Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri
Review by Matt B. ( BuffaloSavage)
Sicilian police inspector Salvo Montalbano and his band of dedicated detectives return in this seventh book of the celebrated series.
Because of the interesting setting and asides about food and his fractured relationships with other characters, these are definitely worth reading for those into mysteries that take place in other countries.
After reading about six of these in the last couple of years, however, I felt a cynical sense of Camilleri’s going through the motions – vast criminal conspiracy in business and government, vicious crimes against the innocent and vulnerable, and globalization ushering in the promised land for very few.
As usual, Salvo is a sparrow that sprinkles drops of water on a burning forest.
Camilleri’s thesis seems to be that Italian society is so profoundly corrupt that the normal response of an intelligent person is to choose the fights that could be won, enjoy eating and drinking, hang out with friends, and get pleasure in the spectrum of relationships one can have with women. That’s what Salvo does.
And it’s fun to read.
fire the cathode ray tube beam toward the oncoming blips. Little did anyone realize, a multi-billion dollar industry was born.
true potential. While many of the first home consoles (Atari, CalecoVision, Intellivision) found some success in the early ‘80s, it was largely due to what is now known as the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games that gaming truly came into its own. Memorable classics such as Pac-Man, Defender, Space Invaders, and Centipede quickly became buzzwords in America’s pop-cultural vernacular.
released an army of consoles and formats, and have consistently revolutionized the notion of home entertainment. We’ve seen games grow from simple single screen spritefests to immense and beautifully depicted virtual environments set as the backdrop for ongoing storylines and multifaceted plots more complex than the modern movie trilogy can express. These days, gamers don’t just play for the simple thrill of a few satisfying bleeps; today’s gamers immerse themselves into the roles of their characters, roving virtual landscapes in teams and squads with comrades networked across the world, perpetuating limitless plotlines and participating in nothing less than modern mythmaking, taking the labels of hero and villain alike onto themselves.
