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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780143037484
ISBN number: 014303748X
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: July 25, 2006
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 35138
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Product Description:
A dazzling new book in Andrea Camilleri’s international bestselling mystery series
The earthy and urbane Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano casts his spell on more and more fans with each new mystery from Andrea Camilleri.
Two seemingly unrelated deaths form the central mystery of Rounding the Mark. They will take Montalbano deep into a secret world of illicit trafficking in human lives, and the investigation will test the limits of his physical, psychological, and moral endurance. Disillusioned and no longer believing in the institution he serves, will he withdraw or delve deeper into his work?
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Rated by buyers 
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It's often that when Camilleri gets mad at the Italian government that he also gets mad at the Italian complacency at the same time. Such is this the seventh installment of "Inspector Montalbano". Kudos are owed to the translator Stephen Sartarelli who not only does a fine job in keeping to Camilleri's style but always puts useful notes at the end that make the book more enjoyable.
Montalbano is embarrassed by the way the Genoan Police act like "fascist criminals" when dealing with protesters at the G8 meeting. On top of this the cops in Naples go on a half day strike and act like "hooligans" in front of their own stations. He decides that the time has come to resign his office and find something more useful to do.
On a midnight visit he encounters the Italian Customs Police taking illegal North African immigrants off a leaking fishing boat. When a young boy breaks away, Montalbano brings him back to his mother. But the child looks terrified and doesn't want to go back, but he does. Later the child is found inland having been the victim of a hit-and-run.
Montalbano thinks that there is something wrong with the whole scenario and especially feels that he has contributed to the boys death by bringing him back after he ran away. He begins to search for the family but no one seems to be able to locate them. Curiouser and Curiouser. This all leads Montalbano to ferret-out a scheme to smuggle young children into Italy for the purpose of prostitution and pedophilia.
There is an over-the-top ending but it's all in the service of making his point that Italy is not fulfilling it's duty to protect the poor who are pouring into Italy from Albania and North Africa.
Zeb Kantrowitz
Rated by buyers -
Cameleri - or should I say his translator- continues his portrayal of an Italian Police Inspector fighting to stay human in world that becomes more complex daily. One doesn't really mind his cardboard charechters because they never cease to stop acting as cookie cutter people somewhere during the plot. One could get annoyed at the way Cameleri has his protaganist treat women -basically he's a cowardly tease- but after the third time, you know its going to not happen and, well, I suppose we all want to remain faithful to Livia. One hopes that Cameleri's subsequent book is written from her point of view. And we always look forward to his subsequent book.
Rated by buyers 
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I would only recommend this to other Camilleri fans. It is not nearly as good as his earlier novels. You can't favorably compare this outing to the Terra Cotta Dog.
Rated by buyers -
Rounding the Mark is a tragedy with lots of comedy to soften it. The darkness in this book comes from the pits of hell. Dante would have recognized the evil doers.
Ultimately, the lesson this story teaches is that we need to see ourselves more objectively and have a good laugh at what we see. That's a message that many won't be ready for as they consider the evil that men do to one another.
As the book opens, Inspector Salvo Montalbano is upset by instances of misbehavior by the police. The core of his self-worth is so affronted that he cannot bear to remain part of the police. Then, in a series of comedic turns, events conspire to delay his decision. This upset leads him to take a long swim . . . during which he has a most unusual surprise. That surprise immediately has burlesque consequences that will keep you laughing.
Next, a continuing gag line is established when Montalbano receives a call from Deputy Commissioner Riguccio who needs to borrow some glasses. While delivering the glasses, Montalbano unknowingly steps into moral quicksand . . . and lives to have nightmares about the consequences. From there, Montalbano finds that he can always count on his colleague, Torretta, to provide whatever is needed.
The affront to Montalbano's self-esteem is so severe that he pursues a one-man private investigation to right a wrong. In the course of that investigation, he learns a lot about his limits. Others, it turns out, are more aware and assist in unexpected ways.
In Rounding the Mark, Andrea Camilleri moves beyond the limits of the mystery and police procedural genres to movingly display the ambiguous position that the police play in serving the public while needing to address their own fears, prejudices, and feelings. For that purpose, the comedy in the book is too strong. Those interludes feel like clowns from the circus running across the stage in the middle of Macbeth.
But if you have enjoyed the earlier books in the series, you'll be moved by this one. It will strike you as a more serious and depressing book than most of the others. The contact with mortality is more visceral and personal here, and you'll feel it deeply.
Rated by buyers 
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I've read all eight of Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano novels currently available in English translation and preordered _Patience of the Spider_, so I guess I'm a fan. Salvo Montalbano is an enviable character--he may be bummed at getting old, but in the meantime he has gorgeous women crawling all over him and eats like a king--yet never gets fat! The carefully described meals are just one example of the many details that make readers feel at home in the wacky imaginary Sicilian city of Vigàta. This is definitely fiction with a strong sense of place, like that by Carl Hiaasen. In using his knowledge of the local ways (and thus passing them on to the reader), Montalbano is a little like the Joe Leaphorn of Hillerman's earlier novels (like _Dance Hall of the Dead_).
_Rounding the Mark_ is maybe a little less integrated than some of the novels--the novel begins with Montalbano's disgust at the corruption of his fellow cops to the point where he is about to resign, and it seems that corruption and the resignation will be a big deal, but they are pretty much forgotten as the plot gets underway. Other reviewers have complained that there's not enough fast-paced action in Camilleri's works, but this one heats up better than most by the end.
Camilleri is a master at characterizing people through their dialects. I wouldn't have thought that could come out in translation, but Sartarelli gets it across. And the endnotes are a godsend, especially in making clear just how much money is involved so as to clarify its motivating power. Then, too, there are lovely local customs like "goat-tying" explained. Sicily is a scary place!
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