The Godfather: The classic bestseller that inspired the legendary film

This is not the sort of book I normally read: crime, murder, family feuds - but I have seen the films many times and I bought the book on a Kindle daily deal - I like to collect classics. The first thing to say is, it is beautifully written and with affinity for each of the main characters and their point of view, as they enter the story. I cannot say how much of the three dimensionality - or sometimes four-dimensionality - of the characters I feel is due to the book itself, or my familiarity with the films; it can't be separated now. That leads me on to the next thing I must mention, which is the first thing I noticed on reading this book. The first part of the book and the first part of the film are almost identical, so I was in familiar territory. We are at Connie's wedding party, in the grounds of the Corleone family estate and it is almost as if, like 2001, the two were written synonymously. I have to say that this makes the film enormously clever, I feel, to pull off such a thing - but then, Mario Puzo was heavily involved in the making of the film - and I might have felt very differently about it, if I had read the book first (I hated Disney's Winnie the Pooh!). The book, however, contains a lot of detail that is not in the film - a whole different dimension to both Johnny Fontane, and Lucy Mancini (Sonny's Mistress) and, even having seen the films many times, I still thoroughly enjoyed it - in fact, it was comforting to have ready made images I could call up, for these characters, which did not clash with the book in any way. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written book, with few grammatical errors and I am on to the next one now, while my husband, who has been anxiously waiting in the wings, for me to finish this one, commences to devour it, probably in half the time it took me!

Brilliant book. If you have seen the movie you will not be disappointed with this book. Goes more in depth than the movie and offers some very interesting insights to the characters

If you haven’t seen the films (well, parts 1 and 2, I haven’t seen 3) you definitely should - they’re classics of cinema. Some scenes are definitely better in the films than the book (I’m thinking of Michael in the restaurant and young Vito in the tenements). As for the book - the ‘gangster stuff’ is very good. Tense murder scenes, believable characterisation for some of the main players (the Don especially), and a good depiction of how, while these guys are mostly not ‘evil’, their activities have a corrosive effect on society. The writing quality is mixed but Puzo does a great job of evoking the beauty of Sicily in the chapters set there. On the downside, the treatment of women is…not great. Yes, I know it’s set in the forties and fifties and written in the sixties, but it’s still irritating noticing that Puzo tends to describe women in terms of their attractiveness or otherwise, and there are several cringey sex scenes. The dynamic between Mama Corleone and Kay is very good (even if I don’t believe Kay would have stuck around), but the less said about Lucy Mancini and her gynae issues, the better. I also didn’t care for Johnny Fontane, his fading voice and his ‘broads’.

I had read this maybe 30 years ago, and I'd forgotten just how closely the film is based on the novel. Much of the film dialogue is lifted pretty much straight from the book, so if you're familiar with the film you'll almost certainly be seeing the film in your head as you read this and you will also picture the actors rather than Puzo's descriptions e.g. he has Sonny, Michael and Fredo (Fred/Freddie in the novel) as all being rather beefy. I didn't really find the book added much to their characters, as they were well depicted in the film, but Fredo's characterisation as a "weakling" in the film was probably an improvement over his rather uninteresting characterisation in the novel. On the other hand, the novel fills out Kay's character and motivations much more, and even gives some coverage to "Mama", and I thought those were a welcome improvement. Being so long since I'd read it, I had forgotten that the novel includes the flashback scenes of the young Vito Corleone that became a key part of the Godfather II film. I had had it in my mind that the book was more sensationalist than I actually found it on this reading, although there are a few needlessly prurient scenes which the film sensibly dropped or toned down. It does also include elements of racism and misogyny within individual character's opinions, but these would probably have been representative of such characters in the 1950s. Overall I thought it was a very good read, and I would certainly recommend it, especially to fans of the film.

Interesting and intense right from the start. It has ambition, power, simple desire to survive and win and a young mans dedication to his family. you can see a strong father determined to protect his family at all costs and against all odds. Great read.

Modern classics! Even though I knew the plot very well (from the movie) the book was fascianting!

Reading the book after you have already seen the film can sometimes be a difficult and unrewarding exercise. The characters have already been revealed to you as the film-maker wanted rather than allowing them to take shape purely from your own imagination. Having seen the film on several occasions, it was therefore with some doubt that i started to read The Godfather. I need not have worried. The fact is that the way the characters were portrayed on screen was so perfect that it actually enhances enjoyment of the book; I personally felt immediately close to them rather than having to wait for each character to develop which meant that, from page 1, i was hooked. For me the central and most disturbing aspect of the whole book is the change over time of the youngest brother, Michael. We see at the beginning a decent man determined not to be sucked in by the all-encompassing control of his family yet, as the story progresses, he not only accepts but also embraces the violence and ruthlessness of Mafia life. It is apparent throughout that love for the family is all important and nothing must ever be done to disrespect this, yet the blatant disregard for human life is never far away. Quite simply it is a magnificent story anyway but it is told to absolute perfection by Mario Puzo. One of the best books i have ever read and i cannot recommend it too highly.

Fantastic read from start to finish, even after the 5th time! Would definitely recommend, blows the films out of the water.