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Earthquake I.D.

by John Domini (Goodreads Author)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 17 ratings · 9 reviews

Earthquake I.D. offers an exciting new take on Americans in Italy: a nightmare reframing, yet leavened throughout with wit and compassion. The setting is the turbulent southern metropolis of Naples, an urban hive that has suffered many an earthquake over the centuries. The next such shakeup provides Domini with his premise. His American family, Jay and Barbara Lulucita and...more

Paperback, 306 pages

Published May 1st 2007 by Red Hen Press

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Jan 09, 2009 Jason Pettus rated it 5 of 5 stars

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally. Sorry; today's review is slightly longer than Goodreads' word-count limit.)

Well, whaddya know -- January 8th and already one of my New Year's resolutions is shot all to hell. See, I promised myself this year to try to get through enough artistic projects to be able to publish five essays here a week;...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Stephen Beard rated it 3 of 5 stars

ONE PART MARVELOUS, ONE PART BORING
Earthquake I.D.
By John Domini
Barbara Lulucita (lu-lu-CE-ta in America, lu-LU-su-ta in Italy) is involved in a marriage she believes is on the cusp of divorce. Her internal monologue dominates John Domini’s Earthquake I.D. to point of informing everything in the book. To me, this is an anchor holding back what could be an engaging, even fascinating, fast-moving naval destroyer of a tale.
It occurs in a semi-exotic location — Naples — in a time of upheaval and...more ONE PART MARVELOUS, ONE PART BORING
Earthquake I.D.
By John Domini
Barbara Lulucita (lu-lu-CE-ta in America, lu-LU-su-ta in Italy) is involved in a marriage she believes is on the cusp of divorce. Her internal monologue dominates John Domini’s Earthquake I.D. to point of informing everything in the book. To me, this is an anchor holding back what could be an engaging, even fascinating, fast-moving naval destroyer of a tale.
It occurs in a semi-exotic location — Naples — in a time of upheaval and turmoil both physical and psychological following an earthquake near Mt. Vesuvius — a real one in 1980. It features her son, an adolescent with apparent powers for faith healing. Her husband, the momorably-nicknamed Jaybird, on a UN mission providing relief in the earthquake shaken area around Naples. Her four other children entering or nearing the end of their teenage years. Her mother-in-law who considers herself a seductress in her dotage. A surrounding cast of characters including Silky, a scheming truth-challenged UN employee and bodyguard, clandestino Africans, an unctious Italian priest, hordes of Italians shaken by the earthquake, international and local characters with shady or at least unexplicable motives.
So with all that, you’d expect a tale of movement, of action, of consequence and redemmption. Those elements are present, to be sure, but they are overwhelmed by Barbara’s continuing angst about her marriage. Should she kick the ol’ Jaybird out? Or should she reconcile with him, recognizing the nobility of the man who left a high-paying job in New York to perform missions of mercy for his ancestral countrymen?
Unfortunately, we are presented with much too much agonizing on Barb’s concerns. It’s not that these are trivial questions — busting up a long marriage or keeping it together — call for serious questions not only about who we are and what we want with our lives, but about the practical concerns about starting a new phase of life and the unfathomable problems that creates, and about the children, their development, and their educations.
Domini does a marvelous job of that. Open this book at any random page and might well be overwhelmed by the humanity of the characters, the humor and danger of their situation, the beauty of the language.
At the same time, you’re likely to be wishing Domini could get past the cluelessness of his lead character’s approach to her problem and just — please! — get on with the story.
I’m a huge fan of John Domini’s works. He has an unparalled ability to place himself into the minds of his characters — but maybe a little too unparalleled in Earthquake. I think his shorter pieces are better than his longer works. To contrast Earthquake I.D. with his other book on the same place and time, read A Tomb on the Periphery. Try Highway Trade, a marvelous collection of short stories. Try Bedlam. All short, sweet, rapidly moving stories (or collections of stories) that are more representative examples of Domini’s talents.
(less)

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Apr 19, 2011 MJ Nicholls rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels, merkins, the-art-of-loathing

Let me explain something about the narrator’s function. The narrator should be an observer, a voyeur, a secretary. The narrator should slowly orbit her characters, allowing them room to breathe, to grow, to take on colours and shapes, letting the actions and events unfurl in a carefully choreographed tableau of feelings and happenings. This isn’t true of all narrators. But it’s a good starting point. A good narrator also knows when to shut the hell up.

Earthquake I.D. is an accomplished and ambit...more Let me explain something about the narrator’s function. The narrator should be an observer, a voyeur, a secretary. The narrator should slowly orbit her characters, allowing them room to breathe, to grow, to take on colours and shapes, letting the actions and events unfurl in a carefully choreographed tableau of feelings and happenings. This isn’t true of all narrators. But it’s a good starting point. A good narrator also knows when to shut the hell up.

Earthquake I.D. is an accomplished and ambitious novel, populated by strange and engaging events, set in a wholly unchartered fictional terrain: modern Naples. The shelves aren’t swarming with sagas about Sicilian-American immigrants returning home to help with earthquake relief efforts. So this novel stakes its flag in original and fascinating territory, and pursues that territory with an assured, intelligent voice.

But, heavens to Betsy. That narrator doesn’t stop narrating. He loves to narrate, he loves it, so he does. And that, for me, is this book’s undoing. It’s not simply a case of style, of the Sicilian storytelling tradition fused with the sardonic Sorrentino touches, topped off with a little erudite showboating. That’s all well and good, that’s what makes the style distinctive. But there’s too damn much of it. So what happens, ultimately, is the narrator blocks our involvement with the characters, the plot, the language. He blocks the novel.

By over-narration, I mean simply excessive descriptive passages of feelings, sensations, happenings, plot machinations. You get the feeling the narrator often gives way begrudgingly to dialogue, a necessary hurdle before another long stretch of narration begins. The narrator never gets close to the characters in a gut-level way: the best moments with Barb are shown through dialogue, while the narration flaps away, digging for insight, for little profundities. It’s a novel that blocks emotional involvement through fat swathes of superfluity.

Added to this a convoluted plot with characters dumped and forgotten, an increasingly frustrating performance from the lead man ‘Jaybird,’ and the often awkward technology and sex talk. The subplot with Paul, a child with healing powers, is dropped entirely, and towards the end I had to will myself to keep reading as I couldn’t follow any of the plots toppling over themselves in this long slow wheeze towards the end.

Having said that, the research and attention-to-detail is faultless, and the book has a simmering political subplot running throughout designed to keep the reader tip-toeing on hot coals. It’s a smorgasbord of elements, knitted together with patches of sumptuous prose.

I’ve been cautious in this review since Mr Domini is a frequent Goodreads contributor (and top reviewer), and knowing the author might read a not-too-flattering review makes a person very cautious about clear expression and rational analysis. (A good thing? Certainly.) So yes, on the whole: fascinating ideas, not mad on that loquacious narrator. (Also I have to agree with another reviewer regarding the cover: it’s hideous).(less)

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May 04, 2010 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book wasn't what i expected. I expected a book about a natural disaster, full of secrets and lies. The book was actually more focused on the family but it did have the secrets and lies. I actually really enjoyed this one. I think that some parts were a bit drawn out which is why it lost a star for me, but overall it was really good. I think that it was well written and really got you to care about the family. I also like the ideas in the book and the setting in Naples. I have never been to...more

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Dec 07, 2008 Lettie Prell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-spouse-brilliant

A wonderfully satisfying read, John Domini's new novel rewarded me with an intriguing portrait of another world, fascinating characters, and a hint of the mysterious in a modern setting. The world is that of Naples, Italy, riotously overcrowded, yet nevertheless conveying a sense of joyous celebration of humanity en masse. The characters are the Lulucitas, an American family on a mission to help the victims of the city's latest earthquake. The novel focuses mainly on the mother, Barbara, a woman...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Tuck rated it 4 of 5 stars

what a powerful novel. reminds me of Rikki Ducornet some. a full story about the dissolution and reuniting of a new york family in Naples after a devastating earthquake. Shows and brings usa people into the real world, or all the other world not encompassed in our insular usa. I think we have arrived and are facing the consequences of our meddling and the long history of people and their god.

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Nov 17, 2009 Suzanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

If this book were a dessert, it would be Mississippi Mud Pie. The prose is dense and rich, and demands one's full attention. Loved the miracles, the quirky characters, and the setting (Naples).

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Mar 18, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

This has to be my favorite of Domini's writings so far. There are just so many things going on in this book at one time that are woven together into a single narrative movement. Like the literary equivalent of thousand thread count sheets. Just really pulls me in. Religion, personal issues, intrafamily issues, politicial issues, each distinct yet each contributing to the forward motion that sucks me in and pulls me along. This is a marvelous book.

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Feb 20, 2011 M rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: united-states

John is a brilliant, talented writer. Although A Tomb on the Periphery is, for me, his accomplished novel, I have had pleasure to re-read recently this wonderful book Earthquake I.D. set in Naples, Italy.

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Shelves: book-club

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Shelves: contemporary, fiction, italy

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About John Domini

John Domini has won awards in all genres, publishing fiction in Paris Review, Ploughshares, and anthologies, and non-fiction in GQ, The New York Times, and elsewhere, including Italian journals. The New York Times has praised his work as "dreamlike… grabs hold of both reader and character," and Alan Cheuse, of NPR's "All Things Considered," described it as "witty and biting." Domini's ‘03 novel, T...more

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