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The Godfather (Signet) (平装)
by Mario Puzo
| Category:
American fiction, Crime novel, Gangsters |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
MSL Pointer Review:
A classic american crime novel. An offer you can't refuse...
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 13 items |
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Ali Ahmed (MSL quote), Sharjah United Arab Emirates
<2007-02-08 00:00>
How often does one read a novel that takes you on a trip as though you were there, side by side, with the characters of the book? Unfortunately, not very often. Surely they're mostly fictious creations from human minds, often forgotten about after the last page is turned. However, The Godfather is a different issue. This book is as engaging as the movie is, and the characters come out with as much punch and realism as depicted by Brando, Pacino, De Niro, Caan, Duvall and Cazale. That's the first thing that makes this book so wonderful...the characters are so real and entirely believable, almost as though Vito or Michael or anyone of the Corleones took you by the hand and pulled you into their lives. Secondly, the book is incredibely eloquent and beautifully written, in a style that is often subject to emulation and envy, probably by Mario Puzo himself. None of his books come out as electrifying as this. The Last Don, Omerta, The Fortunate Pilgrim, The Sicilian...all these make good reads, but none are as memorable or as moving. Finally, on a much more personal note, everyone I know who has read this book (including myself) were left begging for more. It ended too soon, and I believe it would have ended too soon had Puzo wrote another four hundred pages. It is impossible to have enough of this book. Unarguably, the best novel about the Mafia, and definitely my favourite book.
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Lisa Shea (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
The Godfather by Mario Puzo, written in 1969, is one of the top selling books of all time. The Godfather has all of the key elements found in these books - sex, drugs, power, violence, and twisted situations. What helps the Godfather stand apart is how well it has become integrated in modern culture. Look at the other titles which have sold this much - To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Animal Farm, Carpetbaggers. Sure, many of us have read them, and sure, we might recognize a specific line from each book. But do we know the entire culture that any of these books represent? Probably not. With The Godfather, there are tons of lines that have become part of our culture. There are tons of visual images that are now part of what we all accept as "history". Just as we understand what "raining cats and dogs" mean, we understand what "sleeping with the fishes" mean. The Godfather has that kind of power.
Even if you force someone to read a long book, they rarely remember it if it does not strike a chord. Many of us were forced to read "Moby Dick" in high school - but besides "Call me Ishmael", I doubt many people remember much of it. I happen to love Moby Dick, but then again I love Nantucket. However, compare this with The Godfather. The Godfather is not a short book, and it is not an "easy" book. It skips between time settings, it brings in a new culture, new language, and a large cast of characters. Still, it is eagerly gobbled up by the readers. We want to know what Michael Corleone does next - who will betray the Don - what this offer is that can't be refused. We are tittilated by the references to "female surgery" that makes a woman tight again.
The writing isn't super simplified, as are some other books in this category. If anything, it can become quite formal at times. The author understands the power of language, having his characters sometimes speak forcefully, other times speak deliberately "like a peasant" so that they are underestimated. This again helps to keep the reader interested, to look for hidden meanings in words, to seek out what is really being said amongst the words that are being spoken.
It's almost impossible, reading the book in modern times, to separate this book from the culture it has spawned. There are the movies, The Sopranos, Goodfellas, and every other Italian Mob story which bases its genesis on this series. The walk, the talk, the atmosphere.
Yes, you might have watched the movies - but it's well worth it to read the original story. As is true with pretty much any novel, the movie has to simplify to squash the plot into a 2 hour stretch. In the novel provides much more detail, intricacy, and texture.
This is one of those books that is almost required reading, so that you understand all of those quotes, visuals and situations thrown into modern literature, movies and TV shows. Luckily, unlike many other ''must read novels'', this is really a page-turner!
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Gregory Baird (MSL quote), USA
<2007-02-08 00:00>
If you are a fan of the Godfather movies you will undoubtedly love this, because the film adaptation did not stray very far from the book upon which it was based. It's all here: the saga of the Corleone family passing the baton from one generation to the next, and of 'good son' Michael's unexpected ascent to leader of his family business. I shouldn't have to tell you that said family business extends far beyond the reaches of the olive oil company the Corleones use as a front for their mob activities, the film being one of pop culture's cornerstones since its release in 1971. But we're here to discuss the book, which is surprisingly well written for what essentially amounts to a potboiler filled with sex and violence. I expected it to be exciting, and it is, but the quality of Puzo's craftmanship was a welcome surprise. He has a deft touch for shading the characters into complex beings, and he is certainly smart to allow the violence to serve the story instead of vice versa (all too often novels like this think that an excess of blood and gore will lend an air of drama or credibility to it, and the genius of the Godfather is that we get that from the characters instead). The Godfather is, after all, about the complexity of a family whose livelihood is steeped in murder, but whose loyalties are deep and whose love for each other is palpable. Puzo does a great job laying bare the inherent contradictions in this set-up, and just like in the movie you may find yourself respecting them despite your better reasoning.
There are some differences to be found, most notably that you get Vito Corleone's back story here whereas the movie held off on that until the sequel (probably for time reasons). There is also a lengthy subplot in the book concerning Johnny Fontane's exploits in Las Vegas after Vito gets him his part in the war movie he was after -- a wholly unnecessary subplot that gets weirder and more annoying as the book goes on and Lucy Mancini, the bridesmaid that Sonny Corleone got familiar with at his sister's wedding, is sent out there to keep her away from him. Her storyline takes away from the suspense that the rest of the novel builds and has little to do with anything else, although the curious surgical procedure that she undergoes is such a left-field oddity that it does have some merit as camp. But camp doesn't suit the rest of the novel's grim sensibility, so it really should have been excised. Puzo spends a lot more time hammering in the allusions to Frank Sinatra that Johnny Fontane is meant to embody (he even snags an Oscar for his war movie a la Ole Blue Eyes' 1953 win for 'From Here to Eternity'), which is fine except that the way the movie hints at it is a lot more effective in its subtlety. But I'm being nit-picky here, those are Puzo's only missteps in an otherwise spectacular novel. While the novel may have been overshadowed by the film(s) that it led to, it has rightly earned a spot as a classic, and I would recommend it to mystery/thriller buffs as well as fans of the movies.
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1 2 Total 2 pages 13 items |
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