THE GODFATHER

Author: MARIO PUZO
Publisher: Not Available
Publication Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Amazon.com The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is in Mario Puzo's The Godfather that Corleone first appears. As Corleone's desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. The novel is filled with exquisitely detailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyles within a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failures of the human condition. Filled with the requisite valor, love, and rancor of a great epic, The Godfather is the definitive gangster novel. -- This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Library Journal
Diehard Godfather fans play second banana to others in their obsession with the minutiae of Puzo's novel and Coppola's films. These dedicated fans will be most disappointed by the new audio version, although perhaps only an hour of material is missing, but casual aficionados will barely notice the abridgment. Missing are the subplot involving Sonny's mistress, Lucy Mancini, and Dr. William Kennedy, and the descriptions of the regional Mafia chiefs that precede the commission meeting at which Don Corleone flushes out Don Barzini as his number one rival. Actor Joe Mantegna does a fine job throughout, largely resisting the temptation to put on voices for too many of the characters. However, this cannot be said for his Don Corleone. Perhaps it is vengeance: after all, Andy Garcia, as the late Don's nephew, Vincent Mancini, put the hit on Mantegna's Joey Zasa in Godfather III, but whatever the reason, Mantegna gives Corleone a raspy falsetto—imagine the Pillsbury Doughboy with a tracheotomy—that ranks as one of the worst Brando impressions ever. Also, Puzo's chilling ending in which Kay converts to Catholicism with the hope of saving her husband's soul is inexplicably transformed into a chamber-of-commerce-style bromide about the family's new life in Nevada. Still, the popularity of Puzo's novel 27 years after its publication makes this abridgment a must-have. Adam Mazmanian, "Library Journal" Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-- This text refers to an out-of-print or unavailable edition of this title.