I Agree. Vito's Death Was Very Difficult For Tom But Sonny's Was Completely Devastating For Him And It

I agree. Vito's death was very difficult for Tom but Sonny's was completely devastating for him and it definitely shows. Tom was always anxious, sensitive and insecure as the book makes clear and can be seen to an extent in the first movie, but he still seems to be far more at ease with himself. In the second movie he's like a frightened rabbit for most of it. He occasionally switches into lawyer/business mode and gets shit done but he soon slips back into being an anxious mess again.

I've been watching Godfather I over and over the past week, and Godfather II, in the background as I cook and eat, and what I noticed is that ever SINCE the moment Sonny died, it was like something was permanently broken in Tom that left him in a fragile state. Tom cried when he was told Vito died, then he recovered, and argued with Sonny a lot, robustly, he didn't do that afterwards with Michael, he was no longer sure he belonged there after Sonny died.

Oh totally!!!!! Romantic or otherwise, Tom and Sonny had such a strong connection. Sonny was the one who saved Tom’s life and brought him home after all. He was so changed after Sonny died and I think Michael could tell

I'm thinking about the fact that one of the proposed concepts for The Godfather 3 was that Michael would die in Tom's arms at the end, realising that he'd been there for him all along and that he was a true Brother in every sense of the word.

Another of my favourite things about the book is the extra Michael and Tom content that we get. I could always use more but those that we get are so good, including the fact that Tom Hagen was Michael's teacher for 2 whole years.

I know that they're both bad people but honestly the Senate hearing scenes in Godfather 2 made me so happy because Michael and Tom were working so closely together. OK so it was to cover up some terrible crimes but that the two brothers came together is the important thing and that Michael trusted Tom more than any other lawyer to help him get out of this mess says so much.