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sean_kennelly 's review for:
The Sicilian
by Mario Puzo
The blurb of this book mentions Michael Corleone, so I assumed that it was the sequel to The Godfather. I still didn't know what to expect, as the first two Godfather films cover ground laid out in The Godfather book. As it happens, Michael is barely in this book, written in 1984 after the films came out, and serves only as narrative framing device. It is 1950, and Michael is heading home after his two years of exile in Sicily. This book inserts a whole story into Michael's last week there, although he is not very involved.
The book is really about Turi Guiliano, a bandit. He is a hero to the Sicilian peasants, and a villain to the police. More interestingly though is how he is regarded by the Mafia. At first, Don Croce, the head of crime in Sicily, wants to court Turi, to have him as his protégé. His desire to have Guiliano succeed him keeps the other Mafia bosses off his back, but eventually his refusal to bend the knee to Don Croce makes an enemy of him. Michael has been asked to smuggle Guiliano to America with him, and so meets the main players in Guiliano's life: his parents, his bandit chiefs, the head of police, and Don Croce himself. It is in everyone's best interest that he leaves the country, as he has collected evidence of government corruption which could bring down the state.
Guiliano himself is a much a myth to the reader as he is to the peasant folk of Sicily who worship him. His friends, family, cohorts and enemies we get to know. Guiliano less so. We know him by his deeds and the loyalty he inspires in his followers and the poor of Sicily. Rarely though do we get access to his thoughts. Everything being told has already happened in the seven years building up to Michael's involvement, and the book reads like a history, detailing important developments while rarely getting close to the man himself.
I was not disappointed at how tangential this story was to the Corleone family, since the story was good enough to stand on its own two feet. The details of Sicilian, bandit and Mafia life are as rich and colourful here as were those of New York and Long Island in The Godfather. Perhaps the book would have benefited from removing distracting connections to The Godfather; but then I may not have picked it up (which is presumably why Puzo wrote it this way).
I savoured and enjoyed this book. Not as much as The Godfather, but easily enough for me to read the next Puzo book I come across. I got this in a charity shop in Fowey in Cornwall when Kirsty and I were down there for our anniversary. A fun note - this is a rather cheap publication, and as such there were a couple of spelling and printing errors in my copy. This isn't that unusual though. However, spelling the main character's name wrong on the blurb is a bit of a cockup! Guiliano is spelled Giuliano, likely because the Guiliano of this book is based on the real Giuliano, and Puzo changed the name spelling slightly. I have also just been reading Salvatore Giuliano's wikipedia page. It all happened! This book was remarkably true to life.
The book is really about Turi Guiliano, a bandit. He is a hero to the Sicilian peasants, and a villain to the police. More interestingly though is how he is regarded by the Mafia. At first, Don Croce, the head of crime in Sicily, wants to court Turi, to have him as his protégé. His desire to have Guiliano succeed him keeps the other Mafia bosses off his back, but eventually his refusal to bend the knee to Don Croce makes an enemy of him. Michael has been asked to smuggle Guiliano to America with him, and so meets the main players in Guiliano's life: his parents, his bandit chiefs, the head of police, and Don Croce himself. It is in everyone's best interest that he leaves the country, as he has collected evidence of government corruption which could bring down the state.
Guiliano himself is a much a myth to the reader as he is to the peasant folk of Sicily who worship him. His friends, family, cohorts and enemies we get to know. Guiliano less so. We know him by his deeds and the loyalty he inspires in his followers and the poor of Sicily. Rarely though do we get access to his thoughts. Everything being told has already happened in the seven years building up to Michael's involvement, and the book reads like a history, detailing important developments while rarely getting close to the man himself.
I was not disappointed at how tangential this story was to the Corleone family, since the story was good enough to stand on its own two feet. The details of Sicilian, bandit and Mafia life are as rich and colourful here as were those of New York and Long Island in The Godfather. Perhaps the book would have benefited from removing distracting connections to The Godfather; but then I may not have picked it up (which is presumably why Puzo wrote it this way).
I savoured and enjoyed this book. Not as much as The Godfather, but easily enough for me to read the next Puzo book I come across. I got this in a charity shop in Fowey in Cornwall when Kirsty and I were down there for our anniversary. A fun note - this is a rather cheap publication, and as such there were a couple of spelling and printing errors in my copy. This isn't that unusual though. However, spelling the main character's name wrong on the blurb is a bit of a cockup! Guiliano is spelled Giuliano, likely because the Guiliano of this book is based on the real Giuliano, and Puzo changed the name spelling slightly. I have also just been reading Salvatore Giuliano's wikipedia page. It all happened! This book was remarkably true to life.