Scarface

By: Maurice Coons

Narrated by: Marty Krz

Maurice Coons (also known as Armitage Trail), is best known for this 1929 pulp fiction novel which is based on the life of Al Capone. The book is the basis of two films films of the same name. One starring Paul Muni in 1932 and later on starring Al Pacino in 1983.

The story starts out with the beginnings of young Tony Guarino as a small time but savvy gangster who goes off to fight in the Great War and comes back as Tony Camonte, the city's next big cheese.

Public Domain (P)2020 Voices of Today

Just an average book

Scarface is the book that inspired the movie. I have not watched the movie as of yet, but knowing that Al Capone was know as Scarface made me think that the book was going to be about Capone. Instead, the book was a fictional characterization that might have been loosely based on him. Tony Guarino, the main character, goes to war and returned as Tony Camonte. He obtained a scar during the war which gave him the name of Scarface and he used it to shield his identity. He still had a love of his family even though after the war he hid his identity from them as the presumed that he was killed during the war. Tony fell in love with the big boss’ girl and in the process of obtaining her knocked off Al Spingola who was the ruthless gang boss. Tony’s mother, brother and sister played key roles in the story some behind the scenes and others forefront key aspects to the direction of the story. Tony’s brother was a detective and played a key role in how the book concluded. His sister was a good girl with bad taste in men that proved to play a pivotal role in the plot. Both family members helped show the cruelty Tony Camonte and humanity of Tony Guarino that was part of Tony’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character. Overall, the book was entertaining and enjoyable but wasn’t anything to tingle the sense of avid reader.