The Fortunate Pilgrim: A Novel

Mario Puzo

Sep 2004 · The Godfather Book 4 · Sold by Ballantine Books

About this ebook

FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE GODFATHER - "A classic... The novel is lifted into literature by its highly charged language, its penetrating insights, and its mixture of tenderness and rage." - New York Times Book Review

Described by the author as his "best and most literary book." 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, The Fortunate Pilgrim is Italian-American fiction at its very best.

The book's hero, Lucia Santa, is an incredibly captivating character and based on Puzo's very own mother - he describes, "her wisdom, her ruthlessness, and her unconquerable love for her family and for life itself, qualities not valued in women at the time."

Ratings and reviews

I suppose like a lot of other people I started reading Mario Puzo book the Godfather and just loved the story. I wasn't happy with "The Silician", but I was surprised by this book: "The Fortunate Pilgrim". For a brief summary, this is the story of Lucia Santa an immigrant from Italy living in New York City during the 1930's. Lucia has six children and a bad marriage. Mario Puzo descriptions of the section known as Hells Kitchen are amazing and his detail of the city and hardships that Lucia must endure is awesome. Overall, this book turned out to be one of my favorite Mario Puzo novels and I would highly recommend it.

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.

Beautiful

About the author

The son of Italian immigrants who moved to the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City, Mario Puzo was born on October 15, 1920. After World War II, during which he served as a U.S. Army corporal, he attended City College of New York on the G.I. Bill and worked as a freelance writer. During this period he wrote his first two novels, The Dark Arena and The Fortunate Pilgrim.When his books made little money despite being critically acclaimed, he vowed to write a bestseller. The Godfather was an enormous success. He collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola on the screenplays for all three Godfather movies and won Academy Awards for both The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II. He also collaborated on the scripts for such films as Superman, Superman II, and The Cotton Club. He continued to write phenomenally successful novels, including Fools Die, The Sicilian, The Fourth K, and The Last Don. Mario Puzo died on July 2, 1999. His final novel, Omerta, was published in 2000.