The Godfather (Signet) Summary and Reviews

The Godfather (Signet)
by Mario Puzo

The Godfather (Signet)
List Price: $9.99
Our Price: $5.55
You Save: $4.44 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Mario Puzo
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1983-09-01
ISBN: 0451167716
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Signet

Book Reviews of The Godfather (Signet)

Book Review: "I'll Reason With Him..."
Summary: 3 Stars

THE GODFATHER is THE seminal "mobster" novel. Mario Puzo's story spawned the most phenomenally successful movie series in history, and arguably two of the greatest films ever made. The story is an engrossing read, chronicling the rise and fall of America's most powerful (fictional?) crime family.

Michael Corleone's famous movie tag line, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" is nearly absent, but the equally chilling and more definitive Vito Corleone line, "I'll reason with him" is present in abundance. These two bits of dialogue underscore the ultimate difference between father and son, but Puzo is a raconteur, not a psychologist, and barely scratches the surface of his characters' motivations. Leave that to Francis Ford Coppola.

It's often said that "the book is better than the movie." In this case, not. THE GODFATHER is a potboiler that's fun to read on vacation, and it belongs comfortably on the nightstand, but it is neither great literature nor even particularly well-written. The story and the characters transcend the telling, which is why the book translated so magnificently to film.

Coppola was inspired when he took the book's raw material and created a new universe with it, and Puzo essentially made a career out of THE GODFATHER. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT it isn't, but THE GODFATHER is definitely worth a read or five.

Family Saga Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Family Saga Books
Elephant Man ImageElephant Man
by Christine Sparks
Ballantine Books; Published: 1986-11-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.02
Price in other shops: $7.99
Assegai ImageAssegai
by Wilbur Smith
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: $27.95
Birds of Prey ImageBirds of Prey
by Wilbur Smith
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2003-05-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.99
An Act of Love ImageAn Act of Love
by Nancy Thayer
St Martins Pr; Published: 1997-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops: $22.95
Honolulu ImageHonolulu
by Alan Brennert
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2009-03-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.76
Price in other shops: $24.95
Family Tree ImageFamily Tree
by Barbara Delinsky
Anchor; Published: 2009-10-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $5.99
Those Who Save Us ImageThose Who Save Us
by Jenna Blum
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2005-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops: $14.95
Vinegar Hill ImageVinegar Hill
by A. Manette Ansay
Penguin USA (P); Published: 2000-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Billy Phelan's Greatest Game ImageBilly Phelan's Greatest Game
by William Kennedy
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1983-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.64
Price in other shops: $14.00
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1) ImageQuicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
by Neal Stephenson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.50
Price in other shops: $15.99
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Sheik ImageThe Sheik
by E. M. Hull
Pine Street Books; Published: 2001-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.56
Price in other shops: $19.95
Fight Club: A Novel ImageFight Club: A Novel
by Chuck Palahniuk
W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-10-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.11
Price in other shops: $13.95
Charlotte Temple (Oxford Paperbacks) ImageCharlotte Temple (Oxford Paperbacks)
by Susanna Rowson
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1987-02-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.88
Price in other shops: $14.99
Misery ImageMisery
by Stephen King
Signet; Published: 1998-01-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $7.99
Peyton Place (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England) ImagePeyton Place (Hardscrabble Books-Fiction of New England)
by Grace Metalious
Northeastern; Published: 1999-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.69
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Last Don ImageThe Last Don
by Mario Puzo
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-01-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.82
Price in other shops: $7.99
Double Indemnity ImageDouble Indemnity
by James M. Cain
Vintage; Published: 1989-05-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.83
Price in other shops: $13.00
In Cold Blood ImageIn Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
Vintage; Published: 1994-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.14
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Godfather Returns ImageThe Godfather Returns
by Mark Winegardner
Ballantine Books; Published: 2005-08-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
Price in other shops: $7.99
The Sicilian ImageThe Sicilian
by Mario Puzo
Ballantine Books; Published: 2001-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.23
Price in other shops: $7.99