Customer Reviews
A fascinating and unique perspective on the world today - By: N. Megahey, 19 Dec 2008 
A passionate, troubling & at times personally conflicted exposé of the Neapolitan mafia the Camorra, Roberto Saviano examines the origins, the history & the bloody rise to power of the various clans to become a powerful & influential force not justin Campania or Italy but throughout the world. In Gomorrah,in a manner that would force him to go into hiding following publication, he names names, examines the environment that gave rise to the Camorra, & tries to understand the thought processes behind their actions, behaviour & their business practices.
What is revealed is staggering & on a scale almost beyond the ability of the reader to grasp. Saviano shows a more widespread & powerful organisation than the more well-known Sicilian mafia, a confederation of clans & cartels that has its fingersin almost every aspect of world commerce - not just gun-running & drug-dealing, butin everything from the fashion industry (passing off high quality copies with the tacit agreement of the main fashion houses) to electronic goods & even monopolising the waste disposal industry. In a nice symmetry, the novel opening by looking at how all the world's commerce passes through Naples, & ending with a look at how it all comes back to Naples as waste to be illegally disposed ofin the surrounding countryside.
Exceptionally well-writtenin this respect, full of poetic, original & insightful observations (which some clearly find difficult to read) that strive to capture the enormity of the scale of the Camorra's activities, the book can also be quite shocking, describing the killings & clan wars, the battles over territory, the grim tortures & executions carried out to anyone who opposes the System. It's a fascinating look at the manners & morals not just of the Camorrah, but of of the world today, of big business of the most ruthless sort taken to its ultimate extreme, with no social conscience or long-term outlook. Truly terrifying.
The only thing you learn in the black hole of Naples is how to die - By: Luc REYNAERT, 13 Dec 2008 In going undercover, R. Saviano experienced at first hand the Mafia at workin the Naples region.
It is a story of savage infighting, bid-rigging, trafficking & relentless slaughtering of competition.
Economics
Mafia business is one of the most aggressive forms of neoliberalism. It is a naked struggle among clansin order to create monopolies & to maximize profits. Their activities cover as different sectors as real estate, construction, cement, garment, farming, sugar & trafficking of drugs, cigarettes, arms & waste. A clan cartel could generate as much as 30 billion euros of revenues per year.
The author also clearly explains the bidding contest for contractsin the garment industry, where small `illegal' factories with harsh working conditions are tailoring even unique pieces for the top namesin the industry.
Ethics & creed
For the Mafia, ethics equal protection of the defeated. Justice & injustice have only significance as victory or defeat. The only thing that counts is the law of the strongest, are the means to rule.
Its members don't consider their activities as contradictory to the Christian message as long as those activities are good for the clan & its affiliates. Killing of enemies & traitors is seen as a legitimate transgression of the fifth commandment.
Lifestyle
Oncein a commanding position, most bosses are confronted with the long arm of the law. They are always on the run & are not capable of enjoying their wealth. They become prisoners of their own business empire.
A big part of the book unravels a secession war between Mafia families & the killing of a priest. The relentless bestial slaughterings become rather boring & can only be fully appreciated by insiders.
Roberto Saviano wrote a courageous book exposing business empires built on monopolies, extortion & brutal power struggles. It is a picture of a lawless society.
Highly recommended.
Great story but, oh!, the writing - By: chris widgery, 04 Dec 2008 
There are two things you need to know about this book. Firstly, it is a (literally) shocking expose about the power, reach, spread & influence of the Comorra, the Naples mafia. It names names, it gives details. It's staggering. It's also laughablein places - when he recounts how a lot of the younger mafiosi can no longer shoot straight, because they'er copying how they hold gunsin the movies & rap videos, & the capo who builds himself an copy of Tony Montana's villa.
But the second thing you need to know is that it's really badly written. I don't know if it's the original or the translation - maybe both - but the prose is breathless & florid. Passages need to be read & reread to understand what he's going on about. There are sections where he remembers himself & the text is readable, & they are the bits that are most successful & most shocking. But overall it's hard work.
A pity though, because the book is brave & important. Just badly written.
Needs Savage Editing - Maybe A Re-Write - By: Robert D. Lee, 17 Nov 2008 
What could have been an excellent investigative book turns out to be a difficult to read book. The first chapter is riddled with metaphors & is writtenin such a florid style one begins to wonder if it is a different author. Maybe an author who was confused on whether he should be writing poetry or prose rather than hard fact.
Subsequent chapters are infused with far too many names & places for any reader to grasp. Oncein a while there is a flash of light when the author concentrates on one character & gives an insight into his biography. Alas, these examples are too few.
I was disappointed that Saviano didn't focus enough on the politiciansin Italy. If he was prepared to put his life on the line for naming a few psychopaths why didn't he go all the way & name key namesin the political hierarchy?
It makes a saddening read, even more so to know that the psychopathic criminal gangsin Italy are responsible for 6% of the Italian GDP!
Saviano needs to read the works of some genuine investigative journalists such as John Pilger before he embarks on any more ventures. His emotive style ruined the book.
Finally. The book has convinced me that Italy is a 'basket case' & has fallen off my countries to visit.
Buy it if you want to read about the dark side of man - By: Gavri G. Tasigeorgos, 15 Nov 2008 The book offers a native eye on mafia "entrepreneurship"in South Italy & Europe. If you are interested to know how organized & disorganized crime operates, a possible outcome for a community that has been abandoned by government care & to what extend can people go, this is definitely your read.
What was enjoyable for me is that the book is written mostlyin a journalistic fashion with not a lot of "creative editing" to make it more story-like. I guess the reality was graphic enough.
In the back of the cover it is written "a mosaic of terrifying stories...Gomorrah paints a terrible portrait of an organization that has killed more than all other is Europe". I don't know the body count but I agree with the description of the book.
