It was just a factual story about the unconventional life of a gangster and in retrospect, I’m surprised this man was even alive at the time to tell the tale.
The film, like most films, romanticizes this kind of lifestyle, but the book made me feel differently. The inner details of the book make Hill’s story more profound and give the reader a greater understanding for the intense and brutal life he had.
I was enthralled by everything revealed in this book… like this happened… Henry Hill and his friends really did that! and it is so cool to have a front row seat at a life that is otherwise hidden from the rest of the world. The Goodreads blurb reads that “ Wiseguy is Henry Hill’s story, in fascinating, brutal detail, the never-before-revealed day-to-day life of a working mobster – his violence, his wild spending sprees, his wife, his mistresses, his code of honor.” The life of Henry Hill is so unbelievable that, rather than non-fiction, it reads like a work of fiction. If anything it added to my unhealthy obsession with this story. I loved the film so so so much, I’ve seen it more times than I can remember, and this book did not disappoint. I should’ve started this by saying that Scorsese’s Goodfellas is one of my all-time favorite films (it’s in competition with Call Me By Your Name, but they are so different that I think they can equally share the #1 slot). I specifically remember reading the bulk of this book on the train to and from work (and at work too). It is such an engrossing and detailed account of life inside the *Mafia* that I could not put this book down. It’s set during the 1960’s and 1970’s while Hill works under mob boss Paul Vario in Brooklyn, New York. The book is based on the life of former gangster/career criminal turned mob informant Henry Hill and the events that led him into witness protection. Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi was the inspiration behind Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic, GoodFellas (1990). Going back and reviewing this one I remembered how much I enjoyed it, and so I added true-crime novels to my wishlist because I need more reasons to be paranoid. I mostly get my fix from podcasts (shoutout to Karen and Georgia from My Favorite Murder).
In fact, they lacked almost all the necessary talents that might have helped them satisfy the appetites of their dreams, except one-their talent for violence.Ĭheers to another FLASHBACK review and the *long* weekend, you guys! This week I revisited and reviewed one of my all-time favorites and I swear the more I do these the more I want to re-read all the good ones! I love true-crime and I am so surprised at how little books I’ve read in the genre. They were not the smartest kids in the neighborhood. By birth, certainly, they were not prepared in any way to achieve their desires.
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