CARLO'S PIZZA

In this nostalgic novel, a teenager starts delivering pizza under dire circumstances.

Seventeen-year-old Vinny Esposito has failed his driving test. In Eatontown, New Jersey, the sympathetic instructor lets him drive home, informing him that he can attempt the test again in three weeks. But at home, Vinny learns that his absentee mother has left for good, without even a note of explanation to him or his teen siblings, Laura and Timmy. With their father deceased, Vinny realizes he must join Timmy in the workforce to help support the family. He takes the Espositos’ old Datsun station wagon to Carlo’s Pizza and applies as a delivery driver. Vinny lies about having his driver’s license and joins the iconic neighborhood establishment. As a consistently hard worker, he impresses his mentor, Anthony, who soon promises him the chance for better pay. Eventually, Vinny begins making mysterious deliveries that involve empty pizza boxes and paper bags that he’s forbidden to peek into. He’s content to make the extra money and not ask questions. Then a letter from a bank arrives at the Esposito home. It says that the siblings must pay $17,000 or lose their house. Vinny unburdens himself to Anthony, who has a plan that might solve his problem—but can the teen avoid the entanglements of a dangerous business long enough to enact it? Ferraro’s novel focuses a loving eye on that staple of American culture, the family-owned Italian restaurant. Carlo’s has “plastic red and white checkered tablecloths” and wobbly tables that people forgive because the food is so good. Readers also learn of the restaurant’s sketchier dealings, the details of which play into Hollywood tropes of Italians as mobsters with hearts of gold. Certain elements, like the “rich douche” Billy Muscowski, feel rendered more to scratch the author’s nostalgic itch than serve the plot. But Vinny’s relationship with Anna Fanzotti, his forbidden first love, adds a mythic dimension to the protagonist’s heroic feats. Tonally, there is much to draw in the audience, especially the plot’s compact handling of Shakespearean-tinged romance and tragedy. By the end, readers will crave more from Vinny.

A compelling tale of pizza, first love, and family loyalty.