grasping the fame and fortune to which he aspires. On a good night, in front of a responsive and adoring audience, Bebe experiences the highest of the highs. But when things don't go so well, he basically becomes a jumbled up mess.
There's a rich class of supporting characters, and Fusilli portrays them all with great sensitivity. He's also expertly drawn the time and place in which the story is set. It's an engrossing tale that will appeal to a large number of readers who enjoy books like The Godfather and who relish a story vividly told.
January 18, 2024
**** Highly Entertaining And Enjoyable!
Reading the Amazon book description will tell you all you need to know about the premise of this book so I won’t take your time here rehashing it. Instead, this review will focus on some key reasons why I enjoyed it a lot; so much so, that I’ve already started reading the The Mayor Of Polk Street, Fusilli’s follow-up to Narrows Gate. These reasons are as follow:
…Fusilli does an excellent job in creating what “life” during the first half of the 20th century is like (primarily) iin a small fictional city called Narrows Gate (think Hoboken) for its many Italian-American residents;
…The characters, of which there are many, are well-developed and three dimensional, enabling the reader to feel that they are “right there” with these characters and know them well. This sense of familiarity stems from the fact that many of the fictional characters are closely based on the real-world lives of some famous and infamous people during the time period in which Narrows Gate takes place — such as Frank Sinatra, his mother, his first wife, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, actress Ava Gardner, bandleader Artie Shaw, and Senator Estes Kefauver, to name a few.
…And, my principal reason being thatFusilli writing skills are such that I found myself racing through the pages to find out what happens next; while at the same time, not wanting to come to the end.
If you’re looking to escape into a book that delivers a high level of entertainment and enjoyment, Narrows Gate is well worth your consideration.
February 13, 2012
"Narrows Gate" opens onto a movie house playing a feature you may already have seen. But that doesn't mean you won't want to see it again.
Jim Fusilli's Big Mob Opera is a straight-shooting affair that fits squarely within the genre, eschewing experimentation or roaming outside the lines.
"Narrows Gate," starts in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from the main stem, the Big Apple, but travels to London, Madrid, Hollywood, Havana, East Africa, and points in between.
Across this vast panorama Fusilli details the lives of three young male locals, one whose life reads a little bit too much like Frank Sinatra's. Another other is headed for trouble in the rackets and the third doing his best to stay out of their way (the rackets) only to find them blocking the escape route.
There are family rivalries, gruesome hits ("Gigenti's first shot took off Verkerk's jaw."), turncoats and torture, and a wide-array of food descriptions. highwayscribery's favorite presentation was the red clam sauce.
Anyway, the narrative is rendered in the street argot certain mid-20th century metropolitan area Italian-American's spoke and gives the book a flavor.
The texture is mostly gritty. "Narrow's Gate" has nostalgia for a lost world of Italian-American life, yet it is unadorned, has no linguistic poetry, its words rolling out like row houses in Brooklyn, steady and even.
It has a love of place, but a grim one.
Fusilli is a writer of note and success with books under his belt, and the work here is professional and polished. He'll have you rooting for murderers and street punks. You'll find the feds and other people swimming against the tide of impunity dispassionate, bland, rainy day people.
You'll find a brutal cityscape where might is right, where the good play it meek and do a lot of ducking, while a crazy few head straight for the knife fight.
So, you may have seen this movie, but that doesn't mean you won't want to see it again.
Jim Fusilli's Big Mob Opera is a straight-shooting affair that fits squarely within the genre, eschewing experimentation or roaming outside the lines.
"Narrows Gate," starts in New Jersey, across the Hudson River from the main stem, the Big Apple, but travels to London, Madrid, Hollywood, Havana, East Africa, and points in between.
Across this vast panorama Fusilli details the lives of three young male locals, one whose life reads a little bit too much like Frank Sinatra's. Another other is headed for trouble in the rackets and the third doing his best to stay out of their way (the rackets) only to find them blocking the escape route.
There are family rivalries, gruesome hits ("Gigenti's first shot took off Verkerk's jaw."), turncoats and torture, and a wide-array of food descriptions. highwayscribery's favorite presentation was the red clam sauce.
Anyway, the narrative is rendered in the street argot certain mid-20th century metropolitan area Italian-American's spoke and gives the book a flavor.
The texture is mostly gritty. "Narrow's Gate" has nostalgia for a lost world of Italian-American life, yet it is unadorned, has no linguistic poetry, its words rolling out like row houses in Brooklyn, steady and even.
It has a love of place, but a grim one.
Fusilli is a writer of note and success with books under his belt, and the work here is professional and polished. He'll have you rooting for murderers and street punks. You'll find the feds and other people swimming against the tide of impunity dispassionate, bland, rainy day people.
You'll find a brutal cityscape where might is right, where the good play it meek and do a lot of ducking, while a crazy few head straight for the knife fight.
So, you may have seen this movie, but that doesn't mean you won't want to see it again.
April 21, 2012
Narrows Gate is the kind of immigrant neighborhood in New York that everyone is familiar with from books and movies. Lots of poverty, but close-knit families. Not many chances for economic success leading to enterprising men making their way however they can. Started as an Italian immigrant neighborhood, by WWII it was divided between the Italians and the Irish.
This is the world Leo Bell, his friend Sal Benno, and Bebe Marsela grow up in. Each chooses a different path for his life. Leo is smart and joins the military during the war where his intelligence is recognized and he is recruited to work for the government. Benno has to hustle to make a living, and finds ways to make himself useful to the Mafia figures that control the city. Bebe recreates himself as Bill Marsela, a crooner that makes the women swoon and all the men jealous of his luck.
Jim Fusilli has written an intriguing novel that follows the life of these three characters as they navigate life in the city in the 1940's. Full of well-researched details, the reader learns how criminal organizations grow and take over any enterprise in their vicinity that has the potential to make money. This was the heyday of the Mafia and their plans to control the entertainment industry. It was the time that Las Vegas was built, created by Mafia figures as a money-making enterprise. The tension between the main characters, the government and the Mafia is carefully crafted and ratcheted up leading to a satisfying resolution. This book is highly recommended for readers interested in a compelling read with fascinating characters and an intricate plot.
This is the world Leo Bell, his friend Sal Benno, and Bebe Marsela grow up in. Each chooses a different path for his life. Leo is smart and joins the military during the war where his intelligence is recognized and he is recruited to work for the government. Benno has to hustle to make a living, and finds ways to make himself useful to the Mafia figures that control the city. Bebe recreates himself as Bill Marsela, a crooner that makes the women swoon and all the men jealous of his luck.
Jim Fusilli has written an intriguing novel that follows the life of these three characters as they navigate life in the city in the 1940's. Full of well-researched details, the reader learns how criminal organizations grow and take over any enterprise in their vicinity that has the potential to make money. This was the heyday of the Mafia and their plans to control the entertainment industry. It was the time that Las Vegas was built, created by Mafia figures as a money-making enterprise. The tension between the main characters, the government and the Mafia is carefully crafted and ratcheted up leading to a satisfying resolution. This book is highly recommended for readers interested in a compelling read with fascinating characters and an intricate plot.
January 3, 2012
Narrows Gate is a quick and lively piece of genre fiction that demands little from the reader yet gives back a compelling if familiar mob story in return. Do you want a generation-spanning and self-serious American novel, the kind of book that wins awards from stuffy reviewers but bores the hell out of everyone else? Move along. Want a reliable crime story for your commute or next long flight? Jim Fusilli wrote this guilty little pleasure for you. The story follows the rise and fall of a pop singer, the politics of a local Jersey mob crew, and the schemes of a young mobster upstart and his best friend, a Jewish kid who gets recruited by the intelligence community. In other words, there is nothing in Narrows Gate that you have not seen in the Godfather movies, but that is no reason to skip this book. Familiar is rarely a detriment to genre fiction, and Fusilli has the technical skills to keep you speeding past the scenes that draw a little too much from the Coppola-Scorsese canons. Download this today (at five bucks on Kindle it's a good deal). It's not great literature, but it's fantastic escapism.
September 12, 2014
This is an epic novel revolving around the lives of two best friends and a classmate who makes it big in music. Beginning in the 1930's through the war and beyond, the story is set in the mythical town of Narrows Gate, NJ , a town described as having more Sicilians than any town in Sicily. Though it's not a Mafia novel, the gumbahs play a prominent role in the lives of all three characters.
Now I listened to this book on Audible, making it impossible to miss the author's humor and irony, not to mention it's rich culture. Nevertheless the book reminds me of the movie Moonstruck, with its language, drama and family systems that make the Italian culture so fun to watch...from a safe distance.
Does that make you want to read it? There's so much more to say about characters and such, I'll try to add more later.
Now I listened to this book on Audible, making it impossible to miss the author's humor and irony, not to mention it's rich culture. Nevertheless the book reminds me of the movie Moonstruck, with its language, drama and family systems that make the Italian culture so fun to watch...from a safe distance.
Does that make you want to read it? There's so much more to say about characters and such, I'll try to add more later.
November 21, 2025
The blurb on this one promises something out of [James] Ellroy and [Mario] Puzo, and that seems a good starting place to think about how it works.
This starts out as Puzo wannabe, and I think that sells it short. I think I’m a voice in the wilderness when I complain about gangster stories that take the Valachi/Puzo/Coppola vision of organize crime as a given. I’ll say it again, though: however accurate it was in the late 1960s to talk of Five Families in New York, each with a clear boss and then a corporate architecture, it’s anachronistic to talk about it earlier than that and probably exaggeration to talk about it as a contemporary structure.
Put differently, there’s a widespread notion that gangsters have always – or at least since early Prohibition – functioned as if they were in a well-defined, unchanging structure of command. The government, with RICO laws at its disposal, has an interest in sustaining that idea, and a lot of fan-boys hold onto it as a way of creating boxes that they fill with the names of capos, soldiers, and associates in the business of being mob watchers. A) I don’t think that’s really true, and B) it makes for tired story-telling since it’s really just The Godfather over and over again.
In any case, I nearly gave up on this after 35-40 pages. We get so many names that it’s bewildering, and they all come across as near analogues of real-life gangsters. Geller, for instance, is really Lansky. Marsala is clearly Sinatra.
It’s all so fast that it makes sense only if it’s like a checklist – the names we are being told to plug into that structure we already know.
I’m glad I didn’t give up on this, though, because the Ellroy-inspired stuff gradually comes to the fore. Fusilli is at least two tiers shy of Ellroy’s level as a writer, but that’s not really an insult since almost all of us are. (Ellroy is nearly as good as he likes to tell us he is.)
But Fusilli takes from Ellroy a sense of different characters navigating history and interacting with each other. We get Benno, a small-timer on the fringes of the rackets; Leo, who’s a Jew masquerading as an Italian and also double-dealing with Federal investigators; and Marsala, a Jersey kid groomed to be a music and movie star.
The more their stories begin to orbit each other (and the less we have to depend on a Puzo-inspired sense of a story we already know) the better it gets. If it never rises to the level of Ellroy’s irony and cynicism, it does work toward a sustained question: what does it mean to be loyal?
Given all that, and given that the pace picks up with each stage of the complicated story, I do think it’s a real success. I’m reading it back-to-back with Kaplan’s Plot, and I think they function pretty much the same way – solid stories held back a bit by an inflexible sense of the context of organized crime but doing a good job to grow characters in a historical context.
If this is up your alley (or down your dark, back alley), then prepare to power through the heavy exposition of the opening chapters. After that, buckle up for a solid ride.
This starts out as Puzo wannabe, and I think that sells it short. I think I’m a voice in the wilderness when I complain about gangster stories that take the Valachi/Puzo/Coppola vision of organize crime as a given. I’ll say it again, though: however accurate it was in the late 1960s to talk of Five Families in New York, each with a clear boss and then a corporate architecture, it’s anachronistic to talk about it earlier than that and probably exaggeration to talk about it as a contemporary structure.
Put differently, there’s a widespread notion that gangsters have always – or at least since early Prohibition – functioned as if they were in a well-defined, unchanging structure of command. The government, with RICO laws at its disposal, has an interest in sustaining that idea, and a lot of fan-boys hold onto it as a way of creating boxes that they fill with the names of capos, soldiers, and associates in the business of being mob watchers. A) I don’t think that’s really true, and B) it makes for tired story-telling since it’s really just The Godfather over and over again.
In any case, I nearly gave up on this after 35-40 pages. We get so many names that it’s bewildering, and they all come across as near analogues of real-life gangsters. Geller, for instance, is really Lansky. Marsala is clearly Sinatra.
It’s all so fast that it makes sense only if it’s like a checklist – the names we are being told to plug into that structure we already know.
I’m glad I didn’t give up on this, though, because the Ellroy-inspired stuff gradually comes to the fore. Fusilli is at least two tiers shy of Ellroy’s level as a writer, but that’s not really an insult since almost all of us are. (Ellroy is nearly as good as he likes to tell us he is.)
But Fusilli takes from Ellroy a sense of different characters navigating history and interacting with each other. We get Benno, a small-timer on the fringes of the rackets; Leo, who’s a Jew masquerading as an Italian and also double-dealing with Federal investigators; and Marsala, a Jersey kid groomed to be a music and movie star.
The more their stories begin to orbit each other (and the less we have to depend on a Puzo-inspired sense of a story we already know) the better it gets. If it never rises to the level of Ellroy’s irony and cynicism, it does work toward a sustained question: what does it mean to be loyal?
Given all that, and given that the pace picks up with each stage of the complicated story, I do think it’s a real success. I’m reading it back-to-back with Kaplan’s Plot, and I think they function pretty much the same way – solid stories held back a bit by an inflexible sense of the context of organized crime but doing a good job to grow characters in a historical context.
If this is up your alley (or down your dark, back alley), then prepare to power through the heavy exposition of the opening chapters. After that, buckle up for a solid ride.
April 24, 2020
A real thriller. The plot carried me along. The friendship of the two young men from Narrows Gate was well realized, and I cared deeply about their growing predicaments as the book continued. Very well done.
February 22, 2023
Great Read
Fans of gangster novels will enjoy this sprawling tale of the residents of Narrows ?Gate.
With a complex and compelling plot and Characters worth investing in, this book hits the mark.
Fans of gangster novels will enjoy this sprawling tale of the residents of Narrows ?Gate.
With a complex and compelling plot and Characters worth investing in, this book hits the mark.
August 14, 2019
Too "mobbey"
I started out interested but the sex, language, and violence was too much for me! Benno's story wasn't enough to keep me going.
I started out interested but the sex, language, and violence was too much for me! Benno's story wasn't enough to keep me going.
November 12, 2011
When I decided to read this book, I was excited about the possibility of reading a saga length book on Narrow's Gate. I really got into the characters of Leo Bell (my favorite) and Sal Benno. They were growing up as friends in very tough neighborhood. Sal knew Leo's secret and decided to protect him. Sal wasn't interested in school like most of the kids in the neighborhood but Leo was. Leo was drawn to books and libraries as a way of protecting himself. I like these two characters the most.
The book doesn't open with them but a takeover of who would be the Sicilian mob leader. That part of the book had covered before, I thought by newspapers, magazines, and the Godfather trilogy. The new leader who stole his position from his boss and all the minor criminals in the organization didn't seem that developed. And I found myself not wanting to read about them because the stereotypes were too prominent. Also, I did not see any anguish from as to whether or not they should even be mobsters employed. Their government officials and police that were mentioned that worked with the mob but they were just labeled and were not given names
Then there was another major character, William Rosiglino aka "Bebe", a kid whose mother thought that he was good for nothing, much less school, until she overheard him singing in the shower. It is easy to figure out who the writer is fictionalizing by the time and place and the physical description of him. His mother, Rosa captured my attention right away. Also, there was the obedient, pure and loyal wife of Bebe and the “other” woman who is very easy to figure out.
At the beginning of the book, I could not lay it down but whenever it swung back to the mob activities, I lost interest and wanted to get back either to Benno and Bell or Bebe and his mother, Rosa. I stuck it out but felt disappointed. It had started out so promising. I thought I would have enjoyed it more if there was even less of the mob in the book and more about friendship between the two men or Rosa. Also, I would have enjoyed it more, if there had been a main character who was a woman. The themes definitely revolved around the men.
In all, the book was interesting me except for parts that involved the mob.
You may have a different opinion so I invite you to read this book and see for yourself. It is 575 pages long so it is a commitment time wise.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine Program but that in no way influenced my review.
The book doesn't open with them but a takeover of who would be the Sicilian mob leader. That part of the book had covered before, I thought by newspapers, magazines, and the Godfather trilogy. The new leader who stole his position from his boss and all the minor criminals in the organization didn't seem that developed. And I found myself not wanting to read about them because the stereotypes were too prominent. Also, I did not see any anguish from as to whether or not they should even be mobsters employed. Their government officials and police that were mentioned that worked with the mob but they were just labeled and were not given names
Then there was another major character, William Rosiglino aka "Bebe", a kid whose mother thought that he was good for nothing, much less school, until she overheard him singing in the shower. It is easy to figure out who the writer is fictionalizing by the time and place and the physical description of him. His mother, Rosa captured my attention right away. Also, there was the obedient, pure and loyal wife of Bebe and the “other” woman who is very easy to figure out.
At the beginning of the book, I could not lay it down but whenever it swung back to the mob activities, I lost interest and wanted to get back either to Benno and Bell or Bebe and his mother, Rosa. I stuck it out but felt disappointed. It had started out so promising. I thought I would have enjoyed it more if there was even less of the mob in the book and more about friendship between the two men or Rosa. Also, I would have enjoyed it more, if there had been a main character who was a woman. The themes definitely revolved around the men.
In all, the book was interesting me except for parts that involved the mob.
You may have a different opinion so I invite you to read this book and see for yourself. It is 575 pages long so it is a commitment time wise.
I received this book from the Amazon Vine Program but that in no way influenced my review.
January 23, 2016
Jim Fusilli 19s NARROWS GATE is a fast moving thrill ride that should take it 19s place next to other great gangster novels like THE GODFATHER.
At first glance, this book seems like it may be THE GODFATHER rewrapped. There 19s a struggling singer, an aging Don, and people that want to muscle in on his territory: all reminiscent of Mario Puzo 19s great novel about the Corleone family. But there is always room for another good story, even if some of the elements have been seen before, and NARROWS GATE certainly delivers one hell of a story.
Narrows Gate is a Sicilian neighborhood in New York, filled equally with hard working people and with organized criminals. Most of those criminals understand there place in the system, but two of them, Frankie Fortune and Bruno Gigenti, are about to go to war to increase their piece of the pie. Fortune is smarter, and wants to embrace show business as another way to make money. Gigenti is pure rage and muscle, and wants to stick to the old ways of making money. The feud between the two could bring down all of Carlo Farcolini 19s organization, and take some hardworking innocents like Sal Benno and Leo Bell with it.
This book is pretty long at over 550 pages, and the cast of characters along with different locales (Hollywood, New York, Spain, Havana, Miami) does occasionally overwhelm the reader. There 19s a cast of characters in the front of the book that helps, but the reader still needs stay awake in order to keep straight who is trying to backstab who. But in the end, the effort is well worth it, as Fusilli delivers a first rate action-packed story that is interesting, entertaining, and just plain good.
At first glance, this book seems like it may be THE GODFATHER rewrapped. There 19s a struggling singer, an aging Don, and people that want to muscle in on his territory: all reminiscent of Mario Puzo 19s great novel about the Corleone family. But there is always room for another good story, even if some of the elements have been seen before, and NARROWS GATE certainly delivers one hell of a story.
Narrows Gate is a Sicilian neighborhood in New York, filled equally with hard working people and with organized criminals. Most of those criminals understand there place in the system, but two of them, Frankie Fortune and Bruno Gigenti, are about to go to war to increase their piece of the pie. Fortune is smarter, and wants to embrace show business as another way to make money. Gigenti is pure rage and muscle, and wants to stick to the old ways of making money. The feud between the two could bring down all of Carlo Farcolini 19s organization, and take some hardworking innocents like Sal Benno and Leo Bell with it.
This book is pretty long at over 550 pages, and the cast of characters along with different locales (Hollywood, New York, Spain, Havana, Miami) does occasionally overwhelm the reader. There 19s a cast of characters in the front of the book that helps, but the reader still needs stay awake in order to keep straight who is trying to backstab who. But in the end, the effort is well worth it, as Fusilli delivers a first rate action-packed story that is interesting, entertaining, and just plain good.
March 6, 2014
With Narrows Gate the author of a handful of NYC "private-eye" tales provides us with a Mafia drama. From what I've read this novel was pieced together/expanded from a handful of short stories and the result is a mixed bag. If you are familiar with the military novels of WEB Griffin, this reads much like a mafia version of those books with a straightforward, not too deep plot and a set of "stock" characters.
Set across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey, with a time-line from the late 1920's through the late 1950's, Narrows Gate chronicles an Italian crime family very loosely based on Lucky Luciano's syndicate - complete with characters resembling Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel - including a fictional version of both the NY Castellammarese War and the Kefauver Hearings.
There's a Frank Sinatra-esque crooner with ties back to the "family" - and who has a dominating, over-bearing mother. And at the center of the story are two childhood buddies - Leo and Benno - who find their lives intertwined with the mob as they make their way in the world. This story of these two best friends, as they wrestle with their roots, particularly Benno, while staying loyal to each other, is what holds this novel together.
Narrows Gate is an entertaining story, but not too deep. And even at almost 600 pages is a very quick read. Plot twists are predictable; the characters stereotypical and following a script we are all very familiar with - particularly the "crooner" - and the conclusion all tied up in a very neat bow. Without being overly critical and at the risk of sounding condescending, this is Godfather/Mario Puzo lite - perfect airport reading.
Set across the river from Manhattan in New Jersey, with a time-line from the late 1920's through the late 1950's, Narrows Gate chronicles an Italian crime family very loosely based on Lucky Luciano's syndicate - complete with characters resembling Meyer Lansky, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel - including a fictional version of both the NY Castellammarese War and the Kefauver Hearings.
There's a Frank Sinatra-esque crooner with ties back to the "family" - and who has a dominating, over-bearing mother. And at the center of the story are two childhood buddies - Leo and Benno - who find their lives intertwined with the mob as they make their way in the world. This story of these two best friends, as they wrestle with their roots, particularly Benno, while staying loyal to each other, is what holds this novel together.
Narrows Gate is an entertaining story, but not too deep. And even at almost 600 pages is a very quick read. Plot twists are predictable; the characters stereotypical and following a script we are all very familiar with - particularly the "crooner" - and the conclusion all tied up in a very neat bow. Without being overly critical and at the risk of sounding condescending, this is Godfather/Mario Puzo lite - perfect airport reading.
March 12, 2012
For fans of the likes of "The Godfather" (Puzo's novel and the Francis Coppola )film, Robert DeNiro's film, "A Bronx Tale" (which in a way this novel resembles most closely) and/or those addicted to HBO series like The "Soprano's" and "Boardwalk Empire".
"Narrows Gate"'s main story line is a román a clef based on the early life and rise to super-star jazz/pop singing phenomenon, of a skinny, awkward Italian kid from Narrows Gate(a NJ town which the author situates in a way that says, Hoboken), and the way his relatives and family associations with the local mob impacts his struggles for good, but mostly for ill.
In short, it was a great read that I picked up on Kindle for free (I think) or certainly no more than 99 cents. The price was a strong incentive, and, I thought, "How can I go wrong on a story like this authored by a guy named Fusilli? I will definitely be giving his other works a try in the coming months.
"Narrows Gate"'s main story line is a román a clef based on the early life and rise to super-star jazz/pop singing phenomenon, of a skinny, awkward Italian kid from Narrows Gate(a NJ town which the author situates in a way that says, Hoboken), and the way his relatives and family associations with the local mob impacts his struggles for good, but mostly for ill.
In short, it was a great read that I picked up on Kindle for free (I think) or certainly no more than 99 cents. The price was a strong incentive, and, I thought, "How can I go wrong on a story like this authored by a guy named Fusilli? I will definitely be giving his other works a try in the coming months.
January 8, 2012
One third through it and realized I have no interest in these characters and nothing of consequence was happening. Rare for me to give up on a book like this, especially from an author whose work I've enjoyed in the past.
This is a "saga" following boys from the hood in a small (fictional) hamlet in New Jersey filled w/ ethnic immigrants (Irish/Italian/Jewish) to tell their interconnected stories over the years. Mafia, WWII, etc.
Reviews have compared this to The Godfather. I understand the comparison but to me there is no "there" there.
Perhaps Fusilli has gotten this out of his system and will go back to the contemporary crime/detective stories he's more successful with.
This is a "saga" following boys from the hood in a small (fictional) hamlet in New Jersey filled w/ ethnic immigrants (Irish/Italian/Jewish) to tell their interconnected stories over the years. Mafia, WWII, etc.
Reviews have compared this to The Godfather. I understand the comparison but to me there is no "there" there.
Perhaps Fusilli has gotten this out of his system and will go back to the contemporary crime/detective stories he's more successful with.
December 16, 2011
I adore The Godfather - the book was lovely pulp fun and, of course, Coppolla turned into something much much more with his films (even the third one that left a lot to be desired). Mr. Fusilli's novel suffers from covering similar territory and not doing it nearly as well.
This book covers quite a bit of territory with some interesting and vital characters contained within, although the most interesting characters are not the major ones. I really wanted that New York City early Mob days feel, and you get that from this, but for me I was unable to stop comparing the book to The Godfather and that's unfortunate.
A good story, well told, but not what I thought it would be.
This book covers quite a bit of territory with some interesting and vital characters contained within, although the most interesting characters are not the major ones. I really wanted that New York City early Mob days feel, and you get that from this, but for me I was unable to stop comparing the book to The Godfather and that's unfortunate.
A good story, well told, but not what I thought it would be.
December 30, 2011
Fusilli offers a detailed account of how the lives of these friends — who are on such different paths in life — continue to intertwine and bring them back to where it all started in Narrows Gate. For anyone who loves mobster stories or has an appreciation for old New York, this is a fantastic tale that will draw you in from beginning to end and have you enraptured by the intricate detail and storytelling. Even for those who aren’t fascinated by the mob life, “Narrows Gate” is a book that will keep you enthralled and pull you into what it means to be part of a Sicilian family.
Read my full review at www.crazybookreviews!
Read my full review at www.crazybookreviews!
March 27, 2012
NARROWS GATE
By Jim Fusilli
This could have been a very good Mafia book if it weren’t such a vicious, cruel and thinly veiled character assassination about an American Icon. We’re well aware that it is a fictional depiction, but the brutality and judgments were very harsh and unnecessary.
The story of the two friends growing up in the years around World War II in the very dangerous immigrant neighborhood of NARROWS GATE captures a time and an era when they were forced into choices that have a great impact on the rest of their lives. This story of the two friends is well written and becomes an epic sage of the American experience.
By Jim Fusilli
This could have been a very good Mafia book if it weren’t such a vicious, cruel and thinly veiled character assassination about an American Icon. We’re well aware that it is a fictional depiction, but the brutality and judgments were very harsh and unnecessary.
The story of the two friends growing up in the years around World War II in the very dangerous immigrant neighborhood of NARROWS GATE captures a time and an era when they were forced into choices that have a great impact on the rest of their lives. This story of the two friends is well written and becomes an epic sage of the American experience.
May 9, 2016
Multilayered drama, spanning a couple of decades, a fair few states, and numerous characters. It will take a while to get through, but it gives you time to build a relationship with the main characters. I found it hard to keep track of many of the bit-parts though - remembering who was on who's side and which role they played.
It was well written once you get used to the language - not just the dialogue is laid out as a sicilian would talk.
It was well written once you get used to the language - not just the dialogue is laid out as a sicilian would talk.
Read
January 4, 2015definitely not the great American novel
The plot is lifted from "The Godfather" and just about every other novel dealing with the mob. The characters are weak, under developed caricatures of other characters in other novels and real life. Still, it's an entertaining read that doesn't require much brain effort.
The plot is lifted from "The Godfather" and just about every other novel dealing with the mob. The characters are weak, under developed caricatures of other characters in other novels and real life. Still, it's an entertaining read that doesn't require much brain effort.
January 29, 2012
The first chapter was slow and I almost did not read further. I stuck with it and once the second chapter began the main characters were introduced and the book became so enjoyable. This is one of thw btter books I have read in a very long time.
April 17, 2013
I'm not real sure I'm giving this a proper rating. I listened to this book and I think it may have been better read. There were a lot of characters that needed to be kept track of so if you weren't paying really close attention you easily got lost. But growing up in JC made the book interesting.
February 9, 2014
I just didn't care for this book. I wasn't interested in the main character, and I forced myself to finish it. Hope springs eternal. I don't think it was the author's fault, I just picked up the wrong genre.
January 28, 2016
This was a long intricate story of two childhood friends living in Narrow's Gate. A New York neighborhood before, during, and after WW II. Full of mobsters, music, relationships, and Sicilians, and Jews. It certainly wasn't boring.
July 14, 2011
A story about growing up in Narrows Gate (an Italian neighborhood) and the association with the mob.
February 12, 2012
Could not get thru the first few chapters. Ugh.
March 2, 2012
Enjoyable, if derivative, mob fiction with a long story arc involving the New Jersey mob from before the depression through the Kefauver Hearings in the 50s.
March 4, 2012
This was a solid mob story. A fun read, and the OC pedigree of Sinatra is explored in greater detail than was done in the Godfather. I would put this right up there with Wiseguys and the Godfather.
July 6, 2012
This is an enjoyable novel set in a fictional NJ city, which I believe is actually Hoboken. There are many well drawn characters.
February 24, 2015
Good read
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