Aldo grows up in a warm, loving family in Venice. His father runs a neighbourhood restaurant and he is an apprentice shipwright. However after a series of mishaps Aldo finds himself fighting in Russia as part of the Italian army in the Second World War. After escaping with a Russian girl he is sent to the Gulags and finally returns to Venice to seek vengeance for old wrongs.

This book is very easy to read and on a superficial level quite enjoyable. The plot rattles along and the writing is simple. However it is neither fish nor fowl, it is neither the sweeping romantic epic that it could be, nor the gritty story of survival and revenge that it might aspire to be. Aldo 19s supposed motivation for revenge is clear but the character, who has been overwhelmingly moral to that point, commits a callous murder with little guilt. I did enjoy the book but it left little impression on me.
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