The Mediterranean Runs Through Brooklyn

The Mediterranean Runs Through Brooklyn by Anthony Valerio contains a series of portraits: "My Mother," "My Father," "My Sister," "My Aunts," "My Uncles" and others. Valerio writes with energy and a rich style, and has an unusually good eye for detail. The situations happen in Brooklyn in the life of an Italian-American family, and sometimes in Italy. Talk about ethnicity:It's here in dozens of guises and shapes. Rudolph Valentino figures in two stories: "You could tell Valentino coming from a mile away by his gait and the unusual swing of his arms. He placed one foot directly in front of the other and swung his arms high in front and just as high in back...and he never looked you straight in the face, tilting his head slightly away to hide his cauliflower ear and his scar." The book has zest, high humor, madness, detached reflection, and pathos.
--Los Angeles Times