The Godfather, by Mario Puzo

The story of the growth and transition of a family business, given by destiny, so well narrated that you feel you are into it, and you find many people resembling the characters in the classic novel. Every man has but one destiny!

It is destiny that makes one a Don, and they do not want their children to be Dons. But willingly or unwillingly, we inherit. Whether it be Vito Andolini, Who became Don Corleone, or Son Sonny, who saw his father first murder, and so became, an angry young me, disinterested in his academics, or the change in fortune of Michael and Kay.

Lessons from The God father:

• Behind every fortune there is a crime.

• Society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a time when the most humble of men, if he keeps his eyes open, can take his revenge on the most powerful. It was this knowledge that prevented the Don from losing the humility all his friends admired in him.

• Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than government. It is almost the equal of family. Never forget that. If you have built up a wall of friendships you wouldn’t have to ask for help.

• Art of negotiation was to never get angry, never make a threat. Reason with people. Ignore all insults, all threats, turn the other cheek. ‘I will reason with him.’

• There is more money potential in narcotics than in any other business. If we don’t get into it, somebody else will. If they become stronger economically they become threat to us.

• There was no greater natural advantage in life than having an enemy overestimate your faults, unless it was to have a friend underestimate your virtues. ( A friend should always underestimate your virtue, and an enemy overestimated your faults.)

• Any profession was worthy of respect to men who for centuries earned bread by the sweat of their brows.

• Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty.

• When there is a bad news, tell it, present analysis of what must be done to rectify the situation, and keep silent – guilt, grief or sorrow.

• There were monetary insurances, but Bocchicchio insurance was gilt-edged insurance.

• The pattern for Don was his helping those in misfortune, whose misfortune, he had partly created. Not perhaps out of cunning or planning but because of his variety of interests or perhaps because of the nature of the universe, the interlinking of good and evil, nature of itself.

• You cannot say ‘no’ to the people you love, not often. That’s the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a ‘yes’. Or your have to make them say ‘no.’ you have to take time and trouble.

• Revenge is a dish that is tasted best when it is cold.

• And even if you are not a believer, whatever you do, for your success and well being, there is someone out there praying for you.

Indeed a classic of our time, with its brilliant and brutal portrayal, unforgettable sage of crime and corruption, passion and loyalty, standing the test of time, with its story on the mafia underworld, as a novel, film, catapulting the minds of people of all ages.

There is so much of good in the worst of us, and so much of bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us, to find fault with the rest of us.

Thanks to Sriram whose review on this you can read at Ram's Ramblings (http://criticatwork.blogspot.com/2008/06/decoding-classic.html)
here

Story Arc : God father 

Exposition : Vito Corleone is the most feared and most respected Don in Newyork in 1945. He has 3 sons and a daughter and a god son.

Rising action : Tensions set in when Don Corleone refuses the offer by drug Barron Sollozzo to enter the narcotics business and provide political protection. 

Climax : In a series of events of rivalry between the 5 mafia families Don Corleone is severely injured , Eldest son Sonny is killed .

Resolution : His youngest son Michael takes up the charge on behalf of his father.

Falling action : Michael arranges to murder the Newyork city dons and everything is back to normal.