The Fugitive by Massimo Carlotto

Author : Massimo Carlotto
Title : The Fugitive
Published : 1994
Publisher : Europa
Pages : 160
Genre : Contempary Ficiton

     Inspired by Carlotto's own experience on the run from a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit, this gritty, authentic tale takes readers on a journey that passes through the French underworld to a Mexico riddled by guerilla warfare.

     When it comes to The Fugitive it is hard to tell apart those events that actually happened to the writer and those he has created for the sake of making a good story. But to be perfectly truthful I don't think it matters a whole lot to those coming to read this book. In my case, I had no idea who he was, or all he had been through. And I think that maybe this is for the best. It stopped me wanting to pick apart his story between fact and fiction, instead of allowing me to enjoy a story of a man on the run for the Italian government.

     There is something of the lovable rouge about our hero, He bounces from one ill-advised situation to the next. And for the most part, it would seem like he has not a care in the world as he attempts to live his life without the shadow of the law looming over him. And just maybe if he was in fact guilty of the crime he is accused of I might have just taken a different opinion of him. Or rather this would have been a very different book. It would be somewhat more difficult to laugh at the absurdity of an actual murder. He feels like the guy at the bar talking the loudest about how bizarre his life has been. For some, he would be the most interesting person they met that night for others the most annoying.  Ethier way the hero of this novel certainly has done some traveling in the hopes of outrunning the series of miss-steps that led him to be on the run. 

     In the course of Massimo's story, we do flick and flight about in the timeline. It's almost as if he is reciting it from memory and every now and again he remembers something and jumps back. For me, I was still able to keep up with his train of thought throughout. There are times when this book more than a little reminded me of the books of the beat generation. It is that very specific sense of adventure that comes from not seeming to give a dame about anything other than staying on step ahead of the law. I also appreciate it is a style of narrative that can completely turn some people off. And one that myself have come to struggle a great deal with. It is I suppose that easy in which our heroes come to use people and then discard them. Although with Massimo this is less so probably due to the fact that he comes across as more than a little inept at times. 

     This book has a lot to offer for the right reader. If you are looking for a very serious true crime ish novel then I could not recommend this book. What it does have are adventure and scrapes. There is plenty of humor to be found not only about his situation but also about the places he finds himself. All of this wrapped up with a bit of down to earth reality found having lived through such an event.