I cannot seem to get into this book! I stopped about halfway through and have no picked it up since my last post in this thread! B-O-R-I-N-G!!

Not for nothing, but from what I read so far, this author is clueless as to what the Godfather fans would have really liked! So far, there are some decent parts, but then he gets into some writing that is meaningless, and just seems to have been written to take up some space in the book! Yeah, I know, I shouldn't pass judgement until I finish the book, but so far it sucks! Several of us from these boards could have written a much better story than this guy did! Hey, if they ever make this book into a movie, then Jimmy Whispers Returns to Mulberry Street stands a good chance of winning an academy award!

Don Cardi

I think I liked it better than anyone else so far, and I didn't like it.

I cannot seem to get into this book! I stopped about halfway through and have no picked it up since my last post in this thread! B-O-R-I-N-G!!

Not for nothing, but from what I read so far, this author is clueless as to what the Godfather fans would have really liked! So far, there are some decent parts, but then he gets into some writing that is meaningless, and just seems to have been written to take up some space in the book! Yeah, I know, I shouldn't pass judgement until I finish the book, but so far it sucks! Several of us from these boards could have written a much better story than this guy did! Hey, if they ever make this book into a movie, then Jimmy Whispers Returns to Mulberry Street stands a good chance of winning an academy award!

Don Cardi

DC - I am in the same boat. I am plowing through this (still on 2nd read), but I just cannot get with GFR. I want to, I am trying, I keep thinking that maybe I skipped something that would make it happen for me, but I cannot 'connect'.

My initial concerns were on principal alone - follow up authors seldom if ever rearrange the original work. Even in the world of finance, every one knows that you can play with the interest, but you never fiddle with the principle.

On my second pass, I think that Winegardner is 'trying' to spin a tale of interest (I did like the Tessio's death scene and Cuba connection), but I cannot get with this. You know - this really reminds me of some parts of GF3 - a forced effort to fill in the gaps and bring some closure.

I am really trying to be fair and objective. However my habit is that I only need one bite of a hamburger to know that I am eating beef. Our expectations were raised for a great meal, but I am left asking 'Where is the beef?"

Back from my 3 day hiatus from these parts, and I am very pleased with what I read.
In responce to what Provalone said about the book store- It seems that after the initial publicity the book was getting, it seems to have died down considerably. Prehaps people actually read the book? My hopes are now higher that a GF4 is NOT in the works

JL - Thanks - I went to Amazon and found the figures you posted. Some additional info - Amazon also offers 'in store pickup' for $16.17. If my handy dandy calculator is correct, that is a 40% mark down 2 weeks after release - incredible.

If anyone sees a hardback price of $13.48 (from a legitimate vendor - there are some small independents who are selling it from $14.48 and up), then we're at the 50% mark and definitely viewing a reverse auction. I think that the average hardback market price wil bottom out at 14.99 by Christmas. [/quote]Their online price is now $16.17, and the book has fallen to #54 on their Top Seller List.

What interests me: what does the author have to say on this? With this level of bad reviews on a board like this he can't be to proud...

MMF:

My guess is that he probably does not care. His book has been released for all time and eternity and he received a pay check. In a broader sense, since he had the guts/gall to make modifications to the original characters, he probably is not the type to care what anyone thinks. I admire people who have a vision and stick to it, but in this case I wish he were the type to follow the dictates of his stakeholders.

I think you gave a very good answer. I think I fully agree with you.

What up peeps? New to the board. GF 1 is the best flick of all time. Part 3 was better than people give it credit for. Now about this book; what in the world is this? Why did he have to hit Fredo below the belt? Was that necessary? In the Puzo's book he was a good looking dude and tough, just a little slow. The Don was worried about Michael till he stepped up his game. It appears hes trying to live vicariously through this geraci(sp) character whose description sounds exactly like him but tougher. Some nonsense about fair haired, and could have passed for Irish or German? Michael's deadliest enemy yet? lol Gimme a break. John Wayne imitations on the phone? Puzo's estate must be reeling at this.

Anyway, hope I can fit in around these parts, pilgrim. lol

Rocco was already bald in 1945 when he whacked Paulie. I estimated Rocco to be about Fredo's age.

He probably said Cuneo & Stracci survived because only 2 of the five Dons were actually murdered in 1955. (Anastasia & ..... damn i havent been keeping up on my Mob trivia lately..)

He probably didnt mention them because he wasnt talented enough to think up something for them to do.

but in all honesty we have to agree that there is no way that the 3 dons would have survived the attacks in gf1. it's ludicris for mw to even suggest it. they state in the senate hearing that mike ordered the death of the five heads, not the 2 heads.

Book and movies differ. In the novel, Mike kills only two heads, his actual enemies, Barzini and Tattaglia. The rest is Coppola's invention . MW states that he meant to write sequel to the book, and the book only. Well.. Maybe he tried ...

(posted as per request)

As I stated in the "Should an Italian have written GFR" thread, one big problem I have with it is that Winegardner basically put himself into the story as Nick Geraci, and hyped that character up as being the deadliest opponent Michael has faced yet. Look at the similarities between Winegardner himself and Geraci, and you'll see what I mean.

The one thing that REALLY gets to me, though, is what happens to Geraci at the end of the novel. Now, in the book and all three movies, at the end ALL the family's enemies get killed, and the family settles ALL business. But at the end of GFR guess who's the ONLY person to live? You guessed it: Geraci. Now although I wouldn't call living like a hermit or whatever the hell it is he does (I just skimmed through that part because I was already bored from the rest of that crap) winning, he's the ONLY person, EVER, to not get killed when Michael initiates his grand scheme and kills all his enemies. That's complete bullcrap, and way too obvious to be a coincidence.

So in conclusion, yet another problem is Winegardner hypes his own character (who is obviously a souped up, badass version of himself) over other characters to live out some kind of dream or fantasy of his own.

Where do you get that idea?

Wouldn't that Gino person who finished The Family for Puzo have been an ideal choice to write GFR?

Thanx, Wayne. Sounds really stupid. Mike would find him in any Hermitage!

Carol Gino? It would seem so. But then we would have certain board members complaining that a woman wrote it. I think the logical choise would have been to not write GFR at all.

To re-phrase my statement, the book is so bad that "Just when I thought that I was in, the author's writing pulls me back out!"

Don Cardi

I decided to post my opinion of GFR before reading what all of you thought of it. However, by a couple of the topic titles here, I get the drift.

Anyway, I tried to view it openly, and as a new story. The first few chapters, particularly the plane crash with Gerasi seemed pretty interesting, and I thought perhaps this will be a decent read. Although, I can't recall "exact" quotes, much of the time I didn't feel like the Michael talking was the Michael we all know.

I didn't buy Fredo's being gay (or bi) at all. Fredo was dorky, and a wimp, but I just don't think someone who bangs cocktail waitresses two at a time as being "bi". I guess to me, it seemed that was just thrown in the story, with no real reason to put in in.

I found the Francesca Corleone storyline, particularly in the end kept my interest more than the rest of.

Truth of the matter is, I had to force myself to finish the book and was kind of bored during most of it. Of course I wanted to read it, or I wouldn't have bought it, but could have easily tossed it before I was half done.

Bottom line I was extremely disappointed and hope they don't make a movie of this book. I really think that the author, whether he is considered a good writer or not, was the wrong one to pen this book. Anyone of us could do a much better job. My grade is a D (and I guess I'm being generous. )

TIS

Carol Gino? It would seem so. But then we would have certain board members complaining that a woman wrote it. [/b][/quote]WHY? A woman at least won't bring herself in the story as the deadliest enemy of Michael's!

After we heard a GF book was coming, I never expected it to surpass, let alone be equal to the original GF. I would have been happy with just a plain old "Good" book. However, when you have to force yourself to read something, it's a true indication that that's simply not the case. :rolleyes:


TIS

Just finished reading the book last night.

I beleive the weakness lies in the underdevelopment of the characters and relationships we WANTED to learn more about - being Michael/Tom/Kay/Connie/Fontane.

What we GOT was the introduction of NEW characters, which we are aware of where the "fit" into the story - but we do not really "CARE" about.

I liked the parody of the JFK/Sinatra Shea/Fontane relationship. This was a bit TOO obvious - and whilst reading the book, I actually thought Corleones would "go after" the president. Dissapointed.

I liked the "twins" storyline - to an extent though. Too many pages were devoted to this - and i didn't "care" much about this development.

The Geraci plot was dead-set stupid. Underdeveloped, ilogical, a waste of space. Michael needed an "enemy" in this book - not a two bit pezzonovante traitor. The dialogue between these two characters was very poor - and portrayed Geraci as an idiot, and not a possible Corelone NY family Don.

The Fontane/Fratello/Fredo Corelone storyline reaked of the Sinatra/Dean Martin/Sammy David Jr relationship. Once again, maybe too obvious? Did the author just copy this straight from the history books?

Finally, I want to add that one thing that lacked in this book (and was very important in GF and GF1/2) was family. Where were the family dinners? celebrations? get togethers? festas? This sense of family (which is VERY VERY italian) was non-existant in this book.

The enjoyment i received from this book, was to hear a story about characters I love. The dissapointment, was that the story was not that great.

To all GF fans - read the book. It's not THAT bad. Just don't expect a thriller.

I echo TIS' statement that it was a decent book but nothing special. It took me over a month to read - it never held my interest in a riveting manner.

What I liked:
1) The surprise of having Tessio start the book and his whacking

2) I was surprised by Francesca's ending storyline. All that stuff leading up to it was pretty lame.

3) Hagen whacking out those 3 guys

4) The plane crash

5) Letting Geraci escape at the end. If this book was supposed to be a bridge b/w GF and GFII, then Michael needed to be looking over his shoulder. His "victory" was not complete with the Family and by losing Kay & the children.

6) Kay accusing Michael of whacking Jules for performing the abortion

7) Tom speaking his mind to Michael

What I disliked:
1) the continual rehashing of the 1st book (i.e. I'm paraphrasing: Hagen said that there's just some things you do and then never think about again.) There were way too many instances of this for a book. A writer does not need to "catch up" for his audience like a movie. The author should have realized that the majority of readers had already read Puzo's Godfather, thus having no need to re-explain things.

2) the Fredo storyline

3) having a character named Fuckface was just too corny

4) having the abortion be a miscarriage

5) why was Francesca married to Billy? What happened to Gardner Shaw?

6) If you've read the alternate script of GFII, then why wasn't reference made to Tom & Sandra having an affair?

7) Michael sitting down to a picnic