Module 7: Realistic Fiction for Young Adults

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman

Korman, G. (2004). Son of the mob. New York: Hyperion Books for Children.

Summary

Son of the Mob is about 17 year old Vince Luca, son of a vending machine king aka mafia boss. Vince struggles to separate himself from his father's business but somehow it always manages to reassert itself in his life. When he starts dating the daughter of the FBI agent in charge of watching his father, Vince does his best to keep it a secret and keep those parts of his life separate.

My Thoughts

Funny and addictive, this page turner keeps the reader intrigued as to how the mafia life with continue to sabotage Vince's attempt to lead a normal teenager's life. Vince's sarcastic view of his father's business and his status as the son of a mafia boss keeps the reader entertained. Vince has the problems of every high schooler: juggling a girlfriend and guy friends, passing his classes and finding something to do on a Friday night. His balancing act of keeping his father and family situation secret from his girlfriend makes Vince's life extra dramatic and entertaining. I thought this book was funny and Vince's character was a great example of a teenager just trying to live a normal life. His interactions with his family and the mob guys that hang around his house were humorous and believable. Korman took a fantastical concept, being the son of a mob boss and made it believable and , creating a great book in the process. I think this book would work well as an example of humor for the young adult age group. It would also be a good book to recommend to a more reluctant male reader, simply because it is a fairly easy, quick read and presents the life of a teenage boy in such a funny way.

Review

This is light reading at its best. The opening chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book; it is at once laughing out-loud funny and at the same time draws the reader into empathetic identification with the central character, Vince Luca, and his dilemma: how to live as a normal teenager while being the unwilling "son of the mob." Korman sustains the momentum of witty one-liners and comic situations throughout the story, while deftly leading us through Vince's adolescent attempts to conduct a love affair with the daughter of the local FBI agent at the same time as he inadvertently becomes involved with the mob. There is plenty of teen angst here as well as humour. The obvious problems that attend youthful romance, such as dating and meeting the parents, as well as the need to define an identity separate from one's family, are handled sympathetically while maintaining the humour promised in the opening. Korman's achievement here is to make us care about Vince as much as we might care for a character in a more serious novel. At the same time, he manages a wickedly funny send-up of the idea of the mob "family" that carries with it an undercurrent of darkness. No glamour attaches to the mob; in fact the sleeziness of the underworld is all too apparent. Yet Vince must move warily between the revelations he uncovers about the mob and his affection for his family. While we may reasonably predict Vince's ultimate escape from these dilemmas to a happy ending, there are enough twists and turns on the way to keep us interested and amused. Acton, C. Canadian Literature, 2005.

Seventeen-year-old Vince wants to stay out of his family's mob business, no crooked sports
deals, no stolen gifts, no scary family reputation, and certainly no complications with his love life.
The problem is, his girlfriend's father is the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent in charge of investigating the Luca crime family. --. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 2004.