The Sicilian Inheritance
4.5/5
Critic Rating
Every family has an origin story – for author Jo Piazza (Under the Influence, Wilder) her family's is a murder mystery. For as long as she can remember the Piazzas have told the story of their Sicilian roots going back over a hundred years ago: one by one the sons and then their father sailed off to America to carve out a better life. Their mother, Lorenza Marsala was supposed to join them – but she never made it. She was murdered by the Sicilian mafia, they said. The truth of what happened has morphed like a game of telephone through the genera...
Critic Reviews
Score: 4.5
Chiara Sagramola • Orecchiabile Newsletter • Apr 11, 2024
"The Sicilian Inheritance è palesemente un contenuto pensato da statunitensi per statunitensi, ma parla di Italia, di Sicilia, di mafia...finisce per diventare un interessante esercizio di osservazione della propria cultura raccontata da qualcuno che, pur in parte capendola, ne è irrimediabilmente esterno. Sebbene il suo viaggio abbia proprio l’obiettivo di cercare fonti, e validare queste storie tramandate oralmente, a tratti scivola in un eccesso di ipernarrativizzazione delle cose più semplici... >>>>> The Sicilian Inheritance is clearly a content created by Americans for Americans, but it talks about Italy, Sicily, the mafia, stories that take on a life of their own...it ends up becoming an interesting exercise in observation of one's own culture told by someone who, although partially understanding it, is hopelessly external to it. Although his journey has the objective of seeking sources and validating these stories handed down orally, at times he slips into an excess of hyper-narrativization..."
