The Sicilian is Puzo’s best work to date even better that The Godfather.
About The Book:
Puzo does not romanticize and/or weaves a romantic tale or draws an exciting plot like Sydney Sheldon .. or the like. Puzo infact is above all of these.
The tragedy in his novels like The Sicilian or The Godfather is brought about by unavoidable human errors .. committed by humans in real situations. (Just like in Shakespearean plays.)
Puzo never needed any fillings or frills and his stories are real .. infact Puzo’s works ’’seem like a well documented account of the times in which he lived’’..: indeed many believe that Puzo has successfully played the role of a social-historian - reading his works many might think that perhaps in his heart of hearts he really was a social-historian.
The Book : (set in early 20th century in Sicily)
Sicily, the place in which this tale is set is a land ’’more brutally raped in all of history than any other.’’
The Sicilian follows the romantic life of a Sicilian named Turi Guiliano, his personal conflicts in finally becoming a brave man; and his subsequent conflicts with the Mafia and the corrupt Government in Sicily, which he chooses to combat in order to free Sicily of its chains.
Sicily is a land with ’’incredibly beautiful countryside’’ where children ’’more beautiful than the angels take birth’’; Turi is one such child. And it is this beautiful countryside which forms the backdrop of this story, making it ever more fascinating (and ironic).
Puzo’s plain and earthy descriptions/expressions/emotions have a powerful appeal in that he tells his stories with complete control on his pen, his characters; he keeps to one pace throughout the novel - and his pace is slow, but that which puts to shame the fast pace at which Dan Brown wrote The Da Vinci Code.
So along with those thousands of children in the ’’stone and dirt-filled’’ houses of Sicily this novel will make you pray for the salvation of Sicily.