I can't get over this. Really.

I got this for my birthday last year. I love it to pieces. And to think I've seen the movie(s) several times. True, Puzo's style was pulpy, the love scenes icky (he could've done away with such), but the plot and the Don's philosophy were amazing. I couldn't put it down.

So why come up with this.?

Searched high and low for a paperback copy, none available in the bookstores, and secondhand shops only had it on hardbound.

Now I know why copies of it abound in second-hand shops. It doesn't deserve the shelf space at home.

The characters are lousy (a Magic Sing-freak mafioso, an FBI agent who probably descended from Javert's line), the women unworthy (a female lawyer vigorously opposed against capital punishment, a forgettable nympho who wins Don Magic Sing's heart), the plot convoluted BUT horribly predictable. I had to force myself to finish it.

This particular novel was Puzo's last, and supposedly left to his common-law wife to finish. I'm not commenting on that.