The Godfather: The classic bestseller that inspired the legendary film

This book is a masterpiece. The writing is vivid and tight. Never dull. Moves at speed and packs many punches. An unforgettable work that is difficult to put down, if not impossible. Time disappears as a Master fills page after page with his powerful words.

This is not the sort of book I normally read: crime, murder, family feuds - but I have seen the films many times and I bought the book on a Kindle daily deal - I like to collect classics. The first thing to say is, it is beautifully written and with affinity for each of the main characters and their point of view, as they enter the story. I cannot say how much of the three dimensionality - or sometimes four-dimensionality - of the characters I feel is due to the book itself, or my familiarity with the films; it can't be separated now. That leads me on to the next thing I must mention, which is the first thing I noticed on reading this book. The first part of the book and the first part of the film are almost identical, so I was in familiar territory. We are at Connie's wedding party, in the grounds of the Corleone family estate and it is almost as if, like 2001, the two were written synonymously. I have to say that this makes the film enormously clever, I feel, to pull off such a thing - but then, Mario Puzo was heavily involved in the making of the film - and I might have felt very differently about it, if I had read the book first (I hated Disney's Winnie the Pooh!). The book, however, contains a lot of detail that is not in the film - a whole different dimension to both Johnny Fontane, and Lucy Mancini (Sonny's Mistress) and, even having seen the films many times, I still thoroughly enjoyed it - in fact, it was comforting to have ready made images I could call up, for these characters, which did not clash with the book in any way. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written book, with few grammatical errors and I am on to the next one now, while my husband, who has been anxiously waiting in the wings, for me to finish this one, commences to devour it, probably in half the time it took me!

If you haven’t seen the films (well, parts 1 and 2, I haven’t seen 3) you definitely should - they’re classics of cinema. Some scenes are definitely better in the films than the book (I’m thinking of Michael in the restaurant and young Vito in the tenements). As for the book - the ‘gangster stuff’ is very good. Tense murder scenes, believable characterisation for some of the main players (the Don especially), and a good depiction of how, while these guys are mostly not ‘evil’, their activities have a corrosive effect on society. The writing quality is mixed but Puzo does a great job of evoking the beauty of Sicily in the chapters set there. On the downside, the treatment of women is…not great. Yes, I know it’s set in the forties and fifties and written in the sixties, but it’s still irritating noticing that Puzo tends to describe women in terms of their attractiveness or otherwise, and there are several cringey sex scenes. The dynamic between Mama Corleone and Kay is very good (even if I don’t believe Kay would have stuck around), but the less said about Lucy Mancini and her gynae issues, the better. I also didn’t care for Johnny Fontane, his fading voice and his ‘broads’.

Gritty, real, and simply written with searing beauty. The elements of the Mafia underworld are so endlessly intriguing. Some odd stuff on gynaecology, but I also don’t know much about that, so I guess it was interesting?

I had read this maybe 30 years ago, and I'd forgotten just how closely the film is based on the novel. Much of the film dialogue is lifted pretty much straight from the book, so if you're familiar with the film you'll almost certainly be seeing the film in your head as you read this and you will also picture the actors rather than Puzo's descriptions e.g. he has Sonny, Michael and Fredo (Fred/Freddie in the novel) as all being rather beefy. I didn't really find the book added much to their characters, as they were well depicted in the film, but Fredo's characterisation as a "weakling" in the film was probably an improvement over his rather uninteresting characterisation in the novel. On the other hand, the novel fills out Kay's character and motivations much more, and even gives some coverage to "Mama", and I thought those were a welcome improvement. Being so long since I'd read it, I had forgotten that the novel includes the flashback scenes of the young Vito Corleone that became a key part of the Godfather II film. I had had it in my mind that the book was more sensationalist than I actually found it on this reading, although there are a few needlessly prurient scenes which the film sensibly dropped or toned down. It does also include elements of racism and misogyny within individual character's opinions, but these would probably have been representative of such characters in the 1950s. Overall I thought it was a very good read, and I would certainly recommend it, especially to fans of the film.

Reading the book after you have already seen the film can sometimes be a difficult and unrewarding exercise. The characters have already been revealed to you as the film-maker wanted rather than allowing them to take shape purely from your own imagination. Having seen the film on several occasions, it was therefore with some doubt that i started to read The Godfather. I need not have worried. The fact is that the way the characters were portrayed on screen was so perfect that it actually enhances enjoyment of the book; I personally felt immediately close to them rather than having to wait for each character to develop which meant that, from page 1, i was hooked. For me the central and most disturbing aspect of the whole book is the change over time of the youngest brother, Michael. We see at the beginning a decent man determined not to be sucked in by the all-encompassing control of his family yet, as the story progresses, he not only accepts but also embraces the violence and ruthlessness of Mafia life. It is apparent throughout that love for the family is all important and nothing must ever be done to disrespect this, yet the blatant disregard for human life is never far away. Quite simply it is a magnificent story anyway but it is told to absolute perfection by Mario Puzo. One of the best books i have ever read and i cannot recommend it too highly.

Brilliant book. If you have seen the movie you will not be disappointed with this book. Goes more in depth than the movie and offers some very interesting insights to the characters

A gripping read. Quite gory but well written with great dialogues.

Good print and very handy

Filmden farklı kısımları var, beğendiğim bir filmin kitabı olduğu icin ilgiyle okudum

`The Godfather' by Mario Puzo. What a journey! There was a copy of this book in my mother's library. In all those years I have never read it. Of course I did see the movies a while back, but it has been quite some time. The book and the fluid prose within was fresh to me. I think I will order the movies. I couldn't put it down. Puzo creates characters that are complicated and somewhat fleshed out. The `family' is a complicated place to exist, and one must be complicated to survive. The story is heavy on plot for- let's face it- plot makes a great Mafiosi story become an outstanding Mafiosi story. The heart and drive of the story comes from the Don's rejection of an offer to do business with Virgil Sollozzo, who has the backing of the Tattaglia family. Sollozzo's reaction to the rejection sets off a series of events that reverberates through the lives of every character. The Don's reasoning for the rejection is simple: it assaults his integrity and belief system. He sees that the offer can make a lot of money in the short-run. But the Don is far-sighted and knows such a business will destroy everything he built, and will ultimately decimate his beloved family. This creates a war between the 5 Families, and the repercussions of this war are felt not only in New York, but in the burgeoning Las Vegas, and in the sunny countryside of Corleone Sicily, Italy. I will not go into the story here. Puzo leaves a few questions unanswered in this book. I am going to move forward hoping that these will be addressed in `The Sicilian'. Puzo moves the story along in blocks, or major events. It is a different style of storytelling than I am used to, but an easy one to adjust to. The story is set up like a chess board, with each character being positioned to drive story. Yet, at the same time each character and their actions are driven by the events unfolding in their lives. It is a fine, fine line to walk as an author, and Puzo deftly does just that. Just a side note; Mario Puzo has a little fixation on male and female genitalia that kind of just sits there. I felt it added nothing to the story. I could make the argument that Puzo's fascination with Santino's (Sonny) extraordinarily large penis was a direct correlation with the size of Sonny's ego, bravado, and attitude. I didn't feel it was needed. Puzo was able to clearly show Sonny's impulsiveness, rage, and ego through Sonny's actions and reactions. I don't know. Maybe it was just me. I loved the book. It has taken me 35 years to get to it. There are a few books that maybe one should wait until they are a little older to understand and comprehend the nuances of the author. I feel this might have been one of those books. Had I read it all those years ago, I may have read the same story completely differently. There are several authors I feel this way about. I am glad I found this book at the flea market used books stand. Best $1.00 I ever spent!

Excelente livro, a logística Amazon dos EUA e a Loggi fizeram um bom trabalho.

Nachdem ich schon eine ganze Weile großer Fan der Godfather Filme war erschien es mir höchste Zeit, dass ich endlich die Vorlage dafür lese. Das Buch hat mich auf allen Ebenen begeistert und mir extrem viel Spaß gemacht es zu lesen. Auch wenn oft kritisiert wird, dass das Buch eine Verherrlichung und Verharmlosung mafiöser Strukturen sei, zählt es für mich doch zu meinen Lieblingsbüchern. Mario Puzi gibt hier einen interessanten 'Einblick' in die Strukturen und Denkweisen des organisierten Verbrechens in den Vereinigen Staaten Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts. Der Fokus liegt zwar ganz klar auf Vito und Michael Corleone, aber auch die anderen Charaktere sind m.E. gut durchdacht und werden schön durchleuchtet, dass man soviel aus ihren Viten erfährt wie es für die Handlung relevant ist. Eine Person wie Vito Corleone zeigt für mich sehr schön, wie hilfreich es sein kann selbst bei größtem Dissens und innerer Ablehnung einen respektvollen Umgang miteinander zu pflegen und auch Kompromisse einzugehen ohne die eigenen innersten Überzeugungen aufzugeben. Meiner Meinung nach spiegelt es sich auch bei den Filmen wieder, dass der Teil (I), der am nächsten an der Buchvorlage ist, der am höchsten gelobte und ein Klassiker der Filmgeschichte ist während der Teil (III) der nichts mehr mit dem Buch zu tun hat auch am heftigsten kritisiert wird.