The Godfather
50th Anniversary Edition
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4.5 • 117 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION—WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
Mario Puzo’s classic saga of an American crime family that became a global phenomenon—nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
With its brilliant and brutal portrayal of the Corleone family, The Godfather burned its way into our national consciousness. This unforgettable saga of crime and corruption, passion and loyalty continues to stand the test of time, as the definitive novel of the Mafia underworld.
A #1 New York Times bestseller in 1969, Mario Puzo’s epic was turned into the incomparable film of the same name, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the original classic that has been often imitated, but never matched. A tale of family and society, law and order, obedience and rebellion, it reveals the dark passions of human nature played out against a backdrop of the American dream.
With a Note from Anthony Puzo and an Afterword by Robert J. Thompson
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Mario Puzo’s 1969 bestseller is jam-packed with drama, violence, and scandal. Don Vito Corleone is an aging-but-powerful Mafia boss whose “respectable” political and showbiz ties mask his murderous ruthlessness. When war breaks out between the Corleones and their rivals, Vito’s estranged son, Michael, is pulled into the family business against his will. Puzo lays out this epic story with you’re-right-there details and cinematic dialogue. Practically every mob story since has been influenced by The Godfather. Even if you’ve seen Francis Ford Coppola’s film a dozen times, the book will still leave you breathless—and craving a cannoli.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The deck's stacked against this audio adaptation of the novel that inspired one of the most acclaimed feature films of all time. The powerful visual imagery at the end of Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of Puzo's novel the alternating between a baptism and coordinated hits on rival mob bosses is so indelible that any other depiction must suffer in comparison. Hearing any narrator read that a character "put three bullets" in another's chest just can't hold a candle to seeing it, at least as Coppola filmed the scene. Ditto for the shocker when a certain animal head turns up in a certain character's bed. However, that's not to say that narrator Joe Mantegna's reading is at fault. Turning in compelling and nuanced performance, Mantegna's gravelly-voiced Don Corleone is close enough to Marlon Brando's not to jar, and the narrator (who appeared in The Godfather: Part III) also pulls off female voices effectively. More notably, despite his decades of voicing a parodistic mobster on The Simpsons, Mantegna's use of different accents and modes of speech insures that his characterizations never come across as stereotypical. A Signet paperback.
Customer Reviews
Amazing
I liked the movie, I loved the book!
Greatest book ever
Just fantastic
Failed the screen test
Unfortunately I must say that this is a situation where the movie was better than the book. A good read but in comparison, the movie was a masterpiece .