Fools Die

Anyone ever read Fools Die?

Yes. I didn't think it was very good.

I hated it.

The Vegas setting reminded me of those horrible California scenes in THE GODFATHER (the novel).

...and, even worse, all that Hollywood BS in "The Last Don" novel.

The Hollywood portions of both Fools Die and The Last Don is pretty much just Puzo letting loose his anger of how he was treated during the making of Godfather (the film).

Yes, that's part of it. The other part is that Puzo was one of those authors who couldn't resist trying to impress his readers with all the erudite knowledge he picked up on a particular subject--and he picked up a lot about Hollywood during his years there. Not that the stuff was of any interest.

The most wretched example of Puzo's desire to inflict his experiences on us was in the Jules-and-Lucy chapters in "The Godfather." Evidently a female relative or friend had had the gynecological operation that Puzo ascribed to Lucy, and so he created all that BS with her and Jules just so he could describe the operation.

That's pretty much it as well.

Fools Die is a masterpiece!

Great Book !

"Fools Die," was the second book I read by Puzo. I'd be a liar to say I didn't find it compelling, but I couldn't really figure out what it was really about other than being the portrait of a youngish bestselling author.

I was going to read it once, looked though it and it was not what I expected. I did not bother reading through entire book, but do want to give it a try again. I was expecting gangster book, so next time I will not be caught off guard by the different theme and plot.

This is probably one of top 5 books of all time I had read. Great book, but it's very deep. The characters are portrayed on a deep level with all their emotions and feelings, and different ways in life. Just it's a deep book about power, money, sex, friendship, betreyal... very good book but only if you are the kind of person who likes such books.

one of my fave books as well, couldnt put it down, wish they made a movie

Cully Cross

Trying to read it right now. I was hoping for more on Gronevelt since I'd already read The Last Don, and all that piqued my interest in this is that it was the same universe. I'm more than half way through and there's hardly any mention of the mob, just a couple of references to The Skim. The Clericuzuio haven't been mentioned at all, so I assume he invented them when writing The Last Don.

I find the story of the gamblers in Vegas, one of the characters clearly being based on him, to be uncompelling. About all I find compelling about the book are his vicarious observations and musings through his character Merlyn, but that's not what I read for.

I'm going to force my way through this then read The Last Don again, then I plan on reading The Fortunate Pilgrim (which many critics think is his best book) and The Sicilian. After that I think I'm pretty much done with Puzo, except for GF 1-2 films.

Any romanticized novels of the mob, to me, are just plain silly. Calling someone Don, the "respect", etc. Most all of the rituals came into practice after wiseguys viewed the Godfather. Aside from the Godfather novel, Nick Tosches, RIP, has created the most penetrating mob dialogues and storylines. Trinities, to me, is the single best mob book ever.

Puzo said all along that he wrote GF strictly for money (he was an admitted degenerate gambler, always in debt), and that he'd never met a known mobster in his life, just low level loan sharks. The movies, particularly 1 and 2, made the saga what it is, and it was mostly due to the consultants around the set who gave Coppola and the actors cues about the life. Joe Colombo deserves credit for a lot of this because once Albert S. Ruddy promised Colombo that the term "mafia" wouldn't be used in the film and that no real names would be used, Colombo blessed the project and provided Paramount with access to associates and even some made guys to provide consultation. All great timing.

Interesting info.

I read this after The Godfather… was not a fan.