The Godfather by Mario Puzo Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Godfather
Book Review: Worth a read
Summary: 4 Stars
So most people probably saw the films before they even read the book. That is the case with me and just read the book recently after having seen the films oh probably a dozen times or so.
This book contains the entire plotline for the first film as well as the flashback to Vito Corleone's early life that made up half of the second film. There is alot of backstory to minor characters such as Lucy Mancini and Al Neri which I didn't mind all that much but some other reviewers apparently did. Of course some of the characters played bigger roles in the books than they did in the films...which is par for the course when novels are made into movies.
There is alot of graphic material in the book, everything from the vivid details of the various murders to the apparent obsession over the size of Sonny Corleone's manhood to a special surgery performed on Lucy Mancini to allow her to better enjoy sex. Some of this may have been included to appease Mario Puzo's interest in the subjects as they could have been changed and nothing would have been taken from the overall story.
There were times where I became annoyed as Puzo would drop the main story to go off on a subplot or backstory and all I wanted to do was see what happened next in the story.
I will say that the characters in the book are less glossy than the ones Copola brought to the screen so there was a bit more realism in the books.
Overall, it's entertaining to read and to get more detail on what is seen in the films. If you loved the films, you should read the book but don't expect to be blown away. This is one of the few instances where the movies were better than the book.
Book Review: Yes, it is better than the movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I did not expect this to be so good. It's not a literary masterpiece -- in fact, the writing is laugh-out-loud bad in places -- but it's got a great plot and it holds up surprisingly well compared to the movie. There are far more details in the book that add depth and background to the characters and scenes in the movie. This is a guilty pleasure kind of a read, but anyone who likes crime thrillers should enjoy this. Puzo's pacing and plotting makes up for the turgidity of his writing. There's a genius to every move in the Corleones' war, and an explanation for a lot of character actions, that's lost in the cinematic version.
I can't really explain my love for this book. It's way outside my usual genre and frankly, it's kind of schlocky, but I have to give it five stars because I enjoyed it so much. It'd definitely worth reading if you've only seen the movie.
Book Review: [hums the Godfather waltz]
Summary: 4 Stars
I often enjoy reading books that I've already seen the movie of to find out how the book was adapted into a screenplay. I assume most of us have seen the film, so here's what I think...
As it goes in Hollywood, the writer often gets shafted from participating in the "for the screen" version of the story. Supposedly, Puzo and Coppola did get together and work a good deal on the screenplay, but also supposedly Puzi was unhappy with the studio regime and in the end got shafted anyway. He said, she said... who knows. BUT. That being said, I think the screen translation is far better than the book.
First of all, most noticeably is the pacing of the film compared to the book. The book is loaded with extra details about secondary characters that the film only establishes briefly. For example, the girl that Sonny is cheating with. The second bodyguard after Paulie leaves the picture, Tattaligia, etc. Lots of these details are quite interesting, but rather destroys the pacing of the book. The book gets more highly involved with the move to Vegas by the family and how they set up their operations in the west. The book could do well without these facts, as they do not really relate to the meat of the story. (although, admittedly since I have seen the film so many times... perhaps its been embedded in my system to get used to the pacing of the film)
Other noteworthy changes are some of the backstory that we see in Godfather Part II... are in this book. When the Don is a youngster living up in NYC and he assassinates the Black Hand. This, as most of the rest of the novel, are copied pretty verbatim for the film. It's interesting that Coppola decided (rightly) not to use some of the flashbacks of the novel... but got the chance to for the sequel.
I'm not sure if it is the version I have or if it was in the original text, but there are many grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and seemingly even words missing entirely throughout the novel. Maybe this happened in the transcription... maybe Puzo wasn't a good writer? Who knows, but it doesn't distract too much. It's just very noticeable. The book is an incredibly easy read as well. No fancy words you'll have to look up in the dictionary.
Book Review: dumbass
Summary: 5 Stars
okay, a review on here said that Puzo was a hack writer, explain why it is a bestseller, and say the movie made it a bestseller it was a hit before the movie was made, besides, how many books have written, if you have any published i would be very surprised. Second, another review said that the movie had a better plot, WTF the book and movie were damned near the same.Puzo had written the script for all three godfather films with cappola, the godfather is my favorite movie of all, but the book is better.