Book World Review: Ed Falco's ‘The Godfather’ Prequel

The Book World section of The Washington Post reviewed "The Godfather" prequel, written by Ed Falco, and yes, he is related to Edie Falco, who played Carmella on "The Sopranos." It sure is a small world; I doubt I will be reading this book, unless any readers out there will give me a big thumb's up...


"Mario Puzo (1920-99) was one of 12 children born in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen to two illiterate Neapolitan immigrants. Puzo graduated from City College, loved the novels of Dostoyevsky and in his 20s began writing stories for pulp magazines. He published two little-noticed novels, and then, in his late 30s, deeply in debt (he gambled) and with a wife and five children, he set out for entirely mercenary reasons to write a novel about the Mafia, an organization about which he knew almost nothing.

"I remember reading “The Godfather” when it was published in 1969. Like millions of others, I couldn’t put it down. Puzo had drawn brilliantly on the pulps and Dostoyevsky to create a crime story like no other. His powerful narrative carried violence to shocking new levels (even horses weren’t safe). Most strikingly, in Puzo’s fictional universe, leaders of the Mafia, previously regarded as ignorant, homicidal thugs, were transformed into men of honor, men of respect, American businessmen who were sometimes obliged to do harm to others, although the best of them, such as Puzo’s Don Vito Corleone, deeply regretted that necessity. ..."


Read the rest: Book World: ‘The Family Corleone,’ by Ed Falco, a prequel to ‘The Godfather’ - The Washington Post

Comments