Alexander L. Belikoff reviewed Casino by Nicholas Pileggi (A Pocket Star book)
Review of 'Casino' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
I picked this book primarily to learn about the real story behind the film (which, not surprisingly, is very heavily fictionalized). In that aspect, the book did the job: it was comprehensive enough and gave enough background and details to satisfy my interest.
On the flipside... The writing style is quite unbearable. The Author piles dozens upon dozens of people into the story, most of them having little to no relation to the narrative. There are endless multi-paragraph quotes from various friends and relatives of the main characters (my "favorite" one was the sister of Geri McGee - her lengthy musings on Geri and Frank's family life were featured no less than 5 times throughout the book). There are so many of "asides" (especially for characters of no importance to the main narrative) that sometimes one forgets what the book is really about. I strongly believe that the book could …
I picked this book primarily to learn about the real story behind the film (which, not surprisingly, is very heavily fictionalized). In that aspect, the book did the job: it was comprehensive enough and gave enough background and details to satisfy my interest.
On the flipside... The writing style is quite unbearable. The Author piles dozens upon dozens of people into the story, most of them having little to no relation to the narrative. There are endless multi-paragraph quotes from various friends and relatives of the main characters (my "favorite" one was the sister of Geri McGee - her lengthy musings on Geri and Frank's family life were featured no less than 5 times throughout the book). There are so many of "asides" (especially for characters of no importance to the main narrative) that sometimes one forgets what the book is really about. I strongly believe that the book could be paired down to 30% of the original volume without losing any informational value.
Overall, this read was informational but not at all enjoyable. Pick it only if you want to learn more about the story behind Mafia-controlled Vegas.
