Sorry Jeff, forgot to get back to this discussion.
JeffSFO wrote:Very good book, IMO. Read it back in college almost 25 years ago during a Christmas break. Vik, your point of view is really interesting to me because I have the opposite view in that I found Vito Corleone to be more sympathetic in the book and certainly much more of a well-rounded character (and he gets more time in the book than he does on screen). Also, I liked the book more than the film (although the film is great). Anyway, this is subjective territory but it's fun to compare notes.
So in the movie, I get the dominant feeling that Vito Corleone is just a regular poor immigrant from Sicily, just trying to support his family and do some good for people (and if some other people have to get screwed or killed, well, they probably were dicks anyway). I get the feeling he's really a decent guy. Just for example, in the movie when he's talking to Michael, he says approximately "I never wanted this for you..." He doesn't say that anywhere in the book, if I remember correctly. Then in the book, when Connie is asking him why he never hit his wife, he says "she never gave me reason to". I can't imagine the film Vito Corleone saying that, or actually hitting his wife for any reason.
Those are just a couple examples. In general, both book and film show his sympathetic side, but I find the book plays up his ruthless side more than the movie.
JeffSFO wrote:Yeah, that one's a tough allegorical slog full of grim symbolism and imagery. Definitely not good for light reading before bed.
I have no objection to heavy reading before bed.
It's certainly possible that I didn't get all the allegories and such, but then again, I'm not sure if that's my fault or the author's fault.
Overall, it was just incredibly anticlimactic.
In current reading news,
Dracula is proving to be a MUCH longer read than I anticipated. Been reading it for over two weeks, and I'm not even halfway through. It's starting to get repetitive, but we'll see.