Omerta

Rating:
Summary: Omerta
Review: This book reads more like an outline than a novel.The characters are scketchy at best and the story is very weak.It was as if Mr.Puzo knew he was running out of time and couldn't flesh out the book.Someone should take the book and finish it and it might be a passable novel.Save your money wait for the movie.It might be the only time a movie is more developed than the book.

Rating:
Summary: A ghost writer wrote the ending after Puzo's death
Review: I am a true fan of Puzo, and have read all of his books and enjoyed them, Fools Die, being the weakest to date, but Omerta built up superbly and was a great let down. I agree w/ another reviewer, things fit too well in the end. Also,the was no way possible Astorre could have planned the end to be as cute as it was. It ended like a made for tv movie.

Rating:
Summary: Very good but a bit short ...
Review: As an avid fan of all the Godfather movies/book, The Last Don etc I was thrilled to see the newest Mario Puzo book. The book is exciting and attention grabbing but I could not help but wonder why is seemed so short? There seems to be less violence and more action in this title. Some characters were nicely developed and others seemed under developed. I found it easy to get through and interesting to read. I was also left wanting more ...

Rating:
Summary: Good, but it has a downside
Review: All in all, Mario Puzo's new book is very good. It's a page turner and had me interested from start to finish. The plot was weaved with expertice(sp) that can only be achieved by decades of experience. It did, however, have a few problems that brought the rating from 5 to 4. Here are thge three reasons: 1. The book is too short. It seemed that Mr. Puzo cut some corners in writing it, and left out some valuable information. 2. This reason is related to #1. The book ended kind of abrupty and I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending. It seemed that Mario got 85% through the book and then decided that he wanted to just finish the last leg of the book in a day or two. 3. My final complaint is that the characters never really developed. In The Godfather, you get to know and understand even the least important of charaters (Johnny Fontane). In 'Omerta', the characters never really reach that 3rd dimension... possibly because he tried to fit so many characters into a relatively short novel. Once again, if he took his time with the story he could have developed characters like the Aprile children (who don't even make it past the 1st dimension, except for Nicole). One in particualar is Valerius, who we don't get to know AT ALL. Thia book surely has it's downside, but don't let that discourage you from reading it. All in all it is a genuinely good book worthy of the Puzo name.

Rating:
Summary: Always a Great Read
Review: Puzo did it again! This final volume lives up to all of my expecations, filled with as much great writing, color, and excitement as every one of the master's earlier books. The only book I have read this Summer that I enjoyed as much -- and that made me laugh as well as think -- is Maria Laurino's "Were You Always an Italian?" I'm recommending them both to all my friends.

Rating:
Summary: May his soul rest in peace, this is not a very good book
Review: Instead of living up to the great standard set by The Godfather and The Last Don, Puzo's last novel belongs closer on his resume to wacky, unfeasibly over-the-top stories like The Fourth K. For starters, Omerta is WAAAAAY too short. Most details and background are glossed over or even completely skipped. This book might as well be titled "Omita." When I finished, I peeked inside my copy of The Godfather and was amazed at how much more type I saw, how small it was and how cramped together it was, not to mention the 100 or so more pages. Secondly, Omerta is very contradictory in its portrayal of the modern Mafia. At first we are to believe it is in shambles, yet the the two surving families seemingly have an endless arsenal of money and soldiers. It's a far too romantic view of organized crime in the 1990s, not only in America but in Italy as well. Plus, everything in the story fit together too neatly and conflicts were too easily solved by Astorre. I don't know if a movie or miniseries is planned for Omerta, but if they can't make it better than the book, I hope they don't even bother.

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunately the last Puzo...
Review: I've read everything written from Mario Puzo (including The Godfather, The Last Don, and Fools Die) and I am very sorry to say that his last wasn't close to the same league of his other novels. It seems rushed at the end, and while the lean meat of the characters are there (and they are fascinating, vintage Puzo) they aren't nearly as fleshed out as you want them to be. I put down the book fairly unsatisfied. That being said, even his mediocre writing is better than most people's best efforts, and its definitely worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: OMERTA
Review: Mario Puzo is back! In his greatest work since The Gofather, Mario Puzo tells a griping story of how a true MAFIOSO digs into his vast resoures to secure his familys holdings and future. No one can tell quite a story on the Mafia as can Mario Puzo. Although Fiction, Mario Puzo's unbelievable accuracy on how the Old Mafia conducted their business, OMERTA, is truly a masterpiece of work.

Rating:
Summary: Needed a good editor and rewrite
Review: After Mario Puzo died, he left Omerta as an unfinished novel. It is given to us in a largely unfinished form. With lots of inconsistencies and repetitive phrases, the book could have been at least polished by a good editor. The estate would have been well served to have hired a writer to develop the characters, now just flat 2-dimensional caricatures. The plotting is servicable and at times quite exciting. The novel could have lived up to promise had Puzo been alive.

Rating:
Summary: Operation "Omerta"
Review: A posthumous publication by a major literary figure presupposes these questions in the reader's mind: Did this author write this book? If so, how much of the book? Did this author receive any "help" in its writing? If so, then what was the form of this "help?"

Without doubt, master storyteller Mario Puzo has placed the capstone of his life's work in "Omerta," the final tale of the "Godfather" saga. At first glance, "Omerta" appears to be a continuation of the struggles between older and younger generations, between traditions of Sicily and America, between alleged crime families and law enforcement agencies. Early on, the story seems to collapse on itself because the narrator deprives the reader of the suspense of "whodunit."

Nevertheless, the Puzo "signature" of larger-than-life characters is stamped on every page of "Omerta." When Don Raymonde, the Sicilian scion of the Aprile family, is murdered, his adopted Sicilian son, Astorre Viola, steps up to enforce the Don's last wishes. Astorre is confronted by Don Aprile's daughter, Nicole, a corporate attorney who happens to oppose the death penalty. The "no mercy" tenet of Don Aprile is counterbalanced by the "mercy" obtained by Nicole Aprile through her pro bono work.

The text of "Omerta" is threaded with imagery and aphorisms: ". . . when one changes one's country, one must always change one's hat." The usual cast of characters appears, including Roman Catholic cardinals and priests. A close reading of the text will reward one with glimpses of Puzo's dark humor. Beyond his use of irony, one can sense self-parody, which is a hallmark of his inimitable style.

However, there are some textual clues in "Omerta" which lead one to suspect that Puzo may have changed his narrative style partway through the novel. After the early revelation of the "shooters" and their "contractor," the novel takes on an uncanny resemblance to a "police procedural." Indeed, the director of the Bureau asks, "And how is our operation 'Omerta'?" Further, the frontispiece defines "Omerta," using the "World Book Dictionary." A final quibble concerns the book cover, which is a minimalist European-style design: black letters shadowed onto a white background, with an oval of metallic red to dot the "i" in "Mario." My question is: where is the written accent for "Omertà?" Without "reading" too much into this "omission," nonetheless, I do find it to be an appropriate symbol of how "[t]he great Dons had accomplished their goals and blended gracefully into society . . . " (315).

Naturally, one cannot read this book without envisioning the sights and sounds of "the movie" and its "soundtrack." Bravo, Signor Puzo e mille grazie.