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4.17 AVERAGE
4.17 AVERAGE
“We ran everything. We paid the lawyers. We paid the cops. Everybody had their hands out. We walked out laughing. We had the best of everything. In Vegas and Atlantic city somebody always knew someone. People would come over and offer us shows, dinners, suites. And now all that is over, and that’s the hardest part. Today everything is very different. No more action. I have to wait around like everyone else. I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.” So glad I finally read this, it Solidified Goodfellas as The Movie Of All Time
Read the book after seeing one of my all time favorite movies, "Goodfellas". The book reads exactly as the movie is narrated so I was able to recite a lot of the book! This book was difficult for me to find so this was a disappointment for me, thinking I was going to get a lot more to the story! I tried to score the book as though I had not seen the movie ten times prior to reading!
Yeah if you watched the movie there is very little the book has to offer you. The book is more or less a straightforward account of Henry Hill, the mob associated-turned-informant, and his doings, with little added context or interrogation.
adventurous
tense
Goodfella who survived
Henry Hill lived the life of a wiseguy and lived to tell the tale. Pileggi does a fine job of putting you right in the middle of Hill's schemes and scams and the ensuing fall out of spending his entire life in the palm of the mafia. Worth the read then go watch the movie
Henry Hill lived the life of a wiseguy and lived to tell the tale. Pileggi does a fine job of putting you right in the middle of Hill's schemes and scams and the ensuing fall out of spending his entire life in the palm of the mafia. Worth the read then go watch the movie
I love the film Goodfellas so I really wanted to read the book that it was based on. I was not disappointed as it was exactly like the film.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
For fans of the movie Goodfellas like myself, this book is a great companion. Richer details, including how law enforcement caught up with Henry Hill from the side of the FBI and police, and an even better understanding of the origins of all the players involved. It's remarkable how much of the story made it onto the screen intact, almost word-for-word, and how much was left out that could have turned the film into a miniseries (i.e the Boston points shaving scandal, the prison time).
Goodfellas is one of my favourite Martin Scorsese movies so reading into the more detailed backdrop behind the Luchese crime family in 1960/70's New York was incredibly interesting. Nicholas Pileggi was a crime reporter and did an outstanding job setting the scene. I really loved the direct dialogue from Henry, Karen and others. It added a level of credibility to a novel that is so unbelievable in so many ways.
Overall, an excellent book if you're interested in understanding the life of real gangsters from back then. I give 5 because I'm sure I'll reread it at some point. Also highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Nicholas Pileggi himself.
Overall, an excellent book if you're interested in understanding the life of real gangsters from back then. I give 5 because I'm sure I'll reread it at some point. Also highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Nicholas Pileggi himself.
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced