This is a tough one to rate because there is a story within a story within a story. I felt that some parts worked but others were trying to hard to be successful. It took me a while to get through it, but I don't regret it as I was unfamiliar with the people who inspired it.

<i>In order to prevent his son from going down the same dark path he did, a blind poet must tell his son about his secret life as a mobster.</i> A fantastic true story about a Chicago mobster who was blinded during a heist and later shared a prison cell with famous murderer Nathan Leopold.

This book is a graphic novel, but it’s so smart and literary. There are explorations into philosophical discussions of Nietzsche, Dante’s Inferno, and Plato’s Cave Analogy, but it struck a perfect balance of explaining things to the ignorant reader while not talking down to the readers who already knew the concepts. It was very thought provoking and educational in a fun way.

The art was very detailed black and white ink drawings, and each panel was so well designed. The production was incredible. The only thing I didn’t love was the length and pacing. I had to take a few breaks because the story was so dense.

This story was perfect as a graphic novel, after reading it I can't imagine it being told any other way and I think that is a very strong aspect of a graphic novel. This was such an intriguing story and finding out that it was a true story made it even more memorable. Both the words and illustrations worked together in such a way that they were both integral parts of the story. I loved the integration of Dante and how it wove together the story from beginning to end. Overall I really enjoyed reading this story.

The Hunting Accident is a hard book to describe. Basically, it's a non-fiction graphic novel about a guy who got mixed up with some gangsters in the mid 1900s, and as a result learns the true story behind his father's blindness. In a lot of ways this is a very deep story because the characters spend a lot of time talking about and focusing on poetry and philosophy. Poetry I get, but philosophy can be a bit over my head at times. I still enjoyed the biographical storyline though- not to mention the pen and ink illustrations. They were incredible.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.

A powerful story of a boy discovering the truth about his father. The artwork is black and white inked, but highly detailed.

A really interesting true-story premise.
It seemed to meander a bit for me, though. Even though it's a graphic novel and should have been a quick read, it took me weeks to finish it. I'm not sure how to explain, but just didn't feel the drive behind the story.
I do recommend it, especially for the historical time period and the idea of the power of secrets.

A graphic novel biography of Matt Rizzo, a man who grew up in Chicago’s Little Italy in the 1920s, hung out with the wrong crowd, and ended up blind and in prison. Strangely enough, notorious murderer Nathan Leopold was Rizzo’s cellmate at Stateville Prison and helped Rizzo get interested in Dante’s Inferno and other classical literature, setting Rizzo on a path to pursue a life as a writer when he got out of prison even though he’d had no official education beyond the 4th grade. Rizzo’s story is told from the perspective of his son Charlie with themes from Dante’s Inferno woven throughout. For many years Charlie did not know his father’s story and thought he was blinded in a hunting accident. When Charlie started down the same path as his father by hanging out with the wrong crowd in Little Italy and getting in trouble with the law, his father eventually told him his full story to hopefully help encourage him to choose a better path.

Wow, this is a stunning biography and an impressive graphic novel feat. It's over 400 pages of illustrations! I know this topic isn't for everyone, but true crime fans should definitely check it out. The art is kept in black and white, which helps the mood and setting feel older. (It also helps keep things from being too gory or lewd.) You can’t help but wonder if Charlie’s story would have been different if his father had told him earlier about the hard lessons he’d learned. You know the saying we’re doomed to repeat the mistakes of history if we don’t study it? That seems very relevant with the Rizzo men. Thankfully, it does seem like Charlie eventually learned some from his father’s mistakes. I’d never heard of the infamous Leopold and Loeb thrill killers before (today we’d call them sociopaths instead of thrill killers) but that was definitely an interesting part of the story. Who’d have guessed a wealthy sociopath would start a classical education school inside a prison? It was also interesting to hear the perspective of a seeing man suddenly losing his sight and adjusting to life without that sense. If you like cautionary tales or true crime, you should give this graphic novel a try.

Notes on content: Maybe one or two swear words. One of the levels of hell in Dante’s Inferno is lust, so the story from that book illustrating this sin is related. It’s also depicted a little in illustrations much as it would have been in ancient copies so there is some nudity but the style isn’t super detailed or provocative. It looks like ancient Greek art in black and white. A friend of Charlie’s wants him to go away with him to a place in Canada which is basically a big orgy, this is imagined in an illustration but everyone is wearing underwear and it looks more like a beach party. There are a few punches and such shown. A few murders are mentioned and depicted too. There’s the grisly Leopold and Loeb murder, but the illustrations are in black and white and a lot of the violence is intimated in positioning and such but not really depicted. The same is true for when Rizzo is violently blinded by a gun shot. Loeb was violently stabbed to death multiple times in prison and that is depicted in an illustration but not very realistically. Dante's levels of hell each get their own illustration and some are quite creepy looking.

A unique tale of one man, his father and his father's writing and legacy. This story is the true story of a Chicago mobster who ended up blind and in prison with the Nathan Leopold, killer and Chicago legend.

I greatly enjoyed the way the story was told, the illustrations were used to really show both the son and his father along with the various literary references. Different links of the story were expertly woven between the words and the artwork. Now that I have learned of Matt Rizzo's story I can't imagine being introduced to it any other way. The artwork has extraordinary detail and was beautiful to look at.

I love this graphic novel. The art style is beautiful and the story is well crafted.