Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Curse of Pietro Houdini: A Novel

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remarkable

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2024

This book is not like any other book. I will not describe it I can only say read it. Worth the read

One person found this helpful

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Jose

Convoluted Characters

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2024

I’m halfway through this book and I have to say it’s not in the same league as All The Light We Cannot See. The two main characters remain mostly an enigma with very little character development. The Pietro character reveals next to nothing about himself and comes off as condescending and obsessed with a mission, with no backstory that explains the true “why”.

Will update this if it improves but so far unimpressed.

388 total ratings, 33 with reviews

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From the United States

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remarkable

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2024

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This book is not like any other book. I will not describe it I can only say read it. Worth the read

One person found this helpful

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Keith R

A Thoroughly Enjoyable Novel!

Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2024

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This novel captured my attention from the beginning and held it throughout. Well written and beautifully paced.

One person found this helpful

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Night inTunisia

Memorable and heartfelt

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2024

Massimo, a 14-year-old, escapes Rome after his parents are killed in 1943. Thugs attack him and he’s left at the base of an abbey, where he’s found by science professor and art aficionado Pietro Houdini. Pietro saves him and with forged papers, the abbey allows Pietro to catalog its vast stores of priceless art kept safely from the Germans. Pietro claims Massimo as his indispensable assistant. As Massimo grows to be truly indispensable and Houdini mentors him, a series of false identities catapult the two into life-or-death situations. Massimo disguises himself as a girl to keep himself from being conscripted into the German army, yet he has been a girl all along.
Endearing characters include a mule named Ferrai. Unlike your usual WWII novel, revelations of beloved Italian culture transcend Mussolini, Hitler, or whichever friend or foe overtakes the Italians.
In addition, the perspective of sexual identity takes on new meaning when it is donned like a protective cloak. It exposes the powerful drive for survival.
The last half of the book is violent and dark, but a spark of hope appears at the end. Despite the darkness, Pietro's views on Italian people, its art, and protecting those you love, are beautifully crafted and worth the read. The American author has great love and respect for his adopted country.

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Goth Princess

Another great book by Derek B. Miller

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024

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Excellent book that includes many actual events during WWII that I never knew about (of course I looked them up to be sure of the authenticity). Always fun to read a book and have your computer by your side to check our and expand upon events.

2 people found this helpful

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Skylark

Better and better

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

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Each novel this author writes gets better and better. This one—I could be right—is his best. It’s funny despite his graphic description of the horrors of war and his characters surprise us as they overcome terrible odds only to discover…failure. When all seems hopeless, fortunes turn, light appears, the author changes tenses and looks back a what life has provided. After all, it’s a story only a Houdini could tell.

9 people found this helpful

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C. Pessah Lewitter

interesting story

Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2024

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war is a trial to stay alive

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Susie | Novel Visits

A Very Differnt, Very Clever WWII Story

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024

(𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 @𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 #𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘥) 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗣𝗜𝗘𝗧𝗥𝗢 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗜 by Derek B. Miller is a book we haven’t seen enough of...yet. An atypical WWII story, this takes place in Italy and involves the quest to save the extensive art collection in the Montecassino abbey. At the heart of this tale are two distinct characters. The first is Massimo, a 14-year old boy on the run after losing his parents to a bomb attack. Haunted by grief, Massimo is afraid of Nazis and Allies alike and falls prey to rough, older boys. To his rescue comes Pietro Houdini, an “art restorationist” on his way to the abbey to assist in protecting its valuable art collection. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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Massimo learns to assist Pietro, while also being audience to his many stories. Pietro is a talker, a big talker. Through these characters and a handful of others I learned much about WWII on the Italian front. That was truly eye-opening and in some cases painful and upsetting to read, but so well done. While Massimo was the heart of this book, Pietro was its soul. From him, came so much information. At times it almost felt overwhelming, but everything eventually came together.⁣⁣⁣
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If the book was divided into thirds, the last portion would easily be my favorite. As the war neared its end, with both sides desperate, things became intense. So much happened to ALL the characters who by then I’d come to love. The middle third’s level of detail made it a bit slow and could have been tighter, but by then I’d already been drawn in. Sinking into the slower pace was easy to do.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
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If you like WWII fiction or historical fiction in general, I can almost guarantee that 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘗𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘪 will fill an empty niche in your reading life. It’s truly a unique story made even more special by the amount of it that was real. DO NOT miss the author’s notes at the end!

8 people found this helpful

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Laurel S.

This book needs 6 stars!

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2024

Verified Purchase

Derek Miller has created a remarkable cast of characters and a captivating story line. I was unaware of the plight Italians endured at the end of WWII . The beautiful aspect of this novel is that fact is cleverly woven into this piece of fiction. Miller’s writing is articulate and beautifully written!

7 people found this helpful

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Rockaroo

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek Miller

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2024

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I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful World War II historical fiction set in Italy. Derek Miller finds a way to create a compelling story with wonderful characters that face a tragic world with resolve. I couldn’t put the book down until the last words were read.

8 people found this helpful

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Joe Terrell

A Multi-Layered Tale of Survival, Art, Coming of Age, and Found Family in WWII Italy

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024

Inspired by true events, Derek B. Miller's The Curse of Pietro Houdini is a is a wondrous and multi-layered tale of survival, found family, and art set in World War II-era Italy within the walls of a Benedictine monastery.

After her family is killed in Rome by an allied bombing raid, 14-year-old Massimo finds herself orphaned and adrift in the Italian countryside. Near the town of Cassino, she's rescued from a group of thugs by a man calling himself Pietro Houdini, who claims to be an art historian and envoy from the Vatican. Houdini takes Massimo under his wing and brings her to Montecassino, a hilltop Benedictine monastery operating as a refuge for the injured and displaced.

Massimo quickly learns that Houdini hasn't been completely honest with her. Montecassino happens to be one of the largest depositories of Renaissance-era art in all Italy, and Houdini has learned that the Nazis plan on relocating all of it for "safekeeping." After recruiting a group of misfits, they hatch a daring plan to steal three Titian masterpieces before the Nazis can do the same.

Prior to reading The Curse of Pietro Houdini, I knew nothing about the events at Montecassino (Google images of the monastery — it's beautiful) and thus was shocked at what unfolded there toward the end of the war. And while it's being marketed as an "art heist adventure," I'd argue that The Curse of Pietro Houdini is much more philosophical in nature than that tagline would suggest — there are numerous soliloquies about the value of faith, love, and art in the midst of suffering. And even though the book is set during some of the most harrowing months of World War II, the savagery of the final act still managed to surprise me — perhaps because everything that preceded it is filled with light touches of humor and warm-hearted sentimentality.

Perhaps where The Curse of Pietro Houdini succeeds most masterfully is in its depiction of how war and suffering muddies traditional morality. The warfront in Italy was far more complicated than the typical "Nazis vs U.S." narrative we get in most WWII stories, and main characters must "lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin" their way to survival. Additionally (and without getting into spoilers), author Derek B. Miller does something with POV/pronoun usage that I've never seen done before that would make for some great book club conversation fodder.

Perfect for fans of All the Light We Cannot See and The Shadow of the Wind, The Curse of Pietro Houdini is a masterful combination of coming-of-age narrative, WWII survival story, and treatise on the importance of art. (Also, the cover design is absolutely gorgeous).

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