'The Family Corleone' was intended as prequel to the 'GodFather' by Mario Puzo. A premature demise however stalled those plans and Edward Falco picks up from where Puzo 'dropped' off. This novel charts the early days of Mafioso Vito Corleone and his children's initial introduction to his reality and their youthful frolics until a bitter reality confronts them. We are also introduced to a younger Luca Brasi and shown how he dedicates his life to protecting the Corleone family. A meticulous novel but it lacks Puzo's finesse in character evolution and detailed narrative. ( )

Based on a Puzo screen play, this novel certainly captures the atmosphere of the movies while providing some background that people may have found missing (eg, why is Sonny the way he is, why is Brasi the way he is). It also shows more explicitly the racial tensions between the Irish and Italians as they are played out against each other by people in power. ( )

I enjoyed all the Godfather books. This one had many deviations from the originals....and from the Mark Winegardner versions. I understand the last three were written after Mario Puzo had passed. The estate of his family approved all three books. I wonder if anyone actually read them all? Ah well. Not a bad story if you are not a stickler. ( )

I enjoyed this book. I think reading it after having seen all the movies made it better. All the characters were so true to form, you could see them acting their parts out. Some pretty violent scenes that would be memorable if they ever made a movie but I hope they don't. I highly recommend it for anyone that loves the movies. ( )

The stuff with Luca is interesting and maybe a bit off putting, but everything with Sonny and Vito feels spot on. The story starts out with Michael at 13, and takes place a bit before the Corleone family has come into its power. ( )