The Broker - John Grisham > Reviews > Buon Giorno!

Author's product rating:   

Would you listen to it again?	Maybe
Story	Very ordinary
Characters	Satisfactory
Listenability	A good listen when you've got the time
How does it compare to audio works by the same author?	Not applicable

Advantages:	Something to fill the time and pick up bits of Itallian
Disadvantages:	Not much excitement

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Overall View:

Although this book is obviously meant to be a thriller about a criminal who has been pardoned and given a new identity by the CIA and then left as a sitting target, it was actually more of a look into Itallian culture and language for myself.

How I came across the book:

I am in a book club at work, and this came up on our reading list. If you have read my review of The Pact by Jodi Picoult and the following Jodi Picoult reviews you will know that the first book that I read from our list I thought was excellent and have now been reading every book that I can find by her. I was hoping that this book may be a similar finding especially as there are many books out by this author.

The Characters:

The characters are quite believeable. The main characters is Joel Backman/Marco Lazzeri, an ex-lawyer, recently pardoned from a 20 year prison scentence who believes that he is being given a whole new identity in Italy to help to keep him alive and safe. We see most of the story through his eyes, how he adapts to his new life, how he learns the language, the sights which he sees, the people he meets, and how he plans to get on with his life.

We then meet his new companian Luigi, who is there to help him learn the culture of Italy, provide him with money and food and to show him how to fit in without causing attention so as not to lead people to him. We see some of the story from his side too, so that we know the things that are going on in the background, which the main character doesn't know about.

We are told some of the story from other aquaintences to fill in the blanks from what has happened in the main characters past, and what is going on with the various governments that are trying to eliminate him.

The Story:

The story starts off quite well. Telling us why this man is being pardoned, and what this is meant to lead to. We are told some of the history of the characters and get a feel for the story so that we can understand the events that are about to unfold.

We are then introduced to the main character and his perspective of the events. the journey that he takes, and what happens to him are all explained very well and we start to get into the story and wonder what is going to happen as the tale unfolds.

Unfortunately once we get to the middle part of the story/book, it dries up alot. There is too much of the book taken up with how the main character comes to grip with his new life. Luckily I am very interested in trying to teach myself new languages at the moment, so I was quite interested in the middle of the book as it taught me quite a bit of Italian. I will also probably look back through this book at times to refresh my memory of these phrases and words. I also liked the detailed explanations of the sights of Italy. I have never been there, but I can clearly see in my mind what it would be like and how the people would behave. I am hoping to visit the country at some point and it will be interesting to see how well these images match the reality.

Other than finding learning about the culture interesting this would have really put me off the book. I found that although the book was meant to be a thriller, and although Joel/Marco schooled himself to act like a spy the middle really took all of the suspense and 'thrill' out of the book.

The end was also quite well written, but I think maybe a bot of a let down too? I am actually trying to decide whether I like the ending, as when I look back over it, it did have a few moments of suspense, but because the middle had 'dulled' it I didn't really realise this as I was reading it. I also found that the end wrapped up a little too nicely.

Price:

As I am finding with alot of the books that I am reading at the moment I could pick this up from ASDA for £3.65. Even cheaper than I have managed to find on EBAY, although I believe that amazon have a few used copies for £2.75ish.