Reviews - গডফাদার

2.62k reviews for:

গডফাদার

Mario Puzo

4.25 AVERAGE

freddielloyd15's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious reflective fast-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

mariellepezz's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

bliar's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

kdawn999's review against another edition

2.0

It hurts a little to rate this book lowly since it was such a myth-maker in the American canon, but it can’t really be helped. This book suffers from a number of flaws, and it is fortunate that Coppola helped Puzo revise and refine the screenplay we all know well now. The book and the movie start off almost beat for beat in the wedding scene of the youngest Corleone child. The energy of Brando’s Don in the receiving of his supplicants is spot on with the book. It started to become obvious when I got to scenes not featured in the film that there was a reason for the cut. Puzo, perhaps for lack of skill in character development beyond simplistic backstory, follows many ancillary, non-Mafia characters and their sex lives—particularly the story of the singer Johnny Fontaine. These bits were incredibly boring to me, not giving much insight even into the book’s core machismo mythology. I think Puzo wanted to say something about the emptiness of movies or showbusiness—perhaps to vent his frustrations as an underpaid Hollywood writer. But he has nothing juicy to say here—unless he is actually describing disgusting and degrading sex scenes. Yes, every woman written into this novel is a weird, unearthly sexual object. I suppose these sex doll characters are written to like what they do, but that’s so easy to write it’s laughable. In a story where the energizing animus comes from the poker faces of the Corleone Dons and their ability to see several steps ahead of the competition and take their revenges coldly, these dumb sexual episodes and poorly written female characters either show Puzo can’t actually imagine the subtleties of female sex politics or he has zero interest in doing so. I honestly think it might be the former. The Godfather is true to the narrow suggestions of its own title—imagining a simplistic male fantasy of total (but sportsmanlike and honorable) dominion.

Some use the book has is that if there is anything you don’t understand about the Corleone hierarchy from the movie, the book will explain it. This sadly takes much of the secrecy and complexity of the plot and character motivations away and spoon-feeds the reader—oftentimes giving away the outcome of a climactic action (murder) sequence before we even get to it.

One part that did surprise me was the ending of the book, which tries, in a few pages, to give some small depth of insight to the women Kay and Connie. The strange, halting ending, told from Kay’s viewpoint, perhaps reveals the author’s desire to have us reflect on the morals at stake in lionizing the Don. It’s not enough, though, and I may even prefer the curt ending of the movie, which leaves these judgements to the viewer without trying to defend itself.