The Last Don

Greetings, the Last Don is a 1996 novel by Mario Puzo, author of the Godfather and the Sicilian which were previously reviewed on my blog. It was also the last of his books to be published before his death in the year 1999 although there were a few such as Omerta that were released posthumously in the early 2000s. While the Last Don may not be Puzo’s most recognizable work it did manage to spawn a television mini-series back in 1997. This series starred some noteworthy individuals such as Joe Mantegna, Danny Aiello and Daryl Hannah but has no particularly large star power behind it. While the Godfather and the Sicilian are interconnected, mostly with Michael Corleone appearing in both books, the Last Don seems to have no link to Mario’s previous works.

The majority of the plot takes place in the 1990s but it begins in the 1960s with mafia Don Domenico Clericuzio, an aging gangster, growing increasingly tired of the violent world he inhabits and partly created. He decides to bring his criminal family syndicate into American society by it being reborn as a legitimate business. The Clericuzio family, after eliminating their rival Santadio clan in a brutal war, decided that it is willing to give up its hard earned power and will act as a negotiator with regards to other families in their disputes with each other. This way the Clericuzio will still remain influential in the world of organized crime while pursuing their interests in legitimate and lucrative businesses. The Don sets out his interest in the world of gambling and wants his two new grandchildren, Croccifixio ‘Cross’ De Lena and Claudia De Lena, to live in a better world than he does. To get on with their lives without the constant need to look over their shoulder for enemy syndicates. The storyline then moves swiftly on to the 1990s with Don Clericuzio being semi-retired and enjoying his twilight years. It mostly follows the paths of Cross De Lena, who now has a sizeable share of a Las Vegas casino called the Xanadu Hotel and runs it after the death of his mentor, as well as Claudia who is breaking into Hollywood as a script writer.

The paths of Claudia and Cross overlap when an adored actress by the name of Athena Aquitane, famed for her beauty and talent, is attacked in a public ceremony by her ex-husband. The former husband, Boz Skannet, is a violent man who played a prank on his estranged wife by throwing a bottle of water in her face and pretended that it was acid. The actress is convinced due to his previous behaviour that should he get near her again it will be the corrosive substance next time around. As such, she is too terrified to work again as the leading performer in Claudia’s film and claims to have left her acting career for good. Much to the annoyance of studio heads, Skannet has important political connections and is hard to remove from the scene so Claudia reaches out to her brother, hoping that he can find a solution to the problem. Cross, intrigued by the prospect of getting into the wealthy business of filmmaking and getting a close relationship with Athena, agrees to help her.

The novel is a worthwhile read with a few interesting turns along the way but it doesn’t match the heights of the Godfather and none of Puzo’s other books are likely to have done so either. Most of his work, with the Fourth K or the Dark Arena as exceptions, run on similar ideas and deal with the violent life of the Mafioso. I did find that Mario had notably repeated himself in his phraseology which, while it isn’t a particularly big problem, can be rather grating when the exact same cursing is continuously used by Don Clericuzio. Overall, it is a fine book with an original story and it will appeal to those interested in gangsterism but I would say it was the weakest of the three Puzo novels I have read so far.

Plot=7/10

Characters=6/10

Wording=7/10

Overall=7/10

Quote of the Day

Hey, you wanna hear a story 'bout this boy? He owned a dairy farm, see. And his ol' Ma, she was kinda sick, you know. And the doctor, he had called him come over, and said, uh, "Uhh listen, your Ma, she's lyin' there, she's just so sick and she's weakly, and uh, uh I want ya to try to persuade her to take a little brandy," you see. Just to pick her spirits up, ya know. And "Ma's a teetotaler," he says. "She wouldn't touch a drop." "Well, I'll tell ya whatcha do, uh," -- the doc -- "I'll tell ya whatcha do, you bring in a fresh quart of milk every day and you put some brandy in it, see. And see. You try that." So he did. And he doctored it all up with the brandy, fresh milk, and he gave it to his Mom. And she drank a little bit of it, you know. So next day, he brought it in again and she drank a little more, you know. And so they went on that way for the third day and just a little more, and the fourth day, she was, you know, took a little bit more - and then finally, one week later, he gave her the milk and she just drank it down. Boy, she swallowed the whole, whole, whole thing, you know. And she called him over and she said, "Son, whatever you do, don't sell that cow!"

Buck Barrow

Bonnie and Clyde