Wiseguy

I am a huge fan of the mafia genre in general and have watched GoodFellas more times than I can count. This is the rare occasion where there movie is as good as the book. An excellent read that ties well with the movie and gives a few extra details on the way. Easy read. I highly recommend.

I must have seen "Goodfellas" so many times that I can't even remember HOW many times I've seen it. I've been wanting to read "Wise Guy" for YEARS now.......and when I tell people this, they say, "Just watch the film!" Even though, as I've stated, I've seen it MANY times before. You would think that there's no reason to read the novel it was based on, right? Wrong. Nicholas Pileggi's engrossing, fascinating, oft-times frightening (and at the SAME time), very funny "Wise Guy" is something you MUST read to get the full impact of the life of Henry Hill.......who, at the very young age of 12, started on his path of a life of crime that saw him run with some of the most notorious gangsters, killers & con men of his era of organized crime. One of the most striking thing about this tome was that I didn't feel myself sitting and thinking about the film, and wondering, "When's the scene going to happen where Tommy kills Spider?" Or "Hey, when does Billy "Batts" show up"? Instead, you're feeling yourself drawn into Henry's world and finding out things that they DIDN'T talk about in the film. Lots of different characters that Henry was actually more closer to than Tommy or Jimmy, such as one of Paul Vario's sons. The side scams that he used to have with SO many other characters that you didn't even hear about when watching "Goodfellas"........and the fact that Henry, early in his teen years, actually started feeling the desire to get out of "the life" .........by enlisting in the army. Where he actually recounts taking a LIKING to it! But then seeing how he invariably is drawn back into it. One wonders if the line from ANOTHER famous Mafioso figure in movies ("Just when I thought I was OUT........they pull me back IN!"), had anything to do with Henry Hill. There are SO many different scenarios & settings and things that I could go through here as examples that you didn't get to see in the film, but it has to be experienced for oneself. If you've read it, you'll already know what I mean, if you DIDN'T........pick up a copy and see for yourself. For me, one of the things that I really enjoyed of this read is the fact that I'm a born & raised Queens, N.Y. native, and just the way Hill recounts all his experiences (more so in his adult years, he was born and raised in East N.Y., Brooklyn), but his remembering of his nightclub, The Suite, on Queens Blvd., or The Sherwood Diner on Rockaway Blvd.........it reminds ME of those days when, in hushed whispers, people would talk about "certain places" where "pinky rings" used to hang. Sort of nostalgic, in a way.......but NOT in a good way. What is the MOST endearing thing about "Wise Guy" is that in the end.......just like in the film it was made into..... this is NOT the life you would want to become YOUR'S. After reading this, I felt that it could become required reading for juvenile delinquents, or troubled youth. You don't have to send them to a prison on a field trip to get scared straight. Let them read THIS.... they'll get the message a lot faster.

I can’t believe it took me 32 years to finally read the book that helped create arguably the greatest movie of all time. After reading Wise Guy, I noticed how Scorsese took creative license with some of Henry’s life story but overall, the book generally depicted the movie accurately and provided additional context into Henry’s crazy world. However, in one of those rare instances, the movie was better than the book but still a good read nonetheless.

I must admit the only reason I bought this book was because I was stunned by the cinematic genius I believed was 'Goodfellas'. I believe most of the time if a movie is adapted from a book, they're going to have to shorten the movie, therefore leaving out potential plot points and facts that could give us a little more backdrop on the film. I believe the vibe I got from 'Goodfellas' was a much differant vibe then I got from 'Wise Guy'. While I enjoy both, I think if I want a ride through fast mob hits, handsome faces by leading actors, and charming scenes of suited gangsters while cultural music hits relevant to the time period play in the backgroud, I'll stick to the television. Smooth operations, well planned heists, and crooked thieves reel me in with this page turner from Nicholas Pillegi. The facts are all there, from Luftsana, to point shaving schemes. This book lays out the hard, nitty-gritty bones of mobster life. The book describes it all; how to get money was to hustle; how the men surrounding the book's main character, Henry Hill, were all vengeful, coniving and murdering. While I don't feel pity for the man once named Henry Hill, (well, he has changed his name multiple times under Federal Witness Protection guidlines, but if I'm correct he has returned to his former moniker, Henry Hill) I do feel pity for the people who had been swept up in the seemingly glamorous lifestyle; mothers, children, friends. I loved this book, I got a great deal of information that was otherwise lacking in 'Goodfellas', and the author seemed to jump from narration to Henry's point of view with great fluidity. I liked the writing style, I liked the size of the book (fits in a purse or bag beautifully),and the story is just as you'd imagine: unflinching, bloody, interesting, and thrilling. I could not put this book down once I opened it. I'm glad I purchased it.

Having been a fan of the movie Goodfellas for many years, I wanted to read the book that started it all and I'm glad I did. This book was both well written and easy to read. This is a captivating, multi-chapter in a row type of book and I loved every minute of reading it.

While I rated this book '5 Stars', I have some reservations about it. As an avid fan of the movie 'Goodfellas', this book reads like a fleshed-out version of the script for the movie. Even down to many of things Ray Liotta (who plays Henry Hill) says while narrating parts of the film being quoted word for word from the book. While I know I'll be slammed for saying this: Scorsese doesn't seem to have used much imagination when writing the screen play from the book. However, the book is so good that perhaps he decided not to ruin a good thing. So just a warning that if you have seen the film, you won't get too much new info by reading the book. That being said, however, the book does add many facts that were fictionalized in the movie and some facts that were not in the movie at all (probably for legal reasons.) The author doesn't get much in the way of the story and pretty much lets the individuals themselves tell their story. The book also adds the much needed background story of many individuals portrayed in the movie and also not portrayed in the movie. I found it to be a very interesting read and was able to lose myself in the story very easily. If you haven't seen 'Goodfellas' then I definitely recommend reading this book first. If you have seen 'Goodfellas' then just don't be too disappointed to find it not much different from the book.

As I enjoyed the movie "Goodfellas", I decided to read "Wiseguy", the book the movie was based on. The book is basically a biography of Henry Hill, an associate of the Lucchese crime family. Despite partaking in one of the biggest heists in American history, Henry Hill should have been another anonymous person that people would not have guessed was a gangster. Immortalized in the movie Goodfellas, Hill's claim to fame, was not the infamous Lufthansa heist, but rather ratting out multiple associates in the world of organized crime and evaporating into the federal witness protection program. Wiseguy is an easy to read book that delves into the world of organized crime. Many movies have shown mafia life to be easy and luxurious. This book portrays the people in the mafia as extremely hard working individuals, many of whom have real jobs or own their own legitimate businesses, who just happen to have talents for hustling, conning, or violence. The book provides intimate details on Hill's journey through the world of organized crime, starting with a part-time job at a cab stand after school, rising to the heights of stealing millions through participating in robberies and hijackings, then finally how his world rapidly disintegrate after creating a large narcotics empire. A better story could not have been made up. The life of Henry has everything, love, deceit, murder, drugs, corruption, and mystery. Like most books turned movies, I found Wiseguy to be better than the movie, but not by much (both were incredible). There were several topics covered in the book that were not discussed in detail in the movie (personally, I found the section on Henry's prison life to be quite interesting, but it is not covered in a lot of detail in the movie). The only complaint I had about this book is that some of the chapters seemed to be a little long, giving the reader no good place to stop and take a break. If you are interested in organized crime or true crime, I would highly recommend this book. However, the book and the movie are almost exactly the same. For this reason, if you only pick up a few books a year, I would recommend watching Goodfellas instead.

I expected to read this book and find it very different from the movie. The surprise here was that the movie was pretty true to the book. Pileggi keeps things moving at a rapid pace an nicely fits in the first hand accounts from Henry and a variety of people involved. Even though I've seen the movie a dozen or so times I still found the book a good read. A note here: I am now reading Henry Hill's book which includes additional details that may or may not have been intentionally left out of Pileggi's book. Henry's version of events comes across as much darker and he is much more remorseful than what appears in this version of his story. If I had to say anything bad it would be that I wish Pileggi had caputured the regret and sadness also experienced by these people. Henry would be the first to say he's not some mythical hero nor were the others and I think that is an important message to convey.