Wiseguy

Product Information

The goal of Wise Guys, according to its author, is to help men again learn how to learn from each other. Evans takes the reader through 16 stories of men whom he feels God has placed in his path during crucial junctures in his life. The book is based on the true story of the mobster Henry Hill. It is the book that Goodfellas was made after, in fact Nicholas Pileggi co-wrote the script and the version I listened to had an introduction by Martin Scorsese. I had not realized how closely Goodfellas was based on true events so the book had the added benefit of making me appreciate the movie even more. The book and movie are thus very much alike, with the book just going deeper into characters and events, the epilogue was also very interesting. Wiseguy even has some advantages over its still-more-brilliant offspring. A two-and-a-half- hour biopic must necessarily simplify and omit events. In Henry Hill's case, a lot of those events are interesting. With a mixture of self-deprecating humor and personal stories, Evans leads the reader through the life lessons he has learned from 16 diverse men. The author attributes much of the decline in mentoring to the rapid growth of fatherless homes and absentee dads over the last 50 years. It wasn’t that Henry was a boss. And it had nothing to do with his lofty rank within a crime family or the easy viciousness with which hoods from Henry’s world are identified. Henry, in fact, was neither of high rank nor particularly vicious; he wasn’t even tough as far as the cops could determine. What distinguished Henry from most of the other wiseguys who were under surveillance was the fact that he seemed to have total access to all levels of the mob world.”

This is not to suggest that ' Wiseguy' (aka ' GoodFellas') is anything other than a good book, it’s just that the film is a masterpiece, and so much more than just this book brought to life on the screen. Needless to say, Henry and his pals are amoral scumbags, and Hill is a sociopath whose justification for his crimes is that his needs outweigh everyone else's, and he dismisses anyone who is hardworking, honest or trusting as weak and just asking to be ripped off. What amazed me most is how closely the movie aligns with the book, because let’s be honest people, Hollywood screenwriters have butchered many a book. A lot of Ray Liotta’s, um, I mean Henry Hill’s classic one liners and pithy monologues are straight from the book. Much of the praise for the movie belongs to Pileggi; like the film, Wiseguy is entertaining from start to finish. It’s nonstop. A thriller and absolute banger right to the very end. Oh how I loved it. FIVE STARS! My husband said: For me, this book needs to be my next devotional. Since Kent Evans bases these virtues of manhood on Biblical principles, I see a practical guide on how I can change myself to be a better man on the inside. Other books on being a better man focused on the outside (shine your shoes, get a tailored shirt) but any scoundrel can shine shoes and wear a suit. I’ve been wanting a guide that shows boys how to be men and men to be brothers and not adversaries. This will be required reading for myself and can’t be totally absorbed through one pass. It’ll be hard but it will be worth it. GoodFellas' is an amazing tale, and a wonderful evocation of a bygone era but is one of those rare occasions where the film is all you really need.This was a wonderful read in so many ways. It’s the only time in my reading experience where I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the book after seeing the movie, and believe me, I’ve seen the movie countless times. Scorsese- the greatest filmmaker of all time- masterfully brought it to life on screen (as only Scorsese could). It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen GoodFellas, you will enjoy the book nonetheless and that is A RARITY. I always recommend reading the book first or the movie will mar the reading experience. For all the books I’ve read where I saw the movie first I always end up hating the book. Every. Single. Time. Except this one.

The Boston College point shaving scheme, for example. It's barely alluded to in Goodfellas (just once, by a low level con man named Morris, right before Tommy, Joe Pesci's famously terrifying character, drives a shiv repeatedly into his brain stem). Wiseguy, with more room to roam, delves into the nitty gritty. If, like me, you're fascinated by such details, then the book is an indispensable companion of the film. What happens when a young man grows up and thinks he needs no father? It’s not a great reach from there to the conclusion that he doesn’t need to be one, either. And the cycle continues.”Goodfellas ( originally titled Wiseguy) is a terrific true crime book that just stops short of romanticizing the life of a gangster. The book is about working class Italian and Irish gangsters in Brooklyn, starting from their early days in the 1950s to their fall in the 70s and 80s, told through the eyes of a foot soldier - Henry Hill and his wife Karen.

Each chapter discusses how to learn the topic from other guys, often with the author relating personal stories. That is followed by a Lessons Learned section that discusses how to apply that topic to your own life, and the chapter ends with questions to consider.Whilst reading it, it is soon very obvious why Martin Scorsese was so attracted to this story, indeed I can almost imagine his excitement, as he works out how to structure key scenes and who to cast.