The Godfather by Mario Puzo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Godfather
Book Review: Excellent Leadership Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly recommend this book. I love the movies, but of course the book is even better. The Godfather truly sets the example of a strong leader and does not flaunt what he has. Great read!Book Review: Fabulous and flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't know how I never read "The Godfather" before. Maybe because I'd seen the movie so many times and hadn't loved other Puzo novels. But for no particular reason I picked it up last week and couldn't put it down. My reading experience was fully colored by the film - I saw the actors and heard their voices on the page - and having read the book changed my film viewing - Coppola seemed even more brilliant for distilling complexity to a few lines, a few quick edits (it also helped me understand parts of the film I had puzzled over, like the close up of Michael's hand outside the hospital). A wonderful synergy.
Fabulous: the first half or so is riveting. The characters are vivid, the plots complex, the dialog convincing, the locations rooted in the details of senses, and I will long be digesting (and writing about) Vito's philosophy of Leadership. The leisurely pace, digressions, and frequent introduction of new colorful characters reminds me of the best 19th century British novels.
Flawed: Puzo wasn't paying attention if anyone ever told him "show, don't tell." He beats us over the head with repetitive descriptions of characters' qualities and motivations. He lacks Vito's fine appreciation of subtlety, slapping us with the obvious. Too many characters are not developed sufficiently, and then prove to be either superfluous (what's the point of the doctor and Lucy?) or too easily disposed of (were we supposed to care about Moe Green?). Meanwhile, truly major characters - the Tattaglias, Barzini, the baddies so necessary for the finale - are little more than names on the page.
In fact, the book loses much of its energy in the second half. Compare the fine vignettes of Sollozzo and Woltz near the beginning with the complete failure to make Barzini a foe worth reckoning with at the end. Where we bite our nails when Michael takes on Sollozzo, we don't break a sweat as he prepares to tie up all the loose ends; the build up to the finale lacks tension, the outcome feels inevitable. It's like Puzo couldn't quite figure out where he was going for a long time, and when he figured it out, never went back to edit and dial up the drama.
Finally, I found most of the sex scenes uninteresting and unnecessary.
Still, I read this book with the greatest pleasure and will be recommending it to friends for a long time.
Book Review: Flawed but good overall
Summary: 4 Stars
I've seen the movies at least a dozen times so I figured it was time that I read the book. Overall, the book is pretty good. As a story-teller, Puzo is first-rate. The plot is intriguing and moves quickly. In other aspects, however, he is somewhat lacking as a writer.
While the story is great the characters tend to be flat and not well-developed. The writing style is mainly narration, which is probably good because what dialogue there is can often be lacking or outright lame. The characters are all rather one-dimensional; more caricatures than characters.
The quality of the story compensates for the (sometimes) bad writing, however. All things considered, I enjoyed the book (but not as much as the films).
Recommended.
Book Review: GREAT book, but stay away from the New American Library edition
Summary: 5 Stars
I have had "The Godfather" on my shelf for about a year now but only just got around to reading it. I must say I was not prepared with the force with which Mario Puzo's storytelling leapt off the page and grabbed me. I have seen the film, of course - everyone should - but the book contains the details, sub-plots and first-person perspectives that no film can match. Puzo's narrative voice is cool but forceful, and full of dry irony. It's compulsively readable, I literally had to force myself to put it down! Highly recommended.
However, I do want to warn readers away from the over-priced New American Library version - the trade paperback in a red foil cover with "The Original Classic" at the top. This edition is littered with typos, many of them errors that a simple spell-checking program would have caught. It's very distracting and annoying. Penguin should be ashamed to peddle such shoddy merchandise. Get the mass-market paperback instead; the black cover is more sinister, anyway.
Book Review: Godfather review
Summary: 5 Stars
The Godfather is the story of organized crime in the 1940's which revolves around the Corleone family. Don Corleone is the head of a New york family. The Don is shot by Solozzo's men. Solozzo who is a rival family then kidnaps one of Don's advisors, Tom Hagen and tries to make him force Don's eldest son, Sonny to agree to sell drugs, but the plan goes wrong when Sollozzo finds out that Don Corleone is still alive, who was shot.
The godfather is a type of book that should be read by everyone from all ages. The English is bit complex, however it is not hard to understand what is going on. This book is very much a history book. It shows how Italians were back in the 40's. This book shows family loyalty, and how true gang warfare looks like.
I do not believe the Godfather should be in the academic reading list because of how kids may portray the story. Especially in high school,kids would not completely understand the parts in the story and morals. However i encourage everyone to read this piece of writing. It teaches us a whole lot of how the world works.