i used to write for a magazine in order to keep up my standard of living during college (i am still in college, just not writing)....so i have a tendency to say that books are generally better than their movie counterpart. you can get more lost in them.
this is a rare exception. it's not because i watched the movie first...because i have watched many movies first and still liked the book better. the movie had more of a classic style to it than the book. the book was far more coarse. puzo is an AMAZING story teller....but i don't think he is particularly an amazing author. i would say, though, that his best written book is the sicilian (though the story in the godfather was the most interesting to me). i would say there was too much information in the book about johnny, nino, and lucy...and yes it was written to show the don's reach....but i thought it had so little to do with the story it wasn't necessary. the book also painted a completely different picture of fredo...and even tom was a bit different. michael's lines in the books if said in the movie would have made it worse. like when sonny is laughing at him after he said he'd kill solozzo.....he said "i've killed japs before" or something to that effect....i was like...thank god that wasn't in the movie. the movie is a better movie than the book was a book....though both are enjoyable and should be experienced.