Mario Puzo’s The Godfather debuted on bookshelves in 1969, and America has since-then been fascinated with the world of organized crime.  His novel, the basis for The Godfather Trilogy, introduced the Corleone family and romanticized the gangster lifestyle. 

            The book follows two generations of one of the biggest crime families in New York starting from Vito Corleone’s immigration to the United States in 1909 to his son Michael’s taking-over of the “family business” almost 40 years later.  The Godfather Parts I and II align quite naturally with the novel, as Puzo co-wrote the screenplay with director Francis Ford Coppola.  From reading the book, however, one can grasp a whole new understanding of the drama that ultimately made the movies.  There are many powerful messages in the novel for instance that go unmentioned throughout any of the three films. 

            One such case is the scene that unfolds at the very end of Puzo’s narrative.  Michael’s wife, Kay, kneels before the altar in an empty church, “Then with a profound and deeply willed desire to believe… she said the necessary prayers for the soul of Michael Corleone.”  How does such a significant scene simply go untold during the movie?  Nowhere in the film is the audience aware of any sort of dread by Kay for the soul of her husband.  In the film, we are given a feeling of hatred for the path that Michael has chosen.

There are numerous instances of unsaid imagery in the movie that are prevalent in the novel, but it is the job of the writers to show what is believed to be the most pertinent.