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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
I love this book. Ive read it multiple times. Just an incredible story.
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
It's entertaining, but not more than that. The book promises to be a true story, but in reality it's a pack of lies. Apparently the con man can't stop conning people.
Abagnale says he spent years conning people, pretended to be a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, a sociology professor and more. When confronted with the fact there's no proof of most of it, he said people were embarrassed about it.
I can understand a university or hospital not wanting to admit to hiring someone without checking their credentials, but it's very hard to keep secrets in this day and age. You can't tell me none of his students would have recognised him and commented on a news article or shared something on social media after watching the film or reading the book.
I started Googling and read that Abagnale was actually incarcerated during most of the time he describes in the book. He's just a guy who wrote bad checks, with an overactive imagination.
I'm glad I found this book for free, I wouldn't have wanted to spend money on something like this.
Abagnale says he spent years conning people, pretended to be a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, a sociology professor and more. When confronted with the fact there's no proof of most of it, he said people were embarrassed about it.
I can understand a university or hospital not wanting to admit to hiring someone without checking their credentials, but it's very hard to keep secrets in this day and age. You can't tell me none of his students would have recognised him and commented on a news article or shared something on social media after watching the film or reading the book.
I started Googling and read that Abagnale was actually incarcerated during most of the time he describes in the book. He's just a guy who wrote bad checks, with an overactive imagination.
I'm glad I found this book for free, I wouldn't have wanted to spend money on something like this.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Started feeling too fantastical to be true. Looked it up to discover that most of this book has been comprehensively debunked.
I remember years past when I watched the movie based on this book. I suppose I loved traveling already when I saw it, that I was looking forward to the movie more because it featured a lot of traveling, and not because it was about a confidence artist. I also remember it featured Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor who I couldn't care less about. Anyway, I remember liking the film. So years later, I opted to pick up the book.
We know what this book is about. It's about the life story of Frank Abagnale, a confidence artist. He pretended that he was an airline pilot, a university professor, a doctor, many other things. And he cashed fake checks along the way. Until he was caught in France. And sent to prison. And extradited to the United States.
I should say that the book was engaging. I think I finished reading it in 2 days. The narrative was well written (but let's not forget that Abagnale worked with a professional writer here), and portrayed him as an anti-hero of sorts. That said, what I found disturbing was the lack of remorse. Did Abagnale not recognize that what he did was wrong? And I also didn't like the whole blaming game when it comes to his parents' relationship.
In my opinion, Abagnale got extremely lucky. He was lucky that he ended up in Sweden, who had humane incarceration systems. He was lucky that he wasn't passed on to the other countries who wanted him. And I didn't like this logic of his of only cheating banks, as if it's the banks fault that they were cheated with bad checks. Abagnale is an extremely intelligent man, yet I still don't buy his logic that it would be okay to commit a crime because one is committing them against institutions and not against persons. I don't buy the whole Robin Hood narrative.
If I were asked, I would say that Abagnale committed multiple counts of crime, and he didn't pay for it enough. But then, I am no lawyer. I just feel that justice in this world hasn't been served adequately.
Read this book if you want an airport novel. But don't expect it to be profound. Read this book if you want to be entertained, but be prepared to forget about it after a short while. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
We know what this book is about. It's about the life story of Frank Abagnale, a confidence artist. He pretended that he was an airline pilot, a university professor, a doctor, many other things. And he cashed fake checks along the way. Until he was caught in France. And sent to prison. And extradited to the United States.
I should say that the book was engaging. I think I finished reading it in 2 days. The narrative was well written (but let's not forget that Abagnale worked with a professional writer here), and portrayed him as an anti-hero of sorts. That said, what I found disturbing was the lack of remorse. Did Abagnale not recognize that what he did was wrong? And I also didn't like the whole blaming game when it comes to his parents' relationship.
In my opinion, Abagnale got extremely lucky. He was lucky that he ended up in Sweden, who had humane incarceration systems. He was lucky that he wasn't passed on to the other countries who wanted him. And I didn't like this logic of his of only cheating banks, as if it's the banks fault that they were cheated with bad checks. Abagnale is an extremely intelligent man, yet I still don't buy his logic that it would be okay to commit a crime because one is committing them against institutions and not against persons. I don't buy the whole Robin Hood narrative.
If I were asked, I would say that Abagnale committed multiple counts of crime, and he didn't pay for it enough. But then, I am no lawyer. I just feel that justice in this world hasn't been served adequately.
Read this book if you want an airport novel. But don't expect it to be profound. Read this book if you want to be entertained, but be prepared to forget about it after a short while. I give it 2 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
A sociopath writes a pompous account of how he did it all for the chicks and foxes, to the extent of putting children's lives at risk (if any of it is even true, as we've established the author is a compulsive liar and proud), and then gets praised, paid, and exalted in our society. Makes me sorry that I even read this or supported the movie.
Good storytelling but kind of like the one your out of touch great uncle tells you - so generally entertaining but also some details that you don’t think you really needed