Scarface

by Paul Monette

Tony Montana, an immigrant to the United States from Cuba, is forced to resort to violence in his struggle to achieve success

Genres: Fiction, Media Tie In, Crime, Contemporary

311 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Online Guide to Paul Monette's papers at UCLA:
http://findaid.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/...

In novels, poetry, and a memoir, Paul Monette wrote about gay men striving to fashion personal identities and, later, coping with the loss of a lover to AIDS.

Monette was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1945. He was educated at prestigious schools in New England: Phillips Andover Academy and Yale University, where he received his B.A. in 1967. He began his prolific writing career soon after graduating from Yale. For eight years, he wrote poetry exclusively.

After coming out in his late twenties, he met Roger Horwitz, who was to be his lover for over twenty years. Also during his late twenties, he grew disillusioned with poetry and shifted his interest to the novel, not to return to poetry until the 1980s.

In 1977, Monette and Horwitz moved to Los Angeles. Once in Hollywood, Monette wrote a number of screenplays that, though never produced, provided him the means to be a writer. Monette published four novels between 1978 and 1982. These novels were enormously successful and established his career as a writer of popular fiction. He also wrote several novelizations of films.

Monette's life changed dramatically when Roger Horwitz was diagnosed with AIDS in the early 1980s. After Horwitz's death in 1986, Monette wrote extensively about the years of their battles with AIDS (Borrowed Time, 1988) and how he himself coped with losing a lover to AIDS (Love Alone, 1988). These works are two of the most powerful accounts written about AIDS thus far.

Their publication catapulted Monette into the national arena as a spokesperson for AIDS. Along with fellow writer Larry Kramer, he emerged as one of the most familiar and outspoken AIDS activists of our time. Since very few out gay men have had the opportunity to address national issues in mainstream venues at any previous time in U.S. history, Monette's high-visibility profile was one of his most significant achievements. He went on to write two important novels about AIDS, Afterlife (1990) and Halfway Home (1991). He himself died of AIDS-related complications in 1995.

In his fiction, Monette unabashedly depicts gay men who strive to fashion personal identities that lead them to love, friendship, and self-fulfillment. His early novels generally begin where most coming-out novels end; his protagonists have already come to terms with their sexuality long before the novels' projected time frames. Monette has his characters negotiate family relations, societal expectations, and personal desires in light of their decisions to lead lives as openly gay men.

Two major motifs emerge in these novels: the spark of gay male relations and the dynamic alternative family structures that gay men create for themselves within a homophobic society. These themes are placed in literary forms that rely on the structures of romance, melodrama, and fantasy.

Monette's finest novel, Afterlife, combines the elements of traditional comedy and the resistance novel; it is the first gay novel written about AIDS that fuses personal love interests with political activism.

Monette's harrowing collection of deeply personal poems, Love Alone: 18 Elegies for Rog, conveys both the horrors of AIDS and the inconsolable pain of love lost. The elegies are an invaluable companion to Borrowed Time.

Before the publication and success of his memoir, Becoming a Man, it seemed inevitable that Monette would be remembered most for his writings on AIDS. Becoming a Man, however, focuses on the dilemmas of growing up gay. It provides at once an unsparing account of the nightmare of the closet and a moving and often humorous depiction of the struggle to come out. Becoming a Man won the 1992 National Book Award for nonfiction, a historical moment in the history

Reviews

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a fan of De Palma's movie but I wasn't expecting much from the film's novelization. At best I was hoping for a sleazy, OTT, coke-addled romp of a bloodbath. Novelist Paul Monette delivered that ... but overshot the mark to craft something akin to an actual work of literature.

At times, Monette's interpretation of Tony Montana comes off as a populist folk hero. Like a psycho Tom Joad with a dash of drug-induced Don Quixote. I'm not suggesting that this book approaches anything near the greatness of Cervantes or Steinbeck. But you can tell Monette's striving for something greater than the source material demands.

So, basically, think of this as Breaking Bad reengineered as a 1980s Spanish telenovela. And all that entails.

Someday, somebody's gotta adapt this thing for the screen. I'd watch it!

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The world is yours"

Uma história viciante. Uma ambição desmedida, uma mulher bonita, um homem viciado nos limites.
Muito bom.

[Liset Milles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Väldigt outdated ändå bra

[Parm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scarface, better known as Tony Montana. Tony, a Cuban refugee who has entered the United States to make a name for himself. Tony had a rough start. Tony and many other fellows had been sent to a camp. He had made friends but his best friend, Manny. Manny had a plan to get both Tony and himself out of the camp. They had to kill a powerful Cuban figure. As soon as they had killed him, they started to roam around the streets of Miami. They both started small part-time jobs at a shack after the street from a club. The owner says that there were two guys waiting to meet Tony and Manny outside. It was Frank Lopez's henchman, Omar. Omar had offered Tony and Manny to buy Frank cocaine from Colombian dealers. When Tony and Manny go to the Colombian dealers,they run into trouble. They had been hostiled and Tony's had lost a friend for cocaine. Frank was expressed by their work and decided to hired both, Tony and Manny. During the meeting with Frank, Tony spots Frank's girlfriend, Elvira and falls in love. Months later, Tony decides to go meet his mother and his younger sister, Gina. Tony's mother was disgusted from his attitude and had kicked him out of the house. Gina comes outside to meet him and he tells her to enjoy her life and gives her $1000. Since Tony is very protective of his sister, Manny makes a remark on his sister's beauty and tells him to stay away from her. For business, Tony is sent with Omar to Bolivia to make a deal with the "Cocaine King", Sosa. Tony agrees to deal with Sosa without Frank's approval. Omar is worried and goes to contact Frank. Sosa orders his men to take Omar to the helicopter and have him been taken back to Miami. What Sosa really meant to do was get rid of Omar, once and forever. Sosa's men had beaten Omar and hung him up from the helicopter. When Tony heads back, Frank isn't really impressed and tells Tony to leave. When Tony leaves, he heads to the club and sees Gina dancing with a guy who had taken her into the bathroom. Tony notices and beats up the guy and slaps Gina a couple of times. In anger, Gina leaves with Manny and he drops her off at home. When she leaves, Tony goes back into the club and gets drunk. Bernstein( approaches Tony and talks to him. When Bernstein leaves, a comedy show is taking place and there are two hitmen sitting across from Tony. The hitmen fire, but Tony survives the assassinating attempt. Tony leaves with a bullet in his arm and goes to Frank's office with Manny and Chi-Chi(Tony's buddy) and meet Bernstein, who meet Tony a couple hours ago at the club. In anger, Tony finishes off Bernstein and Manny takes out Frank. Tony leaves Frank dead with his new girlfriend, Elvira and seizes Frank's empire. With Sosa by his side, Tony builds a multi-million-dollar empire and marries Elvira. As they say, "More money, more problems",there was a problem for Tony. Tony had been charged with money laundering and tax evasion. Sosa asked his government connections to keep Tony out of jail if he takes care of a journalist that is attending to expose Sosa's speech at the United Nations. Tony heads with Sosa's henchman, Alberto, to prepare for the assassination. Alberto had planted a bomb under the journalist's car, but he is unexpectedly accompanied by his family. Tony calls off the mission, but Alberto insists to continue. Alberto leaves Tony no choice, but to kill him. When Tony returns back home, he receives a call from Sosa who is furious about the mission being cancelled. They both argue and Sosa cuts Tony out of the business. Later Tony realizes that both Manny and Gina were missing. In search of Gina, Tony goes to his mother and she tells him that she had left with a man to big house of Coconut Grove. He rings the bell and sees Manny approach the door. He looks up at the staircase and sees Gina standing. Although Manny was warned, he didn't listen to Tony. Manny had ended up losing his life. Gina had told Tony that they had gotten married a day before and they were planning to surprise him. Gina was taken back to Tony's mansion and was calmed down. At the mansion, Tony sniffs a large amount of cocaine. Gina enters the room and starts shooting and accusing Tony of wanting her to himself. Gina hits Tony in the leg and she is shot by one of Sosa's hitman. When Tony was drugged, he didn't notice he had company of Sosa's men. Sosa's men had taken out many of Tony's men. Tony kills the man who killed Gina and gets distracted by Gina's dead body. In a cocaine fury, Tony pulls out the grenade launcher. Tony quotes one of the most famous quotes ever said "Say Hello to my Little friend" and shoots down the door. He starts to kill Sosa's men which were coming from left and right. Tony keeps fighting back and loses his gun. He is taking shots from different directions and is shot in the back to end his Road to Riches. He falls right infront of a fountain statue reading "The World is Yours".

[Alexander Engel-Hodgkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1/5

The original screenplay for Scarface was quite different from the film we eventually got, it seems. Paul Monette has adapted and expanded upon it in a compelling novelization that provides about a 40-page prologue we never got to see, as the film opens right after its events. In the novel, Tony is more of a neighbourhood godfather whose brutality and brashness get the better of him, while in the film, he's more one-dimensional and psychotic. All the elements are there, but they're mixed differently, with varying results. I liked some of the differences between the two, though I much preferred the climactic battle in the film over the book, as the film was a lot more poetic and artful than the novelization. And somehow, it was even less over-the-top than the novel, which involved rocket launchers instead of an assault rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher. I absolutely adore the film, and while the novel didn't quite measure up to its leaner adaptation, the novel is still a great book.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

1st Read: January 18, 2002 - February 7, 2002

Having seen the movie a couple times and enjoyed it, it was due time to begin this book I'd picked up at Value Village for a dollar. When I had finished it, I thought I would have to re-read it. There are bits and pieces of it I remember, but the ending of the book was quite memorable.

2nd Read: December 8, 2012 - December 12, 2012

In November 2012, I had started the process of elimination of re-reading books for a second, sometimes third time. By doing this, it had the potential to open up valuable space needed for my bookcase.

Very good! Absorbed this book at nearly every opportunity away from work. Planning on buying the DVD next. Definitely a keeper for my book collection!

UPDATE: (January 12, 2015)
I ended up giving this book to my 21 year old niece in 2014, whose bedroom is all Scarface and 2Pac related memorabilia. She's a cool chick!

[Rebecca Blevins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed Paul Monette's writing very much! This novelization of the movie script really expanded on the characters, their relationship dynamics, and scenes as well as providing greater prologue leading up to Tony's arrival in Miami (I gotta say, I think the earlier parts of the book like the tumultuous sailing to America and the stint at Fort Chaffee are my favorites).

Monette really displays the complexity of Tony's character and unravels just how tragic his tale is as the story progresses. Honestly, I'd rather re-read this book than re-watch the movie, even if it means I won't get to hear Giorgio Moroder's excellent soundtrack.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hang on to your seat, this is a gutsy book about gangsters, or mobsters and the secret lives and what really happens.

[Junior · Rating 5 out of 5]

the movie's better the the book because of the scenes.

[Rawaez · Rating 5 out of 5]

God bless the movie and this book! The world is yours!

[Moses Gunaratnam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scarface is a gripping story that definitely made me want to see the film. I don’t see myself re-reading it though as some of it is very graphic, so this is being added to the Value Village pile.

[annenle1gece · Rating 2 out of 5]

nasil kitaplarin filme donusmesi bok gibi oluyosa ayni sey tam tersi icin de gecerli 🔛🔝

[Jackson Yauck · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love the movie as much as I do, then you'll enjoy the book.

[Ruby V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not recommended for children because it's very violent. Like the movie but more gruesome.

[Dzul Fahmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 of 5 stars to Scarface. I gave it so because both the novel & the movie were awesome. I would read the novel again if it's not in campus library. :D Because, I feel that this novel was brilliant, thrilling, and violent! I knew and learnt much about coke business and organization. Many slang words used when the characters were speaking. I also learnt that Tony really wanted to make his family, Gina and Mama happy using his ‘dirty money’.
The story was about Tony Montana who wanted to make a name in the hall of fame. The story was started when Tony had his revenge on Frank Lopez from having tried to kill Tony at Babylon Club. He also killed a cop named Mel Bernstein whom tried to cheat on him. But, there is a part that got me confused. It was why when Tony was dealing business and not accompanied by Manolo, he always had a bad luck. As when Tony was accompanied by Angel, the deal was a mess and got Angel killed by the Colombian. And also as when Tony was accompanied by Nick, Tony was trapped and caused him into three years sentence in jail. It seemed like Manolo was Tony’s Lucky charm. The part of the story I dislike most was when a freak Colombian, Hector, sawed the right hand and the left leg of Tony’s partner, Angel. I felt kind of eerie that as if I experienced it myself.
Many life lessons and experience related to the real life were told in the novel. One of them was when a person was dreaming or having an ambition to be the richest man, he/she will just do anything to gain it. In this case, it was as Tony tried to be the richest man among the coke dealers.

[David Garrett jr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad novel based off the film. It does follow the movie pretty well, making some changes to make the story more feasible than the film. Some of the changes I wasn't a big fan of as this is my favorite movie it's based on. It still is a good companion piece if you like the movie, which is better than this novel.

[Jamie Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than the movie!!