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A review by rodica_b
Death and Judgment by Donna Leon
Wow. I didn’t give this book a rating. I don’t know how to rate it. It was grim, I think the grimmest so far. It was painful. The plight of human trafficking, of women being tricked into prostitution reminds me of the stories I used to hear as a child in a post-soviet country. About women taken illegally to Italy or Spain, promised jobs and forced to become prostitutes. Left no choice, without a passport and without knowing the language, the laws or the customs. From time to time, a story of such a victim would be published by a newspaper, a story of how she escaped and managed to return home. Many never did.
Then, there are the war crimes committed during the Yugoslavian war. I spent over 4 years in Montenegro and worked with people from all over ex-Yugoslavia. People found it very traumatizing to speak about it. About neighbor turning on neighbor, friend on friend. I don’t know if the plot is based on a real story, but it serves well to depict endemic corruption and organized crime spread through state institution like a plague.
As you can see, the book affected me. But I can’t rate it. It felt rushed. The characters were underused. And (spoiler alert), while the killer dies in the end, you know justice was not served. You root for the killer to escape, you want Brunetti to get more time with the killer and with this story. You want more Paola and the children, as they usually are the normalizing element, the people that bring Brunetti back to normalcy.
Then, there are the war crimes committed during the Yugoslavian war. I spent over 4 years in Montenegro and worked with people from all over ex-Yugoslavia. People found it very traumatizing to speak about it. About neighbor turning on neighbor, friend on friend. I don’t know if the plot is based on a real story, but it serves well to depict endemic corruption and organized crime spread through state institution like a plague.
As you can see, the book affected me. But I can’t rate it. It felt rushed. The characters were underused. And (spoiler alert), while the killer dies in the end, you know justice was not served. You root for the killer to escape, you want Brunetti to get more time with the killer and with this story. You want more Paola and the children, as they usually are the normalizing element, the people that bring Brunetti back to normalcy.