Customer Reviews

The Family

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

"The Family", is a three star read, however a fourth star for honesty is valid. This book was not finished prior to Mario Puzo's death, and so was finished by Carol Gino. This fact is stated on the front of the dust jacket. The reason I make such an issue of this is that other authors who have left uncompleted work still have books published after their death that they did not finish, and no mention is made. Carol Gino also includes an Afterword that explains the origins of the novel, the reason it was not written prior to other of his works, and her own trepidation in regard to completing the book.

Mr. Puzo was evidently fascinated by the time period covered in this book, and specifically with the Borgia Family. He had traveled to The Vatican prior to his death, which continued to keep this novel alive, if not a first priority. The reason for the book not being his most urgent task is also explained, and I believe readers will find the causes interesting.

Carl Gino was with Mario Puzo for 20 years, so it is reasonable to accept she knew him and his work very well. She is also an author in her own right, so again she was qualified as anyone to attempt to complete what Mr. Puzo left undone. I always have thought that completing another author's work is basically an impossible task. "The Family", will not rank as the best work ever to carry Mr. Puzo's name, however the book clearly was his creation.

The issue I had was that the book went on longer than the story required, so it read as though Carol Gino was trying not to leave anything out, as opposed to editing the tale so that it had a brisk cadence, a nice sharp pace that would have been consistent with all the intrigue of the story and the style of Mr. Puzo's other work. The book contains 4 main story lines and several secondary tales as well. The Borgia Pope and his 4 children take center stage, and the quest to unite Italy is the book's theme. The battles that span most of Italy and even the Island of Elba should read at the pace of military battles and the campaign they entail. The cadence is just not there, and this is most evident when Cesare conquers Elba in a matter of a few hours and a handful of pages in the book.

Mr. Puzo clearly loved this topic as he had feelings about all the Borgia Family members, "Lucrezia was a good girl, Cesare was a patriot, and Alexander a doting father". Mr. Puzo felt the Renaissance Popes were the first, "Dons", and that Pope Alexander Borgia was the greatest Don of all.

The time period is a fascinating one, and if you adjust your expectations, the read is still very worthwhile and better than many offered at local bookstores. Carol Gino clearly gave a valiant effort to complete this work and she should be commended for the result. Trying to follow in the path of a writer of Mr. Puzo's stature has got to be a daunting task, I am glad she accepted the challenge.

I'll never forget the night I saw this book for the first time at my local bookstore.

"The man just couldn't stop writing Mafia novels," I snickered to myself as I picked it up and began to peruse it.

Well, I was only half-right. The book was about the notorious Italian Renaissance family, the Borgias. Since I've always been interested in that part of history, and wanting to know more about the Borgias (having read about them before, but not having come across a book dedicated to them), I promptly bought it.

Until I'd read _The Family_, I'd always thought Puzo modelled the Corleones, at least in part, after Joe Bonanno and his son Bill. Again, I was only partially correct. Although there are some parallels between the Corleones and the Bonanos, Puzo's real inspiration was _la famiglia Borgia_.

Like Vito Corleone, Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, was a ruthless, powerful man with three sons and a daughter. None of them had any qualms about murdering their enemies "to protect the family."

Michael Corleone and Cesare Borgia, whom Rodrigo elevated to cardinal, were both successful in the military.

Like Michael and Fredo, Jofre Borgia had his own brother Juan (aka Giovanni) murdered.

Cesare died in a hail of arrows, just as Sonny Corleone died in a hail of gunfire.

Lucrezia Borgia reportedly preferred to poison her enemies, reminiscent of the way Connie Corleone killed Don Altobello with a lethal canoli in _The Godfather Part III_.

And, like Michael and Connie, Cesare and Lucrezia were very, very close. Only Michael and Connie didn't have an affair with each other, let alone begin it under their father's approving eyes.

Finally, if it looks like Puzo is glorifying people who do not deserve admiration, it's because, like in _The Godfather_, he's telling the story from the protagonist's viewpoint. _The Family_ is a wonderful book for anyone, and a "must-have" for historical fiction fans.

This book was an OK read. The writing was stiff, but the story was interesting, if somewhat historically inaccurate. It was good bedtime reading and maybe something I would take with me on a vacation when I want to read something but I don't want to think about it too hard. Lots of gore and weird sex and who doesn't enjoy that?

However, if you want the real story, there are tons of well written, colourful and accurate biographies.

According to Carol Gino's afterword, prior to Puzo's death, she and Puzo had discussed his unfinished manuscript of this book, and she, with his blessings, was able to fulfill his wishes and complete it. In my opinion, her efforts were successful, as I detect no stylistic differences or breaks in the continuity of the book. I feel that we, as readers, owe her our thanks for bringing his last dream to fruition.

Before going into the body of the review, it should be noted that THE FAMILY is based on extensive research by Puzo, and the facts of the following are either historically accurate, or can be reasonably assumed from the facts available.

In THE FAMILY, Puzo has gotten away from his usual theme of 20th century Mafia families and, instead, has built this narrative around an ordinary Renaissance era family who resided in Rome. Well, maybe not exactly ordinary. They did have a quirk or two, and, after all, daddy was the Pope. That's right, daddy was the Pope, so maybe they're not exactly an ordinary family after all. Daddy, Pope Alexander VI, was Rodrigo Borgia, the father of the Borgia clan. You know the Borgias, those playful youngsters; Cesare, Lucrezia, Juan, and Jofre. In those far off days, the Catholic clergy couldn't marry, but a great many of them had mistresses and openly acknowledged their offspring.

Alexander was a truly kind-hearted man. An example of this kind-heartedness was in the way he handled a politically necessary assassination of someone he truly liked. He made sure that the assassination was carried out in the most humane, pain free way possible. A true humanitarian!

Alexander might well have been called the "Education Pope." He strongly believed in education. As an example, he made sure that an enemy or traitor was tortured and maimed before being allowed to die a slow and painful death. The mutilated body was publicly displayed as an act of public education. The lesson to be learned here was that you shouldn't make Pope Alexander angry. A truly effective educational display by a believer in the power of education.

Alexander also loved his children and did everything in his power to assure their future happiness. To show this concern, he would arrange marriages for them with appropriate mates who just happened to come from rich and powerful families. That these marriages usually served to enhance his power base was merely a fortunate by-product.

Out of love, he also did his best to insure the success of these marriages. For instance, to make sure that his 13 year old daughter, Lucrezia, was properly prepared for her wedding night, he arranged for her older, and sexually experienced brother, Cesare, to "bed" her in advance of her marriage -- supervised by himself, or course. What greater love and concern could a father have for his children?

And of his four children, it could be said that a more loving group couldn't be found. First of all, there was Cesare who fell in love with his sister, Lucrezia, when he "bedded" her, and who could never bear the thought of her in some stranger's arms. (This love was not unrequited.) This feeling of brotherly love led to the violent death of Lucrezia's 2nd husband, Alphonso, who was the only man she ever loved more than her brother.

Then there were the other two brothers, the cruel and arrogant Juan, and the rather simple Jofre. Juan made a habit of sleeping with Jofre's wife and flaunting it. Jofre was less than thrilled about this and, one day, Juan was mysteriously murdered. The perpetrator was never found. Ah, yes, fraternal love.

Did I mention that Lucretia's first child was Cesares? The pregnancy couldn't have come at a worse time. It seems that just at that time the Pope was having Lucrezia's first marriage annulled on the basis that the groom was impotent. The supposed impotency made any rational excuse for the pregnancy a bit of a problem. Things were worked out, and only one innocent man lost his life.

Just one more example of Alexander's love for his children. When a political alliance changed, as they often did, Jofre's wife, whom Jofre had come to truly love, became a problem to the Pope, as she was now associated with a potential ex-alliance. Alexander, without consulting Jofre, had Jofre's wife imprisoned in a dungeon where she was repeatedly raped by the guards, subsequently losing her sanity and eventually dying. Needless to say, Jofre, once again, was less than pleased about this new development. Soon thereafter, Pope Alexander contracted a strange malaria-like illness and died.

As I stated in the opening, THE FAMILY is about an ordinary, loving Renaissance family with a quirk or two.

I just finished the family by mario puzo and i don't understand how so many people didn't like it, I practically devour it in just one day, it really kept my attention every single page absolutely one of my favorite books!!!!

If you're not a history buff, then what you know about the Borgias is probably limited to whatever your high school World History teacher told you: namely, they were a powerful, treacherous Italian Renaissance family who poisoned their enemies and ended up grasping a little too far. I learned a lot more from Puzo's tale, which seeks to humanize the notorious family by painting Rodrigo Borgia's children as the hapless pawns in their father's schemes to unite the Italian peninsula. And I admit, I did feel sympathy for Lucrezia and even papa Borgia, the big Pope Alexander VI himself. But even with all the intrigue, the murder, the sordid details of Borgia incest, the story just sort of plods along. If the focus had remained with just one family member, I might have enjoyed the story more. Instead, it felt fragmented, always jumping from one character to the next. And I understand it's the story of a family, not just an individual. I just think it might have worked better with a more focused narrative.

I couldn't help myself: I had to write this review. Why? Because I found this to be a superb read - in the audio CD version, that is, with Richard Ferrone reading the work. Carol Gino's Afterward is also included, with her own voice, at the end. Her kind words about the author and their experiences in delving into the Borgia family history, as a hobby over the years, added a very touching effect.

The Family, though, is a classic and a masterpiece of work. It sweeps through historical periods, dropping into scenes to elucidate wonderfully drawn characters and their understandings of each other. Perhaps it is less fascinating to read it, I don't know: hearing it was completely enthralling, and very very enjoyable! So if you're interested, listen to it instead.

I'm not one attuned to the genre of mafia novels, but was interested from an intercultural standpoint- regarding Italy and the Roman Catholic Church. I found it did so much to suggest ways in which Italian culture and its families evolved into the modern world, bringing with them their allegiances, oaths of secrecy, blood brotherhoods, underground economies, and of course, Popes, cardinals & religion.

The cover of Mario Puzo's last novel "The Family" may read "Completed By Carol Gino," but the actual reading indicates otherwise. In the afterword, Ms. Gino, who was Puzo's companion of twenty years, even expresses her anxiety at the task of completing a novel which was obviously a labor of love for Puzo. As a result, I think she handled the manuscript pretty gingerly, and as I read, I began to believe that "The Family," while undeniably Puzo, was far from a completed project at the time of his death. Then again, Puzo himself supposedly lamented that the writing of a novel about the powerful and infamous Borgia family was a Herculean task, which was why he went back and forth to the manuscript for the better part of fifteen years.

Anyone who is familiar with Puzo's writing know his love of detail--which is sadly lacking in "The Family." The writing is rushed in places, nearly purple in others, and the uneveness detracts from the story. The characters are surprisingly one-dimensional, and at the end I felt like I had read a Harlequin Temptation with a little more bloodshed. The whole enterprise smacks of publisher greed, one last chance to make money off the man who wrote arguably one of the greatest pop novels of all time, and one only has to compare "The Family" to any of Puzo's other novels to realize this.

As a Puzo fan and a fan of historical fiction, I thought this would be a good bet. It is, at times, very interesting but overall, is not the great book it could have been. Maybe if he had finished it before he died it would have been more polished. It lacked detail that would have helped bring the setting and characters to life.

From the mind that created the renowned Godfather series, Mario Puzo posthumously brings us The Family, where the mafia world all began. A novel that was over a decade in the making, completed by one of Puzo's close friends, it serves as a sad finale for this well-known author.

In The Family we are taken back to fifteenth-century Rome, the land of the Vatican and the immensely powerful popes. Our lead character, Rodrigo Borgia, is made Pope Alexander VI, whom Puzo calls the first Don and the beginner of the mafia world. Borgia is the one who will change and improve Rome and the Vatican, rid it of corruption and death, and bring it back to its former glory.

Sadly, the novel is little more than a collection of boring scenes taking us through Alexander VI's reign, like a deck of cards, one falling on top of the other, with little change in interest. What is lacking is a life in this writing, with little suspense or emotion for that matter; perhaps this is merely indicative of Puzo's former state, near the novel's completion.

Originally published on February 4th 2002.

For over 500 more book reviews and free author interviews, go to the BookBanter site ([...])