My novel questions

Since I'm reading the book I thougt myself to post a new topic with all my question. Every time I read a part and have questions I can ask them in one treat. So here are my first questions:

1) Is Nazorine the baker relative of the Corleones? Because he says something like this: "Keep Enzo here in America en let him hide by our NEPHEWS in Long Island". And I think he means Vito in Long Island.

2) Kay noticed 4 men that wanted to talk to Vito, these people were Bonasera, Nazorine, Brasi and Anthony Coppola. Who the heck is the last one?

Nazorine is not a relative. His relationship with Don C. stemmed from his paying dues to the Don's bakery union over the years. The statement you refer to was made by Nazorine's wife to Nazorine.

Anthony Coppola was the son of a man Don C. had worked with in his youth. He needed to borrow $500 to open a pizzeria. I always thought it ironic that his name was Coppola, as in Francis Ford. Puzo could not have known at the time he wrote the book that he and FFC would be collaborating on the screenplays for three films originating from his novel, and that FFC would direct them.

Are you reading the novel in English, or a translation to Dutch?

That's another reason to read the novel: Anthony Coppola's father worked with Don Corleone in the railroad yards in his youth. So, you learn that after Vito was forced out of Sr. Abbandando's grocery store, and before the dress robbery, Vito worked in the railroad yards. There's a bit more detail on Vito's sojourn in the railroad yards later in the novel, when it covers his youth.

How come that Vito only learned Michael to see everything as "personal"?

"It's not personal, it's strictly busines." Michael

Good catch! It's meant to show a contrast between the old order (Don Corleone, who sees things in personal terms) and the new (Sonny and, ostensibly, Michael), who see thinks in "business" terms. Michael himself says that taking things personal is what made the Don great.
But the reality was that both Vito and Michael had mixtures of "business" and "personal." Vito tells Michael, "revenge is a dish that's best eaten cold." Michael is several times filled "with icy rage" and acts on that feeling.

In Dutch, but I've read the English novel two times but then you don't notice these things like Anthony or Nazorine.

After reading some pages more I have some detail questions.

1) What is a Di-Nobili sigar and where does it come from, where is it made of etc.?

2) What is Strega for kind of drink?

3) Do I understand it good when Vito is helping Nazorine that he's paying people to get a new law that makes it happen that Enzo (and other people like him) trough the Congress? And why does Vito gives this job not to Congresman Luceto but the Jew?

Is there anybody who can answer the questions above?

And something else I noticed: in one of the beginning pages of the book Vito asks Sonny to come with the case of Bonasera. Sonny is not paying attention, and then in the book Vito says he has to search a succedor and fast because he's not invurnerable. So I think from this point he knew Mike would be the next DOn.

It's not realy a "law" that would apply to Enzo and other people like him. In the American system it would be considered a "bill", which is kind of like a law, that would apply to Enzo only and allow him to become an American citizen. Each individual in Enzo's circumstances would require their own special "bill", which would apply strictly to them. Remember Vito's comment about the passing of such a bill:

"The bill would surely pass Congress. A privilege all those rascals (Congressmen) extended to each other". Why he instructed Hagen to give the job to a Congressman from another district? I have no idea.

1. DiNobili cigars are made in the US by an Italian family. They are crooked in shape, and very strong tasting, due to the fact that the wrappers are made from leaves that have been hickory-smoked. They (along with Parodi and Lupo cigars) were much-favored by Italian-American families of that era.
2. Strega ("witch" in Italian) is a Sicilian liquer flavored with fennel and mint, tastes a bit like anisette.
3. As plawrence said, any Congressman can introduce a "private" bill that, unlike regular legislation, is for the benefit of a single constituent. For example, members of the Ways and Means Committee routinely introduce bills to reduce or eliminate taxes for corporations in their districts. And any Congressman can introduce a bill to make an immigrant in his/her district a citizen without going through the usual immigration rigmarole. Of course, the other Congressmen have to approve the bill. The reason Vito told Tom to give Enzo's case "not to our paisan --give it to a Jew Congressman in another district," was twofold: First, his own, local Congressman probably was an Italian-American. Enzo was an Italian prisoner of war. Italian-Americans were sensitive about Italy being allied with Nazi Germany for most of the war, so Vito spared the Italian-American Congressman the possible embarrassment of showing favoritism to "one of his own kind"--a problem that a Jewish Congressman wouldn't have. Second, Vito surmised that there'd be many such requests for private bills for citizenship in the postwar months. He was seeking to spread around the requests among many Congressmen to keep the price down.

Thanks Turnbull; I guess this was informative for me too.

Thanks Turnbull.

Ok, i read a few pages more and I again have some questions:

1) There is a sentence where they mention the word infamita, this isn't a Dutch word. I think it's Italian. But what does it mean. (It was used when Vito says to Tom: He (Sollozzo) wants to propose a infamita.)

2) When Vito goes to Genco, Genco says: remember the time when we were playing BOCCHIO in front of the wine cellars. What is BOCCHIO for game?

3) Most people here say Tom isn't a wartime cons, but he new from the beginning that the Sollozzo stuff would be problems. When Vito says that Sollozzo can come after the wedding he knew Vito would say no to the proposal and that it would gave problems. I think he has seen this very good. Your opinion?

Infamita is a disrepect and/or a mortal sin.

In America we refer to the game as "bocce". Its a team game played with balls on a dirt covered court. The object is for each team to get their bocce balls closest to one ball called a "pallino". As in shuffleboard, one is allowed to knock an opponent's ball away, and hopefully place his own ball closer.

Ok some new ones:

1) When Tom is walking towards Macy, he's caught by Sollozzo. But what is Macy, girlfriend/restaurant/hotel?

2) There are some weird details differences between movie and book. (And I think it's because of the Dutch translation). First: When Vito goes to the fruit/orange stand he wants to buy some oranges. In my book it says that the seller says to Vito that the one he pointed out was bad. But in the film it's the opposit. The salesman points one out but Vito points on another one? Second: After the Don is shot Sonny goes to Carmella and says that she should dress herself in case they could see Vito. In the movie it's the opposit. Carmella says to Sonny she is going to dress in case they can see Vito. Can somebody tell me if the translation is wrong or FFC interperted the book wrong/ or did he do it on purpose?

Macy's is the world's largest department store. Clothes, furniture, housewares, food...

you're not wrong, MM! the english one states that the seller points out a bad piece of fruit and sonny tells carmella to dress. so, the dutch transations aren't wrong!

mick

Next question:

When there is a meeting arranged between Mike and Sollozo the agent says: We can guarantee Mike's security. How can he guarantee that? And why it's not possible for Sollozzo to ask guarantee for his savety (according to the book)?

The guarantee is that the Bocchicchio Family will provide a hostage to assure Michael's safety. Sollozzo pays to have a Bocchicchio family member be held hostage by the Corleones. If Michael is harmed, the Corleones kill the Bocchicchio hostage. Then the Bocchicchios take vengeance on Sollozzo. As the English-language version of the novel states: the Bocchicchios were so primitive that they would let no punishment, no threat, stop them from taking vengeance, and there was no defense against them. "A Bocchicchio hostage was gilt-edged insurance."
The reason Sollozzo's safety wasn't guaranteed was that he was the aggressor, the "hunted one." No hostage could guarantee his safety. That's why he paid McCluskey to be his "security."

When the FBI is visiting Kay they say that they are seeking MC because of the fact that he shot an NY inspector and a secret-agent. Do they mean Sollozzo with secret-agent?

MM: I am mindlful that you're reading the Dutch-language translation. In the English-language version, the two New York City detectives tell Kay that Michael "killed a police captain plus an informer that the policeman was contacting." They were describing McCluskey and Sollozzo. The reason that they described Sollozzo as "an informer" was that they were covering up for McCluskey's corruption: rather than admitting that McCluskey was being paid by Sollozzo to be his bodyguard for a big drug deal, they tried to represent it as McCluskey meeting with "an informer," which is standard operating procedure for police (although unusual for someone as high-ranking as a captain).

Yeah, that's it. The book says geheim-agent and in real translation it's secret-agent. So that's why I asked the question.

Hi!

Perhaps, this was yet one reason for choosing another district: Enzo might have legally resided in that another district, which was different from the one of that paisan Don Vito would go through usually.

Best regards.

Alexander

My father-in-law used to smoke them. They stunk. They were so dense, they didn't stay lit for more than a minute. He used to leave them all over the place. I had to drive his car once at night. I could hardly see out of the windshield because of the film of smoke residue.

In the novel, the Don instructs Hagen to "have the addresses changed," presumably so that they can pose as constituents of the Congressman from another district.

Brando agreed with you: He described the cigars as "goat s**t."