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Summary
Summary
New York, 1933. The city and the nation are in the depths of the Great Depression. The crime families of New York have prospered in this time, but with the coming end of Prohibition, a battle is looming that will determine which organizations will rise-and which will face a violent end.
For Vito Corleone, nothing is more important than his family's future. His youngest children, Michael, Fredo, and Connie, are in school, unaware of their father's true occupation; and his adopted son, Tom Hagen, is a college student; but he worries most about Sonny, his oldest child. Vito pushes Sonny to be a businessman, but Sonny-seventeen years old, impatient, and reckless-wants something else: to follow in his father's footsteps, and become a part of the real family business.
An exhilarating and profound novel of tradition and violence, of loyalty and betrayal, The Family Corleone carries on the legacy of The Godfather for a new generation.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Based on a screenplay by Mario Puzo, this effort from Falco tells the tale of a young Sonny Corleone and his emergence as a blazing force in the world of organized crime-a world in which his family will forever be entrenched. Bobby Cannavale delivers standout narration in this spirited audio edition that captures all the raw intensity of the Corleone clan. Cannavale's deep and gritty voice and New York Italian accent are crisp, honest, endlessly intimidating, and perfectly suited to Falco's prose. The narrator's Sonny is just as aggressive and quick tempered as James Caan's in the famous film franchise. This audiobook captures the essence of Puzo's classic tale and will have listeners doing their best-or worst-Vito Corleone impression at the dinner table. A Grand Central hardcover. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Guardian Review
Unlike Mark Winegardner's two sequels, this prequel to The Godfather is based on an unproduced screenplay by Mario Puzo. It's set in New York in 1933, before the Corleones' imperial phase; when Vito was 41 and "still retained much of his youth: his dark hair and muscular chest and arms, his olive skin that remained unmarred by lines and wrinkles". (As you'll have gathered, the prose tends towards the boilerplate.) Falco focuses not only on Vito's quiet ascent but on reckless 17-year-old Sonny's absorption into the business and the activities of Tom Hagen, the Irish orphan informally adopted by Vito and played by Robert Duvall in the first two movies. By contrast, his younger children, Michael, Connie and Fredo, still think their father is a successful importer of olive oil. Falco ably exploits the tension between civility and brutality. The result is good, messy fun. - John O'Connell Unlike Mark Winegardner's two sequels, this prequel to The Godfather is based on an unproduced screenplay by Mario Puzo. - John O'Connell.
Kirkus Review
Don Corleone's family navigates opportunity and treachery as Prohibition comes to a close in New York. Playing around in the Godfather universe is a tightrope act. The original novel is a pulpy, popular synthesis of influences, while its film adaptation is a timeless classic. The video games are slushy Grand Theft Auto knock-offs, and Mark Winegardner's sequels are labyrinthine marathons with epic casts. This time, the franchise falls back on more workmanlike writer Falco (Saint John of the Five Boroughs, 2009, etc.), who reels the story back to its roots though moments resurrected from unproduced scripts by Mario Puzo. It's 1933, and the Don is at the height of his power. Peter Clemenza is Vito's capo and Genco Abbandando remains consigliere. Michael and Fredo squabble underfoot but it's Sonny's explosive temper that film fans will recognize. Meanwhile, dutiful college student Tom Hagen is having a harmless flingthat turns out to be not so harmless when psychotic Luca Brasi decides to kill Tom for messing with his broad. In other boroughs, Giuseppe Mariposa conspires with Emilio Barzini and Phillip Tattaglia in his slow tango with the Corleones, while a pair of Irish brothers adds a new element to this dangerous mix. What works well is Falco's depiction of Vito Corleone, which captures both the cool reserve of young Vito and the insight he demonstrates as Don. "To understand the truth of things," he cautions Sonny, "you have to judge both the man and the circumstances. You have to use both your brains and your heart. That's what it's like in a world where men lie as a matter of courseand there is no other kind of world, Santino, at least not here on earth." More obsessive fans also get a reveal about a member of the Don's family, as well as a juicy unveiling of Luca Brasi's back story pulled from The Godfather. A worthy addition to the lurid world of the Five Families, if not quite an offer you can't refuse.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Opinion remains divided on Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1969). Was it a pulp masterpiece or did it merely benefit from the glow cast by Francis Coppola's films? Falco's prequel provides ample opportunity for reevaluation. Based on an unproduced screenplay by Puzo, it channels the original so well that readers will be vividly reminded of Puzo's strengths (family politics, abrupt violence) and weaknesses (important characters who never evolve beyond plot pawns). Set in 1933, the story finds all of the New York families, including the relatively humble Corleones, bracing for the end of Prohibition. That means power shifts and that means blood. Falco's populous, chatty, gory novel focuses on two characters, Don Corleone's hotheaded 17-year-old son, Sonny, who longs to break into his father's business, and Luca Brasi, a loose-cannon psychopath who throws the entire crime world into chaos. For better or worse, Falco follows every esoteric character with the same steadicam curiosity. His moments of blam-blam-blam, though, are ace. Best of all, he supplies a grand set-piece finale a parade that will have readers dreaming of just one more movie. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Over 21 million copies of Puzo's original are in print, and legions of Puzo and Coppola fans are still out there, making this an offer they can't refuse.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
