This book was on its way to being a 4 or even 5 star book for me when I first began and while I still enjoyed The Family overall, by the end, I could not shake a distinct sense of dissatisfaction.

In the beginning, the book fulfilled all it promised the reader it would be. It was lush with grandeur and decadence. The characters were intricate and detailed, with the specific sort of nuances only Mario Puzo could provide, the nuances that made a reader invest in a character, love them, in spite of More...

With the start of the new Showtime series The Borgias, I had to read one of the few remaining books on the Borgias that I own but hadn't read. Mario Puzo was fascinated by the Borgias all his life, and this was his chance to show his own interpretations of each Borgia personality, usually different from the standard views. His descriptions didn't give me the feeling of being there or knowing the characters; Puzo looked at the characters from an over-all viewpoint for decades, and didn't seem abl More...

Mario Puzo describes the Borgias as the original mafia family. I have long made it known that Alexander VI is my favorite pope* due to sheer badassery and a reminder of the heyday that was the papacy of yore.

I am torn about a reviewing system that compares books like The Family with The Hunger games and Cloud Atlas. What I'm trying to say is that while books in all three categories are rated on the same five point scale, they really aren't, as Puzo will never (in my opinion) be comparable to Mi More...

I have always been a great fan of Mario Puzzo's Godfather movies, but for some strange reason haven't bought the books, there is always an excuse. So this was the first approach to his books, (big mistake, I have to say).
The Borgias is a story that have always fascinated me, and I thought this book will make me get in the guts of why this familiy's history has survived and being over and over for centuries. Sadly, this book didn't make me look at the Borgias like the first crime family, the way More...

I noticed a number of other reviewers thought this book was not as good as his other books. I found it fully as good (I read his pre-Godfather plus Godfather books) but I was reading it for a different purpose. After reading The Dark History of Christianity and an account of the Vatican papers, I was interested in the Borgias. Since SHOtime has started the cable series The Borgias there are many fictional or historical fictional accounts of this family which included two popes. Puzo's book begin More...

From the mind that created the renowned Godfather series, Mario Puzo posthumously brings us The Family, where the mafia world all began. A novel that was over a decade in the making, completed by one of Puzo’s close friends, it serves as a sad finale for this well-known author.

In The Family we are taken back to fifteenth-century Rome, the land of the Vatican and the immensely powerful popes. Our lead character, Rodrigo Borgia, is made Pope Alexander VI, whom Puzo calls the first Don and the begi More...

This book makes you want to know everything about the Borgias. It is really well narrated, and the story becomes so intriguing that it is impossible to stop reading. Just as The Godfather, the head of the family (Rodrigo Borgia, later Pope Alexandre VI) is an ambicious and powerful man, who doesnt have any doubts to get rid of anybody who dares to stand on his way. But, after all, he is a family man. He loves his children, specially Lucretia and Giovanni, who seems to be his weak point. Anyway i More...

I've read most of Mario Puzo's books, and this does not, in my opinion, compare favorably with the others. It's not bad, but, unlike The Godfather, it didn't fill me with ambitions to become a ruthless gangster, or, in this case, a scheming Pope.

Not that we can really judge Puzo too harshly. He died before finishing this, and I can personally attest to how hard it is to finish writing a book even if you are still alive. I can only imagine it's even tougher when you're dead.

He worked on it for More...

The book's blurb said "Set in Rome in the last few years of the 15th century..". That should have put me off, but I picked it up since it was by Mario Puzo, the Mario Puzo.. One who has enthralled me for years with his 'The Godfather', 'The Sicilian' & of course, 'Fools Die'.

But what a disappointment this one turned out to be! The story goes slower than a snail's place & the same stuff keep getting repeated at regular intervals. The same rivalry within the Catholic Church, the same sche More...

I don't like to speak ill of the dead, so I'll try to make this as short, sweet, and honest as possible.

Mario Puzo clearly enjoyed the Borgia clan almost as much as I do. He clearly put a lot of time and effort into this book. He clearly put a lot of love into "The Family". However, he encounters two very problematic issues.

Firstly, he was completely off-base in his interpretation of the Borgias, and thus he fails to make them effective and interesting characters. Even when he's supposed to be f More...

At first, this novel seems to have it all - sexual deviance, crime, unbelievable corruption in the Catholic Church. However, it just does not come together with a brisk cadence as a nice, sharp read that would have been consistent with the intrigue of the plot. Although Puzo completed many of the novel's vignettes, Carol Gino simply failed to pull them all together after his death with a central theme or motif that would have made the story as memorable as it should have been.

The Borgias, calle More...

This was my second Mario Puzo book, and I think this novel may have cemented an obsession with his books.

"The Family" is a book about a 15th century Roman family headed by the newly-crowned Pope Alexander, who uses his family as pawns in a game of power. However, the story is juxtaposed with what it means to be a family, what love is (in all it's twisted forms), and how one finds his destiny in a world defined by alliances, power, revenge, and loyalty.

This is the original Mafia family.

Though I w More...

Borgia Yumminess

A couple of weeks ago, I finished watching my second 2011 TV show on the Borgias. Both TV shows presented dramatically different events and chronologies. Hmmm. I wanted to find out the real dealio (which TV show was right, or were they both wrong?) so I checked out “The Family” by Mario Puzo. Of course, I didn’t notice until a few days later this book was classified as fiction. No matter. Like the TV shows, “The Family” is soap-opera goodness.

The book presents yet a third chronol More...

After my first reading experience with Puzo's work, I was left not wanting to read any more of his novels. The Family and a couple others remained on my "to read" pile for months before I finally gave in to give him a second chance. I am certainly glad I did.

The Family is based on the Borgias of Italy. I have only read a bit about them here and there, so I am uncertain how close to historical this novel actually is. Regardless, it is a great read. It is well-written, smooth, and flows easily fro More...

I didn't like it as much as I did The Godfather. There were some uncanny similarities to it in this one though. It's sometimes frustrating to see behind an author's writing when you read the second book by them. That's probably another fear I have about writing myself.

I was amazed by how no one seemed to care about their religious leader's obvious sins and misdeeds. It seemed amazing that the Pope should have acknowledged children. However, maybe I am just not well acquainted enough with the his More...

First off, since I enjoy quality narrative, the abundant sections of narrative didn't bother me much. If you expect a read to move like a screenplay, this probably wouldn't be the book for you. In that case, view the series Showtime made from it, The Borgias.

That said, I think despite the lulls, the book did more to colorfully illustrate Renaissance Europe and The Church than anything I've ever read. The characters eventually jump off the page, once you;ve absorbed the setting and their peculiar More...

To be honest I haven't read it in English yet, only in Hungarian traslation, which was quite enjoyable. Still I believe it won me by the fact that there is an incest included in it between Cesare and Lucrezia.
I started to read it because the whole atmosphere created around the Borgias in the Showtime TV show enchanted me at first sight, and simply I couldn't wait until the next seasons to be filmed.

I believe it helped me to understand the methodics that worked in the life of this notorious fami More...

I never know what to expect when I run out of stuff to read. I have stacks of books, many bought for less than a dollar at book fairs or used book stores, but sometimes my criteria for selecting one is vague. This one I bought because my son is such a big Godfather fan; but, I'll toss it now that I'm done--it's not appropriate for a 13 year-old. There may be some truth and accuracy to it, but I really don't care. It's obscene--first it's about a Pope, his many mistresses, illegitimate children, More...

This book had the makings of something special. The Borgias are an original mob family. Instead of owning a territory or even a city...they owned nations and religions. In the hands of Puzo? WOW!

I don't know at which point Puzo stopped writing and Carol Gino picked up. I can only guess that Puzo didn't get very far and/or the editors made a terrible mess of what was left. The story has absolutely no depth, and the characters have even less. The story, if one can call this narrative a 'story', is More...

"Los Borgia" es historia novelada: el recuento de la vida de esta familia de asesinos sanguinarios, que no tenían el más mínimo respeto por la vida humana, por los valores, las comunidades, las costumbres, ni nada que se interpusiera entre ellos y sus objetivos de poder y riqueza. La historia novelada siempre tiene mucho de morbo y fantasía, pero como dice el refrán" "cuando el río suena, piedras lleva" y algo de cierto debe de tener la escena de Lucrecia Borgia embarazada de 9 meses testificand More...

The topic - the Borgia family - is great, however I just couldn't get into the writing style of this book.
I don't believe I've read anything else by Puzo (just seen the movie!), so I'm not sure if this is his usual style, or if it's because he passed away without finishing the novel. I thought the bulk of it read more like research notes than like a completed story. Events and background material were laid out in a very didactic way, almost like reading a non-fiction history text. That wouldn't More...

Some stories stay with us forever <3 and Puzo you beauty!
He has the distinct capability to make us root for completely evil characters and is the epitome of depicting greyness in human nature. First when I picked the book I thought it was another don story but a POPE story that too during my fav RENAISSANCE period :o truly amazing . Caesar ,lucrezia, Joan Joffre pope himself and the other tough to pronounce characters and the number of city states may confuse you at first but provide a fascin More...

Directo de mi blog:

Mario Puzo, escribió la novela de "El Padrino" que fue llevada a la pantalla grande como una de las mejores películas de la historia sobre la mafia italiana. Puzo tenía una fijación sobre la historia de la mafia y escribió el libro titulado "Los Borgia" en lo que se narraba el inicio de la mafia como tal, personificado por el papa Alejandro VI, que era el cardenal Rodrigo Borgia de Valencia.

Alejandro tuvo cuatro hijos reconocidos, César, Juan, Lucrecia y Jofre Borgia que como More...

Now I want to read the second part, but there is no second part. Bummer.

It gives you this feeling of a series, you know what I mean? That feeling that there is more behind that character, and that there are more plots and more betrayals and more of everything in this field, and that it could go on forever and ever in telling you how corrupt and how mean could the Borgia Family be.. but it ends at 400something pages. Bummer!!!!!

It's really well written, and what I like the most about it were ho More...

I'll say it again. Not everyone loves Mario Puzo, but I do. His tales of Italian life and Mafia are intriguing and I've never been able to put one of his books down -- except The Fortunate Pilgrim.

This book is a real insight into the life and times of the infamous Borgia's, being a mixture of fact and fiction(the events did happen 500 years ago so it needs a certain amount of fiction to stop it simply resembling a Wikipedia entry)

The book features lots of little anecdotes that follow a rough timeline, but for all that it's amazingly easy to read and get deeply involved in. Puzo also seems to paint these people (whom history seems to remember as extremely evil) in quite a human and almost More...

Mucha gente parece no haber disfrutado del final del libro, pero creo que hay que recordar que Puzo falleció antes de concluirlo y es por eso que se nota mucho como decae hacia el término del relato. Aún así, es un libro muy bien escrito, con rigor histórico y novelado encantadoramente. Vale la pena leerlo y ayudará a entender un contexto histórico que a veces, para mucho de nosotros, es complejo de recordar (a pesar de la escuela) porque son momentos en la historia humana de mucha transformació More...

"Rodzina Borgiów" była dla mnie książką bardzo nierówną. Całkiem przyzwoity wątek obyczajowy, intrygi i życie w XV - wiecznym Rzymie, to wszystko przetykane jest przydługimi i nużąco szczegółowymi opisami bitew i strategii wojskowych, które nijak nie były w stanie mnie zaciekawić.

Oczywiście, co kto lubi, mimo to, książka mogłaby zasłużyć na wysoką ocenę. Niestety, styl autora również nie zachęca. Wydarzenia, rzucane w kolejnych rozdziałach, często różnią się od siebie pod każdym względem, a jak More...