The Family Corleone

I think the author did a fine job stitching together the period between where the Godfather 2 leaves us in the flashback years segment to where the Godfather 1 begins. I appreciated his attention to detail with somewhat trivial elements in regard to such things as radio programs playing in the background and roads being traveled in that era, it shows to me that he makes the effort to research even small things to get his story as accurate as possible. To be fair I thought some portions of the story were a bit over-emphasized such as Sonny's relationships with is mistress and with his fiancée to be, but that certainly took nothing away from the Corleone Family story line, which I found to be excellent at giving the reader insight as to how things came to be. Falco paints a picture for us of how every character evolved to become who we see them as in the Godfather 1. Vito, Tessio, Clemenza, Tom, Sonny, the heads of the other families.... even Solazzo makes an appearance. I thought some of the other reviews were unfair in calling out this author as no Puzo. Falco is just telling the reader a story. A story of how he sees it: And he succeeds in getting that story told in a clear fashion. Of course he is no Puzo. It's so difficult to be Puzo, even Puzo couldn't be Puzo for the Godfather 3.

As a big fan of "The Godfather" trilogy of movies, as well as the Mario Puzo original novel, I was hopeful that "Family Corleone" by Ed Falco was going to bring something interesting and fresh to the story. After being disappointed with other post-Puzo attempts at the story of the Corleone's, I have to say that Falco's novel did the characters and the saga proud. "The Family Corleone" is set in the early 1930's, as the Corleone Family jockeys for position and power in New York City's underworld. We see Vito Corleone in his prime as his looks to expand his criminal empire. Facing danger from a powerful rival and his allies, the Don bides his time as he plans his next moves, which will either bring him ultimate power or death. In Falco's novel, we get to see the advent of the "Five Families", and old familiar characters, such as Tessio, Clemenza, and Tom Hagen. But there are two particular story features that really put some meat on the bone of Falco's effort. The first is the initiation into the "family business" of Santino "Sonny" Corleone, who in "The Family Corleone" is in his late teens. Against his father's wishes, the hot-tempered Sonny begins his career in crime with fellow Italian and Irish teens, unbeknownst to the Don. Soon Sonny's gang runs afoul of other mob elements, which in turn draw in the Corleone Family and set them on a collision course with the powerful boss, Joe Mariposa. The other interesting character study is that of the feared Corleone enforcer, Luca Brasi. As Falco begins his story, Brasi is an independent low-level leader of his own gang, who find themselves the frequent victims of Sonny Corleone's gang of thieves. "The Family Corleone" begins to then trace Brasi's dark and horrific descent into the most feared man in the underworld, and eventually, Vito Corleone's private messenger of death. While Mario Puzo set the bar so high that no one else's treatment of the Corleone family's saga can compete, Ed Falco's novel is a very enjoyable read and, in my opinion, breaks new ground with these fascinating literary characters.

This book is presented so well you can almost envision a movie of it in your head. Narrator has extremely good grasp of different accents, and does Don Corleone and Frankie Pangelli exactly like they sounded in the movie "Godfather" You'd think Brando was there, reading his part! The most valuable part of the book is that it explains the backgrounds of Tom Hagen, Luca Brazzi, Michael, and Vito. Sonny's escapades lead to understanding about his later demise, as do the Michael scenes. It is well presented, and covers the era 15 years before the opening of Godfather itself. It ends with a wedding, just as the Godfather starts with one, with the same casts of characters filling the scenes. It also explains a bit from the movie/book "Godfather' that says, "every ten years or so we have to got to war". There is a war before, in the 30's, and the Don's ways are used to benefit him and set up the later book. Johnny Fontaine is in here, as is Clemenza, Tessio, Tattaglia, & Barzini and others we all enjoyed in the movie. Luca in this book is described as huge, tall, wide. In "Godfather" he is depicted as short, wide, more a sparkplug look, and has 'lips that look like veal', but in this he apparently looks like the "Frankenstein" character popular in that period's movies. The mechanications of the mob, and of management, which is what this really is, are well told. There were a couple reviews I read that weren't crazy about the book, but I cannot understand what they may have been expecting. This is well-done, well-told, has suspense, love, drama, evil, and provides such a background to everyone that it makes the original book understandable as to where these people came from. We never knew the shocking facts of how Tom Hagan became an orphan, nor of the doubts and conflicts Santino and his father had, nor the fact that Michael always had his nose in a book when he was 12-15 years old. Fredo is depicted with about the same qualities he later had as a man: weak, needing respect, getting none, a bit desperate. I could go on, but I recommend a person with interest go ahead on this, and get it. I am a Godfather Fan, and have also gotten "Godfather Returns" and "Godfather's Revenge." These books all fill in the gaps that the movies tried to cover, and they are all well-done. WOG

This is a long post, so skip it if you don't have time to read. Everyone who knows me knows I absolutely love The Godfather -- all three films, really. I've seen them multiple times, in many permutations. It's one of my favorite trilogies. I read Mario Puzo's book when it came out in 1969 and saw each of the movies upon release. I read Puzo's The Sicilian in 1984 because it had Vito and Michael as characters. The movie in 1987 was alright, but did not include the Corleones, due to copyrights. Fast forward to 2004 and Mark Winegardner writes the authorized novel, The Godfather Returns, a sequel to Puzo's Godfather novel and in 2006 writes The Godfather's Revenge. Now both of these novels have their moments and it was great being able to be in the same world with Michael and Vito and all the rest of the gang, but these novels didn't have the same tempo as Puzo, or even the films. It was difficult identifying with these characters, even though they used the same names as before. Now, here's the real heart of this post: I just finished reading Edward Falco's The Family Corleone, which is a prequel to Puzo's Godfather novel. This book is a Godfather fan's dream. It uses elements from an unpublished screenplay by Puzo and Falco really makes these characters come alive and you can instantly identify them. Of course you picture James Caan as Sonny and Brando as Vito -- they are ingrained into your head. But that's alright, because reading this book, it's like they were saying these words and carrying out these actions. The story takes place during the Depression and shows how Vito solidifies his Family into the powerhouse they would become. Sonny gets major time as he joins the Family business. Luca Brasi gets a nice story that moves along and comes to a great conclusion. I hope there's more Corleones stories from Ed Falco.

Ed Falco has written a novel spanning the years between Don Vito's starting a family and the events of The Godfather, covering especially Sonny's entry into the family business, as well as Luca Brasi's relationship with the Don. Falco is a capable enough writer, and the storyline is simple enough to comprehend given the amount of characters, names, places, etc.. But Falco's work and style lacks the life the Puzo gave all of his characters in the original book/s. The book's not a 'dead' book that way, it's just not quite as alive and real as the original. Falco also tends to write a little insecurely -- many times a character will speak some emotion or expression, and then Falco will add "as if so-and-so felt (whatever emotion was already stated)". It's distracting to have the author explain things that the characters already expressed. As a tribute to the original books, however, it is obviously a labor of love and I can't fault him that. I just wish it was written a bit better.

This book is brilliant. The author develops and enhances characters that we thought we knew well. Vito, Sonny, Clemenza, Tessio, and an even more terrifying Luca. These familiar characters are brought to life greatly expanded while staying true to their Puzo roots. Indeed character development is a crucial factor in this novel’s appeal. New characters are also brought to life and are quickly understood and easily appreciated. Relatives of characters that we know from Puzo are brought to life and beautifully rendered. Players that we thought were simple to understand turn out to be wonderfully complex and compelling. Chief among these is Luca who is not just the simple killing machine we have come to know but rather a deeply complex and enigmatic figure who clearly is one of the author’s favorites. The action is powerful and palpable with Luca leading the charge in the most grizzly manner. We get to see ambushes planned and executed or foiled with a good understanding of each character’s motives and thought process. The action can heat up suddenly or develop as full blown wars which are played out through several chapters. This is a very special book and it is more than a worthy prequel to the original!

How hard it must be to create tension in a book whose outcome is already known. But The Godfather is such a powerful American myth that there is undeniably a demand for more, more, and still more. The Family Corleone capably fills out some of the episodes that were only briefly mentioned in The Godfather, and the reader is brought face to face, as it were, with the beastly Luca Brasi and his story. It is potent stuff, written well. There is also a detailed account of the Irish gangster wannabes driven out by the Sicilians. This subplot must occupy a good third of the book, and their back stories are well done but perhaps not what one is really looking forward to in a book with Corleone in the title. Finally, there is the story of Sonny's entry into his father's business, and his romance with his future wife, Sandra. The book takes place in 1934, with the end of Prohibition just around the corner and the Sicilian families maneuvering to replace the revenues that will be lost from bootlegging. Vito Corleone's operation is in the crosshairs of the largest gang, and Sonny is a 17-year-old unwilling to be consigned to the automobile industry as Vito hoped. Tom Hagen's story is told, but he is in college and his only role in the tale is an inadvertent one, albeit one with consequences. Michael, Fredo, and Connie are too young to play important parts in this story, so another book filling in the remaining years before Michael goes to war may well be coming. If you haven't yet had your fill of the Corleone story, you will enjoy this book.

This is an outstanding prequel to the original "Godfather" novel and movie, following the Corleone family from the events after the bulk of the flashback portion of "The Godfather Part II" but before the final scene of that movie, when a young Michael Corleone announced to his stunned family that he had enlisted in the Marines. This novel focuses on the backstory not just of Vito Corleone, but of Sonny, Luca Brasi and, to a lesser extent, Tom Hagen. Brasi comes across as not just "a scary guy," as Kay once called him, but an inhuman monster; some of the passages involving his atrocities are difficult reading, but they could explain a lot in terms of how he's portrayed in the first movie. Also figuring prominently is the original Corleone consigliere, Genco Abbandando, whose role in the family was only hinted at in "The Godfather Part II." The younger Corleone children — Fredo, Michael and Connie — are of course just kids but make the occasional cameo appearance. Other characters from the novel and movies are included in important roles that are wisely not just gratuitous. This is an engrossing book; one hopes that it becomes enshrined in "Godfather" canon as a movie, which I believe is a possibility. For now, though, fans of the saga should pick up this novel; you won't be disappointed.

Having read the original Godfather book and then look have read the lost years & revenge. I came across this and thought why not. It is by far the best godfather book that I have read (apart from the original of coarse). It keeps you gripped though out and is really well written. A lot of the story follows, Luca Brasi, Sonny and how they come to join the family business. It is one of them books, I can see me reading again. Well worth the money. Enjoy Godfather fans!

The best book .. and the best prequel to The Godfather.

Igual às fotos, entrega muito rápida.

Wenn ich mich noch richtig erinnere, dann beginnt "Der Pate" einige Zeit nach dem 2. Weltkrieg. Geschildert werden dort die Geschäfte der Ersten Mafia Familie Corleone. Das Buch war mit Recht ein Bestseller. In "Family Corleone" wird die Entstehung dieser Family und der Weg hin zur "First Familiy" geschildert. Überraschende oder gar neue Erkenntnisse können dabei allerdings nicht gewonnen werden. Das Interessanteste steht auf letzten Seite des Buches, nämlich das Copyright. Das gehört nicht dem Schriftsteller, sondern dem "The Estate of Mario Puzo", also den Erben des verstorbenen Autors des "Original" Paten. Offensichtlich geht es bei dem Buch dann auch im Wesentlichen darum, das Familienerbe weiter zu mehren.

私は時折同じ内容の英語版とフランス語版を比べて熟読する。モントリオールでフランス語の訳本を買って一応読んだのだが、この度この英語原書と比べて熟読玩味した。物凄く時間がかかったが非常に興味深かった。Godfatherは三回位読んだし、関連する”The Siciliians", "The Last Don"など、すでに読んでいるので、同じ登場人物が書いてあるので本当に楽しい。Don Corleoneや長男Sonyや Michael, Fredなどの子供時代、その他関連する人々が詳しく書いてあるので、すごく楽しい。Don Corleoneは自分は仕方がないけど、子供達だけはギャングスターではなく地道に安定した社会人に育てたいという必死な願望とは反対に、皮肉なことにSony, Michael,などすべてMafiaの世界の中に入っていってしまうのだ。面白いがこれはギャング同士が権力をを争う殺し合いの犯罪物語だから、愛着を感じる人々が殺されたり、死んでゆくのは本当にやりきれないが、これはフイクションだと思った。あまり時間がかかったので読み終わった時はほっとしたがこれでこの本とひとまずお別れだと思うと淋しい気もした。 長男 c ai