I finished The Godfather some days ago and absolutely loved it. Instant 5/5. Everything was incredible, except for a few chapters tho… What was the point of the Johnny Fontane chapters? They did not contribute to the climax or the overall story for that matter. Except showing that Don Vito was looking to profit from the film business, everything else was kind of a ‘filler’ type thing. And dont get me started on the Lucy Mancini chapter, that was so vile.
Agree. Very good book overall. But the Lucy stuff is ridiculous. Even reading this when I was a pubescent 15 year old boy I was like, “ok, this is silly and gratuitous.” It was the most “men-writing-as-women” thing I’ve ever seen.
I don’t know for sure, but I thought the Johnny Fontane chapters were referring to Frank Sinatra. I’m sure someone has written about the releationship of the Godfather novel to the real life mob in Vegas and elsewhere.
I first read the book at the age of 12 and yeah, Sonny and Lucy at the wedding was a bit much for young me.
So I’ve only seen the movies but I think the whole movie producer/horse head was there to portray what would happen if someone didn’t follow the system of friends & favours.
The Johnny Fontane chapters are about his personal life and the problematic hollywood life. They do not contribute to the story and climax whatsoever.