The Fortunate Pilgrim

by Mario Puzo

Before 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.


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Crime, Audiobook, Historical, Novels, Mystery

203 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants living in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage. After graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to his poor eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties but made him a public relations officer stationed in Germany. In 1950, his first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard. After the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955.

At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodman's Magazine Management Company. Puzo, along with other writers like Bruce Jay Friedman, worked for the company line of men's magazines, pulp titles like Male, True Action, and Swank. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for True Action.

Puzo's most famous work, The Godfather, was first published in 1969 after he had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism. He later said in an interview with Larry King that his principal motivation was to make money. He had already, after all, written two books that had received great reviews, yet had not amounted to much. As a government clerk with five children, he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. With a number one bestseller for months on the New York Times Best Seller List, Mario Puzo had found his target audience. The book was later developed into the film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received 11 Academy Award nominations, winning three, including an Oscar for Puzo for Best Adapted Screenplay. Coppola and Puzo collaborated then to work on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III.

Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, which he was unable to continue working on due to his commitment to The Godfather Part II. Puzo also co-wrote Richard Donner's Superman and the original draft for Superman II. He also collaborated on the stories for the 1982 film A Time to Die and the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola film The Cotton Club.

Puzo never saw the publication of his penultimate book, Omertà, but the manuscript was finished before his death, as was the manuscript for The Family. However, in a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Jules Siegel, who had worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company, speculated that Omertà may have been completed by "some talentless hack." Siegel also acknowledges the temptation to "rationalize avoiding what is probably the correct analysis -- that [Puzo] wrote it and it is terrible."

Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999 at his home in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. His family now lives in East Islip, New York.

Reviews

[Maziyar Yf · Rating 4 out of 5]

ماریو پوزوی کبیر در کتاب مهاجر خوشبخت ما را با جلوه ی دیگر جامعه ایتالیایهای مهاجرآشنا می کند ، در این کتاب نه با جرائم سازمان یافته مافیایی طرف هستیم مانند کتاب پدر خوانده و نه با خلاف های بزرگ و قمارهای کلان یا خرید وفروش مواد مخدر . قهرمانان ما خانواده ی فقیر اما نسبتا با شرفی هستند که روزی خود را با کار کردن تقریبا شرافتمندانه و مزد ناچیز بدست می آورند . هر چقدر کتاب های قبلی استاد پوزو مردانه بود و خانمها در حاشیه داستان بودند ، در این کتاب قهرمان ما یا قهرمان های ما زن هستند ، زن های شریفی که با کارگری یا خیاطی یا نانوایی ، سِنت ، سِنت پول جمع میکنند تا پسرهای خود را از خیابان و کار خلاف جدا کنند و آن ها را به مدرسه بفرستند ، مادرانی که برای حمایت ، به شوهر نیاز دارند هر چند که همسر آنها الکلی و دائم الخمر باشد . زنها و مادران ایتالیایی آن زمان همه زندگی خود را به پای بچه های خود گذاشته و برای آنها نقش سپر و یا چیزی فراتر از آن را بازی می کنند و چقدر این زنان چه ایتالیایی باشند ، چه ایرانی یا عرب ، شریف و قابل احترام هستند و چه زیبا پوزو این خانواده و این نوع زندگی را ترسیم کرده است . افراد خانواده ، مادر ، خواهر و برادرها بسیار قوی توسط استاد شخصیت سازی شده اند و توگویی برای خواننده غریبه نیستند ، شاید بارها امثال آنان را در کنار خیابان دیده باشیم که سرگرم کار یا مشغول فکر و افکار خویشند و در عین بی کسی ، مادری دارند که مراقب آن هاست . .
استاد در عین حال کمی هم دنیای کهن اروپا را با دنیای جدید آمریکا مقایسه میکند : در حالی که در اروپا جوانهای آلمانی ، انگلیسی ، فرانسوی و ایتالیایی به جان هم افتاده اند و مشغول جنگند ، دنیای جدید ، آمریکا به واسطه این جنگ اقتصادش رو به رشد شده و موقعیت های کاری زیادی ایجاد می کند و به برکت همین پول ها و دموکراسی است که افراد مهاجر در آمریکا پیشرفت میکنند ، درس می خوانند و به دانشگاه می روند که اگر در همان ده خود در ایتالیا مانده بودند یا در جنگ کشته شده بودند و یا یک کارگر ساده یا کشاورز می بودند ، مانند پدر و پدربزرگ های خود
پوزو در کتاب از مزایای مهاجرت و کشف زندگی نو می گوید و با احترام از آن صحبت می کند :

حالا دختران و زنان ایتالیایی میتوانند درس بخوانند و به دانشگاه بروند .
اگر در ایتالیا مانده بودیم الان باید با بیل تاپاله گاو جمع می کردیم .
در ایتالیا نمی توان از تقدیر و سرنوشت فرار کرد اما در آمریکا چرا .

در حقیقت برای فرار از همین سرنوشت و تقدیر محتوم است که خانواده از ایتالیای کهنه و فاسد مهاجرت می کنند که در وطن خود نه آینده ای دارند و نه رویایی . در آمریکا و دنیای نو هست که قهرمان کتاب به رویای خود می رسد و بالاخره خانه ای در منطقه لوکس نیویورک می خرد ، همسایگان بنا به سنت ایتالیایی برایشان آرزوی بوئنا فورتون یا خوشبختی می کنند که به منزله هشداری ایست که زندگی ادامه دارد

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would recommend this book to those of you who
-want to try Mario Puzo, but don't know which of his books to start with.
-are interested in Italian immigrant life during the Depression.
-like books about complicated family relationships.

In the introduction to the book we are told that it is this book that the author himself thought was his best. It is about his mother. He wrote The Godfather later. That one he wrote to be “a bestseller”; he had to support his family.

The book follows one Italian immigrant family through the Depression up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. They live in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, home to the poor and working-class Italian and Irish American immigrants. The language is crude and life is tough; you are happy if you simply survive. The mother, the star role of the family does survive. Just surviving makes her worthy of the title "the fortunate pilgrim", the book's title. Happy? Not necessarily. She has two husbands and six children. There are three deaths. By the book's end you know the six children. I particularly liked how the personalities of the six children were so different. You follow them to adulthood. By the book's end I felt empathy for the mother too. She was such a strong, determined woman that it wasn't until the end that I felt she needed my sympathy. Then what happens hits home. I need to feel empathy for the characters in a story. Not in the middle, but only by the book's end, did I feel such empathy. The life of this family felt genuine through and through, and moments of sunlight are shown too.

You cannot read a book about Italians that skirts the issue of the Mafia. Why is it so hard not to fall into the trap of the Mafia? One of the sons succumbs. Why? How? You understand because you understand the life of the mother and her six kids and that help was not available from legal venues.

I enjoy immigrant stories where the characters feel they are making something of their lives by moving rather than bemoaning what they have lost.

A word of warning: the language is filthy...but genuine. Do you want it cleaned up for your ears? Then you better pick another book.

I really disliked the narration of the audiobook by John Kenneth. Over-dramatized. Too emotional. His Italian accent made it difficult for me to hear the name of the person speaking.

[Asghar Abbas · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's more beautiful than a book that is so personal, so wistful, so poetic, where Puzo is most vulnerable showing this gentle side of himself, where he actually dared to imbibe hope in such an unabashed fashion. All that he was, all that he wanted to be, all his nights, all of his days, all of his endings, his yesterdays and tomorrows, his Art, all his experiences and relations he dolloped them into this book.

Not his personal favorite (That's a spot designated for Fools Die, which makes me irrelevantly happy that's his favorite too) but this is his most intimate work definitely. I don't think he let down his guard again after this novel. With his two earlier books, he remained chaste as an artist but after getting the shit pounded out of him for those endeavors, he graduated from Romanticism and became a Vegas hustler. Then he wrote a book for money called The Godfather. Uncut as it was, that book remains an amazing achievement in its own way.

[مِستر کثافت درونگرا · Rating 3 out of 5]

پوزو رو با مهاجر خوشبخت بشناسید نه با پدرخوانده
بجرات میگم تک تک کلمه های این کتاب براش وقت گذاشته شده که اینجوری منسجم و سرشار از احساس، خانوده، عشق، مرگ و تموم این احساسات رو تو قالب کلمه بهت تقدیم میکنه
مرسی اقای پوزو❤️

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This magnificent novel continues to unfold as each page discloses another dramatic episode in the story of a large Italian immigrant family struggling to make its way in New York's west side in the 1930s and 1940s. I can't claim to remember all the twists and turns, or even all the characters, but for me that didn't matter, as the portrait somehow remained clear even as details quickly passed by. This was Puzo's first novel, before The Godfather, and it is IMO a spectacular read.

[Edita · Rating 4 out of 5]

[...] she realized that her mother had accepted a new role; that she no longer considered herself the master of this particular child, and in some chilling way she was casting him out of her heart—not with anger or malice or lack of love, but as a burden to be dropped, to leave more strength for other burdens.
*
Did nothing help then? Was there no escape for anyone? For if evil cannot prevail against fate, what hope is good?

[Kate. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are a few things about this book that will stick with me for a long time, and one of them is the fact that when I checked it out of the library a page was still folded down. Someone started but did not finish this book? Unthinkable! This book is damned near perfect: hilarious, tragic, soaked in olive oil and mischief. The idea that you would meet the Angeluzzi-Corbo family and then walk away from them before the story's end is something I cannot fully grasp. Maybe that previous library patron died in the middle of this book -- a pleasant death brought on by peals of laughter or a broken heart.

Signora Lucia Santa is our Fortunate Pilgrim, cast from Italy at a young age to become the wife of a fellow immigrant in NYC's West Side. She steers her six children through four decades of tenement living -- frequently cursing God for her bad fortune, but knowing in her heart that fate is no match for her own shrewdness. Mario Puzo has said she is his most ruthless character, and all I can say is... well, I should certainly hope so.

Lucia Santa on catching her eldest son at his married mistresses' house:
"Lucia Santa watched Lorenzo with grim irony. Her handsome son with the false heart. But he -- his hair like blue-black silk, with his straight bronze heavy features, his big nose -- he, the Judas, turned his head to view his mother with affectionate astonishment."

Lucia Santa on her daughter's foul language:
"Lucia Santa said absently in Italian, 'With a husband I thought your mouth would get cleaner as the other got dirty.' Octavia flushed deep red. Lucia Santa was pleased. Her daughter's surface vulgarity, American, was no match for her own, bred in the Italian bone."

Lucia Santa on the return of her husband from the insane asylum:
"'But alas, we cannot be eternally good, eternally generous. We are too poor, we cannot afford it. It is so good - it feels wonderful to be generous for a short period of time. But as a steady thing, it goes against the grain, it's against human nature.' With these words, she condemned and sentenced her husband forever."

[Brendan Monroe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry Mario Puzo, I know this is your personal favorite of all the books you’ve written, for clearly sentimental reasons, but it failed to captivate me.

Parts of this reminded me of Mark Helprin’s “Winter’s Tale”, another book I failed to finish. I definitely have a sweet tooth - I used to think that drowning in a pool of chocolate wouldn’t be such a bad way to go - but when it comes to literature, I am not fond of overt sentimentality.

This was Puzo’s first novel, and the man who would later become famous as the author of “The Godfather” (one of my all-time favorites) clearly learned a great deal in between writing this book and that one.

You immigrate to America, try to make a living, your husband dies, leaving you to raise the kids alone AND somehow provide for them - that’s tough, and Puzo’s mother and all those like her deserve something infinitely more precious than a medal to applaud their ability to do so.

Raising a child who would later write “The Godfather”? We all owe Mama a debt of gratitude for that one.

[Nicole Pesce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story blows 'The Godfather' out of the water; in fact, the matriarch/protagonist Lucia Santa was the basis for the Don, himself, and she rules her family with an iron fist. I absolutely loved how Mario Puzo seamlessly paints Great Depression Manhattan; you are also trying to cool off on Tenth Avenue with the rest of the residents of the West Side's Italian tenements on a hot July evening -- coincidentally, the same streets where I now work today. It's a quintessential American tale of coming to a new country with hopes of making a better life for yourself, but facing setback upon setback along the way -- yet this family manages to laugh and love despite it all (I'm very drawn to these sorts of stories, where I recognize a lot of my own family in the day-to-day strife of someone else's.) I devoured this book in 24 hours.

[Pourahmadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتابی برگرفته از زندگی ماریو پوزو، نویسنده کتاب
قهرمان داستان لوچیا سانتا، مادر داستان، و رنج های او از مهاجرت ازدواجی به آمریکا تا زندگی دشوار و مرگ شوهرانش و بزرگ کردن فرزندانش
نویسنده این کتاب را شخصی ترین کتابش می داند و آنرا بسیار قدر می گذارد
ولی در بازار کتاب ظاهرا اقبالی نداشته است.

نکته جالب این است که نویسنده می گوید
شخصیت دون کورلئونه را از شخصیت مادرش و ماجراهایی که او تعریف کرده است الهام گرفته است.

کتاب، صادقانه و صمیمی نوشته شده است و آنقدر واقعی که به خاطرات می ماند.

[Karl Marberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life isn’t always easy. The struggle is a gift

[Tymciolina · Rating 2 out of 5]

One time wonder.

Po przeczytaniu kolejnej pozycji z dorobku Mario Puzo dochodzę do smutnej konstatacji, że "Ojciec Chrzestny" to wszystko co pisarz miał do zaoferowaniu literaturze. "Dziesiąta Aleja" aspiruje do kultury wysokiej, ale zamierzonego celu nie osiąga nawet w części. Autobiograficzna poniekąd historia jest miałka, nudna jak flaki z olejem i o zgrozo (!) fatalnie napisana. To gorzej niż zbrodnia, to nędza i miernota.

Puzo ma jedno genialne dziecko, reszta potomstwa jest zwyczajnie nieudana.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book written by Mario Puzo. Puzo was working to be a literary writer at the time. He said he was disappointed that he still had to work full time after his first book and then, after this book, had to work two jobs. Somehow The Fortunate Pilgrim managed to leave him in worse financial straits than he was in before its publication. In the book there are sequences in which an older brother of the narrator is hired by a local gangster to collect "dues" from local merchants. His publishers suggested that if he was to build on that idea he might have a more successful book. Thus The Godfather was written.

Puzo said this book changed during its writing. He had started out wanting to write about a brilliant young writer in an Italian family who is never fully appreciated. While some of that feeling still breaks through in the book, the true focus becomes the mother of an Italian family. She leaves her native Sicily for America to marry a man she had never met. That man died on the job, leaving her a widow with children. A second marriage to a long-time bachelor leaves her in a loveless marriage and provides a loveless father to her children. Eventually his insanity leaves her as a single mother a second time.

The book follows this family through deaths and marriages, watching the mother raise a family in inner-city poverty until, after the children are grown, she is able to leave the poor neighborhood for a more comfortable life.

The love and respect Puzo has for the mother comes through clearly, and he said that her protective instincts became part of the model for Don Corleone in The Godfather.

The Puzo/narrator character comes across as an unloved child, as Puzo outlined in his original concept for the novel. It's a lighter theme in the book, however. What does come through is a vital Italian family that survives several crises without losing its unity and underlying affection for each other. This is sometimes expressed in swats, curses, yelling, and motherly manipulation but the affection is there all the same.

The book has its weaknesses, and I think those who encouraged him to put a different focus in his work had the right idea. The Godfather, particularly the films, had an influence on culture for good or bad in far more powerful ways than this book ever would have.  Both books are rich in characters and are tributes to family survival. Placing that family into a world of crime and Shakespearean intrigue gave the story a vitality that this book never reaches. Still, it's an interesting book for what it is, a photo of that culture in that time. For fans of Puzo's later works it also sets an atmosphere for those books and gives a peek at Puzo's writing in a different context.

[Mizuki · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. It's obvious that The Fortunate Pilgrim is highly likely to reflect the early experiences and family's life of its author, Mario Puzo, when he grew up in the Italian community in Hell's Kitchen, New York.

Mr. Puzo also made it no secret that the story's heroine, Lucia Santa, is based on his only mother, a single mother who raised handful of children as best she could in utter hardship in the 1920s era.

Although this novel gives us a fine picture of the Italian community in New York, its residents and their livelihoods; still the story itself looks kind of dull and there is hardly any trace of dark humor which can be found among Mr. Puzo's more famous novels such as The Godfather etc. So, though the story is well written enough, I cannot give it 3 stars.

[Marrico Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it started off slow, but as I continued reading I found the rich descriptions in the book made for a powerful tale. The story is about a family of immigrants who you grow to fall in love with, one by one. Mario Puzo considered The Fortunate Pilgrim to be his best novel, and said that he was going to quit writing if the Godfather wasn't successful. Reading this book you can see how the family element prepared him for the Godfather. The details in this book are amazing. The story makes you feel you're right there in the 1930s. It can be read as a history book, given the historical information, the depiction of the Great Depression and New York at that time, and the language of the old world. The story is also nostalgic in a sense. And it reminds me of one of the reasons why I love reading so much. Time travel.

[Jason Pereira · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is a price to be paid,yet one dreams that happiness can come without the terrible payments."

I have to give The Fortunate Pilgrim a clear four stars because, not only is Mario Puzo awesome (may he rest in peace), but the whole way through this novel I felt like I could completely understand the Angelucci-Corbo's and their whole familia. I mean maybe not completely-one hundred percent, but very close. I grew up in an European household and the similarities are surreal; down-right scary if you ask me. *shudders*

This is simple and quaint story about a immigrant family who traveled to a new land in search of the American Dream, not knowing that once they arrived the would only face many more hardships, and heartaches. The Angelucci-Corbo family consisted of many children, two of which are humble bread winners, and the matriarch Lucia Santa. The story battles with the difficulty that was coming to a new country, finding work and feeding yourself and, keeping with old-world traditions for the sake of the children who were quickly growing up more American. This book was an excellent example of how life used to be when there wasn't cell phones to get distracted by, the people in this were much simpler; more tragic in the way they lived. Times were hard for many and other's starved, but the folks in the tenements scrimped, saved, and stole - they did what they had to to get by sometimes.




Don't be fooled, just because this is Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather, doesn't mean you are going to get mafioso shoot-outs, or drive-by's with tommy-guns, here in this story things are more conservative. This is a great view into the times when some of our great-great-great grandparents had come over trying to make a life for themselves that was worth living. It's a fictional tale but almost like a history lesson too, it's an all-round good time.

A classic tale from start to finish.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book merits reading; however, by comparison I didn't like it as much as some of Puzo's other literary works. To grow and live with this family was a journey, observing the struggles and victories of life as an immigrant during The Great Depression and beyond. The intestinal fortitude of the family matriarch was amazing. She continually moved forward, never ignoring or sacrificing her emotions, but providing a healthy outlet for them and then moving onward. Ultimately, her end vision was accomplished through sheer determination. Definitely a woman and a family to be appluaded. Puzo vividly painted life of this Italian immigrant family in Depression Era New York. At times throughout the book, I felt part of the neighborhood cheering everyone on to persevere to the next day and to never give up. All Puzo's works are worth reading, especially this one.

[Stephan van der Linde · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book about an Italian family, in a tough neighbourhood in New York, in the 20's.

Mama Lucia is the mother of 3 sons and a daughter, in hard times.
She is raising her kids on the traditional Italian way.

While the boys are wilder and are up to mischief, daughter Octavia helps Lucia with the householding and helps her brothers to get them on track.

This story shows a decade of this family, where the children grow up. So it's a coming of age as well.

While making progress with this book I felt more and more involved with the children, and less with Lucia where she is getting older and couldn't accept the choices of her kids.

A moving and compelling story about a poor Italian family, I really liked.
Interesting aspect as well.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully, honestly, and skillfully written. A wonderfully heart-wrenching tale of a first generation, widowed matriarch.

[Luke Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote in the margins of this book, “This is just a Tree Grows In Brooklyn but worse,” and I’ve come to regret that note because this book is good. Really good in fact, and I was mad I had to read it for class but actually I learned so much from it. Sometimes reading can be an act in humility. You should read this book, it’s really good. A hidden gem.

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

An unintended tribute to his mother from the writer of The Godfather.

[Zena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Życie codzienne włoskich emigrantów w USA. Zmaganie się z biedą, marzeniami o lepszym życiu. W tle głeboko zakorzeniona tradycja i typowa włoska mentalność. Ciekawa pozycja pozwalająca lepiej zrozumieć ludzi, którzy za chlebem zdecydowali zostawić wszystko i zacząć trudne życie w zupełnie obcym kraju. Po sąsiedzku emigranci z Irlandii, Polski i Niemiec...

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Godfather would not have been born if it were not for The Fortunate Pilgrim. The book is so well written and poetic at times. All the characters are so well developed for a seemingly short book. That is how great Puzo’s writing is to me. There is so much substanance and depth in his story you would think the book was over five hundred pages.

It is easy to see when you begin to read this masterpiece about the story of Lucia Santa, why some has called the book the “real Godfather” story.

Puzo once said that Lucia Santa is a hero and based on his own mother. He said that whenever the Godfather spoke he heard his mother’s voice, the wisdom, ruthlessness, and the undying love for her family and for life. The loyalty and courage you saw from the Don, all those traits came from her. And he says he could not have written The Godfather without Lucia Santa.

I adore Lucia Santa. The more I got to know her; the more I would keep hearing in my head the theme song from The Godfather movie. Especially after heated conversation or confrontation with Lucia and some sucker who decided to go toe to toe with her. I admire Lucia Santa for keeping the traditions she brought from home and at the same time prioritizing that education comes before anything else.

She was scared to live an American lifestyle, afraid her children would not do the right thing. However, she knew in America was great opportunity for her children and that is why she left her home in Italy.

She did not know how much she would have to endure and suffer so that her children had those opportunities. And as she reflects on her life in the end, she realizes she would live out the past forty years three times over for the security and happiness, which at times, she felt she didn’t deserve.

I think the story effects me immensely because it is so relatable. I can connect to the story because of the cultural traditions and strength of his mother, the backbone that she had to raise all her children in a much different country than where she grew up. Lucia wanted to get the best America had to offer without losing any part of herself.

Mario Puzo…. What can I tell you that you probably haven’t heard? The story of your mother moved me. It is quite significant; I thought you were talking about my own mother at times. Your writing is unique in style and you do a remarkable job at describing an emerging lower Manhattan. The story of Angeluzzi-Corbo family reads like a movie.

This book definitely speaks to Godfather fans. It has all the great elements that made The Godfather a masterpiece: intense confrontations, betrayal, violence, Don on the rise, just great story telling.

I think the themes in this book resonate with many people in this country still today. The message in Puzo’s story is what we all want here are opportunity, and a chance at happiness. And we are more than willing to struggle for the sake of our families.

[Carl Alves · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Fortunate Pilgrim is an immigrant story featuring Lucia Santa. Her family has moved from Italy and finds themselves in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. In a somewhat autobiographical story (Lucia Santa being his real life mother), she has to go through a great deal of adversity as a single mom raising six children. The story is filled with tragedy: one son commits suicide, a daughter spent significant time in a sanitorium, another son is muscle for the Mafia. Despite all of that Lucia finds ways to persevere and keep her family together.

I’m a huge fan of Mario Puzo and thoroughly enjoy his gangster novels. This is why I found this novel particularly disappointing. The prose is still high quality. Mario Puzo is a fantastic writer that as a fellow writer I can appreciate. But I could never get into the story. The plot had a rambling quality that seemed to lack focus. It just went from one event to the other and didn’t have any tightness. Out of all the Puzo novels I have read, this is easily the worst. Unless you are a hardcore Puzo fan, I would advise skipping it.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

[Rafal Jasinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Dziesiąta aleja" - książka, która daleko odchodzi od mafijnego kanonu powieści Mario Puzo, okazuje się być najlepszą z dotychczas przeze mnie przeczytanych książek autora. Opowieść o cieniach i blaskach życia włoskiej imigrantki Lucii Angeluzzi-Corbo - mieszkającej na tytułowej Dziesiątej Alei w Nowym Jorku - wychowującej samotnie szóstkę dzieci w epoce Wielkiego Kryzysu bawi, wzrusza do łez i wywołuje nostalgię

Puzo odmalował tu perfekcyjnie miejsce i epokę ofiarowując czytelnikom niezwykle plastyczną wizje swoistego mikrokosmosu Dziesiątej Alei w Nowym Jorku lat dwudziestych i trzydziestych ubiegłego stulecia a na jej tle galerię wyrazistych postaci, niezamożnych włoskich imigrantów zmagających się z życiowymi wyzwaniami i podążających za marzeniami niemal niemożliwymi do osiągnięcia w ich sytuacji i pozycji.

Wybitna powieść obyczajowa! Prawdopodobnie opus magnum Puzo. Tak, nawet uwzględniwszy "Ojca Chrzestnego". Polecam!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realistic touching family drama.

I loved The Godfather and this book is a favorite as well. This is a story of an Italian family living in poverty and how they struggled through. It's not just about family members prevailing through tragedy, but it's also each member finding a role in life. It's an inspiring tale of a family in the Depression era and of family stife and love, sacrifice and pain. Looking at the family's struggle from today's wealth it is hard to comprehend a family never knowing when their next meal is going to come from. However, Mario Puzo's superb writing style makes you feel for this family almost as if you are there with them. Highly recommend.

[Joe L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I couldn’t admire or even like any of the characters.
Well written, but two thirds of the way through I was ready for it to be over.
It was not a success when published in the mid sixties.
It was Puzos second published novel and his own personal favorite.
He knew his next book would have to be a hit or his career as a novelist would likely be over.

The rest is history.

[Taha Rabbani · Rating 2 out of 5]

اینو من به زبون فارسی خوندمش. ترجمه شده است. با نام "زائر". ولی از کتابخونه گرفته بودم و یادم نمیاد مترجم و انتشارات و ایناش کی بودن

[Aysel Ibrahimova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dünyaca məşhur The Godfather/Xaç Atası seriyasının müəlifi olan, italyan yazıçı Mario Puzonun ilk romanı The Fortunate Piligrim/Anne əsəridir. Xaç atası qədər məşhur olmasa da, məhz yazıçı üçün ən önəmli əsərdir, çünki, Xaç atası seriyasını bu romandan güc olaraq yazmışdı və əsərin baş qəhrəmanı olan Lucia Santa Mario Puzonun məhz öz anasıdır. Puzonun ailəsi İtaliyadan Amerikaya köçən minlərlə immiqrant ailədən biri idi və yaşadıqlarını, anasının izdirablarının onda yaratdığı duyğuları yazdığı əsərlə əbədiləşdirmişdir. Mənim fikrimcə, əsərdəki Gino obrazı da Puzonun özüdür.

Hər şeydən öncə əsər bir İtalyan qadının ailəsinə necə tərbiyə verdiyinə, gözləntilərinə və mübarizəsinə həsr olunmuşdur. Mən məhz Puzo qələmini oxuduqdan sonra əmin oldum ki, konservativ italyan ailələri azərbaycanlılara həqiqətən də çox oxşayır. Başqa millətlə evliliyin xoş qarşılanmaması, ərsiz qadına pis baxılması, evin işləyən üzvlərinin maaşını böyüklərinə verməsi, evdə mütəmadi olaraq ənənəvi italyan xörəklərinin bişməsi, qonaqların kimliyindən asılı olmayaraq kofe və keksə qonaq edilməsi və s. bir çox cəhəti ilə bizimkiləri andırırdı.

Yoxsul ailənin qızı ikən qonşuluqda yaşayan oğlanla ailə quraraq kasıblıqdan yaxa qurtarmaq üçün Amerikaya köç edən Lucia Santa uğursuz evliliyinin və övladlarının gələcəyini təmin etməyin öhdəsindən gəlmək üçün savaş verir. Lakin, sehirli röya kimi görünən Amerikada sərvətin qapısını açmaq Lucia üçün heç də asan başa gəlmir. Övladları səhərdən axşama qədər dəmiryollarında çalışır, yeri gəlsə oğurluq edir, məsuliyyətsiz həyat yoldaşı ailəyə biganə yanaşır. Bu yoxsul ailə üçün ən ağırı isə Amerikanın onlara sərvət bəxş edəcək şərti idi: Dürüstlüyü çeynəmək. Lucianın heç bir övladı dürüstlüyü pul qazanmaq uğrunda qurban vermir və bu da Puzonun ailə dəyərlərinə nə qədər önəm verdiyini bir daha vurğulayır.

Xaç Atasında ailəsini qorumaq üçün əlini qana bulamaqdan çəkinməyən mafiyaya rast gəliriksə, The Fortunate Piligrim romanında bir qadının ailəsi uğrunda hər şeydən keçə bildiyinə şahid oluruq. Yekun olaraq, əsər italyan dəyərlərini köç etsə də hər zaman özüylə daşıyan, kökündən heç vaxt qopmayan, onu qoruyan və sevən ananın mübarizəsini oxucusuna sadə və bir o qədər də doğma duyğularla çatdırır.

Perfetto!

[Viktorija| Laisvalaikis su knyga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vis turiu įprotį - vienų mylimiausių autorių knygas taupyti, nes žinau, kad kai skaitysiu - laikas prabėgs nepastebimai❤️ Tik Puzo įsirašiau į mylimiausių gretas po vieno perskaityto kūrinio - "Šeima", kur rašytojas pateikė žymiausios Italijos nusikaltėlių šeimos, Bordžų istoriją, įtikinamai atskleidė praštmanų Vatikano gyvenimą ir intrigas. Neskaitėte? Tikrai rekomenduoju ir, tikiu, kad nenusivilsite😉

Liučijai Santai jau toks laikas, kai reikia tekėti, o tokio nuotakos kraičio tėvai negalės suruošti dėl įsiskolinimų, tad merginai tenka suktis iš padėties... Liučija netikėtai gauna laišką iš vaikystės draugo, gyvenančio Naujojoje žemėje/Amerikoje, kad atvyktų ir taptų jo žmona...

Pratarmėje autorius užsiminė, kad pagrindinė veikėja Liučija Santa - tai jo mama.Tai stipri, bet kartu griežta, kai kada valdinga moteris ir pabandyk būdamas vaikas jos nepaklausyti... Istorija tikrai yra apie nepaprastą moterį, kuri stengėsi dėl vaikų, kaip išgalėdama stengėsi suktis, kad vaikai būtų pavalgę ir gyventų saugiai, o ir laikais, kuriais teko gyventi buvo sunkūs - Didžiosios depresijos metai. Knyga pačiai buvo kiek silpnesnė už "Krikštatėvį" bei "Šeimą", bet "Mamą Liučiją" perskaičiau su didžiausiu malonumu.