I had heard about movie GODFATHER from someone some years back where apparently a brother kills another when he grows tired of his misdeeds, I haven’t seen the movie though except some promos.I also heard the movie features Mr.Al Pacino who is compared to our very own Mr.Bachchan.Amitabh Bachchan acted in SARKAR years later based on Mario Puzo’s GODFATHER.
Also this background info prompted me to buy this book THE FAMILY by Puzo although I have not read GODFATHER and don’t really feel the need after watching SARKAR.
I thought it was a good book based on some great story about a family or families, but it shocked me enough in first few pages when I learnt that One of the Pope Alexander held mistresses and bore children from them, not only it was open to all, they promoted them as cardinals and warriors and married off his illegitimate daughter to favoring states to gain a foothold on power.
Not only if it was enough, this book shows incestous relationships in this’family’ where there are no boundary lines of relationships, anyone can have any relationship with anybody.It disgusted me so much that I decided to leave the book and also thought how greatly I thought of this author earlier and what a disgusting book he has written.I have serious doubts if he wrote this book as it is his last book and is completed by one Carol Gino, may be some of the thoughts are of this Carol, but Carol claims it was all written by Mario.
I still went on with this book to see how low humanity can go if it went in that place mentioned in that book and it reached a new low with every chapter replete with gruesome details.I have read in some Italian books that huge wars were fought only for girls there, also sometime back they had a most corrupt prime minister who was a owner of a TV channel, I now understand this place has history of this.
In short, the story revolves around Pope Alexander, his son Cesare, his daughter Lucrezia and another son Jofre.Pope wants Cesare to be a cardinal, but he opts to become a warrior, loves his sister Lucrezia, gets her first husband divorced from her, second husband is murdered by him.The only person I liked in this book is Jofre who kills his brother Juan when he learns he is in a relationship with his wife Sancia and loves his wife unconditionally all his life.Also when he learns about his father and other brother’s’extreme misadventures", he allies with likeminded people who hated evil and helps in poisoning them.In the end, Pope and Cesare are both dead for different reasons and with great pain.Both realise that what they did was evil.
I am not sure if I should recommend this book as its highly disgusting, but still if people want to know such evil people lived on this earth sometime somewhere, they should read it.
Thanks for reading my review.