Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: What more can I say? "The Godfather" has everything needed for an excellent novel: crime, love, suspense, sex, revenge, and New York City. Plus, Puzo's crafting of the story is remarkable. The films are good, but the book is excellent. It will always be among my all-time favorite novels. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: What more can I say? This book has everything needed for a successful story: crime, suspense, sex, love, revenge, and New York City. Puzo is a genius. "The Godfather" will always remain one of my all-time favorite novels. Highly recommended. The book is even better than the films.
Rating:
Summary: The Godfather
Review: Having seen the movie, how many times? certainly more than once, I am rather surprised that I am just now getting around to reading the novel. And I am grateful that it has been a few years since I last viewed the film. What the novel brings is the movie with a greater depth of character, a non-judgmental presentation of history and events that are both startling and endearing. The character development of such as Luca Brasi is critical to the greater imagery of the time and the environment. The medium of literature allows for details and insights that enhance our association, even our identification, to the odyssey. I smile at Tom Hagen's sophistication and humility. I cringe at Carlo's brutality and arrogance. I am charmed and frustrated by Sonny from the beginning. Puzo tells me of a world I have no exposure to and convinces me I am a participant. I am not just watching an exciting adventure. I am sitting at the table with Michael, Sollozzo and McCluskey. I am watching Nino's death wish aware, as a recovered alcoholic, he really would rather die than face the pain of life. And you know I keep a sharp eye out for Fabrizzo. I am sure I will see him again and I'll have my revenge. The only regret I have toward this novel is that it took me so long to come to it. I will now read every thing Puso wrote knowing he is not just an icon, but a masterful storyteller as well.
Rating:
Summary: Genius!
Review: I've always been a huge fan of the Godfather films, but I have to say that reading the book the movies were based upon made me love the story even more. In many ways the book is better than the films (as incredible as that may seem) because the book gives more in-depth accounts about the characters. Unfortunately, "The Godfather" films could only do so much due to time constraints, so it was wonderful to get the full story behind the characters Francis Ford Coppola immortalized in his films.I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a well-written, thought-provoking, and captivating book. Puzo not only romanticized the mafia, but also shows the power, violence, death, and reality that is associated with it as well. If you loved the films, you will love this book even more!...
Rating:
Summary: The Bad Guy, is, in fact, Good
Review: As for my opinion of the book, as cliché as this may sound, The Godfather is honestly the best book I have ever read. Not only does it satisfy the human desire to be good at being bad, but it shows a touching side of corruption. It does not indulge in malice or anything of the related kind, nor does it condemn morals. In fact, the Godfather himself was one to be easily angered by people close to him being promiscuous. Aside from that, he never wronged anyone who did not deserve to be wronged in the first place, or did not go about his duties for the wealth of himself. The novel is also a representation of a perfect mafia, a government of its own. Personally, I would never think of being brave enough to be in a mafia, but if this one existed, I would be fighting to even wash this Don's dishes. It is a story where you have the mindset going into reading it that the Godfather will play the part of the "bad guy", but you come out with a sense of triumph that he ended up succeeding as much as possible. Even from the beginning passages, it is quite evident that the Godfather is a man of respect and a man desperately needed in desperate times, one who is called on when the absolute worst is feared, for anyone at all, and he never fails to fix a problem for those people. For that, I consider him to be a figure more like a "good guy" than bad. All of his ideas are genius, and he winds the story for you in a very unexpected manner. All of Mario Puzo's characters are unforgettable, the story notwithstanding its intensity and magnificence if any of them were missing, and his plot enjoyably complicated.
Rating:
Summary: Underworld book which is on top of this world
Review: This is writing at its best - the world of Don Vito Corleone, the respect he earns is similar to a sect guru yet he is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes committed by his henchman so as to 'protect' the family honour.
The characterization is superb, and I feel that this is also illustrative of the Coppola film too.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever
Review: No, I really am serious. The Godfather is number one on my list of really great books and I highly doubt it will ever budge from that position. This book is nothing short from amazing. It is pure brilliance. Mario Puzo takes a fascinating concept-the struggle of a New York crime family (the Corleones) for underworld power-and unveils the intricacies of this concept very slyly, very stylishly. Part of Puzo's genius is his use of the characters in the book. He spends time with each of them, letting us readers know their personal fears, worries, morality, etc, etc. Though Don Corleone is the Godfather of the Corleone crime empire (he orders executions, kills people himself, etc.), we can begin to see that he has morality. This issue of morality in crime is continuously grappled with in the book. Also, his son, Michael Corleone becomes more and more complex throughout the book. The evolution of the characters are simply amazing; I've never seen it done so well before. Though the book is incredibly violent, it is also beautiful.
The story itself is unforgettable. It is also unpredictable. The book is incredibly clever with endless tricks and twists to keep us guessing until the very last page. There are all these classic human emotions in it: love, vengeance, betrayal, rage, evil, etc. And these emotions are most curiously entwined to weave a really great story about the Corleone family and the loyalty that bonds them. It is an amazing story. You can read it over and over and over again and find new things that you missed the last time.
Rating:
Summary: Different but as marvelous as the movie
Review: I like many others watched the Godfather (I, II, III) first before picking up Mario Puzo's book. After reading the book, I found myself being more familiar with the characters in the movie and seeing the little things in them that only a novel can describe. With the characters and scenery already painted in my mind this book was just a blast to read! What Puzo did though is describe each character as if that person was breathing right next to you. True master storytellers have the ability to make you taste, touch, and smell moments. A few questions I had were answered in the book and a some minor characters in the movie were given their due in this book. The stories of Lucy Mancini, Johnny Fontane, and Luca Brasi were given with great detail. Some folks I know knock the book for this, but as a fan of the saga...I welcome it! If you watched the movie, you have to check the book out. Usually we find ourselves in the opposite end of the book-movie spectrum, but trust me on this one.
Rating:
Summary: .........never take sides against the family !
Review: The family Corleone is a family to respect and fear. This book is a book to read and enjoy. I really enjoyed this book from cover to cover. From simple beginnings, Vito Corleone is able to become a man with much power and influence. He runs his family buisness like a well oiled (olive?) machine. All the members of the family come to life in this novel as each do their part to keep the buisness running. Other characters in the book equally come to life as they play parts that inter-weave with the family. This book had me on a kind of rollercoaster with the goings on with the different family members. We get a look at how the young Vito started in the family buisiness all the way up to where Michael the youngest son assumes leadership of the family. Everything in between makes for some of the best reading I've come across in a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: The Godfather Review
Review: In Mario Puzo's The Godfather, he uses the crimes of a family and their Italian heritage to show how it affects a large loving family. I thought this was an excellent book, because the plot sequence was amazing with constant twists and suspense. The irony of this book comes through the crime boss Vito Corleone who is a kind-hearted and loyal friend of all who come to him with a request. However, he makes his living off of corruption and death which really doesn't affect the reader's attitude towards this loving character. The vicious side of the mafia comes through Vito's son Sonny. Sonny's rage leads to the death of many mob-related characters as well as to the his own death which is another irony evident in this novel. The Godfather uses masterful description of each member's life and how mob-life affected them. Another example of irony in The Godfather is the youngest son Michael's situation. At the beginning of the novel, Michael is returning from World War II and has no part in the family business. However, when his father nears death after gunshot wounds, Michael is drawn into the family business and chooses to pay back the antagonist Solozzo by spilling his blood for the sake of the family. Michael becomes the leader of the family after his father and Sonny die and he returns from Italy after things die down about his assasination of Solozzo. This transformation from an upstanding servant of the country to a crime boss looking out for the wellbeing of his family alone is the ulimate irony in this novel. Women and children are not major characters in the novel, because Puzo uses them to show how the mobs goal was to keep the innocent free from encountering their violent troubles. Puzo incorporates the lives of everyone involved in this crime family to show how much love and loyalty lead to their success and rage and deceit lead to their downfall. After reading the novel, I gained a greater appreciation for the movie which I had seen earlier and an understanding of how loyalty leads to power in the world.
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