Omerta
by Mario Puzo

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Book Reviews of Omerta

Book Review: POWERFUL, but beneath the surface a Godfather carbon copy
Summary: 4 Stars

Book's basic strengths: a powerful plot, quick action, strong storytelling, mostly convincing characters, excellent use of detail, and at times heavy suspense... Vintage Puzo.

And weaknesses:

1) Puzo does not give insight into the character of Viola, rather, simply sets him up as a sort of superhuman demigod, flawless, powerful, brilliant. He gives no real, solid reason to explain why someone so intelligent and cunning would have the deep inner need to crave so much power, and to risk so much to get it. Any reasonably intelligent, insightful, and non-damaged person would have let go of the reins of such dangerous power, gotten rid of the banks, and walked away with a clear billion or so dollars. Yet Puzo touts Viola's near fatal flaw as a strength! Psychologically speaking, I think what underlies Puzo writing a book that hinges on this basic flaw is that Puzo is in denial of this very flaw in himself. I think believe he wishes he had been powerful enough as a child to stand up to his omnipotent and abusive parents, but not being conscious of that in adulthood, acts it out through his utterly grandiose characters who thumb their noses as death and horde power at all costs - these Dons, Violas, Michael Corleones.

2) Unlike in the godfather, where Michael Corleone WON the Mafia battle but LOST the personal one, Viola WON and Mafia battle AND ALSO WON the personal one! This double-win defeated some of Omerta's potential strength (strength that the Godfather retained), namely, letting the reader know that winning the power struggle is really no inner win at all... This leads me to infer that Mario Puzo himself has not made headway in resolving his own childhood issues in the past thirty years...and in fact has probably taken a few steps backward...

3) Some surprisingly wooden dialogue, especially early on in the book - I was surprised that Puzo would/could make dialogue so fake...perhaps he's losing his touch.

Summary of Omerta

More crucial than the tersely described violence is the emotional setting: a traditional, loving clan menaced by traditional vendettas. With Don Aprile hit, the family's fate lies in the strong hands of his adopted nephew from Sicily, Astorre. The Don kept his own kids sheltered from the Mafia: one son is an army officer; another is a TV exec; his daughter Nicole (the most developed character of the three) is an ace lawyer who liked to debate the Don on the death penalty. "Mercy is a vice, a pretension to powers we do not have ... an unpardonable offense to the victim," the Don maintained. Astorre, a macaroni importer and affable amateur singer, was secretly trained to carry on the Don's work. Now his job is to show no mercy.

But who did the hit? Was it Kurt Cilke, the morally tormented FBI man who recently jailed most of the Mafia bosses? Or Timmona Portella, the Mob boss Cilke still wants to collar? How about Marriano Rubio, the womanizing, epicurean Peruvian diplomat who wants Nicole in bed--did he also want her papa's head?

If you didn't know Puzo wrote Omerta, it would be no mystery. His marks are all over it: lean prose, a romance with the Old Country, a taste for olives in barrels, a jaunty cynicism ("You cannot send six billionaires to prison," says Cilke's boss. "Not in a democracy"), an affection for characters with flawed hearts, like Rudolfo the $1,500-an-hour sexual massage therapist, or his short-tempered client Aspinella, the one-eyed NYPD detective. The simultaneous courtship of cheery Mafia tramp Rosie by identical hit-man twins Frankie and Stace Sturzo makes you fall in love with them all--and feel a genuine pang when blood proves thicker than eros.

This fitting capstone to Puzo's career is optioned for a film, and Michael Imperioli of TV's The Sopranos narrates the audiocassette version of the novel. But why wait for the movie? Omerta is a big, old-fashioned movie in its own right. --Tim Appelo

Family Saga Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Family Saga
• Historical
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery
• Thrillers > Suspense