The Fortunate Pilgrim: A Novel

“The Fortunate Pilgrim” is a very well written work of serious mature fiction authored by Mario Puzo. It is principally about an Italian American lady who comes to America, without her family, as a young lady and struggles to transition to the American way of life. She lives in a largely Italian American neighborhood in New York City in the first half of the twentieth century. It is excellent but not a light reading experience. I don’t think it was a commercial success when first published.This is a standalone novel and was authored before “The Godfather”. Having previously read The Godfather, I can vaguely sense the literary trail from this novel to The Godfather. I am glad that I read both. This is a slower less entertaining novel than The Godfather. But it is deep, thoughtful, and mature. The characters are entirely different.I have now read Mario Puzo’s first three novels. The first is “The Dark Arena”. I liked the novel, but it is my least favorite of the three and if I was to skip one, that would be the one. I liked the next two approximately equally but they are very different. This novel is more mature and deep, The Godfather more entertaining. As I stated above, for my purposes I am very glad I read both. If I only wanted to be entertained I would probably pick The Godfather.In summary I really like this novel. It is not light and at times it moved slowly. I often had to pay close attention. I have become a fan of Mario Puzo and plan on reading more of his novels in the not too distant future. Thank you for taking the time to read this review.

Mario Puzo considered The Fortunate Pilgrim to be his best work. Once you read this book, I have no doubt in my mind that you will agree with him, 100%. The Fortunate Pilgrim chronicles the life of a Sicilian immigrant, and her family. It touches upon the dynamics of family, and how families and the relationships within them evolve over time. Throughout the book, you can see a mafia-like dynamic in how the mother operates her family. She disassociates emotion, many times, from her decisions in order to do what - in her mind - will best strengthen the family's chance for survival.The Fortunate Pilgrim touches on everything from death and how to deal with it, to children growing older, to mental illness and its effects on families. It does all of this while maintaining a very good storyline, and staying incredibly readable. I have just one problem with this book - which is why I rate it four stars instead of five. In the first half of the book, time moves fairly slowly and you can tell how much time has passed easily - this I like. However, in the second half of the book, time moves randomly forward and it is often difficult to determine how much time has passed since the last chapter. Overall, it is an incredible shame that this book does not have the same level of fame as the Godfather - I suppose that is the curse of any book that isn't quite movie-style...

Puzo is my favorite author and this might be his best work. "The Godfather" will always be a timeless classic, but "The Fortunate Pilgrim" takes a backseat to no one.

Mario Puzo considers this his best book but it's writing style is incredibly repetitive. He seemed to be afraid of using the word "she" for the mother. Instead he began every sentence about her with her full name. Tedious. It did do a good job of illustrating the problems faced by Italian immigrants in New York in the early 20th century and the tensions across generations.

My husband is the Godfather aficionado, not me. I have a German heritage on both sides, but I love his first generation Italian family (we are in our late 60s), so i enjoy "immigrant novels," especially Italian.Oddly, my first husband was also first generation Italian, and his feisty mother was not that far away from Lucia Santa with her combination of matter-of-fact cruelty and her loyalty to her family. She, too, was a widow when I knew her (Tony's father died when Tony was 12), and she had lost one of her three sons at ate 19 to an auto accident.I loved this book for many things: its deep characterizations;its insights into relationships, especially mother/son and mother/daughter; it's historic/sociological interest; and its insights into all the tough Italian character (and Irish and all the others of that era) of the men and women endured to gain a foothold in their new country. But most of all i loved it for the poetry of Puzo's words, his language that would not let me put the book down. Not purple prose but real poetry of the seasons, esepcially the heat; the hardship and joy; the suffering and moments of pleasure, the dreams and the reality. Don't miss this one!

This book was one of Puzo's first books. He states that it also was his favorite. It tells the story of an Italian immigrant family living in 1920's New York's Hell's Kitchen. The story is relatable and I see much of my mom and grandmother in Puzo's writing style. I think he draws inspiration from his mother and family in a way as Puzo also grew up in an Italian family with a similar mom who was an immigrant and strong and who grew up in Hell's Kitchen about the same time period. The way Puzo writes in this book is so much different than his other novels. He writes in a specific artistic style but the way he brings this family to life becomes more engaging as pages are turned. I didn't know if I would like this book when I first started reading it but by the time I was a quarter of the way in to it, I had become invested and engaged. By the time I was done reading, I can honestly say I was happy I had the opportunity to read it and would recommend the book to anyone who grew up with an Italian-Sicilian family.