The Shape of Water

Ma l'acqua non ha forma!

Il poliziesco è solo la "forma" di un universo caldo, colorato, chiaroscurale e pieno di contrasti come solo il sud sa essere. L' > è un mero pretesto atto a descrivere un caleidoscopio di personaggi, movenze, quotidianità, storia, umanità e spietatezza nel quale il dialetto, stilema dell'autore intessuto di neologismi dà un tocco unico all'arte di raccontare una terra. "Taliava", mi "scantai", la "mànnara" sono invenzioni poetiche, ma Camilleri riesce a dargli la dignità di un gergo più vero del vero. "Salvù" è il commissario Salvo Montalbano, prima uomo e poi commissario, personaggio di una rettitudine e sensibilità umana difficile da conservare in una terra piena di contrasti e continui show more compromessi. Le storie sono assolutamente prive di riferimenti alla vita vera, ma poichè quest'ultima tende a superare continuamente la fantasia, l'autore si "lava le mani" delle coincidenze che "i giochi del caso" non possono addebitargli come responsabilità. Fantastico! show less

Translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli.

The first in the Sicily-set Inspector Montalbano series, The Shape of Water establishes the good inspector in a jaded community on the southern coast of the Italian island. Always struggling against the scofflaw traditions of his home, Inspector Montalbano pushes through the local political and ecclesiastical objections to his investigation, but what he finds casts him into the role of maverick as he seeks justice for all involved, regardless of the legal niceties that may be involved.

The case revolves around the death—by natural causes—of the town's charismatic lead politician and civic booster. He is found in suspicious circumstances, at a place he had no apparent reason to be. show more The dogged detective must juggle two beautiful young women—neither of whom is the Inspector's Milan-based fiancée—a medical examiner who never met a secret he couldn't blab, and a police force more concerned with thwarting the investigation than pursuing it properly.

The book has twists and turns, a highly sympathetic lead detective, and colorful local types, politics and hostility in high places. Well put-together, entertaining, unorthodox. It might be possible that a different, more nuanced translation would serve it better. show less

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Andrea Camilleri's novels starring Inspector Montalbano have become an international sensation and have been translated from Italian into eight languages, ranging from Dutch to Japanese. The Shape of Water is the first book in this sly, witty, and engaging series with its sardonic take on Sicilian life.

Early one morning, Silvio Lupanello, a big shot in the village of Vigàta, is found dead in his car with his pants around his knees. The car happens to be parked in a rough part of town frequented by prostitutes and drug dealers, and as the news of his death spreads, the rumors begin. Enter Inspector Salvo Montalbano, Vigàta's most respected detective. With his characteristic mix of humor, cynicism, show more compassion, and love of good food, Montalbano goes into battle against the powerful and the corrupt who are determined to block his path to the real killer. This funny and fast-paced Sicilian page-turner will be a delicious discovery for mystery afficionados and fiction lovers alike.

My Review: Television made me do it.

No. Really. There's an Inspector Montalbano mystery TV series made in Italy, filmed in Sicily, and all in Italian with subtitles. Since there are no Italian people in New York City and environs, our local PBS stations AND the city's wholly owned TV station neither one carry it. {/sarcasm}

It was left to a not-very-cultured bud of mine in **DAYTONA, FLORIDA** of all the lowbrow, low-rent places, to gush and rave and generally make a to-do over scrumptious Sicily and handsome Montalbano blah blah blah. Wench. And oh the insufferable coos of "Really? Truly? You haven't even *read* the books? No! Get out!"

THEN, to add insult to injury, who but a cyber-siren (second class) reviewer and friend should pop up with more rapturous flutings about Camilleri and Montalbano and well, you see?? See?! How on earth is one two-eyed human supposed to resist a cyber-siren's enticements? Okay, she's not up there with the Goodreads Gods yet, but just a few more eye grafts and it's Katie bar the door!

So fine fine, I give, five lights, I'll go get the blasted thing. I did, at 2:10pm yesterday. I finished the second read at 4pm today. It's short, obviously, but it's just completely fabulously delicious. It's wry, it's witty, and it's got my favorite quality: Good people do the right thing, even if it's illegal, and bad people don't get away with dick.

Montalbano's got a lover in Genoa, a hot chick who happens to be his friend's daughter, and she's all worked up for him, as well as a murder suspect who is an Italian man's wet dream: tall, blonde, Swedish, racing car driveress. Does he cheat on the lover? No. Does he seem to want to? Not so much, he really can't be bothered about silly stuff like that when the local party big-wig is found half-naked and dead in the local errr, mmm, uuuh "playground" shall we say. The man's widow, completely unfazed by this, helps Montalbano see the details that are wrong, the little discrepancies that shouldn't be noticeable, but when added up make the whole picture...askew.

The resolution to this case is one I wish some publisher would allow an American author to get away with. I just can't say enough about the rightness of it all. Sicily needs me, I must fly there immediately! Well, via Camilleri's books. And over a smallish Northeastern city, where I plan to *bomb* a Certain Cyber-Siren Party's residence. show less

The first in his Inspector Montalbano series, The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri was a very enjoyable excursion to Sicily. As opposed to some of the darker European crime stories, Montalbano has both a warmth and lightness that makes the reader feel comfortable immediately. The food descriptions alone have me wishing a trip to Italy was in my near future.

The mystery itself was a lesson in political machinations with misplaced loyalties and ambitions. With a nice twist, Montalbano proves to himself exactly what happened to Silvio Luparello. He also proves to the reader that not only is he willing to bend the rules a little, he is also a very smart detective which bodes well for future books.

Although I mentioned lightness up above, show more this book was far from light-weight. Montalbano threads his way through a cauldron of corruption, and the darker side of Sicily is not disguised in any way. This was a story of contrasts with stark honesty, humor, warmth and vendettas mixed throughout. I am intrigued and will definitely be continuing on with this series. show less

First in the Inspector Montalbano series, set in contemporary Sicily.

Introducing Inspector Salvo Montalbano, precinct chief in the fictional town of Vigáta near the provincial capital of Monetlusa (modelled on Agrigento, near where Camilleri was born and raised).

Montalbano is in his 40s, a quintessential Sicilian—moody, sarcastic, quick-tempered—and a lover of good food. His character is brilliantly and affectionately drawn. And that’s why you read the series—not for the plots, which certainly are interesting, since the context of the plots could only be Siciliy—but because of the characters. Camilleri has created a stable of recurring characters who are sharply drawn and well-developed, even down to the humblest of the show more force, one Catarella, the station buffoon.

The dialogue is sharp, the humor excellent and Montalbano is no perfect human being, by any means—making him one of the more interesting figures in the mystery genre today. He has a long-time ‘girlfriend’, Livia, and their relationship which, at times, borders on the insane, makes for some hilarious moments in the books. The descriptions of Sicilian food are enough to send anyone rushing out to the market to buy octopus.

The Shape of Water introduces the cast in a murder that involves a very high-profile resident of Vigáta who is found dead with his pants down around his ankles in a notorious area known as The Pasture, the site of an open-air brothel. Since this is Sicily, nothing is what it looks like, and the mystery deepens as Montalbano and his crew try to find out exactly what happened. The resolution is typically Sicilian and perfect for the story.

Highly recommended. show less

Two garbage collectors find a dead politician in a car parked on the notorious Pasture, the local place where people go to find a prostitute. Signor Lubarello died of a heart attack, but the situation surrounding his death suggests to Inspector Montalbano that all is not as it appears. He convinces the judge to let him continue his investigation, even though the death is apparently natural and all Montalbano has to go on is a hunch.

I never would have heard of this Italian police procedural if it hadn't been for Richardderus's recommendation based on my enjoyment of the Three Pines series. I don't read a lot of mysteries; I like them cozy, and I'm picky about it. Well, the Inspector Montalbano series is rougher around the edges than a show more cozy without going quite so far as the characters in The Maltese Falcon (I despised them, with no exceptions). Montalbano's informants are seedy people but trustworthy in their own fashion. Montalbano himself is not a saint, though he lives by his own code of ethics. Politics are dirty, allegiances are complicated, and it can be a little difficult to follow when you're as completely unfamiliar with Italian police and politics as I am. Even so, I was surprised that the seediness of some people and places didn't bother me more. Interactions between characters are believable and often humorous. The plot is fast-paced, keeping me reading late into the night to get just that much closer to the end, and intrigued me enough to want to continue the series. show less

La forma dell'acqua was the novel that introduced the character of Salvo Montalbano in 1994 (some later novels and stories are set earlier in Montalbano's career). In the opening pages, a prominent local businessman and political figure is found dead in his car in an a bit of waste ground notorious for drugs and prostitution. Even though there's nothing in the physical evidence to suggest foul play, Montalbano isn't happy, and launches an investigation, much against the wishes of his superiors.

The humour, the constant subversion of authority (except for Montalbano's own authority over the Vigata police, of course), and the exaggerated food-worship are all very endearing. Camilleri's stage and TV experience show in the construction and show more execution of the story: generally in a good way, especially in the care he takes with the dialogue, which is always spot on and has to do most of the work of telling the story and defining the characters. But there are also some bits of "business" that didn't seem to work as well on the page as it would on screen: notably when he uses the old "gunfight with his own reflection" trick and we can see it coming a mile off. show less