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 The Godfather

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Kate
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Kate


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Join date : 2008-06-12
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PostSubject: The Godfather   The Godfather Icon_minitimeTue Dec 09, 2008 10:40 pm

The Godfather Thegodfather

Our first book of December is Godfather by Mario Puzo. It spawned two of the top films in history, and was nominated by our very own Bittner.

Here's what Amazon had to say about the book:

Quote :
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 full of 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.
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bittner29
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PostSubject: Re: The Godfather   The Godfather Icon_minitimeFri Dec 26, 2008 2:56 pm

Let me start out by saying that I do not have my book with me while writing this, so if I miss spell anyone's names or mis-quote someone, I apologize.
I really loved this book, it was just a fun read. It wasn't nearly as dark as I assumed it to be. I loved Puzo's writing style and the development of characters. My only frustration with the book was the relationships Michael had with Kay and Apollonia.
Puzo told his story using many different points of view. Personaly, as someone who already saw the movie and new certain characters were going to die, I thought this helped make certain scenes more suspenceful. For example, the chapter that focused on the undertaker was the chapter where they reveal Sonny has died. When I read that part I litteraly gasped. I knew Sonny would die at somepoint but I was so focused on the undertaker and I sympothized with him and his fear of what the Don might request of him that I just wasn't expecting it. That also leads into the other writing style that I really enjoyed in the book, the use of time. Normaly in a book, jumping around in flashbacks and flashforwards like that can be confusing. But in this book I loved it. I don't really know why it appealed to me but I just thought it was refreshing.
One of the main things that I loved about this book was how Puzo developed even the most minor characters. You thought the book was going to just focus on the main family but instead there are plenty of chapters about Johnny and Nino, Lucy and Jules (I really liked those two), Neri, Kay, even the undertaker (please don't let the fact that I can't think of the guys name reflect on how he was developed in the story). I really felt that this was the main reason that the book wasn't as dark. Don't get me wrong though, if there was a version that was told only through the Don's point of view or Michael's point of view, I would probably read and would also probably enjoy it, however it would almost certainly be a much darker version. Focusing on the other characters gave an almost comic feel at times.
I didn't enjoy Michael's relationsips. In the book they focused mostly on Kay instead of Apollonia however the oppisite was true for the movie. I thought that the scenes with Apollonia were really funny in the movie, which made her character more endearing. And yet in the book she was kind of just glossed over.
Although the book did give Kay more depth than the movie, I still just didn't like her. I liked her in the beginning, the way she was able to turn a blind eye towards the darkness of Michael's family. How after he left she never really doubted him, never really thought that he was capable of murder. I really liked the scene when the cops come to her house and try to threaten her and she stands up to them and brings in her father.
But the way the relationship was handel when Michael came back just made me hate her. I mean he was gone for years, no contact, even his own mother is telling her to move on. Then she goes to his house and they go for a drive and end up at the hotel and with in moments he simply says "Alright I guess we should go to the bedroom." I mean come on where it the romance. So they have sex and then what, after all that time she just agrees to marry him? He sits there and says that in their marriage she will never be his equal, never be his true partner and that in his buisness he may die, and soon. I just couldn't believe that she went for it. That she agreed to that. What an idiot!!! That killed me and just made me loose a little respect for Michael, but mostly just for her. I just hated that whole part!!!
All in all, loved the book. Would strongly recommend anyone read it when they have time...cough...cough...amanda Wink
Thank you guys so much for letting me pick that one and I hope you enjoyed it too.


Last edited by bittner29 on Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Kate
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PostSubject: Re: The Godfather   The Godfather Icon_minitimeSun Dec 28, 2008 12:43 am

I actually really loved this book too, it was a fast intriguing read and I devoured it in just a few days. So, thanks to Bittner- good pick!

I, too, enjoyed Puzo's treatment of even minor characters. Stephen King has done that in several novels (The Stand pops into mind immediately- the unabridged version of course). I really thought in the beginning that there would be way to many characters to follow but was relieved to find that wasn't true.

About the Michael character- I really, really, really disliked that he got involved with Apollonia. Not that he fell for her, because I can understand that, but he had never even said goodbye to Kay. He couldn't have written her one damn letter? I find that hard to believe, so that kind of ruined the romance with Apollonia for me. Then he goes back home and Kay gets in touch with him, but I get the feeling he never would have bothered to even check up on her if she hadn't contacted him. After everything that she had previously shared with him, wasn't she worth even hiring a PI to see if she was still alive? That pissed me off. Michael is a bit of a jerk, but I do understand Kay's love for him. It's the darkness in him that attracts her, and even if he is a tool, he's honest about being a tool. I don't know why she was so mad about him killing the brother in law, that dude was a jerk. All the crappy things Michael and his family have done, and that's what she's concerned about?

The Luca Brasi story line was crazy! I was shocked (I have yet to see the movie) when he died! I actually liked him until his back story came into light. The death of the baby was messed up. I would have liked to know just a little bit more about his relationship with the baby's momma.

Oh, and I was really happy that Johnny lived, I really thought he was a goner when I first started the book. I don't know why, except maybe for the fact that he seemed like a good target to wound the Don through.

As horrible and rotten as organized crime is, how cool was The Mall? I would love to own a bunch of town homes that I could stick my family in. And to own the whole strip? Think of all the awesome barbecues my family could have! Sadly, the Don did not seem to share my love of country style ribs. His loss.

When Bittner first mentioned this book I was game, but in all honesty I was a bit weary. I didn't think the book would be as well written as it turned out to be. It will take another good book before I am converted into a Puzo fan, but this was a great introduction.
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