Pop Culture Journalism Class Blog

 

Life in the shadow of “Sammy The Bull”

“Mob Daughter,” by Karen Gravano with Lisa Pulitzer

 

 

By Kayla Cohen

On television, Karen Gravano always says she’s more than her father’s daughter. But surprisingly, she only focuses on her dad, and doesn’t bother telling her story in her new book. If you’re hoping to learn more and find out who she really is — don’t bother buying the book.

In Mob Daughter, released Valentine’s Day, Gravano talks about growing up in Brooklyn living a normal life, but always having the gut feeling that her dad might be a mobster.

Countless times Gravano describes the outfits worn by her father and his fellow mobsters in detail, but never telling us how she looks. She talks on and on about her  father’s incarcerations, but we are barely mentions her  own experience behind bars.

The story gets too repetitive. Gravano gives the same details about the same place, like her old houses, throughout the book. The details about her father’s famous mobster friends, like John Gotti and her uncle, were extremely repetitive. Also, Gravano jumps to different events in time, making the timeline hard to follow. At one point she is talking about her house, but the next she is talking about her nephew drowning years later in a different state.

The story gives a little peek into her personal relationships that she had with Lee D’Avanzo and David Seabrook, but nothing too in depth.  She briefly speaks of her friendships growing up, but on the show claim those same friends, like Renee  Graziano and Drita D’Avanzo, had a huge impact on her life. She also glorifies her time as a marijuana dealer .

Gravano show no remorse in the story for the victims of her father’s murders, one of them being her mother’s brother. To her, his 19 murders were something that should not be spoken about. So, uhm, why write a book if you want to keep quiet?

If the reader wants a story about “Sammy the Bull” and a peek into the mob lifestyle, this book is a great choice. If the reader wants to learn about Karen Gravano, this is not the book to read.