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Overview
The Nic Sacco and Bart Vanzetti of Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! are not exactly the infamous anarchists sentenced to death by the United States government. Instead, in this first novel, they are film stars, slapstick comedians - and this is the story of their rise to fame, from a seedy New York vaudeville club (where they introduce their famous knife-throwing gag) to movies and USO tours (where they open, with disastrous results, for Bob Hope). We see them choosing their roles: one will be fat, the other skinny; one will be contemplative, the other impulsive. But as their careers decline amid controversy and as the characters grow out of their on-screen roles, slapstick becomes a stand-in for anarchic freedom, and the fictional Sacco and Vanzetti begin to merge with their namesakes. In the process, we're treated to an alternate history of the twentieth century, where liberty is always just a little bit out of reach.Synopsis
The Nic Sacco and Bart Vanzetti of Sacco and Vanzetti Must Die! are not exactly the infamous anarchists sentenced to death by the United States government. Instead, in this first novel, they are film stars, slapstick comedians - and this is the story of their rise to fame, from a seedy New York vaudeville club (where they introduce their famous knife-throwing gag) to movies and USO tours (where they open, with disastrous results, for Bob Hope). We see them choosing their roles: one will be fat, the other skinny; one will be contemplative, the other impulsive. But as their careers decline amid controversy and as the characters grow out of their on-screen roles, slapstick becomes a stand-in for anarchic freedom, and the fictional Sacco and Vanzetti begin to merge with their namesakes. In the process, we're treated to an alternate history of the twentieth century, where liberty is always just a little bit out of reach.
Publishers Weekly
What do comedy and anarchy have in common? That's the question behind this wildly inventive debut novel that recasts the famous anarchists as a pie-throwing slapstick duo. The reader first meets Nic Sacco ("Fatty") and Bart Vanzetti ("Skinny") as comic actors la Laurel and Hardy in Sacco and Vanzetti Dessert the Cause, a film that mixes classic gags with a bitter rivalry. The duo barrel their way from vaudeville to film, finally striking it big with a series of "knife-grinder" comedies that are as violent as they are funny. Like a good silent comedy, the novel has its share of feints Binelli cites fictional interviews and scholarly works about the pair's place in film history. But for all the off-kilter humor, there's an undercurrent of social consciousness that calls attention to the xenophobia of the early 20th century (one of the pair's movies is called A Couple of Wops in a Jam), condemning the role ethnic prejudice played in the actual Sacco and Vanzetti's conviction and execution. It's a hefty book, more intellectually satisfying than emotionally so, and it takes a long time for Binelli to bring together his counter-tale with its real-life antecedents. Still, this is an impressive first outing; ambitious in scope and brimming with sharp-edged black humor. (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.