MA, YOUR SON IS CRAZY, DO SOMETHING!

In this memoir/biography, Fabio tells the stories of himself and his cousin, and the consequences of their very different choices.

The author’s cousin Robert’s life reads like a cautionary tale, with many pages devoted to his yearslong involvement in criminal activity and after-hours gambling. As readers take in the stories of Robert’s shocking dealings with Irish gang members in New York City and his encounters with the law in the late 1960s and early ’70s, it’s easy to believe that these tales can’t possibly be true—and, yet, they are. Fabio presents this biographical, true-crime account alongside his own memoir in order to contrast Robert’s decisions with his own. He recorded stories that his cousin told over an unspecified 30-month period and corroborated the tales with evidence from newspaper articles, accounts from family members, and other sources, resulting in a story that “involves two cousins whose lives intersected for decades…about whispered secrets, true and verified accounts; stories about how choices induce to good and evil, and how life takes sundry twists and turns that lead to either virtue or immorality.” As such, it’s packed with anecdotes about Robert’s nefarious dealings, which included beatings (given and received), theft, intimidation, an arrest for conspiracy to commit murder, and big-money gambling—all as seen through the eyes of his cousin, as they weaved in and out of each other’s lives.

Fabio’s strategy of contrasting Robert’s shocking experiences with straightforward stories of his own spiritual journey, and his later pursuit of a career in pharmaceutical sales, proves to be a smart move. Although the book is primarily driven by tales from Robert’s eventful life, the story of his author’s path from a partying lifestyle in college to a devout life of faith provides essential balance, and it allows a buffer for the work’s goal of allowing readers to “learn from the consequences of our choices.” That said, a few key elements of the book’s structure and organization may cause readers to become confused at times. First, the use of italics, instead of quotation marks, to denote dialogue often has the effect of making paragraphs feel choppy and stilted, as in this passage: “Bobby how was it tonight? / Pops, stop saying Bobby, I don’t want these people knowing who I am. / Bobby, how was 61st Street? / Pops, I always win, I try my best. / Oh God Bless You, we love you!” Also, over the course of the book, the author’s method of dropping biblical quotes directly into the text without transitions will makes it hard for readers to take in how each passage from Scripture relates to the main text. The author also uses all-caps quotations from other sources—including the works of Italian diplomat and philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli and French critic and journalist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr—at the start of each chapter; the effect of these can be jarring, and they sometimes reveal upcoming aspects of the main narrative in an awkward manner.

A sometimes-engaging compilation of contrasting life stories that’s hampered by uneven execution.