Loyalty

I have very mixed feelings about Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline. I know she's a bestselling author. And her story telling is wonderful. I love the way several very different stories eventually mesh together to create one cohesive story about the growth of the Mafia in 1800s Sicily. Early on, I asked my husband for more information about the Mafia. Like me, he thought it had been around for a lot longer than just 200 years. But I researched that... and eventually read the author's notes at the end of Loyalty. And now I know that is exactly when the Mafia become a significant organized force in Sicily. I feel better prepared for my trip to Sicily. 

The author has tons of videos on her website showing actual spots that were in the novel and lots of information about Sicily. I will probably binge through those over the weekend.

Why the mixed feelings, you might be asking yourself? Well, the novel gave me a great sense of place. I loved that part of it. Some of her descriptions were repetitive, like there were always prickly pear in the landscape or along the road or next to the house. Likely that's true, but I didn't need to read that over and over again. What I liked even less, though, was the dialogue. It was so inauthentic, even when the characters were speaking Italian? Sicilian? something that wasn't English. The overly simple way that the dialogue was written didn't match the sophistication of the story to the point where I found it a little jarring. There was no character development for several of the characters and this doltish dialogue just reinforced that feeling.

People seem to love this novel. And the story was excellent, engaging, interesting, twisty. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. But I'll continue to wonder about the way the dialogue was written.

I'm planning on reading Eternal by the same author soon. That will help me get ready for my trip to Rome. I'm curious to see if I run into the same writing style.