The Family

The Family is a 2001 novel by Mario Puzo.

The novel is about Pope Alexander VI and his family. Puzo spent over twenty years working on the book off and on, while he wrote others. It was finished by his longtime girlfriend, Carol Gino. Effectively his last novel.

The book has a factual core, with fictional events used to create the unknown aspects of Pope Alexander VI, formerly Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, and his family's life. The book is peopled by real characters, including Niccolò Machiavelli, and the real relationships with members of the Borgia family. However, it tends to focus on the incestuous relationship between Lucrezia Borgia and her brother, which historically have never been proven.

In The Family, this singular novelist transports his readers back to fifteenth-century Rome and reveals the extravagance and intrigue of the Vatican as surely as he once revealed the secrets of the Mafia. At the story's center is Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, a man whose lustful appetites for power, luxury, and women were matched only by his consuming love of family. Surrounding him are his extraordinary children: the simple, unloved Jofre; the irascible, heartless Juan; the beautiful, strong-willed Lucrezia; and the passionate warrior Cesare, Machiavelli's friend and inspiration. Their intermingled stories constitute a symphony of human emotion and behavior, from pride to romance to jealousy to betrayal and murderous rage. And their time, place, and characters are recaptured in all their earthy, human grandeur, with the unerring insight and compassion that were Mario Puzo's great gifts.

Omertà

Omertà is a popular attitude, common in areas of southern Italy, such as Sicily, Calabria, and Campania, where criminal organizations like the Mafia, 'Ndrangheta, and Camorra are strong. A common definition is the "code of silence".

Omertà implies “the categorical prohibition of cooperation with state authorities or reliance on its services, even when one has been victim of a crime. Even if somebody is convicted for a crime he has not committed, he is supposed to serve the sentence without giving the police any information about the real criminal, even if that criminal has nothing to do with the Mafia himself. Within Mafia culture, breaking the oath of omertà is punishable by death.

A common misconception is that the Mafia created or instituted omertà. In fact, the code was adopted by Sicilians long before the emergence of Cosa Nostra (some observers date it in the 16th century as a way of opposing Spanish rule.

The book starts out with dying Don Zeno in Sicily. He leaves his infant son, Astorre, to Don Raymonde Aprile. Don Aprile lives in New York, where he is known as a fair but merciless ruler. The Don is a widower who does not want his children to go in to the 'family business'. To save them, he sends them to private boarding schools and only sees them on holidays. Astorre is the Don's favorite, above his children, but Astorre is picked as the one who must protect the family after he dies.

Don Aprile decides to take Astorre to Sicily one summer. Astorre is still a young child, but very bright. One day while the Don and his "nephew" are walking the streets of Sicily, when a small cosca kidnapps them. The captors treat the Don and Astorre very nicely, they just wanted the ransome. Don Aprile warned the kidnappers to let him go. "The rest of your lives will be miserable if you do not." The cosca did not realize how powerful the Don was. In the middle of the night, Bianco, a friend of the Don, rescues Aprile and Astorre. Don Aprile wanted to kill the kidnappers, but Astorre asked him not to. The don gives in, but makes the men his loyal servants.

When Astorre turns 16, he has a romantic affair with Nicole, the Don's youngest child and only daughter. Don Aprile orders the boy to move to London, where he will attend college, in order to stop the affair. Nicole is very upset about the whole thing, but Astorre obeys his uncle without argument. Astorre stays in London for a year with Mr. Pryor, a banker friend of the Don, and then lives in Sicily for ten years serving under Don Bianco, an old friend and protector of Don Aprile. During his time in London, he meets a young woman named Rosie, with whom he begins a romantic relationship, which he continues during his time in Sicily, until he finds out that she is not being exclusive.

When Astorre comes back, he has completed his training. Don Aprile decides it is time to retire from his dangerous business. He settles all his accounts and pays off all of his associates to make everyone happy. The only thing the retired Don keeps are his 10 international banks, which are completely legit. Aprile tells Astorre, and only Astorre, that when Aprile dies no matter what the banks should not be sold. Aprile wrote in his will that Astorre owns 51% of all voting stock in the bank, with the Don's children owning the rest. The interests from the bank will go to Astorre and the children evenly. In the meanwhile, Aprile starts a macaroni importing business for Astorre, which is also legit.

Valerius, the Don's oldest son, invites his family to his son's communion. After the communion commences, a car pulls out in front of the Don, and two men execute him via drive-by. With no public authorities securing the area, the killers are able to escape, and surprisingly enough (given the Don's reputation and power even after his retirement), there is nothing in the way of investigation after the hit.

Shortly after the hit, Timmona Portella, the only significant criminal organization remaining in New York, along with his international partners, try to negotiate with the Don's children and Astorre to purchase the banks from them in order to launder drug money. However, Astorre, with the majority share, consistently declines their offers, following the Don's wishes, claiming that he has found a love for the banking industry.

At first, the Don's children want to be as removed as possible and want to sell the banks, and, knowing nothing of his special relationship with their father, think Astorre naive and innocent due to his good-natured and friendly demeanor, and while baffled that their father left him the majority share, want to protect him. As time passes, though, they come to see that the Don had meant for his banks to secure their futures in their respective careers, and that it had done so thus far, with Valerius a high-ranking military officer, Marcantonio a prolific TV producer, and Nicole a successful lawyer in a prominent law firm. They also start to see that there is more to their "cousin" than they thought, and begin to suspect the reason why the Don left him in charge.

Drawing upon his years of training, having been groomed for such a situation as was presented to him, Astorre methodically finds each of the persons responsible for the death of his "uncle" and deals with them accordingly, consulting old friends of the Don for advice on how to proceed. At times during these consultations, the friends suggest selling the banks to avoid all the trouble that Astorre is going through even to stay alive, but are impressed when he politely rejects the idea, holding to his promise to the late Don, seeing in him determination and strength that they themselves lacked.

With the help of his contacts as well as his own cunning, Astorre strategically finds and punishes each of the people involved in Don Aprile's murder, from the hitmen who pulled the trigger (with some help from Rosie) up to the powerful figures who had ordered the attack and had been trying to get control of the Don's banks ever since. Thanks to his well-planned and well-executed strategy, Astorre is able to eliminate these enemies without getting into any trouble with the authorities, his last act of vengeance appearing on camera to be out of self-defense.

Two years later, Nicole has taken over as general manager of the banks, and her brothers are working on a film for TV recounting the life of their father, with Astorre as a consultant to help them with some of the details. Astorre eventually decides to move to Sicily permanently, and there marries a woman named Rosie, whom he had met many years before in England and had continued a non-exclusive romantic affair with, even enlisting her help in his vendetta against the Don's enemies. They have their first child, whom they name Raymonde Zeno, after Astorre's two fathers, and they consider the day that they will bring their son back to America.

The Last Don

The Last Don is a novel by Mario Puzo.

The story alternates between the movie industry and the Las Vegas casinos, showing how the Mafia is linked to them both.

The last plan of Don Domenico Clericuzio, an aging mafia boss, is to eventually make his family enter the legitimate world and melt in the American society. Twenty-five years later, his grandson Dante and his grandnephew Cross (Croccifixio) make their way through life, and the eighty-year-old Don is half-retired. Cross, who holds a majority share in a Las Vegas casino, is supposed to become the strong arm of the family. However, when he refuses to take part in the murder of an old friend, Dante is left to be the sole tough guy. Dante's greed for power and blood lead him to plan the elimination of his relatives, who are an obstacle to the desire to become as powerful as the old Don himself. Cross, who is aware of being on the black list, precedes Dante and catches him in a trap. Having acted against the family, he waits for the Don's vendetta, but, to his own surprise, his life is spared and he's only condemned to exile. The story concludes with the revelation that the Don had planned this outcome all along for the long term survival of the family.

The Fourth K

The Fourth K is a novel by Mario Puzo, published in 1990. It is set during the Presidency of fictional "Francis Xavier Kennedy," nephew of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Edward Kennedy.

The novel begins with a world-weary President who has decided not to run for a second term in office, as his personal agenda has been picked apart by the United States Congress, lobbyists and the ominous Socrates Group, made up of the richest and most influential men in America.

The assassination of the Pope on Good Friday, the kidnap and subsequent murder of Kennedy's daughter on Easter Sunday, and the discovery of a nuclear device in the heart of Manhattan have shocked the administration into action, and suddenly Francis Kennedy finds himself isolated by his opponents, who question his capacity to act.

Once the crisis has passed, the President vows to change the face of American politics forever, proposing a radical left-wing economic agenda but with very right-wing methods of governance. The novel details Kennedy’s re-election campaign and his fight for his vision of the future.

The novel's emphasis is on the characters. The reader learns about a character's background when he/she has to make a major decision. Critics have stated that, once the book has focused on a particular character, he/she is relegated to the background and never again returns to prominence.

Mario Puzo has stated: "The Fourth K was a [commercial] failure—but it was my most ambitious book

The Sicilian

The Sicilian is a novel by American author Mario Puzo and published in 1984 by Random House Publishing Group (ISBN 0-671-43564-7). It is based on Puzo's most famous work, The Godfather, and is regarded as its literary sequel.
The novel opens in 1950 Sicily, where Michael Corleone, nearing the end of his exile in Sicily, meets with Don Croce Malo, the Capo di Capi or Boss of bosses in Sicily, his brother, Father Benjamino Malo, Stefan Andolini (redheaded cousin of Don Vito Corleone), and Sicilian Inspector Frederico Velardi. They discuss with Michael the details of his father's agreement to allow Michael to usher the bandit Salvatore "Turi" Guiliano out of Sicily and to America. Michael is told of a "testament", a set of documents Guiliano has composed that would be damning to certain political officials of the Italian government if released. Michael is taken to Guiliano's house where he meets Turi's parents and Gaspare "Aspanu" Pisciotta, Guiliano's second in command. Michael is informed that Turi's pregnant fiancee is heading to America first, ahead of Guiliano, and only when she sends word back that she is safe, will Turi leave for America. Michael is also told he is to be entrusted with Guiliano's testament. Maria Lombardo Guiliano gives Michael a negro statue of the Virgin Mary as a gift as he parts.

The bulk of the novel focuses on the life of Salvatore Guiliano and how he rose to his legendary status as a bandit and hero to the Sicilian people. He was born in the village of Montelepre, west of Palermo. His godfather, Hector Adonis, a small man tormented his entire life for his small stature, was a professor of history and literature at the University of Palermo. He is a very close personal friend of the Guiliano family, a mentor for Turi, and a man who caters to the Friends of the Friends (the word Mafia is rarely spoken in Sicily).

In September of 1943, the town of Montelepre was preparing for its annual festa for its town's patron saint. Montelepre was a very poor town, and in this period, food was very scarce and often had to be purchased on the black market because of the strict rationing laws that starved the people of Sicily. In reality, all food that was given to the government storehouses was appropriated by the Mafia chiefs and sold on the black market for the citizens to buy; the people of Sicily had to break the law in order to eat. Black market laws were rarely enforced, but smuggling was another matter. On a September morning in 1943, Turi Giuilano and his best friend Aspanu Pisciotta travelled to the nearby town of Corleone to procure some food for his sister's engagement party. On the way back, they were stopped by the carabinieri, and decided to take them on, for the food was too valuable. Turi was shot, but he also managed to shoot the Sergeant through the eye.

Turi was carried by Aspanu to a local monastery, where he was taken care of by the monks there, helped by the Abbot Manfredi, a close friend of Aspanu. Here he was nursed back to health, and Aspanu Pisciotta developed his undying loyalty to Turi. Leaving the monestary, he and Aspanu made their way back to Guiliano's home in Montelepre, knowing he was still being sought for the murder of the Sergeant. While he was discussing his future with his parents and close family friends, Aspanu is informed that the Maresciallo of the local police force was on his way over to arrest Turi. Turi and Aspanu flee down the Via Bella of their town, and enter the church. They open fire on the jeeps pursuing them, and although it was not intended, kill some of the soldiers pursuing them. They flee to the Cammaratta Mountains.

Turi and Aspanu are met by Turi's godfather Hector Adonis, who tries to dissuade them of the path they are headed on toward banditry. Though Turi deeply respects and loves his godfather, he can not be dissuaded. They decide to free the prisoners of Montelepre, unjustly jailed in the nearby Bellampo Baracks. Turi narrowly escapes death at the hands of the Corporal Canio Silvestro whose pistol fails when he points it at Turi's head. Silvestro then, at the mercy of Guiliano, is spared in an act of mercy, and Turi frees the captives, including two men named Passatempo and Terranova, who join Turi's band. Guiliano at this point, is beginning to become famous in the news throughout Italy.

Not soon after daringly robbing the home of a local duke, the Corporal Canio Silvestro, disgraced by his military, asks to join Guiliano's band. Though suspecting him of being a spy, they allow him to join. They test his loyalty by asking him to execute Montelepre's Frisella, the barber, who has informed on Guiliano. Silvestro completes this task, proving his loyalty, and they attach a letter to his body that said "So die all who betray Guiliano".

Guiliano had now solidified his domination of the entire northwest corner of the island. He was legendary throughout Sicily, and children concluded their prayers at night saying, "...and please save Guiliano from the Carabinieri". Guiliano next orchestrated a kidnapping of Prince Ollorto. The prince was taken, and was treated with the utmost respect and dignity, and his ransom was paid by Don Croce Malo, who had normally been paid for protection by the Prince. It was in this that Guiliano finally came into fierce opposition with Don Croce.

The assassination attempts on Guiliano increased, but he evaded them all, suspicious of all who came into contact with him. One of his would-be assassins is found to be Stefan Andolini, who is spared only through Abbot Manfredi, his father, to whom Guiliano owed a favor. Andolini joins Turi's band.

The book now flash-forwards back to 1950. In Trapani, Michael Corleone is met by Pete Clemenza, who is to help orchestrate Guiliano's escape. Michael meets Justina, Guiliano's fiancee, and Hector Adonis. Justina leaves for America. Hector informs Michael that Guiliano's elusive and damning Testament is hidden in the black statue of the Virgin Mary that Turi's mother gave him.

Back in the 1947, Don Croce Malo was strongly aligned with the Christian Democratic party, and driven to keep that party in power, and to deny power to the up and coming Socialist parties that would surely strip him, and the other Mafia chiefs, of their power in Sicily. Don Croce along with Italy's Minister of Justice Franco Trezza, draw up plans to mount a great offensive against Guiliano, but intend to use these plans to blackmail Guiliano to use his influence to swing the upcoming election for the Christian Democrats. Guiliano, who was a man of God and hated the Socialists, ultimately accepts these terms, and helps the campaign across Western Sicily.

The 1948 election was a disaster for the Christian Democrats. The Socialists picked up many seats. A celebration was to take place on May Day to celebrate their victories in the Italian legislature by the people of the towns of Piani dei Greci and San Giuseppe Jato. The two towns would parade up mountain passes and converge at a plain called the Portella della Ginestra. Guiliano agreed to supress this festival, giving his two leaders in this operation, Passatempo and Terranova, orders to "shoot over their heads". Passatempo's men end up shooting too low, and massacre many people, including many women and children.

The massacre proved devastating for Guiliano's image in Sicily. Guiliano discovers later that Passatempo had been paid off by Don Croce to shoot the paraders. Guiliano executed him while on his honeymoon with Justina. Guiliano's wanted level in Sicily skyrockets after this massacre, and he can feel his time as a bandit coming to an end. He stages one final daring move against the aristocracy and corrupt Mafia chiefs.

Six mafia chiefs had been summoned to the estate of Prince Ollorto, defending it from the local peasantry who desired to lease land from him, as a recent Italian law had recently allowed them to. Guiliano and his band executed each one of these chiefs.

Guiliano then snuck into Palermo, and kidnapped a Cardinal, the highest Catholic authority in Sicily. The Church instantly payed the ransom.

The Minister of Justice Trezza could no longer hold back his plans to assemble a large force in Sicily to take down Guiliano. Part of the force comes to the island from the mainland, and immediately arrests Guiliano's parents and many citizens of Montelepre for conspiring with Turi. In retaliation, Turi robs the heavily armed and guarded pay truck that was responsible for paying all the Carabinieri stationed in Sicily. He is successful, and the Commander of the operation immediately calls for the rest of the reserve force to come to the mainland to combat Guiliano.

The plan to escort Guiliano to America is set into motion, and Aspanu Pisciotta meets with Michael Corleone. He gives the details on precisely where to intercept him and Guiliano. The next day, Clemenza and Michael head down the road toward Palermo, and are stopped by a huge traffic jam. They learn that up ahead Turi Guiliano has been killed by the Carabinieri. They move into town and eat at a cafe, hearing the news of Guiliano's death on the lips of every person in town. They are then discovered and arrested by the Inspector Velardi. They are later released after Don Croce Malo vouches for them, and organizes their release. They return to America.

Though the news is that he was killed by the Carabinieri, Guiliano's father, however swears a vendetta on Aspanu Pisciotta. Pisciotta betrayed Guiliano to Don Croce Malo and the Carabinieri because he was fearing his actions were becoming suicidal. He committed grievous offenses against the most powerful in Sicily and feared the end was near. It was Pisiciotta who had killed Guiliano, shooting his hand off in a moment of nervousness, fearing that he would discover he betrayed him. Later, in prison, Pisciotta was poisoned by a joint effort of Don Croce Malo and Hector Adonis. Right after Aspanu's death, Adonis made his way into his cell and left a letter in Pisciotta's pocket reading, "So die all who betray Guiliano".

Michael returned home to the Corleone compound in Long Beach. He met with his father in private, and the Don told him that they would not release Guiliano's testament for fear Guiliano's parents would be harmed in retaliation by the Italian government or its Mafia supporters. In this, Don Corleone teaches his son his first lesson: it is better to remain alive and live a fruitful life, that to be dead and a hero.

Fools Die

Fools Die is a 1978 novel by Mario Puzo. Played out in the worlds of gambling, publishing and the film industry, Merlyn and his brother Artie obey their own code of honor in the ferment of contemporary America, where law and organized crime are one and the same. Set in New York, Hollywood, and Las Vegas.

It starts with 4 friends(Merlyn,Cully,Jordan and Diane) gambling at a hotel cum casino. While Cully and Diane work at the place the other two have come there simply to gamble. Then one night Jordan wins 400,000 $ in baccarat and pops off himself. Then onwards, Diane is totally ignored and and the book focuses primarily on Merlyn and Cully to some extent. Merlyn by the way is a budding writer whose first book flopped.Merlyn gets married,starts taking bribes, gets caught and moves to Hollywood when his second books becomes a runaway success. He has an extramarital love affair with a part time actress(Jannelle) who seems to sleep with everybody(excuse the pun) both men and women. Finally Cully dies as well as Merlyn’s brother and Jannelle as well.Merlyn survives and the conclusion is that he proceeds to the same casino where he met Jordan and Cully to gamble.

Inside Las Vegas

Inside Las Vegas is a non-fiction book by Mario Puzo, one of only two non-fiction works by this author. It gives an in-depth, behind the scenes look at the world of gambling in Las Vegas.

The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions

This book is a post-read to all The Godfather fans. Mario Puzo's collection of essays, articles, and previously unpublished short stories, proved his undoubting honesty and sincerity on his bestseller The Godfather.

His first autobiographical essay “Choosing a Dream” tells us his childhood and adolescence in NewYork's Hell's Kitchen. Here we can find out where the idea of The Godfather came from. His fellow Italian's grim lot in America, and his story of success as the likes of Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio. He also includes his early diary of an unsuccessful writer, his sentiments to publishers, and fellow writers.

We could discover some important insights what's the real significance of the novel The Godfather. Why such idea came out in the first place. Why Puzo didn't agree to such people who attacked him for glorifying the Mafia. And for that he discusses well about about the nature of good and evil. He reveals how America practices graft and bribe money and still acceptable to the society. The outside world which leaders commit crimes and oppresses the powerless, while the underground called the Mafia guarantees financial security and protection to its members, and by means of force and violence to the enemies. The irony that even in the beginning of the story he had always been on the good side.

Here he also discusses about feminism and male chauvinism, which is also related to the novel. He also reveals everything about the making of the Godfather the movie. How people like Copolla, Sinatra, Al Ruddy, Brando and Pacino, dealt and painstakingly involved in the movie. He even recalls his meeting with Frank Sinatra himself that didn't end up so well, as it is learned Sinatra's resemblance to the character of the novel, Johnny Fontane.

It's the real Mario Puzo who reveals and explains everything. New York. Las Vegas, Hollywood, all but in one book. That is why Mario Puzo was truly a brilliant, inimitable writer of all time.

The Godfather

The Godfather is a crime novel written by American author Mario Puzo, originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons. It details the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family based in New York City (and Long Beach, NY) and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the backstory of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood.

The book introduced Italian criminal terms like consiglieri mean adviser or counsellor, caporegime means Captain, Cosa Nostra refers to Sicilian criminal secret society , and omertà i.e. code of silence to an English-speaking audience. It formed the basis for a 1972 film of the same name. Two film sequels, with new contributions made by Puzo, were made in 1974 and 1990. The first and second film are widely considered to be two of the greatest films of all time.

The plot deals with a gang war fought between the Corleone family and the five families of New York. After Don Vito Corleone is shot by men working for drug dealer Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo, his two sons, Santino and Michael must run the family business with the help of consigliere Tom Hagen and the two Capos Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio. When Sollozzo and an Irish police captain are murdered by Michael, the conflict escalates into a full scale war which results in Santino's death and Michael, despite his wishes, ascending to the head of the family. He slowly becomes more ruthless than his father, even killing his brother in law Carlo Rizzi, who played a part in Santino's murder. Also as the story progresses many of the minor characters, such as the Don's godson Johnny Fontane and his friend Nino Valenti, Sonny's former girlfriend Lucy Mancini, and Michael's bodyguard Al Neri, are expanded on and given their own subplots. Many of these subplots are not included in the movie. The novel culminates when Michael has his two main enemies, the novel's main antagonist, Emilio Barzini and a lesser but still severely important antagonist, Philip Tattaglia, assassinated. After the total elimination of the Tattaglia Family and Barzini Family, Michael sells all his business in New York and makes the Corleone Family a legitimate business in Las Vegas.

, a film adaptation of the novel was released, starring Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo assisted with writing the screenplay and with other production tasks. The film grossed approximately $134 million and won various awards, including three Academy Awards, five Golden Globes and a Grammy and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time. The sequel, The Godfather Part II won six Oscars, and became the first sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

The film is similar in most places, but leaves out some details, such as extended back stories for some characters. Some of these details were actually filmed, and were included in later versions such as The Godfather Saga. A subplot involving Johnny Fontane in Hollywood was not filmed. The biggest difference was that the novel included a more upbeat ending than the film, in which Kay Corleone found a peaceful acceptance of Michael's decision to take over his father's business. The film, in contrast, ended sharply with Kay's dreadful realization of what Michael had done and his ruthlessness, a theme that would develop in the second and third films, which were not based on the original novel.

The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw

The plot revolves around a boy named Davie Shaw, who is left with his grandparents for the summer while his parents take off on a round-the-world trip in celebration of their wedding anniversary. Davie has adventures of his own that take him throughout the United States on his pony.

Unlike Puzo other work,this book is out of fiction..and doesnt get much accolades nd just preceded his famous work Godfather

The Fortunate Pilgrim

The Fortunate Pilgrim is a 1965 novel by Mario Puzo. It deals with the Angeluzzi-Corbos family, a family of immigrants living an adopted life in New York City. The head of the family is Lucia Santa, a wife, widow and mother of two families. It is her formidable will that steers them through the Great Depression and the early years of World War II. But she cannot prevent the conflict between Italian and American values, or the violence and bloodshed which must surely follow.

The Fortunate Pilgrim is the real birthplace of The Godfather. As Puzo says, the book's hero, Lucia Santa, is based on his own mother: "Whenever the Godfather opened his mouth, in my own mind I heard the voice of my mother. I heard her wisdom, her ruthlessness, and her unconquerable love for her family and for life itself. … The Don's courage and loyalty came from her; his humanity came from her…and so, I know now, without Lucia Santa, I could not have written The Godfather."

Until his dying day, Mario Puzo considered The Fortunate Pilgrim his finest, most poetic, and literary work. In one of his last interviews he stated that he was saddened by the fact that The Godfather, a fiction he never lived, outshone the novel of his mother's honest immigrant struggle for respectability in America and her courage and filial love, as portrayed in The Fortunate Pilgrim, 1965. The Fortunate Pilgrim, though it won much literary praise from established American novelists, never earned Puzo a living. It was only when he opted for what Hollywood sold well to America, the stereotype of Italian immigrants as mobsters, that Puzo's fame rose to the height of his fortunes as a writer. Many Italian American Groups from the Sons of Italy to the National Italian American Foundation have decried the stereotyping of Italians as Mafiosi, since their population actually has no higher percentage of organized crime than other ethnic groups in America.

Some insight in the The Fortunate Pilgrim:
Lucia Santa was an italian immigrant. At seventeen she boarded a ship in her native Italy to sail for America to marry a man she had never known except as a playmate as a small child on a neighboring farm. It was a fortunate turn of events for Lucia to be offered such an arrangement having come from such a poor family, too poor to even afford bridal linen for her wedding bed. It was unlikely she would have ever found a husband in Italy unless she happened across one smitten with love for her, for Lucia Santa bared the greatest shame of all, the shame of poverty. So with a quiet grace Lucia Santa along with two other maidens from her little village boarded a ship to sail for New York and search for a new life leaving her country and her family behind.


Viewed through her eyes and the eyes of her children; Larry, Octavia, Vinnie, Gino, Sal and Lena, The Fortunate Pilgrim is a vibrant and colorful picture of life during this period in Italian-American history. Puzo paints a story like Van Gogh paints a canvas, his words evoke emotions, his pen awakens images that you can truly feel with the turn of each page. You smell the aroma from the tomato sauce bubbling on the black cast iron stove in the small kitchen, you feel the summer sun on your back as you skip along with young Gino as he sails a plank down the gutter on his way home from selling ice stolen from the train yard.


Puzo’s characters are endearing yet with real problems, complex emotions, powerful motivations and individual quirks, they aren’t there merely to serve a purpose, to drive the plot forward. In fact The Fortunate Pilgrim’s strength is not in it’s plot but in it’s fully evolved characters. Just as in life, no person is purely good or purely evil, there are no one dimensional characters, even the minor characters have the flair and gust of life. The story weaves itself around the characters rather than the characters being born out of it.


This is not to say that the strength of the story in Fortunate Pilgrim is lacking in any way, but it is this human-ness of his characters that draws you into it, allowing you to empathize with them. You feel the exhiliration as Larry squares off with a policeman in the train yard in order to defend the practices of his little hoodlum brother, you experience the moment of panic as Gino arrives home from a carefree day (against his mother's wishes) of stickball only to find his building surrounded by a crowd of neighbors and police, the same worry as Lucia Santa wonders where to get the money to feed her family as her older children, the breadwinners, marry and find their own families to support.

The Dark Arena

The book follows Walter Mosca, an American Second World War veteran who is forced to return to Germany for his girlfriend, Hella.In this story, GI Walter Mosca gets involved in a local shackup arrangement in Germany at the end of WW II, comes home to find that he can no longer relate to the Girl He Left Behind, so he returns to Germany as a civilian employee to seek out the girl he hadn't realized he was falling for. Her effect on him causes him to be a lot more analytical of his own behavior towards the locals in general, that of his colleagues as well--but more than that, it also gives him a view of the perspective of the people he's there to help "keep in line". All sorts of things can happen to a person's worldview when he becomes romantically involved outside his native culture. I have no actual details on which to base this, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the late Mario Puzo drew on his own experiences in service during WW II as source material.

Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo (October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999) was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into the legendary film with Francis Ford Coppola.

Puzo was born into a poor family of Neapolitan[1] immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

His most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after he had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism. The book was later developed into the film The Godfather directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola and Puzo collaborated then to work on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III).

Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, which he was unable to continue working on due to his commitment to The Godfather: Part II. Puzo also co-wrote Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie and the original draft for Superman II.

Puzo never saw the publication of his penultimate book, Omertà, but the manuscript was finished before his death, as was the manuscript for The Family. However, in a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jules Siegel, who had worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company, doubted that Puzo had actually finished Omertà and expressed the view that it may have been completed by "some talentless hack."[2]

Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999 at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. His family now lives in East Islip, New York.


Some of this literary genious work is..


* The Dark Arena (1955, novel)
* The Fortunate Pilgrim (1965, novel)
* The Runaway Summer of Davie Shaw (1966, novel)
* The Godfather (1969, novel)
* The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions (1972, nonfiction)
* Inside Las Vegas (1977, nonfiction)
* Fools Die (1978, novel)
* The Sicilian (1984, novel) (sequel to The Godfather)
* The Fourth K (1991, novel)
* The Last Don (1996, novel)
* Omertà (2000, novel)
* The Family (2002, novel) (completed by Carol Gino)

saurabhpande.in.com