Reviews

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller

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jaharlow1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

booked_bylaura's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

bthomp's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I am in a charitable mood and have rounded up from 3.5 stars. The author comes highly recommended for some previous work ("Norwegian By Night," etc.). Maybe I was expecting more or had my hopes up, but this novel was disappointing. It was too long and too short on plot. While I would not recommend this book, I may try "Norwegian" down the road.

sea_tea_books's review

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dark emotional sad tense

1.0

Why is this story marketed as an art heist? It's a story about the unimaginable tragedy, horror, and trauma experienced by a young Italian girl during WWII. The theft of art is a subplot.

"The inexperienced will consider this the fog of war and look for the patterns within. But I know the truth. Which is that the chaos is the pattern. It is very hard for certain minds to accept that conclusion. This is now a land without heroes and villains."

I considered DNF but ended up skipping through the triggering sections.

[Audiobook]

Content Warnings

jtrujillo05's review

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challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

louisekf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Given that I nearly DNF’d this book, I’m amazed that I wound up liking it as much as I did. For me, it only got interesting after about 23%; up until then, it was all talk, talk, talk, mainly by the title character. I’m glad I decided to give it a little more time instead of walking away at 20%.

If you make it past the beginning of this book, you’ll find yourself in an engrossing tale of survival in Italy in World War II. Most of the action takes place in and around the ancient Benedictine abbey of Montecassino and the nearby village of Cassino in 1943-1944. For those of us without detailed knowledge of every part of World War II, this was when the Allies were trying to make their way north through southern Italy to Rome. Which meant that any people and towns (and abbeys) that were in the way, were in the line of fire. The local Italians were caught between the occupying Germans (Italy had surrendered by then) and the Allies. Cassino, being between Rome and Naples, was one of those places caught in the crosshairs.

In addition to Pietro, who has taken the name Houdini to hide his true name, the main character is a young teen whose name we never learn. She/he presents as male or female, depending on the assessed level of danger - which was pretty smart in a wartime situation. Massimo/Eva has fled Rome on her own after her parents were killed in a bombing by Americans. So right from the start, we know that the Americans/Allies are not 100% the good guys. It is a nuanced look at a wartime situation, filled with evil Germans, nice Germans, evil Moroccans, and so forth. Pietro rescues her from a beating and she takes the name Massimo.

Art and saving art as Italy’s cultural heritage is at the heart of this war story. I loved it. I just wish we could have had a bit more information of what became of some of the wonderful characters like Lucia and Dino.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press (Simon & Schuster) for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book. I bounced between the ARC and the published audiobook, courtesy of my public library. The narrator, Gabra Zackman, did a great job with the various voices and accents. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings