The Godfather Returns

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When Random announced that Winegardner, best known for the critically acclaimed mainstream saga Crooked River Burning and baseball novel The Veracruz Blues, had been hired to write a fresh Godfather novel, eyebrows arched from coast to coast. But the decision was right: this is a phenomenally entertaining, psychologically rich saga that spans the entire Godfather years imagined in novel and film by Mario Puzo (the latter via his screenplays), filling in the blanks, fleshing out the characters, focusing primarily on the time (mid 1950s-early '60s) between when Puzo's landmark novel ended and the film Godfather II begins.Few remember that Puzo began his career as a commercially failed but critically celebrated literary novelist. He wrote The Godfather with the aim of hitting bestseller lists, but his earlier training showed in that novel's reach and complexity. Just so, Winegardner brings enormous talent to bear on this popular story and its immense cast of characters, deepening Puzo's work at nearly every step. Fredo Corleone, hapless Mafia scion, emerges here as a more central, vigorous and conflicted character than in The Godfather or even the films, as do Tom Hagen (the Corleones' adopted son and erstwhile consigliere) and Johnny Fontane, Puzo's dig at Frank Sinatra. There are many new and newly fleshed out characters as well, from assorted Mob bosses (most notably Chicago's Don Louie Russo, aka Fuckface, spiritual descendant of Al Capone, and Nick Geraci, a Corleone man destined to become the Corleones' arch-enemy) to various Corleones (most notably the slain Sonny Corleone's twin daughters). There are also sharply drawn cameos of, among others and by other names, JFK, RFK and, fleetingly, Andy Warhol. But at the center of the mesmerizing, sometimes dizzying Mob conspiracies and familial tensions is, of course, the Godfather, Michael Corleone—proper heir to Vito Corleone, the last capo di tutti capi: devious, brilliant, astonishing ruthless.The book isn't perfect—just nearly so. The enormity of Winegardner's reimagining of Puzo's epic can obscure the novel's overarching story line—Michael's attempt to legitimize the Corleones' businesses—and leads at times to an episodic feel. These, however, are quibbles in the face of a wholly absorbing novel that's written beautifully, with great skill and passion. Godfather fans will love this tale; Puzo himself must be raising a celestial glass and shouting a hearty "Salut'!" Let it be known that Winegardner, for his respect to the novel's antecedents and for his accomplishment, shall henceforth be known as a Man of Honor. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Bookmarks Magazine
It’s a tough act to follow, but somebody had to do it. Writing The Godfather is a job worthy of "Don" Vito Corleone himself, yet the task fell to novelist Winegardner, head of the creative writing program at Florida State University. Critics rarely know what to make of a new author taking over a classic work, and The Godfather Returns is no different. Some call this sequel brilliant, and praise Winegardner’s conscientious research, plot clarification, compelling new characters (like Francesca, one of Sonny’s twin daughters), and "panoramic and cinematic" writing (Minneapolis Star Tribune). Other critics argue that no author, Puzo or anyone else, can capture Al Pacino’s inner expression—this may be a case where the movie will forever trump the novel. Some even call the sequel bland, visionless, and undramatic. Since it’s the Corleones, expect the usual pulp thrills. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.


From AudioFile
Not a sequel to Mario Puzo's bestseller, THE GODFATHER RETURNS is, rather, a rousing addition to that acclaimed novel, which broadens and deepens the characters and plot of the original story. Happily, it can stand alone as a complicated and compelling story that fascinates and repulses, but ultimately captures our imagination. New information about the familiar characters and their actions enlarges our appreciation for this classic morality tale. Joe Grifasi narrates brilliantly. Kudos also for an enlightening interview with author Winegardner and his editor, Jonathan Karp, who define the original story and this successor as "somewhere between pulp and Proust." L.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Winegardner's sequel to The Godfather is a fitting tribute to Puzo's darkly comic, bravura storytelling, paying due respect to the mythic grandeur of the Corleones in an engrossing saga that ranges from the corridors of power to the catacombs of Palermo. It should be a big earner. Focusing on the five years between the end of Puzo's novel and the opening of Coppola's Godfather II, Winegardner fills a vast canvas with historical flourishes and likenesses. A-bomb tests wow rooftop swingers in Vegas, where Sinatra makes his comeback as a mature balladeer and chafes at his Cosa Nostra ties even while using them to help elect Kennedy. In the foreground, new and familiar figures negotiate, plot, and counterplot with all the vigor, panache, and dexterity of Shakespeare's Richard III. Pathetic Fredo plummets recklessly toward his fate, tormented by secret shame, while soldato Nick Geraci whistles his way through the valley of death. Stoic Tom Hagen vies for the banal evils of elected office, and Sonny's daughter Francesca revisits the sins of her father. Running like a chill down the spine of this sprawling narrative is the silent menace of Michael, a consummate Machiavelli forged by war and thwarted by peace. Dripping with blood and cappuccino, this meaty, charismatic epic of hard-won power, lost honor, and grim brio deserves a hearing from Puzo's legion of fans. Highly recommended. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


From the Inside Flap
THE MISSING YEARS FROM THE GREATEST CRIME SAGA OF ALL TIME

Thirty-five years ago, Mario Puzo’s great American tale, The Godfather, was published, and popular culture was indelibly changed. Now, in The Godfather Returns, acclaimed novelist Mark Winegardner continues the story–the years not covered in Puzo’s bestselling book or in Francis Ford Coppola’s classic films.

It is 1955. Michael Corleone has won a bloody victory in the war among New York’s crime families. Now he wants to consolidate his power, save his marriage, and take his family into legitimate businesses. To do so, he must confront his most dangerous adversary yet, Nick Geraci, a former boxer who worked his way through law school as a Corleone street enforcer, and who is every bit as deadly and cunning as Michael. Their personal cold war will run from 1955 to 1962, exerting immense influence on the lives of America’s most powerful criminals and their loved ones, including

Tom Hagen, the Corleone Family’s lawyer and consigliere, who embarks on a political career in Nevada while trying to protect his brother;

Francesca Corleone, daughter of Michael’s late brother Sonny, who is suddenly learning her family’s true history and faces a difficult choice;

Don Louie Russo, head of the Chicago mob, who plays dumb but has wily ambitions for muscling in on the Corleones’ territory;

Peter Clemenza, the stalwart Corleone underboss, who knows more Family secrets than almost anyone;

Ambassador M. Corbett Shea, a former Prohibition-era bootlegger and business ally of the Corleones’, who wants to get his son elected to the presidency–and needs some help from his old friends;

Johnny Fontane, the world’s greatest saloon singer, who ascends to new heights as a recording artist, cozying up to Washington’s power elite and maintaining a precarious relationship with notorious underworld figures;

Kay Adams Corleone, who finally discovers the truth about her husband, Michael–and must decide what it means for their marriage and their children and

Fredo Corleone, whose death has never been fully explained until now, and whose betrayal of the Family was part of a larger and more sinister chain of events.

Sweeping from New York and Washington to Las Vegas and Cuba, The Godfather Returns is the spellbinding story of America’s criminal underworld at mid-century and its intersection with the political, legal, and entertainment empires. Mark Winegardner brings an original voice and vision to Mario Puzo’s mythic characters while creating several equally unforgettable characters of his own. The Godfather Returns stands on its own as a triumph–in a tale about what we love, yearn for, and sometimes have reason to fear . . . family.


About the Author
MARK WINEGARDNER received a master of fine arts degree in fiction writing from George Mason University and published his first book at age twenty-six, while still in graduate school. His books have been chosen as among the best of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the New York Public Library. His work has appeared in various publications including GQ, Playboy, Family Circle, American Short Fiction, Ladies’ Home Journal, Parents, and The New York Times Magazine. Several of his stories have been chosen as Distinguished Stories of the Year in The Best American Short Stories. He has also served as a board member of the Associated Writing Programs. He is now a professor and director of the creative writing program at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida.


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Acclaimed novelist Winegardner (Crooked River Burning)-whose proposal for this sequel to Mario Puzo's 1969 classic, The Godfather, was selected after an international search by the publisher-carries off the assignment con brio. Taking place between 1955 and 1962, between the end of Puzo's novel and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's two sequels, it describes the early years of Michael Corleone's reign, when he must dispose of a traitor within his own organization and consolidate his power among the various New York mob families. Winegardner reprises all the familiar characters, including consigliere Tom Hagen and Michael's caporegimes, Pete Clemenza and Rocco Lampone. He also introduces Nick Geraci, who turns out to be one of Michael's most formidable opponents. As a result, Michael discovers that it's going to be harder than he had anticipated to fulfill his marriage pledge to wife Kay that he will take the Corleone family out of the crime business and into legitimate enterprises. Just as in the original, the pages fly by, characters are dispatched in various violent ways, and a rough sort of justice (like it or not) prevails. (The only continuity error this reviewer could detect was that in Puzo's novel, Michael and Kay have two sons; in the sequel-and in Coppola's films-they have a boy and a girl.) Recommended for most fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/04.]-Nancy Pearl, formerly with Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.


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