A too carefully crafted book of remembering and forgetting. A 30-something daughter of an Italian immigrant father with Alzheimer’s returns to Urbina, Italy to discover herself, a cousin, a sexy, 30-something Italian lawyer, and her father’s secret encounters with the Nazis. In contrast to great literature Inheritance feels like an over-extended short story, or the formula for writing a novel. All the appropriate components are present, but the book lacks vitality. February 2008.