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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I went into the book k owing the key lines and mantras but having never seen the movie. I don’t know what I expected but I can say it exceeded those expectations. The corleone family is complex and vast and cannot be contained to one genre or theme. The separate books break the story apart into deeper levels within the entirely of the novel. An American journey told at an Italian pace and in all the best dramatics.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is rare example of the film being better than the book. The film adaptation focusses primarily on Don Corleone, his children, as well as the ongoing war between the Five Families. The book, while containing these vital plot lines, often branch off to meaningless tangents. Unimportant characters (Johnny and Lucy, just to name a few) receive chapters after chapters after chapters of unnecessary background, while others that are seemingly more important are introduced and killed off within a single chapter. During Michael's exile in Italy, he meets Apollonia, falls in love with her, courts her, gets married and loses her in a car explosion all within one single chapter — and yes, Apollonia and basically every other woman in this story exists to give birth, to be beaten, to be killed off or to be disregarded altogether.
I think there's a good book in here, and there's a good cast of characters as well. I think Coppola did a wonderful job when adapting the novel, understanding what the story is TRULY about, then cutting out all the fats. Puzo, on the other hand, needed an editor. There are some good ideas, but the cast and story are too large and too unwieldy for his amateurish writing. Everything reads almost like a first draft in this book. Puzo also has a childish, almost vulgar fascination with breasts, vaginas and penises. Stephen King writes some pretty terrible sex scenes, but Puzo is not far behind, either.
I say, skip the book(s) and just watch the film adaptations. Or stop reading after Michael escapes to Italy, because nothing after that is worth your time.
This book proves my point once again about fiction books rated above 4.2 on Goodreads — most of the time, it's just a whole lot of hot air. Also, if you love this book, you sort of hate women. Let's be real.
I think there's a good book in here, and there's a good cast of characters as well. I think Coppola did a wonderful job when adapting the novel, understanding what the story is TRULY about, then cutting out all the fats. Puzo, on the other hand, needed an editor. There are some good ideas, but the cast and story are too large and too unwieldy for his amateurish writing. Everything reads almost like a first draft in this book. Puzo also has a childish, almost vulgar fascination with breasts, vaginas and penises. Stephen King writes some pretty terrible sex scenes, but Puzo is not far behind, either.
I say, skip the book(s) and just watch the film adaptations. Or stop reading after Michael escapes to Italy, because nothing after that is worth your time.
This book proves my point once again about fiction books rated above 4.2 on Goodreads — most of the time, it's just a whole lot of hot air. Also, if you love this book, you sort of hate women. Let's be real.
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Police brutality, Murder
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Puzo doesn’t glorify racism and sexism, so the lashings of bigotry are not so much forgivable but understandable, especially when considering the context.
What’s harder to excuse, though, is the utterly bizarre giant vagina subplot—what was he thinking?