Book 376: The Monster of Florence

An American journalist and author becomes captivated with Italy and decides to move there on a whim, uprooting his family and settling in a house in the countryside. Unwittingly, he’s moved in right next door to the scene of an infamous crime, and when he finds out about it, he’s drawn into the story, and ends up finding himself in the midst of political intrigues. At one point, he’s even accused of being involved in the murders.

This book is broken into two sections. The first documents the background of the case, with research by Mario Spezi, Preston’s partner. This section discusses the series of brutal crimes, the various people accused of them, and the multitude of trials and legal wranglings which surrounded them. Although people have been convicted, this section clearly casts some doubts upon those convictions, speculating that someone else may be responsible for the murders.

The murders committed by the Monster of Florence in the 1970s and 1980s were grisly, brutal, and prolific. Given my vague interest in serial killers, I’m rather susprised that I’ve never heard of this guy, since he’s right up there with Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, Ted Bundy, and a host of other lovely people who get their jollies from killing other people. While this book definitely sensationalized the case a bit, it did provide the basic facts, and an overview of the problems with the police investigation (including basic issues, like not securing crime scenes).

In the second section, we learn about the modern-day journalistic pursuit of the story. Preston even names the person that he and Spezi think is guilty, in a move which I would think would expose him to a defamation suit, but apparently I am wrong. Along the course of their investigations, the journalists butted heads with some powers that be in the police administration, and at one point, Spezi is actually accused of being the Monster of Florence.

With Preston’s intervention from overseas, Spezi is eventually released, and the case attracts a great deal of attention in Italy. Although Preston probably didn’t intend this, the most interesting thing about the book, to me, was the documentation of culture clashes between Preston and the Italians he interacts with. He obviously didn’t understand a lot about the system he was working in, and the social norms in Italy, and I think that’s probably why he ran into so much trouble while researching the case.

The book also highlighted the issue of freedom of the press in Italy, highlighting the fact that journalists in Italy are very vulnerable to abuse and censorship. For an EU country, that’s pretty damning.

Demographics:

The Monster of Florence, by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. Published 2008, 322 pages. History/crime.

12 December, 2008 – 12:35 pm | By s.e. smith | Posted in book project, Everything |

600 North

Last Friday, I decided to take a picture on every 600 North block in Fort Bragg, from the ocean to Cotton Auditorium. I thought it might make a neat cross-section of the city, as indeed it did, and along the way I saw all kinds of neat things. The 600 North block runs between Bush Street in the North and Fir Street in the South, from West Street in the West (shocking name!) to Harold Street in the North, and I happen to think that it’s a pretty nice part of town almost all the way across.

I should note that Stewart and West Streets don’t have a “North” because there is no “South.” The North/South dividing line falls along Oak Street, and these streets start four blocks north of Oak.

Here’s a map for reference, and for those who like to orient themselves.

I skipped the alleys, with the exception of the alley that borders the GP property, because alleys are a whole different kettle of fish. So here’s your 600 North slice of Fort Bragg (if other readers decide to do a similar project in their hometowns, I would love to see it, incidentally).

The alley which borders the Georgia-Pacific Property, where you can see stacks of abandoned and rotting lumber:

The 600 block of West Street, with a gate which astute readers may recognize:

The 600 block of Stewart Street:

An abandoned house in the 600 block of North Main:

The 600 block of North Franklin:

Lions in the 600 block of North McPherson:

Apples in an empty lot in the 600 block of North Harrison:

A winding path to an alley house on Perkins Way (which doesn’t get a “North” because it starts, inexplicably, at Fir Street, and is known as North Whipple to the South):

A driveway in the 600s of North Corry, where they are very fond of tall fences:

And a view of Pudding Creek from the 600 block of North Harold Street. This is what realtors call “end of the road privacy”:

12 December, 2008 – 10:45 am | By s.e. smith | Posted in Everything, Fort Bragg, photography |

Honking Tacks

Hey, guess what! Clean coal isn’t clean.

A bank customer got annoyed with stupid overdraft fees, so he’s suing the bank, in a move which could have far-reaching implications for overdraft policies in the future.

The auto bailout has failed. About time Congress did something right.

Having just read Cheer! I feel obligated to inform you that Fort Bragg’s cheerleaders are going to nationals! (The article, of course, doesn’t deign to tell you which Nationals, which would have been nice to know, given the proliferation of cheerleading organizations. I did a bit of sleuthing and found that it’s the United Spirit Association.)

Iraqi refugees in Vermont are having a rough time.

Time to compare Bush to Hoover? (And I’m not talking about low-lying shrubs and vacuums, people.)

A man in Sweden got stuck up a tree while trying to rescue his cat, and was forced to call the fire department. Guess whether the fire department rescued the cat or the man first…

Want to go inside Guantanamo? Here’s your chance, in video form.

A neat article about feline acupuncture. (As in acupuncture for cats, not by cats. Geeez.)

12 December, 2008 – 10:06 am | By s.e. smith | Posted in Everything, interesting |

Book 375: Breath

I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book. There were points when it was really clear, and tight, and excellent, and then there were places where it felt really scattered and unfocused. The structure was a little bit awkward, with randomly inserted flashbacks (or forwards) which didn’t really fit in and flow smoothly.

At the core, it’s an interesting story. I haven’t read that much Australian literature, so it was nice to get a glimpse of Australia, and Winton is apparently a very celebrated author in Australia. The potential in this book makes me want to seek out more of his work, because I think that he has the ability to write really well, he just fell a little short in this book. And most of the problems were structural.

He managed to capture the love affair with surfing which some people have, the compulsion of hitting the waves and the intensity with which people can feel, as well as the insularity of surf culture. At the same time, the book was a kind of sad coming of age story, and I couldn’t help but feel sort of bad for our narrator as he struggled with things which were definitely over his head.

As an asthmatic, I did find the theme of breath and breathing which wound through the book pretty interesting. In the context of this book, the inability to breathe and restriction of breath is almost a high, which the characters actively seek out so that they can feel alive. That hasn’t really been my experience, but I guess that’s because asthma is characterized by lack of control, rather than an active pursuit of being unable to breathe.

This book definitely pushed a lot of limits, sometimes in interesting ways. With a little bit of editing, it could have crossed the line from decent, but troubled, to great. I’m intrigued to see if some of Winton’s other work has the same quality.

Demographics:

Breath, by Tim Winton. Published 2008, 218 pages. Fiction.

12 December, 2008 – 8:33 am | By s.e. smith | Posted in book project, Everything |