The Godfather

50th Anniversary Edition

By: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola - introduction, Anthony Puzo - note, Robert J. Thompson - afterword

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna, Anthony Puzo, Angelo Di Loreto

Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION - WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

Mario Puzo's classic saga of an American crime family that became a global phenomenon - nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read.

With its brilliant and brutal portrayal of the Corleone family, The Godfather burned its way into our national consciousness. This unforgettable saga of crime and corruption, passion and loyalty continues to stand the test of time, as the definitive novel of the Mafia underworld.

A #1 New York Times bestseller in 1969, Mario Puzo's epic was turned into the incomparable film of the same name, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the original classic that has been often imitated, but never matched. A tale of family and society, law and order, obedience and rebellion, it reveals the dark passions of human nature played out against a backdrop of the American dream.

With a Note from Anthony Puzo and an Afterword by Robert J. Thompson

©1969 Mario Puzo. Introduction © 2019 by Francis Ford Coppola. "Note from Anthony Puzo" used with permission of Anthony Puzo. Afterword © 2002 by Robert J. Thompson. (P)2011, 2019 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Spectacular!

Great novel, engaging story. One of the best narrators ever,r ..... a must read that should not be missed.

Strong

Prepare to fall into a world. The characters are flushed with depth. Meaningful motivations, Nuanced interactions, a brilliance in speaking style that the narrator gives life to. Dips slightly 2/3rds through but climbs back up and finishes strong. 4.5/5

Fantastic

This is for sure one of my 10 best audiobook experiences.

The story is great, the chronology in which it is told is perfection.

The choice of Narrator could not have been any better.

I first listened to this Audio Book about one million years ago. (on a whole suitcase full of audio cassettes)
Re-listened to it recently, I still love it.

Better than the Movie

As good as the movie is, the book is better. The narrator is excellent and the story is also excellent.

The only part that was a slight drawback was that I didn’t care about the characters that were not the central characters. I didn’t care about the B players but other than that, excellent!

better than the movies.. amazing performance and

wonderful story telling and performance. better than the movies. Will listen again and again. stunning

A bloody captivating tale of family and business.

This story was filled with emotion and outlined that there is no good and evil, just loyalty to family and business. The narrator was a perfect fit.

The classic gangster novel

A visceral, discerning look into the underworld of the Mafia. The story is woven together intelligently with brevity and clarity and the descriptions although subtle at times, are not amiss with trivial detail.
This was a very satisfying read. I often feel disappointed by the end of a book but this ending left no loose ends. It also calls into question the nature of American culture, the legal system, character and corruption. What system is more just, The Law or The Mafia?
There is something to learn from both styles.

Good book but much better movie.

It's easy to see why this was made in to some of the best movies ever made. It's easy to see how the screenwriter jumped from the book to the way the movie portrayed the story. Unfortunately the book also included about 50% content that was correctly edited from the story in the movie. There was so much wildly dated, unnecessary, and bad story telling included in the book that strongly took away from the enjoyment of the half of the book that was wonderful.

Very strange experience. I think the challenge was at the time it was groundbreaking and the gangster trope did not exist. Puzo essentially created it with this book. It hadn't become as refined as it did later. The idea of a vagina reduction surgery in an unnecessary character taking dozens of pages seems absurd and wildly in need of being edited out of the book but at the time the publisher probably though the whole story was equally as distasteful and unnecessary. The editor should've removed ~ half the story to an amazing story, basically the movie.

First Read. Great Story.

This was my first time reading The Godfather. I saw the movie decades ago and forgot about it. Then I started watching The Offer on Amazon and it reignited my interest in the story. I can see why this book became one of the greatest American films ever made, as well as one of the best screenplays. Definitely worth the read. Great as an audio book. Joe Mantegna does an awesome job reading the book.

They don’t write books like this anymore

This is one of the best books I’ve listened to in years. I thought I knew The Godfather story, but learned so much of the back story from this incredible book.

Joe Mantegna nails the characters like none other.
Truly an awesome listen!