The Sopranos: The Book [Paperback]

Brett Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2007

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If any book can make its readers feel nostalgic for a TV show whose main character hacks one of his enemies into pieces, it is this gorgeously designed and smartly written tribute to The Sopranos and its conflicted hero, Tony, the mob boss torn between loyalty to his crime family and his own family. Scheduled to be published in conjunction with the series’ final nine episodes in its six-season, eight-year-long run, the book is a success primarily due to Martin's enthusiastic but never fawning insider’s look at everything from the initial casting of the series, the show’s use of New Jersey’s "suburbo-industrial landscapes" as a backdrop to various thematic elements, and the characters’ large appetites for sex and food. He gets great insights from his interviews with all of the show’s production staff, such as series creator David Chase, who was influenced by his work on The Rockford Files ("TV’s first postmodern, ironic detective"). The book is also lavishly illustrated with wonderful photos of various sets, a superb short episode guide to each show, page-long descriptions on how each actor views the characters they play (Robert Iler wants to step outside of his character, Tony’s son, A.J., "and smack myself in the face").
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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Time Home Entertainment (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933821876
• ISBN-13: 978-1933821870
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 0.8 x 10.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #710,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pulled out all the stops for this one, May 13, 2007

By 

Ryan Winkleman (CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sopranos: The Book (Paperback)

I got an early copy through Barnes & Noble, and let me tell you: this book is awesome. It is filled with extremely high quality photographs ranging from portraits of the cast members to pictures from the episodes to VERY nice pictures of the interiors of buildings (the Soprano house, the Bada Bing, Nuovo Vesuvio, etc.). It is also filled with a wealth of knowledge, talking about numerous aspects about the show from the look of Jersey (compared to "New Jersey") to the music used on the show to a breakdown of where the Soprano Family gets its income to even the types of nail designs that Carmela and Adriana had over the years. The major cast members all wrote their own essays about their characters, which contain descriptions interspersed with their own insights on their characters. There is also a section devoted to each character highlighting that character's most distinctive trait (such as Paulie's hair, Artie's mustache, etc.) and giving insider secrets about it (ex: Tony Sirico wakes up at 3am every shoot day, uses an entire can of hairspray, and emerges 3 hours later with Paulie's distinctive hairdo). Finally, the book includes an episode guide up through Season 6A to help refresh your memory of the gist of what happened in each episode. All told, this is an incredible book, and as I said, it is extremely high quality, which you can tell right from the front cover. I highly recommend it to anybody who has watched even one episode and enjoyed what they saw.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well designed book, but you need a magnifying glass to read the print., June 9, 2007

By 

Linda Linguvic (New York City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sopranos: The Book (Paperback)

I guess you can call this a mini coffee table book, measuring 9" x 11" and sporting a bright red cover with the familiar logo. It's only 190 pages long and an easy read, but I doubt if many people who purchase this book will read every word (as I did). Mostly, it's about the photos and each page is a great example of excellent design and eye-catching typefaces. I'm for all that, of course. I love the way the book looks. I give it 100% for design.

However, this is a difficult book to read. First of all the type is tiny. And then there are often large red or gray titles superimposed on top of the words. This is distracting and the words beneath the red letters were particularly difficult to read. Also, the author expects that everyone who picks up the book will be as familiar with the actors' names as he is and, with the exception of some of the major characters, it was sometimes hard to figure out who he was talking about. This could have been easily resolved with a cast list in either the front or the back of the book. I missed that.

In spite of the difficulty of the design I did read the book. I found much of it fascinating, especially the parts about the painstakingly detailed "behind-the-scenes" preparations for each episode. Everything from the choice of music to authenticity of the props to the New Jersey setting was very interesting. As a native New Yorker who often doubts everything, I found the whole series extremely real and absorbing. I'm sorry to see the series end.

Yes, I definitely recommend the book. It's great to leaf through and the photos will bring a smile of remembrance to your face. But you might just need to use a magnifying glass if you try to read it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inchoate Masterpiece, June 17, 2007

By 

John P Bernat (Kingsport, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Sopranos: The Book (Paperback)

Want the good news or the bad news?

The good news: this book is exceptionally well-done. The pictures are wonderful, and bring back each season in living detail. The text is helpful, especially in understanding more about gabagool...

The bad news: it did not extend all the way to the end of the series. Thus, it will always suffer from not being a complete study of the whole Sopranos catalog. I wonder whether there will be a revised edition of this book now that the whole series is complete...it might be worth waiting for.