Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFlawless prose
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2017
I read “The Godfather” many, many years ago and thought it would be a nice change to pick it up again. It’s very interesting that I seem to have memorized the movie somehow, and, just like the first time I read it, I seem to have liked the movie better than the book. This is a rarity! It’s also a rarity that the movie follows the book so precisely—until I realized that Puzo also wrote the screenplay. Of course, having seen the film first probably influenced me; after all, how can you beat that incredible cast? This doesn’t mean I enjoyed the book any less; really, I think it was flawless in its execution (oops—pardon the pun). The characters were well drawn and each stood out in his or her own way. I found the book hard to put down even though I knew what was going to happen.
Is there anybody who doesn’t know the story? Interestingly, the early life of Don Corleone was inserted into the middle of the book (wasn’t this from movie number two?). It helped a lot and made the Don more approachable to the reader, I think. Also, we do get a deeper insight into the private life of Johnny the singer, for instance, and even Tom—as well as an explanation of why Tom was removed as Consigliere at the end. We get a better understanding of Kay, and why she stuck around after Michael cleaned house, so to speak. So in many ways, the book really did enhance the movie experience and certainly would have stood the test of time all by itself. It was well worth reading again.
