3 out of 4 stars
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“In a way, I was born famous. I inherited my mother’s beauty along with her undeserved reputation. And like my mother and her sisters, I too never felt quite good enough. I never really understood why that was, but I vividly remember feeling that way as a child.”
-The Company She Keeps
The Company She Keeps by Georgia Durante is a powerful and raw work of fiction that delineates psychological trauma caused by abuse. The book resonates with women who have been in abusive relationships, as well as young adults and adults who are intrigued by such intense works. It is essentially about a woman who came from a place where “the world of modelling and the world of The Mob both opened their doors for her”.
Georgia Durante had married mobster Joe Lamendola, which plunged her into the mob world of unspeakable violence and brutality, from which she barely escaped. The story is a deeply personal account of her infected relationship with her husband as well as with the mob world.
One of the best things about this book was the title. It is simple and just the right length. It doesn’t point an accusing finger to a specific demographic but is rather subtle and nuanced. Even the cover of the book leaves something lingering, something suggestive of more. Both the title as well as the cover left me impressed as well as intrigued.
Even the plot of the book was excellent. There was such fluidity in the narrative that I’m quite sure I finished reading this book in less than an hour. There was absolute coherence in the narrative and everything connective well with everything else. There were no unnecessary fragmentations or “splits”.
The story was an absolute delight to read, and the romance of the writer’s language was singular in its existence. I was stunned by its unique nature alone. The consistency with which the author has created this narrative makes the reader want to dive into this book again and again. The only thing that I felt could’ve been better was the grammar. While there were no outright errors, some sentences were sloppily constructed, and though they translated meaning nonetheless, the reader found herself lost by that point.
For this reason alone, I take off a point. I will thus give this book 3 out of 4 stars. This is the perfect read for young adults and adults, and especially women within this age bracket.
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The Company She Keeps
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