SF Chronicle Datebook:
For his novel about a crime family, Joseph Di Prisco channels childhood. Read here.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: No Sleep till Brooklyn
Read here.
“…this big fat gem of a book…”*
The Fitzgeralds are buttressed by wealth and privilege, but they are also buffeted by crisis after crisis, many of their own creation. Even so, they live large, in love and in strife, wielding power, combating adversaries and each other. The Good Family Fitzgerald is a saga of money and ambition, crime and the Catholic Church, a sprawling, passionate story shaped against a background of social discord.
Padraic Fitzgerald is the up-from-nothing, aging patriarch whose considerable business interests appear anything but legitimate, but he has bigger problems than law enforcement. A widower, Paddy becomes enmeshed with a young woman who will force him to re-examine his cardinal assumptions. Meanwhile, he has cultivated thorny relationships with his four children, all of whom struggle over the terms of connection with their father. Anthony―oldest son, principled criminal defense attorney, designated prince of the family―and his cherished Francesca are devastated by tragedy. In the aftermath, Frankie comes to play a vital role in Fitzgerald lore. Philip is a charismatic Catholic priest spectacularly torn between his lofty ideals and aspirations and his all-too-human flaws and longings. Matty has wandered aimlessly, but once he finds his purpose, he precipitates turmoil in all quarters. Colleen, the youngest, is a seeker who styles herself the outsider and the conscience of the clan. Her hands are full, as no Fitzgerald is left untested or unscathed, and by the end the whole family, as well as those venturing into their realm, will be stunned into illumination.
*“Di Prisco has gone out on a limb with his family history, reminiscent in many ways of Irwin Shaw’s Rich Man, Poor Man, casting this big fat gem of a book out on a vast ocean of literary ‘minimalism’. At a time when ‘restraint’ is one of the buzzwords in contemporary fiction, he’s given us a tome almost as big as the New Testament. But it’s definitely more profane than sacred. And it’s mesmerizing.”
— Anne Cunningham (Dublin)
“Joseph di Prisco’s new novel, The Good Family Fitzgerald, is a sprawling saga of an Irish-American clan, a richly comedic drama with indelible characters, told with biting wit…. His Fitzgeralds are by turns hot-headed and enigmatic, bursting with vitality or keeping their thoughts to themselves. The plot is episodic but compelling, and the dialogue clever without becoming cutesy. The Good Family Fitzgerald is a book worth sinking into, well-suited for relaxing in a hammock on a lazy afternoon.”
--Michael Berry, Berkeleyside
“A Fantastic Russian Novel Ingeniously Cast with Irish Americans:
You will enjoy a rich experience with this book just taking in the page-after-page feast of Di Prisco’s social and behavioral observations – every bit as trenchant and funny as those of Tom Wolfe at his best….The Good Family Fitzgerald is no less than a vast Russian novel (with, incidentally, a fraction of the heart-clogging misery and suffering calories) that, perhaps taking a page from Hamilton, is refreshingly, ingeniously cast with Irish Americans. Highly recommended!”
— Lawrence G. Townsend, author of The Hot Monkey Love Trial
“A fantastic read. Cinematic! Amazing Characters!”
— Janine, bookseller, Orinda Books
“This book tells the story of the Fitzgeralds, a family that has pretty much every kind of character you can imagine from priests to criminals, drug addicts to teachers, and everything in between. Di Prisco's writing is rich and full of humor and wonderful observations about our times and human weakness as well as strength. You will love the characters, the story, and the writing.”
— Anne Raeff, author of Winter Kept Us Warm and Only the River
“As crisis, spiritual messages and their implications, and changing relationships evolve against the backdrop of a dynasty's rigid issues, readers interested in moving stories of family history and discovery will find The Good Family Fitzgerald evocative and hard to put down as life lessons and the quest for redemption are carried into the family's structure, changing it forever.”
— California Book Watch
“The Good Family Fitzgerald is a wondrous, thoroughly fascinating novel with a grand cast of characters, and Di Prisco manages this cavalcade deftly. From the troubled Catholic priest, to the aging "capo" figure, to the sexy women, young and old, who alternately caper and then drag themselves through romantic encounters, I liked them all.”
— A.R. Taylor, author of Jenna Takes the Fall