Pronto
/Pronto by Elmore Leonard (1993) “Why in the hell would you do that?” is a question everyone can relate to—way too much—when considering choices made by humans—the good, the bad, and the utterly incomprehensible. And could be the terrible title of this book, even worse than the actual one, but more apt—though I suppose “Pronto” used in the Italian sense is a better word than our English version. This story is like a mini-catalog of Italian gangster types—meaning, in this case, people involved in illegal activity as a way of living. To what extent they are all clichés, I don’t really know. (You certainly meet plenty of people in real life that you feel are “like clichés”—yet they’re real people!) I feel like if I was Italian, I wouldn’t love the portrayals here, though, probably, I’d also not be thrilled if I was Black, or a woman—with those few depictions. As a hayseed, however, hell yes. That said, the more you appreciate it as a comic novel, which it is, the easier it is to swallow. Every character is made fun of, to some degree, so it’s somewhat fair, in that sense. But then, it is a crime drama, with suspense, violence, and tragic killings. I’ve never read any Elmore Leonard—hard to know where to start—audio-booked this version—the narrator is so entertaining, it was the closest to watching a TV show I’ve experienced though headphones—hard to put it down—really fast moving, and spare, and for the most part, a lot of fun. It follows several characters—sets them up like a mad experiment, with all their shortcomings—and then they mix and clash in expected and very unexpected ways. Hard for me to figure if it’s a guilty pleasure or not—I suppose that would depend on who I’m answering to—and seeing how I’m barely discussing anything with anyone, it’s just me and my conscience.
11.6.25