Godson, The

by Gloria Vitanza Basile

In, Siciliy, vendetta is a legacy you leave to your sons and grandsons

Genres: Fiction

634 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Beloved mother of Louis Basile of Tahoe City, California and grandmother to Tony, Jordan, Michele and McKayla Basile. Born in Westfield, New York, Gloria was raised in Jamestown, New Jersey. She moved her family to San Jose, California where she owned and operated several women's apparel shops and bridal salons. Having moved to Beverly Hills, California, she owned and operated a bridal salon before pursuing a career in acting and writing.

Gloria authored 13 best selling novels and wrote a song entitled "Ballad of One Eyed Jacks" for a motion picture, "One Eyed Jacks", starring Marlon Brando. Gloria was a member of the American Authors Guild and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. A few of her outstanding novels were "The Godson", "The Manipulators Trilogy" and "Global 2000 Trilogy". She is listed in the library of congress in Washington D.C. as a contemporary author.

Gloria was preceded in death by her parents Alphonso and Josephine Vitanza of Jamestown, New York and her sisters Frances Macharella and Rosiland Schiros of San Jose, California.

Published in San Jose Mercury News on Oct. 12, 2004 - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/merc...

Reviews

[Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping epic which details on the early days of the Mafia and their roots in Sicily prior to their growth and popularity in America, and the struggles of one family to combat against their corruption and save the common people from the clutches of fear and violence which grips them. It is a wonderfully details book that gives the reader an insight on all of the characters, and what drives them, and motivates them, how their mind works, as well as the ways in which their lives come to cross paths.

I thought this book acts as a nice contrast to The Godfather for instead of displaying the mafia in a glorified and romantic vision, Basile exposes a more realistic and harsher reality displaying their cruelty, brutality, violence, and the way in which the common Sicilian people suffered in their hands, and were kept beneath their tyrannical rule.

Though I did think that the suggestion of the role of destiny and how some of the characters may have been moved by unseen forces at times was interesting I feel as if perhaps the author hit the reader of the head a bit too strongly with the point. It did feel at times as if the reader was underestimating the intelligence of the reader, and I think the role of destiny could have been more effectively shown if more subtly was used instead of having everything spelled out.

There were also a few other scenes in which I felt in the authors effort to make a point she pushed the boundaries of believability and went overboard so that it crossed into absurdity.

But these are only minor points of which did not hamper my overall enjoyment of the book and in spite of a lack of finesse at certain moments, I still think that over all it was skillfully written, and worth reading.

[Elde Kimaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this back in 1995 but I never find another book which fascinated me like it. the survival of Dolcetto De Leone. the vendetta of Mafian family's and the de Leone. I love the way Gloria narrated how the good human being can survive when they have strong to it

[Jef Verstraete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great novel about the fictional leone family and their fight against the mafia.

[Loreto Gatt]

The best crime book