BURN IT ALL DOWN

 

SYNOPSIS

Eighteen-year-old aspiring comic Joey Rossi just found out his boyfriend has been cheating on him for the past ten months. But what did he expect? Joey was born with an addiction to toxic jerks—something he inherited from his lovably messy, wisecracking, Italian-American spitfire of a mom (and best friend): 34-year-old Gia Rossi.

 

When Gia’s latest non-relationship goes up in flames only a day later, the pair’s Bayonne, New Jersey apartment can barely contain their rage. In a misguided attempt at revenge, Joey and Gia inadvertently commit a series of crimes and flee the state, running to the only good man either of them has ever known—Gia’s ex, Marco. As they hide out from the law at Marco’s secluded lake house, Joey and Gia must confront all the bad habits and mistakes they’ve made that have led them to this moment—and find a way to take responsibility for what they’ve done.

Title: Burn it all down

Author: Nicolas DiDomizio

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publication date: May 25, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Burn it all down is another example of “book I chose based on its cover”. Look at it! It’s yelling at you to read it! And I’m so glad I did cause I absolutely adored every single moment.

Joey, 18, and hist mother Gia, 34, are not very lucky in love. Like mother, like son, they have a penchant for toxic jerks. And what do toxic jerks deserve? REVENGE! (My favorite word in literature!). When their planned revenge goes out of hand they find themselves on the run, leading to a series of hilarious and emotional situations.

Characterization was amazing. I could not help to fall in love with Joey and Gia right from the start. I think the audiobook helped even more to achieve this with a phenomenal work by Mark Sanderlin. They were both flawed and messy but at the same time you could understand where they were coming from, so it was hard to blame them. Their bond was so beautiful! It also made me reflect upon some of my past relationships and realize that thankfully I’ve grown quite a lot in the last years, not wanting this kind of toxic masculinity around.

The pop culture references, the dynamics of an italo-american family, the Monica Lewinsky parallels (what would Monica do? 😄), the use of THIS BITCH and THAT BITCH (which I’m definitely incorporating to my vocabulary)…all of them made me laugh so much I wish the story would have run a bit longer.

Nicola DiDomizio is THE BITCH and I can’t wait to read what he comes out with next.

In the words of Nietzsche (look at me, so intellectual!): “You must be ready to burn yourself on your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?”