I also stated that "he was half-wrong in doing so."

You say tomato. It's only semantics.

Sonny introduced Carlo to Connie, so he did, literally, bring him into the family. But, it was Connie's decision to marry Carlo, which is where the trouble began--and ended.

Carlo only married her to get into the family. He figured he'd get made for sure. I think the book even refers to Connie as unappealing or plain looking. But I could be wrong about that because I haven't read it in a few years.

Puzo called her "shrewish." So, I suppose Carlo was involved in "The Taming of the Shrew."

That's it! Exactly the passage I was thinking of, TB.

Puzo could be a real asshole at times. I think he had a little self-hate in him. If you read "The Fortunate Pilgrim" from an Italian American's point of view, you'll know what I mean. He gave us "The Godfather." I'm just sayin'.

Very true, PB. Ethnic writers are often cruel to their fellow ethnics when writing about their foibles. Attest Philip Roth and Mordecai Richler on Jews, and John Gregory Donne, George V. Higgins and Jimmy Breslin on Irish.

Decades ago, two Irish newspaper columnists gave 180-degree opposite views of their fellow ethnics. To Pete Hamill, writing in the NY Post, every Irishman was a poet, a revolutionary, a friend of the working man, a fighter for truth and justice. To Jimmy Breslin (NY Daily News), every Irishman was a drunk, a boor, a lout and a bigot.

You probably remember when Breslin was running for president of the NY City Council on Norman Mailer's mayoral ticket. Breslin tried to give a speech in Gaelic Park in the Bronx, and was almost lynched.

Absolutely, TB.

Coincidentally, Hamill wrote a beautiful novel a few years back called "Snow in August." It's set in the forties, and it's about a young Irish boy from Brooklyn who befriends a Rabbi from Eastern Europe. If they have it at your library, you may just like it. I did.

And I told you about Breslin. My grandfather was a typesetter and later a union delegate at the Daily News for over thirty years. My grandfather hated his guts (although, to his credit, Breslin did come up to the Bronx for the funeral). Dick Young (the sportswriter) was described in similar terms by my grandfather. But it sounds much nicer in Italian .

And I remember the Gaelic Park incident fairly well. I was just a kid, and that's way up on Broadway by the Yonkers border. But my Dad had a very close Irish friend up on Bainbridge, and I remember him ranting about it even at a young age.

Yeah, Higgins was a snob. He was too intellectual for his own good, and he often described his fellow Irishmen in lowly terms. Cutting his teeth as a prosecutor probably didn't help, but that's no excuse.

His first three novels were great ("The Friends of Eddie Coyle" an all-time great). But after that, I believe he began to read too many of his own reviews about his realistic dialogue and whatnot. Too many run-on sentences and storylines that he had no business writing about. After "The Digger's Game" and "Cogan's Trade," you can keep the rest.

"It means he's content to be a jerk."

Couldn't agree more, PB. "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" and "The Digger's Game" are two of the all-time greatest crime novels. "Cogan's Trade" also is worthy (although the movie version, "Killing Them Softly," must have had Higgins spinning in his grave). After that: straight downhill.

I KNEW that double entendre wasn't getting by you, TB .

That's cuz I'm smaht. Not as smaht as you. But I can hold my own with most of the board. Especially lately .

I vaguely remember that. After the election, Breslin said he was ashamed to have taken part in an event that caused the bars to be closed for a day (which was true back then).