The Family

By: Mario Puzo

Narrated by: Philip Bosco

“Dazzling, passionate, a masterwork that ranks with Puzo’s best.”
—Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguys

“One of his most satisfying works….A thoroughly entertaining posthumous present from one of the masters of popular fiction.”
—Booklist

Mario Puzo’s final masterwork. A sweeping epic saga of corruption, greed, treachery, and sin, The Family is the ultimate crowning achievement of the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist who gave the world The Godfather, arguably the greatest Mafia crime novel ever written. In The Family, Puzo—whom the Washington Post calls, “A serious American talent”—plunges reader into the colorful tumult of the Italian Renaissance, immersing them in the roiling intrigues and deadly affairs of the remarkable family whose name has always been synonymous with power, corruption, poison, and murder: the infamous Borgias.

Better than expected

I have to admit I didn't like to showtime series too much but this book was much better than I anticipated. Puzo is a great author and the narrator was excellent as well.

Felt like I was there.

engaging. nice mix of history and entertainment. I don't like fiction. this is an exception

Who are these people?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I don't know if it was the delivery or the contents, but the portrayal of the Borgias make them seem rather dull. These were dynamic indiduals, but nowhere was shown Rodrigo's or Chasare' ruthlessness or Lucretia's impulsiveness. Juan Borgia and Julia Farnese were reduced to bit players.

Would you be willing to try another book from Mario Puzo and completed by Carol Gino ? Why or why not?

No. Too many other choices.

What three words best describe Philip Bosco’s voice?

Stick to commercials

Did The Family inspire you to do anything?

Watch the two miniseries that we made last year. Each one had different interpretations of each character.

The Quick "Wrap-Up" ending hurt and Epic Effort

Even though it is mentioned in the Audible Title, I did not realize that Mario Puzo did not finish this novel himself. It was completed in 2001 by his girlfriend, after his death in 1999.

I imagine when he started this book there had been little written about the Borgias, but since this book was finished, there have been a great many books on the Borgias, and of course the Showtime series, "The Borgias", which I highly recommend.

This book did bring to light a few interesting tidbits of History of which I was not aware. For example, in the Showtime series, they wrote out the younger brother Gioffre, so I was not aware he actually existed.

Overall I recommend the book and my only criticism (and it's a fairly big one for me) is that the book had an epic feel to it and it wrapped up far too quickly and in summary form. I can only assume that is because Carol Gino simply tried to finish it the best she could. I would be curious to know when she actually took over to assess my point as a valid one or not.

The narrator did a fine job and overall a slight thumbs up.

Abridged

I love this book, however it is heavily abridged. it is missing more than half missing. Had I known that it was abridged I would not have spent a credit on it. I know it is abridged because I own the book, and have read it more than a dozen times.