i beg to differ. the quote i was referring to was from michael to sonny. read that page in the book again. sonny laughs first, then the others laugh (according to the book for a different reason than sonny). the book states the others laughed because they thought sonny was laughing at michael's bravado and so they laughed along. sonny laughed according to puzo because in his words....he knew it was in michael's nature all along and he was waiting for him to drop this war hero, good kid b.s. michael obviously gets mad at the laughing, that's when he makes the allusions to the "japs" he kills....then sonny explains why he actually is laughing. re-read that page in the book...it is a bit different than what happened in the movie. though your quote was right on in accordance with the movie.