Escapes

Escapes is a bit of an odd combination of a book! Ostensibly historical fiction, it is actually written in a nonfiction style, but with imagined conversations liberally sprinkled through the story. Vic DiMartino recounts events in the lives of three men in his family: his grandfather Arturo, his father Nino, and his own early years. Through their actions and decisions, the lives of the whole family are irrevocably and drastically altered on several occasions. Arturo particularly comes across as a very self-centred person. His life story is unusual and I appreciated this opportunity to have discovered it, but I am glad not to have been one of the family caught up in the aftermath of his actions!

There are areas of interesting information in Escapes, especially on the subjects of the Allies' political betrayal of Italy at the end of the First World War and the North African concentration and labour camps during the Second World War. DiMartino has obviously done significant research around these places and periods which have generally been overlooked, I think, in other fictional (and nonfiction) accounts.

Overall though, unfortunately, I didn't feel that Escapes truly fulfilled its potential. Repetition of minutiae slows its pace and I often didn't find the dialogue convincing. The book is very male in its attitude and priorities with the women occasionally being decorative sounding boards, but otherwise ignored. For me, Escapes suffers from not knowing whether it wants to be a biography or historical fiction. It doesn't have the evocative descriptions or depth of characterisation to succeed as the latter, and I wonder if this story would actually be better served without its fictionalised elements.