The Godfather Introduction

As soon as it was published in 1969, Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather began setting sales records, becoming the fastest selling book up to its time. Its enormous popularity increased in 1972 when Francis Ford Coppola's movie version was released. The movie won several Academy Awards, including one for Coppola and Puzo's script adaptation of his novel. It is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time and is frequently cited by critics as one of the greatest American movies ever made. It has spawned two highly-respected sequels, both co-scripted by Puzo. The novel has consistently stayed in print and has sold over 21 million copies worldwide.

The story revolves around Vito Corleone, a leader of organized crime in the 1940s. He is a man who rules with quiet persuasion, asking those who wish favors from him for their loyalty and dealing mercilessly with those who cross him. When other criminals try to involve his organization in the drug trade, Corleone resists and the shield of power that he has built around his family is threatened. The aged crime lord must defend his family and pass control of his empire to one of his three sons.

This book helped define how the world views organized crime in America, framing the aspects of greed and violence that are inherent in the underworld with an emphasis on family, respect, and honor. The character of Vito Corleone, the Godfather, has been compared to Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield as an archetype, a personality so true to the American experience that, though fictional, he seems familiar to everyone. Far beyond being just another crime novel, The Godfather relates to all stories of immigrant families who are trying, over the course of generations, to fit into the mainstream of American life.

The Godfather Summary

Book I
The Godfather opens in 1945, at the wedding of Connie Corleone, the only daughter of Vito Corleone, the head of the most powerful organized crime family in the United States. During the wedding, Corleone, respectfully referred to as the Don or Godfather, is obliged to meet with people who seek his help. As the novel explains, "by tradition no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day." One man's daughter was raped, and he asks Don Corleone to punish the rapists; another man needs political support so that his daughter's fiancé will not be deported; another, the Don's actual godson, is a famous singer whose career will fail if he does not get the movie role that a Hollywood producer has refused to him.

The long wedding sequence is used to introduce the main characters. Don Corleone's oldest son, Sonny, is a hot-tempered ladies man; Fredo is a weak-willed drunkard; and his youngest son, Michael, has disappointed his father by staying out of the family business and joining the army. Michael is at the wedding with his girlfriend from college, Kay Adams, who does not know that the family is into organized crime until he tells her some chilling stories about other wedding guests. Other important characters include Tom Hagen, the Corleone family's adopted son, who serves the Godfather as a counselor in criminal activities, and Clemenza and Tessio, the captains in the Corleone army.

As soon as the wedding is over, Don Corleone takes his sons to visit his old friend and counselor, Genco Abbandando, who is dying in the hospital. That same night, Hagen is sent to California to make the movie producer give the required role to his godson, Johnny Fontane. While they are talking, the producer shows Hagen a beautiful race horse that he has bought. He says that he is sorry that he cannot cast Johnny in the movie. The next morning, the producer wakes to find the horse's severed head in his bed, and, realizing the ferocity and stealth of the Corleone crime family, he arranges to cast Johnny.

A meeting is arranged with Virgil Sollozzo, a drug dealer who wants the Corleone family to be partners with him. Don Corleone says that he will not be involved with drugs, but during the meeting Sonny shows interest.

Three months later, an assassination attempt is made on the Don's life. He survives, but while he is in the hospital, another attempt is made. Michael, who is visiting at the time, manages to scare off the assassins. A meeting of family officials... » Complete The Godfather Summary