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the Complete Review
the complete review - fiction



Broken Truths

by
Alessandro Robecchi


general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

To purchase Broken Truths


Title: Broken Truths
Author: Alessandro Robecchi
Genre: Novel
Written: 2024 (Eng. 2026)
Length: 282 pages
Original in: Italian
Availability: Broken Truths - US
Broken Truths - UK
Broken Truths - Canada
Le verità spezzate - Italia
from: Bookshop.org (US)
  • Italian title: Le verità spezzate
  • Translated by Gregory Conti

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Our Assessment:

B : fun multi-layered novel, and a nice tribute to Augusto De Angelis

See our review for fuller assessment.



Review Summaries
Source Rating Date Reviewer
il manifesto . 9/10/2024 Guido Caldiron


  From the Reviews:
  • "Un’indagine nell’indagine, un giallo nel giallo, ma, soprattutto, un riconoscimento al valore della libertà e al potere della letteratura, sempre e comunque scomoda." - Guido Caldiron, il manifesto

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Broken Truths finds long-retired film director Manlio Parrini itching to make a movie again. He had walked away from directing almost thirty years earlier, after the worldwide success of his masterpiece, Broken Truths; at the time he had said: "It doesn't interest me anymore, it's a place with no truth". Now, in his mid-seventies, he's latched onto another idea -- "a film about the impossibility of being free".
       Parrini wants to make a film about Augusto De Angelis (1888-1944), "the father of the Italian detective story", -- specifically:

the last part of the writer's life, the part of the detective novels, of Inspector De Vincenzi, the censorship, of his theorizing about the genre, his coming to terms, making compromises, of the notes from his publishers asking him for more prudence, to be more adaptable, until the final tragedy.
       De Angelis' "death was an ugly mystery", and one the director -- along with also then the younger filmmaker Sara De Viesti, who he enlists to write the screenplay -- explore as they try to shape the story for the film.
       De Angelis was a prolific writer, turning eventually to writing mysteries featuring: "his creation, his Carlo De Vincenzi, a polite and cultivated alter ego, a poet police detective, imagine". De Angelis had success with his mysteries, but things grew increasingly complicated in those Fascist times, and then especially in the war. The regime circumscribed what was permissible -- "an Italian murderer ? Better a foreigner. [...] No suicides, they're prohibited. No dialects, they're frowned upon. No seamy atmosphere, inappropriate" -- and on 1 June 1943 the Ministry of Popular Culture went so far as to order: "the seizure of all detective novels printed at any time and wherever offered for sale", effectively banning them.
       De Angelis remained in Italy under the Fascists, not a supporter but unwilling and unable to abandon his homeland, trying to get by without making too many waves (and so, for example, adjusting his fiction to the (ever-increasing) demands of the censorious regime). It works, for a while:
The novels, the series, the short stories. It had seemed to him a refuge, at first, a kind of port to dock in, a source of income, not excessive but sufficient, as long as you write, write, write.
       But he still ran afoul of those in power, and eventually got himself set upon and beat up, eventually dying of his injuries, his attacker identified but not brought to proper justice. It's a major reason Parrini is drawn to the material and De Angelis' (late-)life-story:
It was not the biography of one man, it was the biography of a nation, and then also a metaphor for cultural work in this country. It was the whispering of "You can't do this," "It's not right," the dictatorship of "better not," to live in peace.
       Broken Truths is also a novel of the making of a film, Parrini first turning to a producer he has some ties with, but finding that he would be left with far too little control over the project, especially regarding who else would be involved, from the actors to his screenwriter. Rather than giving in, Parrini stays true to his course -- rather easily, it must be said -- in order to be able make the film he wants to make.
       But all that is not enough: aside from the decades-old mystery surrounding De Angelis' violent death, Broken Truths is also a contemporary murder mystery, as Parrini's next-door neighbor, a widow living in a grand villa, is found murdered -- just as Parrini sets out on his film-project; naturally, Parrini is drawn into the investigation -- used by both the investigator handling the case, Deputy Prosecutor Chiara Sensini, and a journalist as they try to get to the bottom of things (though he gets something out of all of this as well). Conveniently, the murder itself: "seems like something out of a detective story from another era" (and eventually Parrini goes so far as to suggest: "It's looking more and more like a De Angeis plot, you know ?"), and Robecchi draws other parallels -- the resolution offering modern-day but otherwise not so different lessons from the ones to be taken from De Angelis' death and how that was treated.
       It makes for a decent novel, its different layers -- let's-make-a-movie; scenes from De Angelis' life; the contemporary murder investigation (and how various forces shape how that goes) -- make for an enjoyable back-and-forth. Each storyline has some suspense, coming all together in a solid story that's more than just a simple murder-mystery. Quotes from De Angelis' own writing, fiction and non, are also nicely used, and Broken Truths is a nice little homage to the writer. Arguably, some of the contemporary murder investigation is a bit of a distraction, but mostly Robecchi ties it well-enough to the rest -- and Parrini's interactions, both with Sensini and reporter Claudio Tarsi, are good fun; perhaps only the fact that Parrini is named in one of the murdered widow's wills is more than is really needed.
       Broken Truths tries to do a bit much, but is an enjoyable, easy-going read with lots of good elements -- and it adds up to a nice testament and tribute to the figure of De Angelis and his complex, compromising times.

- M.A.Orthofer, 5 February 2026

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Links:

Broken Truths: Reviews: Alessandro Robecchi: Books by Augusto De Angelis under review: Other books of interest under review:

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About the Author:

       Italian author Alessandro Robecchi was born in 1960.

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© 2026 the complete review

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