Rating: 
Summary: A Incomparable Book - Fascinating
Review: As close as any of us will ever get to sitting down with a mobster over a plate of pasta and talking heart to heart. Pileggi is invisible; it's you and Henry Hill taking a trip through his mind. Don't feel that just because you've seen the film, you should not read the book. They compliment each other beautifully. Both should be Amazon essentials.
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: An incredible book
Review: This book is worth just about any price that is being charged. This book was all about the real guys working in the trenches of a mafia family back in New York. Great details of what happened, why it happened and how it happened. The Lufthansa Heist was interesting to say the least.
Rating:
Summary: The banality of evil
Review: As great as "Goodfellas" is as a movie, "Wiseguy" is as the book it is based on. At least by his own account, Henry Hill wasn't the baddest, most clever or most successful gangster ever, but he was certainly one of the most pathetic. Not because he was incompotent, but because when the gig was finally up he turned in his closest associates before they could do him in. Pileggi's account of Hill's activities is more detailed than the film and provides some important perspective. Pileggi is an excellent writer, and "Wiseguy" is one of the best true crime books ever written.
Rating:
Summary: Incaptivating and relatively neutral
Review: From looking at my rating of the book, it is obvious that I to find the book enjoying. It is important, however, for me to emphasize that the book, apart from being very interessting, differs from many other good books about the mafia in its view towards organized crime. The Godfather helped creating a stereotyped view of what the mafia is all about, and one of the main qualities in this book is that it shows us that there is much more involved then your typical clichees. I especially like the fact that Pileggi shows us what it is that atracts Henry Hill to the mafia. By showing us the money, the glamour, and the respect these mobsters receive, we get a hole new understanding of this world. It does not preach by saying that crime is wrong and that we should all live in peace and harmony. It portrayes the mafia world in an almost neutral way. In my opinion that is what incaptivates us during the reading of the book, and that is what made me rate the book as being worthy of five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Brutal, absorbing, hilarious.
Review: The outsider's nonchalance of chief narrator Henry Hill and Nicholas Pileggi's highly restrained hand in helping him relate his story has resulted in a book which shuns any sense of melodrama and emotional attachment. Instead, we get a highly intelligent, insightful, and funny look at Mafia life, stuffed with fascinating details. As befits his reporter background, Pileggi stays at a distance. Unlike its offspring movie GoodFellas, where director Martin Scorsese effortlessly blended the smart-aleck text of the book (incorporating it into the film as probably the best voice-over ever written and performed) with elements of suspense, poetry, sensuality, visual comedy, and energy. In Pileggi's book, it's all cerebral. Hill's magnetic personality and storytelling talents make this book an addictive read. Pileggi also flaunts a real editorial talent, skipping out of Hill's first-person account and delving into journalistic mode at the most suitable moments, giving background where necessary, and stepping back to let the reader make the moral judgments as s/he sees fit. Different from, but the equal of, GoodFellas. I'd take the opposite stance from other people by saying that it's probably better to see the film first; the emotional investment Scorsese weaves into the story offers a rich contrast to the book's neutral tone. And reversing the process will also facilitate the viewer/reader in seeing through the outdated accusation of "This didn't really happen" when watching the film.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book to read
Review: Before I bought this book I did not realize that the movie Goodfellas coincided with this book. I am not a huge fan of reading books, but I do like to read one once in a while. I enjoyed this book a lot. Most of the chapters were great. I found difficult to put the book down most of the time. The life of Henry Hill is pretty interesting. Most people look at the mob in the eyes of the Godfather movies. This shows that life in the mob is not always that great for the members and their families. Give this book a read its worth it!
Rating:
Summary: The extraordinary story of Henry Hill
Review: It's been a while since I've seen the movie Goodfellas, but it seems to be rather faithful to the book, which tells the story of atypical mobster Henry Hill and his rise in the world of organized crime and charts the events which bring about his "fall"(you'll have to read the book to see what I mean by putting that word in quotation marks). Read the book, then see the movie.
Rating:
Summary: mobster reality
Review: this is by far the greatest book i've ever read. and i hate to read. but after i saw goodfellas 970000000 times and learned every single line, character, actor that was in the movie, song that was in the movie, etc. and become known as the "guido movie girl" to friends (this is my favorite godfather 2 is my second) i knew it was time to read wiseguy. i started reading it and i just had alot more apreciation for the story and even the knowledge i had of the mob. i felt like i had been the one who tapped into the famous john gotti phone conversations not the cops. maybe i had such an appreciation because i am also sicilian like everyone in this book or maybe it is because i grew up hearing lots of stories (we will leave it at that) knowing lots of people, and watching the john gotti stuff on tv. but wow, for the naive little jerks that dont believe in the mob, tell them to read this book, then ask them if they believe.
Rating:
Summary: Another great factual mobster book
Review: An insider like Henry Hill can open up a view that is rarely glimpsed by the unknowing public. And Pileggi does his best to extract all of the riveting details about life in the Mob. Especially interesting is the Lufthansa airline heist and the details about how they pulled it off. If you like mobster books, you won't be able to put this one down.
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