Title: The Family Corleone
Genre: Novel
Grade: B
Notable People: Edward Falco
Review: As many of you know, I am a total devotee of the Godfather series- both in written an film form- and believe it represents an extraordinary metaphor for American life as well as a tutorial on organizational life and leadership (Really!!!) I also think Mario Puzo was a brilliant writer and that the first two films are in the top five of any American films EVER . so- it was with great anticipation that I learned about this novel which was taken from an outline and notes for a screenplay that Puzo left behind- and sought to bridge the gap between the emerging young Vito Corleone from the “coming to America” portion of the second movie- and the opening of the original movie in mid-war 1940’s America; where the Godfather has emerged in full bloom. What a concept; the Don with his young family, a volatile teen age Sonny, a baby Michael and the empire in its infancy in 1920-1942 New York. And to top it off- the Puzo family chose an English Dept. Chair named Ed Falco to write the book- who happens to be the uncle of Edie Falco- the iconic Carmella Soprano. Naturally, Paramount films is all over this and trying to see if Al Pacino can be had for a sequel. So…the book…well. It’s not Puzo. I was actually ready to stop reading (which i never do!) about halfway through- -but persevered and it got better. Falco is not a great writer- but the compelling story that unfolds almost overcomes that.. and the character development like Clemenza, Tessio, Luca Brazzi (who is a main character – and a wacked out one) are hard to not admire. In the end…not for everybody- you probably have to really like this stuff to like this book. Leave the gun, take the Canoli!