The Godfather (novel)

The Godfather
Author	Mario Puzo
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Thriller, Crime novel
Publisher	G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date	10 March 1969
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback) & Audio Book
Pages	448 pp (Paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-7493-2468-6 (Hardback edition) & ISBN 0-399-10342-2 & ISBN 0-451-16771-6 (Paperback editions) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
Followed by	The Sicilian

The Godfather is a novel written by American author Mario Puzo originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family settled in USA and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the backstory of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood. The book made the English dictionary richer with new words like consiglieri, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà.

Titling

Much controversy surrounds the title of the book and its underworld implications. Although it is widely reported that Puzo was inspired to use "Godfather" as a designator for a Mafia leader from his experience as a reporter, the term "The Godfather" was first used in connection with the Mafia during Joe Valachi's testimony during the 1963 Congressional Hearing on Organized Crime.^{[citation needed]}

Main characters

The Corleone family patriarch is Vito Corleone, whose surname recalls the town of Corleone, Sicily. Similarly, the maiden name of Corleone's mother is Corigliano, named after the town of Corigliano Calabro, Calabria; an area well known for 'Ndrangheta activity. Vito has four children: Santino "Sonny" Corleone, Fredo Corleone, Michael "Mike" Corleone, and Connie Corleone. He also has an informally adopted son, Tom Hagen, who became the Corleones' consigliere. Vito Corleone is also the godfather of a famous singer and movie star Johnny Fontane. The Godfather referred to in the title is generally taken to be Vito. However, the story's central character is actually Michael, and a central theme of the novel is that it is Michael's destiny, despite his determination to the contrary, to replace his father as the family head. Arguably, therefore, Michael is the actual title character.

The Families

The Five New York City Families are: The Straccis, The Tattaglias, The Corleones, The Cuneos, and The Barzinis.
There is also the Bocchicchio Clan of New York, which does not get involved in any violent dealings or illegal operations but rather serve as peacekeepers amongst the Five Families. There are also ten other Mafia Families from across the nation:
The Tramonti Family - Florida
The Zaluchi Family - Detroit
The Falcone Family - Los Angeles
The Molinari Family - San Francisco
The Panza Family - Boston
The Forlenza Family - Cleveland
The Capone Family - Chicago
Three of the ten families are not mentioned by name.

Film adaptation

In 1972, a film adaptation of the novel was released, starring Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo assisted with writing the screenplay and with other production tasks. The film grossed approximately $134 million and won various awards, including three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes and a Grammy and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The sequel, The Godfather, Part II won 6 Oscars, and became the first sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

The film is similar in most places, but leaves out some details, such as extended back stories for some characters. Some of these details were actually filmed, and were included in later versions such as The Godfather Saga. A subplot involving Johnny Fontaine in Hollywood was not filmed. The biggest difference was that the novel included a more upbeat ending than the film, in which Kay Corleone found a peaceful acceptance of Michael's decision to take over his father's business. The film, in contrast, ended sharply with Kay's dreadful realization of what Michael had done.

Other adaptations

The video game company Electronic Arts released a video game adaptation of The Godfather on March 21, 2006. The player assumes the role of a "soldier" in the Corleone family. Prior to his death, Marlon Brando provided some voice work for Vito, which was eventually deemed unusable and was dubbed over by a Brando impersonator. Francis Ford Coppola said in April 2005 that he was not informed of Paramount's decision to allow the game to be made and he did not approve of it.^[1] Al Pacino also did not participate, and his likeness was replaced with a different depiction of Michael Corleone.

A board game based on the movie was also produced.

Sequels

In 2004, Random House published a sequel to Puzo's The Godfather, The Godfather Returns, by Mark Winegardner. A further sequel by Winegardner, The Godfather's Revenge, was released in 2006. The sequel novels continue the story from Puzo's novel. They do not contradict the events of the film sequels, and can be read independently, or be seen as supplemental, to the films.

The Godfather Returns picks up the story immediately after the end of Puzo's The Godfather. It covers the years 1955 to 1962, as well as providing significant backstory for Michael Corleone's character prior to the events of the first novel. The events of the film The Godfather Part II all take place within the time frame of this novel, but are only mentioned in the background. The novel contains an appendix that attempts to correlate the events of the novels with the events of the films. The novels and films dovetail in a curious fashion.

The Godfather's Revenge covers the years 1963 to 1964.

Continuing Puzo's habit, as seen in The Godfather, of featuring characters who are close analogues of real life events and public figures (as Johnny Fontane is an analogue of Frank Sinatra), Winegardner features in his two Godfather novels analogues of Joseph, John F., and Robert F. Kennedy (the Shea family, in the novels) as well as an analogue for alleged organized crime figure Carlos Marcello. (Carlo Tramonti). In The Godfather Returns, Winegardner also dramatizes the sweep of organized crime arrests that took place in Apalachin, New York in 1957.

Winegardner uses all of the characters from the Puzo novels, and created a few of his own, most notably Nick Geraci, a Corleone soldier whose role in the two sequel novels is as important as those of the Puzo-created characters. Winegardner further develops Puzo characters like Fredo Corleone, Tom Hagen, and Johnny Fontane.

The Sicilian

Another Puzo novel featuring Michael Corleone as a minor character, The Sicilian, was published in 1984. The novel was set at the end of Michael's two-year exile in Sicily, and the plot is based on the story of the real-life bandit Salvatore Giuliano.

Notes and References

^ Godfather film director whacks Godfather game - by Tor Thorsen, GameSpot, April 8, 2005, retrieved April 8, 2005.

External links

[1] Godfather film director whacks Godfather game - by Tor Thorsen, GameSpot, April 8, 2005, retrieved April 8, 2005.

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