The side stories are among the strengths (and weaknesses) of the novel. Here are my choices for best and worst side stories.
Best:
1. The Bocchiccio Family and how they helped bring Michael back from Sicily. This could have been a novella in its own right.
Like some others, I also read the book after first seeing the film. And after reading the background in the novel, it made Michael's return plausible. To me, it is a glaring omission from the film and one of my few criticisms of the storyline FFC utilized.
I think an interesting idea would have been to insert the Bocchiccio storyline as a flashback scene in GFII. They could have flashed back when Geary, Michael & Hagen were meeting to discuss the license. Within that scene, Michael gives Hagen a look implying that Hagen screwed up the information for the Geary meeting. It would have been interesting to show the viewer how instrumental Hagen had been to bring Michael home from Sicily even though Hagen was obviously in disfavor at the present time.
