So I just finished reading The Family Corleone by Ed Falco based on Puzo's unfinished screenplay, and I finished the two Winegardner novels about a year back. I'm wondering if the posters here consider the three non-Puzo novels as canon and general thoughts on them? Of the three, I thought Ed Falco's work was probably the best. Winegardner's sequel novels (to my eyes at least) speak with a much different voice than Puzo's writing, whereas Ed Falco's captures it a bit more accurately.. I suppose having the benefit of a rough guide to follow probably helped in that respect.

On Puzo's novel I'm a bit torn because I feel the movie did a lot of necessary cutting/trimming and a lot of the Fontaine/Lucy Mancini/Jules Segel chapters were mostly irrelevant to the plot. I did enjoy seeing how the Corleone Family's tentacles crept into Hollywood via Johnny and the expanded look into Hagen's role in the family. The "Lucy's Vagina" arc was completely pointless though and I'm left wondering what possessed Puzo to even write it or how his editor didn't make him cut it. My thoughts on it can probably best be summed up by saying that it was an enjoyable read, but FFC did a lot to improve the story and I can't help but feel the novel would not be held in such high esteem if it weren't for Copola's work.