Don Cardi:

Thank you for your honest feedback - I thought it was just me. I am on my second read. I am finding myself reading some, skipping ahead to see if it grabs me, seeing that it doesn't, going back to see if what I skipped made a difference, etc.

What I do see is related to an observation by PL. He mentioned (an was quite right) that the novel diverges from GF1 and GF2. Looking back, I do not think any one really minded that divergence, we simply became either book fans and/or movie fans and did not make a big deal over the differences.

GFR is trying to reconcile the differences between the novel and the movie series. I think that Winegardner should have either decided to extend the novel -leaving the existing truth intact or should have decided to bridge the movies, but leaving the existing truth intact. But not try to do both.

I wish Winegardner no ill will, but I hope that no one gets 'happy feet' and tries to make a movie out of this for 'the next generation of GF fans'. I am still working my way through GFR in an iterative fashion, but I have read enough pockets of detail to know that this book is trying to do too much - recall the past, fill in the gaps, bridge the novel and the movies, add new story lines and change/expand the characters of the Fredo and Tom.

Believe me, if after multiple reads GFR grabs me, I will gladly come back to the boards and sing its praises. But as noted by Don Cardi, right now, this is some tough sledding for me.

If any of the old timers (CD, Snake or Turnbull) are still around, I would love to get their opinions of GFR. They were usually pretty-dead on correct in their observations of GF issues.