Rating: 
Summary: Could Not Put It Down
Review: One of the two times I actually am glad I saw the movie before reading the book (the first time being with Silence of the Lambs). Doing so allowed me to "hear" the real-life characters speak so realistically in relationship to the actors who portrayed them in "Goodfellas."I opened the book on a Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m., and between working and reading, I didn't put it down utnil 5 a.m. Monday, having just read the last line. Nicholas' selective dialogue is superb, and the interaction with Henry, Karen and others involved made this true crime story be one that was just so easy to really believe as truth.
Rating: 
Summary: Must-read companion to Goodfellas
Review: Remember in high school when your teacher said the movie was never as good as the book? She had never seen "Goodfellas", one of many film adaptations to supersede its source material ("A Clockwork Orange", "The English Patient" and "A River Runs Through It" being others). But only focusing on the brilliant film that blossomed from its pages is to diminish the revolutionary work that is Nicolas Pileggi's "Wiseguy", the must read companion to one of the greatest films of the second half of the twentieth century.
"Wiseguy" is primarily told through the voice of Henry Hill, one of the most famous Americans to take advantage of the FBI's Witness Protection Program. The book is his story, from his early pre-teen fascination with the wiseguys in his neighborhood, through his involvement in some of the biggest crimes of the 1960s and 70s and finally to the choice he had to make between death, life in prison or ratting out his friends.
The legacy of Henry Hill's truthful account of his life in the mob is that we finally see an unromantic depiction of organized crime. Before "Wiseguy" and "Goodfellas", the popular depiction of the mafia was the regal, operatic characters and events in The Godfather films. While the Puzo/Coppola trilogy may be a better story and may make better films, their work seems unrealistic and almost fanciful compared to the real stories of the mob. Just as "Unforgiven" attempted to correct the mythic idea of the American West perpetuated in the films of John Wayne at others, "Wiseguy" and "Goodfellas" (and now "The Sopranos") do the same for the crime genre.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, interesting, and a little shocking.
Review: This is an excellent book about the life of Henry Hill, a petty mobster in New York State. This book, of course, is the basis for the superb movie "Goodfellas." While The Godfather is a fictional account of the underworld's upper realm, Henry Hill was a part of the lower echelon of the Mafia. The people that run protection rackets, hold-ups, grand thefts, etc. and then pay tribute to the "made" members of the Mafia, who are mainly pure-blooded Sicilians and who form an elite that people like Henry Hill could do business with, but never quite be part of. The book is extremely interesting because of the picture it shows us of organized crime "where the rubber hits the road." The most astounding thing I took away from the book is that Hill and his confederates didn't really benefit all that much from their ill-gotten gains. Instead, they tended to literally throw their money away on a silly, lavish, extravagant lifestyle, featuring, for example $100 tips to doormen, big bribes to get the best tables at restaurants, etc. Hill explained that he saw no need to save because he could always generate all the earnings he needed. Wrong! Most of us are unaware that organized crime is such a large presence in society, costing all of us immense amounts of money. This book drives that point home and it is a shocking revelation. The other insight of the book, which also comes out brilliantly in the film, is that Hill and his fellow mobsters viewed themselves as far above ordinary schmucks who actually work for a living. After all, why work if you can spend a few hours a day playing the rackets making ten times as much? But after reading the book, the wantoness, pointlessness, and gruesome violence of the underworld is readily apparent, and it is clear that Hill and his associates were ultimately undone by their corrupt lives. The story is one of initial prosperity followed by a descent into corruption, mindless brutality, and ultimately betrayal and prison. I give the book four stars, mainly for its content and insight. I didn't find the writing to be much better than average, but the subject matter is outstanding, so four stars. That ain't bad.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, interesting, and a little shocking.
Review: This is an excellent book about the life of Henry Hill, a petty mobster in New York State. This book, of course, is the basis for the superb movie "Goodfellas." While The Godfather is a fictional account of the underworld's upper realm, Henry Hill was a part of the lower echelon of the Mafia. The people that run protection rackets, hold-ups, grand thefts, etc. and then pay tribute to the "made" members of the Mafia, who are mainly pure-blooded Sicilians and who form an elite that people like Henry Hill could do business with, but never quite be part of. The book is extremely interesting because of the picture it shows us of organized crime "where the rubber hits the road." The most astounding thing I took away from the book is that Hill and his confederates didn't really benefit all that much from their ill-gotten gains. Instead, they tended to literally throw their money away on a silly, lavish, extravagant lifestyle, featuring, for example $100 tips to doormen, big bribes to get the best tables at restaurants, etc. Hill explained that he saw no need to save because he could always generate all the earnings he needed. Wrong! Most of us are unaware that organized crime is such a large presence in society, costing all of us immense amounts of money. This book drives that point home and it is a shocking revelation. The other insight of the book, which also comes out brilliantly in the film, is that Hill and his fellow mobsters viewed themselves as far above ordinary schmucks who actually work for a living. After all, why work if you can spend a few hours a day playing the rackets making ten times as much? But after reading the book, the wantoness, pointlessness, and gruesome violence of the underworld is readily apparent, and it is clear that Hill and his associates were ultimately undone by their corrupt lives. The story is one of initial prosperity followed by a descent into corruption, mindless brutality, and ultimately betrayal and prison. I give the book four stars, mainly for its content and insight. I didn't find the writing to be much better than average, but the subject matter is outstanding, so four stars. That ain't bad.
Rating:
Summary: great book
Review: This of course is the all time classic that the best movie of the 90's was based on - Yes Im talking about Goodfellas. A lot of the exact quotes and dialogue of this book can be found in the movie. I loved the book and I have read it a few times in the past 10 years or so but I have probably seen Goodfellas no fewer than 50 times. Real life events make better stories than fiction sometimes and this proves it. Check out Henry Hills website. I think its called www.GoodfellaHenry.com or something like that. He has "threat of the week" on there and everyone emails him calling him a rat. Fun stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Memoir of a "Frontline" mafioso
Review: Wiseguy is the story of Henry Hill, a relatively minor associate member of the Luchese crime family of New York. Henry Hill is a half-Irish, half-Sicilian boy, who knew from a very early age that he wanted to be a wiseguy, a gangster. The movie "Goofellas", starring Ray Liotta as Henry Hill, is a rather good adaptation of this book. The book tells the story of Henry Hill, how he eventually becomes an errand boy for the Varios, a family of mafioso under the umbrella of the Lucheses (one of the Five Families in New York) and works his way up the ladder, making bigger heists, bigger scores, and loving every minute of it. Only when his involvement as a drug dealer and his subsequent arrest threaten to put him away for a long time does Hill finally make the decision to rat out his friends of 25 years and enter the Witness Protection Program in exchange for information leading to the conviction of bigger fish. The book also takes down the recollections of Henry Hill's wife, Karen, who, despite an upper-crust upbringing, is irresistably drawn to the danger and excitement Henry brings into her otherwise humdrum, yet comfortable life. Overall, this book paints an interesting portrait of life as a career criminal, where larceny, armed robbery, and intimidation are all in a day's work. This is in stark contrast to those familiar with "The Godfather" which is more about the lives of Mafia "royalty" and how the problems of wealthy, pwerful people are similar, whether they are kings, heads of state, or leaders of crime syndicates.
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