Gowanus Crossing

Mid-century Gowanus. Decades before the Whole Foods went up and the lofts were refurbished, a raucous, unruly, proudly Italian American enclave clings to the banks of the noxious canal. The Mafia and the Catholic Church - two centuries-old, rigidly hierarchical institutions defined by oppressive codes of silence - dominate the neighbourhood. Vincent Coppola brings the world of his childhood ferociously to life. A second generation Italian, Coppola grew up in old Gowanus, a bookish kid for whom Park Slope, to say nothing of Central Park, might as well have been the moon. His journey through and eventually out of the neighbourhood is harrowing, hilarious, and populated with a cast of characters who burst off the page.