Mario Puzo, �Omerta�
I remember when I first read The Godfather and suddenly decided Mario Puzo was my favorite author. This was long before I had any taste. I�m not sure I had read any Steinbeck at this point, I had only read two Vonnegut books, and I don�t think I had even heard of Bukowski or Thompson.
Anyway, I thought the Godfather was great, ran down to the bookstore to pick up more by him, found The Sicilian and let somebody else borrow the book before I finished it, which I never got back.
Soon after, I discovered Thompson, Bukowski, Vonnegut and others, and suddenly, I didn�t care to read about some Italian crime family anymore. It�s been at least 12 years since then, and I never picked up Mario Puzo again.
Until now.
And I find myself going back and forth on this. There are parts of this that are good, but it�s all so fucking similar to The Godfather and The Sicilian that you wonder if they guy ever had the presence of mind to write about anything else. I�m betting that he tried, people didn�t buy it, and he decided to return to what people liked.
Genres are all well and good, but even somebody like Jim Thompson, who stayed pretty firmly in the crime noir area, managed to tell different stories from different angles and perspectives. With Thompson, you never felt like he was going through the motions. This is definitely going through the motions, and it�s even so bold as to let you know this fact.
�First,� reads the back cover teaser, �There was The Godfather. Then there was The Last Don. Now prepare to take the vow of your life... Omerta.�
This entire quote is misleading. It makes you think this is part of a trilogy for the Godfather, but the Corleone family is only mentioned in quick passing, described almost like they waved to each other in a park. That was it.
It�s a shameless reference. �Hey, you remember the Corleone family don�t you? Over ten million copies sold, and at least a half-dozen Oscars? Huh? Huh?�
But the sad truth of the matter is there is a lot of shame with this book. The typeface is so big on this book that it would nearly qualify for Large Print status. Worse, the spacing is set at least at one and a half, just so they can get a page count that justifies the $26.00 hardcover price.
What did we ever do to deserve such disrespect?
The kiss of death for this book is that there isn�t one original plot point that hasn�t already been covered in his earlier works. The only thing that gives it a reprieve is that it is just barely entertaining enough. (Though I should point out that it�s been long enough for me to not immediately recognize.)
So now, Puzo, I have to turn my back to you.
