Customer Reviews

Prizzis Family

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I immensely enjoyed this book. It gave the real background to what has happened in the later books (Prizzi's Honor and Prizzi's Glory) that I had read first. In the later books the author gives this background in a slanted tongue-in-cheek manner, very similar to how Charlie slants things to talk himself into or remembering certain of his actions. If you are not careful, you find yourself falling into the warped thinking of the Prizzi family: ("Of course those people deserved to be killed!", "How dare they try and cheat the Family out of their drug money!", etc.) I especially enjoyed meeting, seemingly for the first time, characters I had developed an affection for: Charlie Partanna, Maerose Prizzi, Don Corrado Prizzi, Angelo Partanna, and Eduardo Prizzi (a.k.a. Edward Price). You get a deeper insight into their history, characters, motivation, strengths and weaknesses. Hilarious to see Charlie, the Prizzi vindicatore and sottocapo, working to get his high school diploma at night and arranging his kills and work so that it doesn't interfere with his education and how proud all the Family was of him. Also funny to see the deep reverence they all have for fine cuisine. Angelo Partanna, Charlie's father, maintains his role as the brilliant consigliere of the Prizzi family, able to see through tangled situations to the heart of the matter. Any more would be a spoiler. This book could be considered mainly as a provider of background for all the characters.

after "Prizzi's Honor" I expected a lot from this book - I was really disappointed; it is boring, previsible and naive; the humour is almost absent and when it appears it is substandard; you can read it but don't expect much