Monday, January 07, 2013

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Thriller

The book that inspired the classic movie The Godfather tells the story of the Corleone family from Sicily, now the most powerful family in New York. The Godfather is Don Vito Corleone, a tough and yet fair mob boss with three boys Fred, Sonny, and Mike and a daughter Connie. The Tattaglia family approaches the Corleones with the Turk Sollozzo about starting in to the drug trade but the Don isn't interested. Before Sollozzo leaves, Sonny opens his mouth and asks about how much money they could make. This act eventually gets the Don shot multiple times because the Tattaglia family believes with the Don out of the way, Sonny will join their business venture. All this does is create war between the families.

During war time, the family must come together and split apart as traitors are found. The youngest son, Mike, who was not supposed to be part of the family business ends up being deeply involved in the struggle for power.

I have never seen the movie before so there were surprises for me in this book. Reading the book definitely makes me want to see the movie. Despite this, there were some slow parts of the book. The whole Las Vegas part of the book I felt lacked in excitement and was only there so that a small piece could be tied up in the end of the book. Furthermore, just as the action was getting exciting near the end, there is a short break to explain who one of the new characters was! It was frustrating to say the least. The book perfectly describes the cool calculation you need to be a mobster.

First Line: "Amerigo Bonasera sat in the New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her."

Rating:
(4/5)

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