A review by fondarush
Born Mobster by Paige Dearth

3.0

Received from the author through Goodreads... I'm not going to reiterate the story, as many people have done it. I gave this review 4 stars for keeping the momentum going and being a good story about why this kid went bad because that's all he could be if he wanted to survive. The one star I left out was for inconsistent language (Tony's, and yeah, that gets me), corny situation with the girlfriend-become-wife, and Tony finding what he needed when he needed it (a place to stay, a way to make a little money, etc.). I don't understand when this story was supposed to have occurred, because how could someone make a dollar an hour washing dishes, but then use current slang? I thought it was in the 50s or 60s, but then something else made me think it was in the 10s. People couldn't throw their kids out of the house now and get away with it, but 50 to 70 years ago they might have been able to. The timeline also confused me, because I thought too much time passed for Kate to be making a decision about going back to school or getting her GED. I'm not going to go back through the whole book and find those incidents, but I do believe that time warped a few times. I was also that disappointed that Tony didn't become more refined in his speech because of the examples he was given as he matured, like Salvatore and his father, and Big Paulie, to name a few. And, who would use the words fuck and shit in their wedding vows? Good gravy! Anyway...the pace kept me reading, and I hope to read other books from this author, if for no other reason but to compare the writing from one book to the next.