Title : The Family Corleone
Author : Ed Falco
Pages : 431
Genre : Fiction
ISBN : 978-0-434-02900-7
Honestly, it takes too much guts to touch something like "The Godfather" and weave a story around its characters. The movie series and the book, both are epic in their own way. The characters, the dialogues and the quotes of The Godfather are something which haven't faded in the all these days. People still like them, praise them and watch/read them religiously.
Ed Falco, an award winning American author took a task to use the screenplay of the greatest book of its times The Godfather by Mario Puzo and wrote a prequel to it. His work is commendable, no two thoughts about that. I throughly enjoyed reading this book. Falco, collected the material left by Mario Puzo and worked his guts out to write something that comes across as a genuine work of fiction.
The book is about the journey of Vito Corleone to become the most powerful don in New York amidst all the criminal rage breaking out, during the times of the Great Depression. Also, it focuses on Luca Brasi and his life thoroughly, the ghosts of his past. Vito wants his oldest child Sonny to become a businessman, but Sonny is ardent on joining the real family business. The 17 year old Sonny, as shown in the book, is highly impatient and reckless and creates a lot of mess. The story of the book is gripping and once you are through the first 50 pages of the book, it is a complete page turner and you will be hooked to it.
Another important character of the book is Tom Hagen, and Falcon has focussed on his story quite well. How Tom Hagen became a part of the Corleone family has been told in the book and in an impressive way. The language of the book is simple. Though, I had to keep referring to the glossary of Italian words (given at the end of the book) used in the narration again and again. But, its a good thing because I learnt a few Italian words too :D
If you are a die hard fan of the Godfather book and the movie series, this book is a must read for you. I can vouch for that you will get answers to things that you've always wanted to know.
(Review asked by Random House)
okay, if you say it's a must read for die hard godfather fans then maybe i'll give it a try. i was a little doubtful before reading ur review, bcuz i got mark winegardner's version of the "sequel" and i didn't get very far. :-/
ReplyDeletebook 3 was d one about the don's youth, i guess, and somehow i wasn't as interested in it as the rest of the story. and sonny! oh god, he was such a hot head! but i WOULD like to know much more about tom and luca! :D
thanks for this review, u have no idea how glad i am to c this post! :)
Thanks. I hope you enjoy reading it :)
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