Current Events > Starting The Godfather book.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I watched the movie for the first time last week and I'm hooked. I'm saving Part II for a watch party for a friend so I decided to give the book a spin. I love it, I think it's pretty vastly superior to the movie so far.

Its one of the best page turners I ever read. I couldnt put it down. The Exorcist book was like that too.

Bibimbap posted...

Its one of the best page turners I ever read. I couldnt put it down. The Exorcist book was like that too.

My man that's going straight to my reading list. Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier when the writer of the book had considerable sway on the movie iirc (which I love)

Yeah, when they re-released the Exorcist in theaters in the 90s, I decided to read the book. It was way spookier than the movie from what I can remember lol.

My favorite book of all time, read the whole thing in 2 days cuz I just couldn't put it down.

The book is definitely better than the first movie, with the exception of Brando just being a badass.

The second movie to Coppolas credit actually kinda improves on the book with added storylines. Though thats subjective.

GREAT!

No spoilers, but a cool thing about the book is that it gets into the background of characters that the movie kind of just hints at, like Luca Brasi and Al Neri.

You are in for a treat.

masticatingman posted...

The book is definitely better than the first movie, with the exception of Brando just being a badass.

The second movie to Coppolas credit actually kinda improves on the book with added storylines. Though thats subjective.

I have a documentary where Coppola and Puzo would meet at his winery and discuss plotlines for Michael and others in Godfather II over food and wine. They'd get into each character's motivation for each scene. They took some threads from the book and added others. Truly amazing. IIRC it came with the DVD box set.

I liked it. As for being better than the movie? Even the author thinks the movie is better.

In fact, he's come out and said The Godfather is his least favorite thing he's written and wished he never had lol

It's also very much a pulp crime story compared to the serious crime drama of the movie.

I honestly didn't care for the book as much as I thought I would.

it had some superfluous stuff, in relation to the movies, I didn't think benefitted the story, and iirc, there were too many times (more than once) where it talked about how some dude shit himself after being killed.

it wasn't bad, but I definitely prefer the movies.

ArchNemo posted...

I liked it. As for being better than the movie? Even the author thinks the movie is better.

In fact, he's come out and said The Godfather is his least favorite thing he's written and wished he never had lol

It's also very much a pulp crime story compared to the serious crime drama of the movie.

It can be downright crude in some places.

Do we have to know someone shit themselves when they were killed?

boxoto posted...

I honestly didn't care for the book as much as I thought I would.

it had some superfluous stuff, in relation to the movies, I didn't think benefitted the story, and iirc, there were too many times (more than once) where it talked about how some dude shit himself after being killed.

it wasn't bad, but I definitely prefer the movies.

Beat me to it.

I know stuff like that is more realistic, and to maybe show people who treat death in fiction lightly that it's not as "clean" as they might think it is, but it was still a bit much, for me (I read it pretty young, though).

The extra info the book gives on the Corleone family is fantastic and makes it worth a read. I still think the movie is better because it told the story in a compact movie form so well and took out what needed to be taken out, as you'll find out. Sometimes the writing felt a bit too amateur to almost juvenile, even for a pulp novel. Still like the novel a lot, but there's issues.

boxoto posted...

I know stuff like that is more realistic, and to maybe show people who treat death in fiction lightly that it's not as "clean" as they might think it is, but it was still a bit much, for me (I read it pretty young, though).

I loved the book but I did find those parts unnecessarily crude. Like it was just added for shock value.

Is it a physical book, ebook or audiobook?

Cheater87 posted...

Is it a physical book, ebook or audiobook?

Grabbed the Google Play Books version.

Southernfatman posted...

The extra info the book gives on the Corleone family is fantastic and makes it worth a read. I still think the movie is better because it told the story in a compact movie form so well and took out what needed to be taken out, as you'll find out. Sometimes the writing felt a bit too amateur to almost juvenile, even for a pulp novel. Still like the novel a lot, but there's issues.

I think I'm gonna finish the book then rewatch the movie.

There's some parts like The Don and Abbandando waiting for death together that I found a lot more powerful than the majority of the first movie. I don't really mind the crud stuff so far.