Carol, How are you?

I have noticed a repeating pattern when characters in Mario Puzo's (RIP) die. They tend to have really strange thoughts just before their deaths. I'll try to recall them:

1] Santino experiencing "...for the first time..." the sense of fear. [The Godfather]

2] Don Vito Corleone wanting to keep his youngest son away from that yellow spot (resembling death). [The Godfather]

3) Turi Guiliano recalling the time when Aspanu and himself were running downhill from their mountains and he shouted "..I believe...I believe..." [The Sicilian]

4] Gronevelt thinking process linking back to his childhood/adolescence and the "dilemma" of killing a thousand "Chinamen". [The Last Don]

5] Portella thinking about who's going to tell his brother (Bruno) about his death. [Omerta]

My question is this: Did Mario have any beliefs about people's experiences just before death? Aren't those characters' thoughts just before death a little bit oddly familiar (in their strangeness)?Will we see any similar pattern in The Family?

Thanx Carol.

My question is this: Did Mario have any beliefs about people's experiences just before death? Aren't those characters' thoughts just before death a little bit oddly familiar (in their strangeness)?Will we see any similar pattern in The Family?

Thanx Carol.[/QB][/QUOTE]

Hi Sonny,
Each of an author's characters is an aspect of him, so I'm certain they were part of his beliefs and emotions. And in "The Family," yes, there is also a death scene with feeling closer to the truth of how he felt. He did know by the way, that people have "near death" experiences because for years I was a nurse and told him what people told me. When he had his heart surgery, I begged him to bring me back a vision. And he did. He said he saw "a mountain of fluffy mashed potatoes with flakes of chipped beef and brown gravy flowing all over it." That was it. That's what sent him back to earth. So much for Near Death Experiences.

I never knew he had such an appetite. Anyways, I know just the dish he was talking about and I'm planning on having it tomorrow for his memory.

Thanx.