原作読む前に、何回も映画を見たけれど、
原作の方が面白かったです。
登場人物が織り成すドラマが、より深く
描かれているからです。映画ではカットされて
しまった部分が意外と物語を深くさせる部分だったりして楽しく読めました。
　単なるマフィアを描いた物語ではなく
厳しい世の中で、克服しなければならない壁みたいなものに
どう立ち向かっていくのかという、割とビジネス的な要素も
物語の根幹にありそういった意味でも価値ある作品です。
是非、ご一読を。

読む本がなくなると手にとる本です。何度も読むのですぐボロボロになり、その度に買い換えています。米国の批評家の間ではパルプ・フィクション（安っぽい三文小説）と酷評する人もいるようですが、自分の中ではバイブルとなっています。映画で描写されているマイケルがアメリカのエリート（ダートマス大で数学を学び、かつ戦争の英雄）から家業であるマフィアのドンへと変貌する過程も面白いのですが、映画では描写されていないアル・カポーネとの抗争やソニーの愛人のその後の人生が面白い！コッポラ監督に別の映画として作ってもらいたいぐらいです。映画を見たという人もぜひ読んでほしいです。新しい発見があります。

It becomes clear after watching the movie before reading the book that The Godfather novel is better than the movie even though I rank The Godfather movies as one of the best ever. This saga about Corleone Family, gives the best definition of the mafia genre than all the written works that may be known. The character development is unrivalled, the plot is marvelous, the pace is fast, the setting is engrossing and with the complex though fascinating lessons contained within the lines, one gets something close to a catechism. I think that is why Francis Ford Coppola did not have to alter much in the story to produce the movies.
"Behind every great fortune, there is a crime," Wrote the French novelist Balzac. This quote is the forerunner to The Godfather. It takes a short while into the novel to realize that The Godfather transcends being just a novel. Many readers have confessed that it altered their perception of life after reading it. It certainly is a classic with the most influential and deep-cutting influence on the minds of its readers. This novel presents us with the uncommon code and workings of the Mafia. It also explores the lives of the people who are directly or indirectly involved in it. Throughout the novel, one is forced to view Don Corleone as a very good bad man.

Mario Puzo's The Godfather is rich with wide-ranging characters as well. There is Don Corleone's first son-the short-tempered Sonny, Fredo the weak-minded second son, Michael the reluctant son with his father's steel-mindedness who ends up to save the family and Connie the baby sister who follows her impulses all the time. Then there is Amerigo Bonasera the dreary undertaker, the wily Genco, the ruthless capo-regimes, the psychopathic but faithful Luca, the cool-headed and loyal adopted Corleone son Tom Hagen, the women who married into the family and come to accept the reality of their new worlds, loving characters that are detestable to the real world. In the end, this novel revolves around Don Vito Corleone and his son, Michael, who like a reluctant disciple finally takes over as the head of the Corleone family.

You will not be happy when you read the last page because you will be wish for more about the lives of the Corleones and their fantastic world. For sure the character of the Don will last long in your mind, because beyond being violent, Don Corleone is portrayed as a kind, considerate, strong, reliable and reasonable, man. In his person is to be found the ideal father, husband, friend, Godfather, son, leader and business man. Fame, power, wealth and common place idealism make this book the great story it has been over the past three decades.
DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE is another novel with ingenious characters and an inspiring hero.

As easy as Puzo makes it look, writing about the mafia isn't all that easy to succeed at. The writing style is laid-back and easy to read, but full of tension and sure to bring even the most jaded reader into the world of this famous mafia family. The movies were superb, but the book is just as good, if not better.

MARIO PUZO原作のTHE GOD FATHERは知らない方はいない と思います。もちろん映画も見ましたし、翻訳も読みま した。クライム小説を美化するつもりはありませんが、 やはりこの本は傑作です。発表当時は今ほど情報がある 訳でも無く、かなり物議を醸しだしたものと思います。 登場人物のキャラもよく練れているし、構成も良く、

読み始めると引き込まれます。なんと言っても、 マイケルが自分の運命を受け入れる過程の描写が 素晴らしい。またラスベガスやハリウッドの描写、 犯罪組織が合法的な組織へ変貌を模索しながらも、 ただその牙を隠しているだけという現実感、存在感、 イタリアからの移民というマイノリティの実態、恐怖感 、そして反骨心などいろいろと考えさせられます。

原書で読んでみるのもいいものです。