Mario Puzo feels that this novel, written before THE GODFATHER or any of his more popular novels, is superior to them all. In a creative sense, THE FORTUNATE PILGRIM is the parent, and the rest of his books are the offspring.In the hands of someone like Puzo, the creative process is a wonderful thing to observe. He relates how he set out to write a novel in which he was the hero and the rest of his family were villains who wanted to stifle his writing career; and how, stalwart young man that he was, he succeeded in spite of them and the stumbling blocks they placed in his path. He was unable to write this version of his life, not even as fiction. Truth and the memory of the strength of the woman who reared him wouldn't allow him to deny the impact she had on his life.
Puzo wrote, but not what he had planned, or even what he thought he was writing. At some point he realized that the book wasn't about himself. It was about his mother. THE FORTUNATE PILGRIM's Lucia Santa is the personification of Puzo's mother and this book is her book as surely as if she'd written it herself.
When we read about Lucia Santa's life in Hell's Kitchen, a single mother as we would call her today, as she raises six children, we are constantly amazed at her strength.
Her oldest son becomes a Mafia Union Organizer (read strong arm man and collector of "protection" money) against her will. But Lucia Santa prevails.
Her daughter spends six months in a sanitorium for her lungs and comes home too assimilated for Lucia Santa's taste. But Lucia Santa prevails.
One of her sons commits suicide. But Lucia Santa prevails.
One tragedy follows on the heels of another. But Lucia Santa prevails.
After the death of her son, her neighbors bewail her misfortunes, "First husband dead; second destroyed for life; a grown son, already a breadwinner, struck down. What tragedy, what misfortune!" But how does Lucia Santa look at it? A grown daughter, a forelady with a hard working sober husband. One son who has given her grandchildren and is making a good living. Another son working on the railroad and no longer giving her troubles. Yet another son winning awards in school. Yes, Lucia Santa prevails.
Lucia Santa is, in every way, Puzo's mother. Is it any wonder that she dominates this novel? The choice as to who was the hero (or heroine) was never really Puzo's to make. It's a better novel and a more honest one the way it wrote itself (with a little assist from Puzo).
Puzo says that, not only is this her novel, but so is THE GODFATHER. From his mother's mouth to Puzo's ears, to the written page, we have Lucia Santa to thank for these books. Oh, by the way, Mario, thanks for channeling them for us, the readers.
If you only read one of Puzo's books this probably should be it.
