- Hardcover: 283 pages
- Publisher: Random House USA Inc; 1st Random House, Inc. Ed edition (April 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 067945778X
- ISBN-13: 978-0679457787
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.8 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,817,615 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
By the author of the classic bestseller The Godfather
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
efore The Godfather and The Last Don, there was Puzo's classic story about the loves, crimes and struggles confronted by one family of New York City immigrants living in Hell's Kitchen. Fresh from the farms in Italy, Lucia Santa struggles to hold her family together in a strange land. At turns poignant, comic and violent, and with a new preface by the author, The Fortunate Pilgrim is Italian-American fiction at its very best.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of my personal favorite books and is, in my opinion, by far and away the best of Puzo's novels including the Godfather. The immigrant experience in America is a personal interest of mine and I have sought out several novels dealing with the subject. I am yet to find one as vivid and evocative in terms of character and setting as The Fortunate Pilgrim. The book is part family saga part social history and stands up to second and third readings.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The compelling story of a woman who came to an arranged marriage in New York in the early years of the twentieth century, in order to escape the grinding poverty of Southern Italy. Reading Puzo, one might almost be on the hot streets of New York's Little Italy in the height of summer, as the women gather to gossip late into the night until their tenements cool down enough to sleep, and the children play endless street games. Lucia Santa's endless worries with husbands and children make for a wonderful, thought-provoking read-indeed the sort of book to finish in one go. Equally as good as The Godfather in my opinion.
Format:Paperback
This book [my fourth copy] evokes the grinding hardship of immigrants from their homeland in Southern Italy to a bewildering world where Lucia Santa stands against a system that would destroy many modern-day women should they be left widowed with children to protect and provide for in an alien world. It also reminds me of the harsh realities of my own people, the Irish, who faced the same assault on their culture as new immigrants to the US, but like the Italians, they too persevere and become first citizens of their new country. None of this was easy for either group as they did not have the cozy ease that is offered to new arrivals when their feet touch American soil today,
The relationship between Lucia Santa and her children is a complex one, made more so when she marries her second husband and adds several new offspring to the mix. Her daughter is the rock she leans on and they seem more like comrades in arms in arms than anything else, but the dialogue that flows between them is mostly hilarious and earthy. Lucia Santa is relentless as a devious, conniving mother who rules the roost with a wooden Pasta Pin. This woman must be this way as she battles for her daily crust, and neither welfare man or sly neighbors deter her from her mission, which is to get her family through life with as little bruising as possible. The brutality of her existence is fully uncovered as one disaster follows another and you see her not go down in hysterics and run to councilling, but dust herself off and figure out how to overcome the problem. My kind of woman.
Today, I live in a hilltop town in Southern Italy and I see clearly how and why those young men and women left all those years ago. The Padrone is long gone, but it is still the 'Mezzogiorno' to those in the North who pour the same contempt on these tough but delightful Southerners. Lucia Santa and all those women like her who had to leave their homeland were the backbone of a future America that thrived on their childrens labor, and for that these women have my respect.
The relationship between Lucia Santa and her children is a complex one, made more so when she marries her second husband and adds several new offspring to the mix. Her daughter is the rock she leans on and they seem more like comrades in arms in arms than anything else, but the dialogue that flows between them is mostly hilarious and earthy. Lucia Santa is relentless as a devious, conniving mother who rules the roost with a wooden Pasta Pin. This woman must be this way as she battles for her daily crust, and neither welfare man or sly neighbors deter her from her mission, which is to get her family through life with as little bruising as possible. The brutality of her existence is fully uncovered as one disaster follows another and you see her not go down in hysterics and run to councilling, but dust herself off and figure out how to overcome the problem. My kind of woman.
Today, I live in a hilltop town in Southern Italy and I see clearly how and why those young men and women left all those years ago. The Padrone is long gone, but it is still the 'Mezzogiorno' to those in the North who pour the same contempt on these tough but delightful Southerners. Lucia Santa and all those women like her who had to leave their homeland were the backbone of a future America that thrived on their childrens labor, and for that these women have my respect.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A well written and acclaimed piece, but not as captivating as the...
I was first introduced to the works of Mario Puzo with his last unfinished piece called the family. I was so taken by the book, that I could not put it down. Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2009 by Matts Cotty
Beautifully Written
When I read this book , I was expecting something more like The Godfather or The Last Don. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book is very different and focuses... Read more
Published on 11 Jun 2008 by Wissamz
An engrossing but ultimately disappointing read
Having read "The Godfather" last year I had high expectations when I began to read this novel. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2002
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