Monday’s Reviews Today: Sophomore D’Souza & A Referee’s Mob Stint
-- Publishers Weekly, 10/11/2007 2:15:00 PM
In Tony D’Souza’s The Konkans, a follow-up to his lauded 2006 debut novel Whiteman, the young author delivers a “moving portrait” of an Indian-American family that manages to “put a fresh spin on the theme of cultural alienation.” And, testifying to the adage that fact often is stranger than fiction (or at least more unbelievable), is Bob Delaney’s Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob. This account, written with journalist Dave Schieber, is from an NBA referee who, in a prior career as a state trooper went undercover to try and bust one of New Jersey’s biggest crime families. Our review says it “will be a must-read for those drawn to Joe Pistone’s similar account in Donnie Brasco.”
The Konkans
Tony D’Souza. Harcourt, $25 (320p) ISBN 978-0-15-101519-1
D'Souza follows up the promise of Whiteman (2006) with this moving portrait of a mixed Indian-American family. Narrator Francisco D’Sai descends partially from a small group of Konkans, former Hindus converted to Catholicism by the Portuguese in the 16th century. His American mother, Denise, met and married his father, Lawrence, while working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s. The couple moves to Chicago, where Francisco is born and where Lawrence is obsessed with assimilation and achieving the American dream. In contrast, Francisco’s uncle Sam, whom Denise insists they sponsor to America, is a much more soulful man who retains his Indian identity. Sam tells fabulous tales of Konkan culture and is adored by both Francisco and Denise, whose infatuation with India persists even as her love for Lawrence dwindles. The author moves deftly from character to character, detailing Denise’s Peace Corps days and subsequent suburban boredom, Lawrence’s grim struggle up the corporate ladder (his mission to earn acceptance by a country club is particularly sad) and Sam’s search for purpose amid his troubling love for Denise. D’Souza puts a fresh spin on the theme of cultural alienation, and he achieves something even more universal as he shows how the characters are alone together in their family. (Feb.)
Covert: My Years Infiltrating the Mob
Bob Delaney with Dave Scheiber, foreword by Bill Walton. Sterling/Union Square, $19.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-4027-5443-2
NBA referee Delaney’s fascinating account of his prior life as a New Jersey state trooper who infiltrated organized crime will be a must-read for those drawn to Joe Pistone’s similar account in Donnie Brasco (or the movie adaptation starring Johnny Depp). In 1975, Delaney was a relative novice in law enforcement when he was tapped by a superior to help build cases against major Mafia families by creating and running a fake business, Alamo Trucking. With the aid of St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times sportswriter Scheiber, Delaney captures perfectly the daily routine and perils of undercover work, and describes the psychological challenges he faced during the three years of Project Alpha: “The granite foundation of my self-image... had given way to shifting sands of doubt and worry.” While less heralded than Pistone’s work, Delaney’s achievements—which yielded multiple convictions of members of the Bruno and Genovese families—were significant precursors to the Feds’ massive 1980s assault on La Cosa Nostra. Becoming a basketball referee after these proceedings was a return to an early passion of the high school all-state forward and captain of his college team—but the fear, he says, still comes back sometimes. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Feb. 5)
