Welcome back to Books With Cause. Let’s dive straight into my latest review.
A few months ago, Cineworld showed a number of classics as part of their Awards Season. I went to a fair few of them, but the one that stood out the most to me was The Godfather. At that point, I’d only seen the film once before. I’d borrowed the whole trilogy from the University library during my first few weeks at Teesside. Watching any film on my little television set in my university bedroom does not compare to seeing it on the big screen. So I felt like I had to go.
I’d forgotten a lot of the movie, so seeing it in the cinema was like seeing a new movie. The movie is almost three hours, so it was definitely one that required a large popcorn and drink combo. But the movie is incredible. And it was one of those moments where I decided I needed to read the book as well in order to compare. Usually, I prefer to read the book first where possible, but this is a rare exception to the rule for me.
The Godfather is an epic novel. The copy I borrowed from the library is 595 pages. The story is also broken into 9 “books” – a little like the Bible. It follows the Corleones – a Mafia family based in New York. The story takes place between 1945 and 1955. Although the story does jump around a little bit as well as spreading the story out between different characters at different points.
At the beginning of the novel, the head of the family is Don Vito Corleone, known as the titular Godfather. He has three sons and a daughter, who is getting married at the start of the book. The eldest son, Sonny, is a hothead who seems destined to take his father’s place as the head of the family and all operations. Meanwhile, the youngest son, Michael, has distanced himself from the family business. He has recently returned home from serving in the Marines before his sister’s wedding. His plans are to live a “straight” life in comparison to the way the rest of his family lives.
It is difficult to talk about this book while avoiding spoilers. Even though the novel was released in 1969 and the movie in 1972. One would imagine that everybody who wants to see it/read it has done so already by now. All the same, I don’t like giving spoilers in these reviews if I can help it.
As well as being a mammoth family saga, what I think this book does so cleverly is the way it handles Michael. If this is your first time reading the book, you think Vito and Sonny are the ones to watch, but ultimately Michael is the one who really goes on a journey over the course of the ten years.
While watching the movie in the cinema and reading the book, I couldn’t help but compare Michael Corleone to Jax Teller from Sons of Anarchy, which I’d say is my favourite television show. Both characters are born into powerful criminal families. While their journeys are a little different at times, both try to turn away from their destiny of being the head of their respective families before ultimately being exceedingly better in the role than anyone could have ever imagined.
If you’ve seen the movie, you absolutely should still read the book because there is plenty in the book that didn’t make it to the big screen, such as Johnny Fontane’s adventures in Hollywood. And if you haven’t seen the movie, you’re a complete blank slate. Of course you should read the book.
My Goodreads Rating:★★★★☆ (4 stars)
