I have to admit this. I liked The Godfather Returns. Then again, I like straight whiskey with no chaser. But anyways, I actually enjoyed reading this book.

While I disliked the Fredo-gay storyline, I did like the fact that it utilized the Kennedy/Shea parallels and interwove it into the fictionalized Godfather. Very cool, at least in my opinion.

The Nick Geraci character I couldn't really get into. One minute, he whacks Tessio, the next, he's "'da boss" after Michael was willing to have him whacked. Didn't seem logical to me.

Anyways, while it might not be perfect, and shouldn't be canon for any future Godfather productions (be it film, print, or otherwise), I certainly didn't regret the fact that I picked up the book for $1. It made for great bathroom reading, and its dust-jacket will make a fine compliment to my collection of books in my personal library.

Well DJ you are very smart man for paying a buck for that piece of garbage. I paid $18.00 for that book that took me 8 months to read. :rolleyes:

I would read a couple pages get bored and put it down. I hated the Fredo gay storyline and how Clemenza died. I did like the end how Sonny's daughter whacked her husband.

And of course I will buy the "GF's revenge" book when it comes out. I just hope that it won't take me 8 months to read this one. :rolleyes:

I thought it was good but It got bad towards page 308.

i thought it was decent not great
but good enough to read

The worst book I've ever read based on one the best movie ever made. Imagine that.

I kind of enjoyed revisiting the characters again...haven't read "...Revenge" yet, but I will. I read a lot of fiction, and I'm really confused about the horrible reviews from a lot of Godfather fans and fanatics, alike...I mean, Winegardner's no Hemingway, but the book was not by any means terrible. In fact, I consider it a clever continuation/"fleshing out" for the original novel.

I'm going to stick my neck out & admit that I actually enjoyed both the Winegardner books as well.

I've been re-reading them, simply for some brain-candy in between reading serious novels, & my original opinion hasn't changed - they're utter trash, but they're fun, simply because it's more material about my favourite fictional family of all time.

However, I can understand the overwhelming negative reaction from hardcore fans, & upon re-reading I found a few arrogant things I'd forgotten about, particularly the changing of Kay's abortion to a miscarriage. It's one thing to take a less-than-obsessive stance on keeping trivial details accurate, it's another to reverse one of the most powerful actions a main character made in the originals.

The biggest problem with both novels is Nick Geraci - he gets more & more irritating as the story progresses. Not because he's an obnoxious character, it's because he's transformed from a vaguely interesting new character into Super-Don, is promoted to the head of the Corleone Family, then, to emphasise his cerebral side, just happens to develop a love of jazz & starts writing a novel while on the run. Is there anything he can't do? Lucky he gets knocked off at the end, otherwise he'd have taken the Mafia into space exploration by the time of GF Part III, & cloning by the turn of the century.

Now I'm really going to piss some people off - I didn't mind the twist of making Fredo gay at all. It actually worked. Nothing against gays in general, but John Cazale's awkward, weak portrayal of Fredo does (in hindsight) fit the character of someone both hiding & repressing his sexuality in an environment that would never, ever accept it. It also ties in with his miserable marital situation with Deanna Dunn as portrayed in Part II - she makes a crack about wanting "a real man", after all.
It's also a subplot treated without political correctness, as it should be - Fredo truly hates himself for his desires, as if he's diseased, & that's exactly how someone with his background, in that situation, in that era, would feel. One could imagine the concept being treated with 'sensitivity' & 'compassion' in the hands of some writers - & it would come across as total bullshit. Instead it feels like the real deal, & heightens the pity one feels for poor old Fredo, who never really wanted to do any harm to anyone.

Anyway, that's my two bucks, I could pick apart every flaw in both the novels, but I still enjoyed them. The mythological status the GF films have taken on seems to have overshadowed the fact that Puzo's original wasn't a masterpiece either, it was a pulp novel, nothing more, with some very sleazy stuff in there among the nuggets of brilliance.

Isn't it enough that you got your nose cut in Chinatown? Now you wanna get your head cut off?

I understand your point, JJ. The books were worthwhile reading ONLY because they were on a subject that I find fascinating (although they did not add anything to that fascination).