I re-read the Godfather over Christmas, and am now reading The Sicilian, a sort of sequel to the Godfather that Puzo wrote 15 years later. The history of Sicily and Italy is told in rich detail, with fictional and non-fiction elements being thrown in. The brutality of life when you had to fight or perhaps kill over something like a wheel of cheese is on full display. I love how, looming over everything, is the shadow of Don Croce, who arguably is more important than the Pope, or the Premier of Italy. Possibly more important than him, and his main rival, is Turi Giuliano, a freedom fighter who goes up against the Sicilian Mafia, creating his own sort of Robin Hood type of situation.
I love how honorable the men are, even when murdering someone. They play by rules because they know that if they break them, then their rivals will also break them and chaos will ensue.
I have 50 pages to go and I'm glad I found this because I've been trying to get back into reading more, and these books are hard to put down.
by [deleted]