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As a diehard fan of both the original novel by Mario Puzo and Francis Coppola’s triad of films (yes, I even like the much-hated “The Godfather, Part III“), I was wary of giving this a read. I was turned around by Stephen King. He listed it as one of his ten favorite books of 2005. It was released in 2004, but he didn’t read it until 2005. Good enough for King? I suppose it it’s worth the few days for me.
I enjoyed this novel. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. I had even suffered through Puzo’s quasi sequel to GF, called “The Sicillian,” a book that overlaps Michael Corleone’s exile in Sicily after killing the corrupt Capt. McCluskey and the Turk, Virgil Solozzo. That book was a stinker.
At times there was a bit too much exposition, as the timeline of the novel fills in a significant portion of the gaps between the movies as well as the first book. The author is a good story teller, although a lot of the plot drew heavily from real events with changed names and setting — a Kennedy-esque president and his family, the mob’s involvement in the hit on Castro, members of Johnny Fontane’s group of entertainers … including an “Ocean’s 11“-ish movie about a casino heist — even moreso than the original does. If it’s possible, they were even more thinly veiled references than the original used. Beyond that it was great read — fast and lavish.
Look for another in the series, as this one was written in ways that leave the franchise open for more.
Tags: books, goodness, movies, novel, novels, reading
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