Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake by Frank W. Abagnale

3 reviews

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

fast-paced

2.0

WOW, the misogyny! This would never have been published as is today, or it if were it wouldn't be nearly as popular. It's dripping with sexism and blames women for all of his actions. Also, with self-importance and self-aggrandizing. He likes to toot his own horn A LOT. It was interesting and kept you engaged when you weren't cringing and/or rolling your eyes, but you have to take everything he wrote with a giant spoon of salt.

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mondovertigo's review

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adventurous lighthearted tense fast-paced

4.0

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

2.0

Before I start taking apart this book for this review, I do want share that in recent years there has been some speculation on the validity of this memoir. In fact, there are sources that state the whole affair never happened. I stand somewhere in the middle – I think it is human nature to either undermine or overestimate our importance and contributions depending on our personality make-up as an individual. Every word in Abagnale‘s book screams of self-importance, and it would not surprise me in the least if much of Catch Me if You Can has been dramatized. I proceed with this review as though the book itself is simply that, a book. I’m not here to provide commentary on the validity of Abagnale‘s story.

I first came across Catch Me if You Can through the DiCaprio/Hanks film. I remember it coming out when I was younger, and I was absolutely captivated by both the stellar actors and the con man’s story. The book has been on my TBR for over a decade. I expected the same high-stakes drama but charmingly deluded personality the film offered. A lot of the events in the book do match what made it to film, and I will write a whole review comparing the two at some point. What makes the biggest difference, and what ruined the book for me, was Abagnale‘s voice.

Abagnale‘s writing style is strong, and the book flows. That’s not the problem. Rather, I spent most of Catch Me If You Can cringing at the terminology and presumptions the author made. It took nearly 100 pages before a female-identifying person was described by some other noun than that of an animal. Birds, chicks, foxes – you name it, he used it. Language is important, and from this choice, it’s evident how little respect Abagnale has for women. Maybe it’s different with his wife, but as a reader with only this book for context, it felt gross. This behavior characterizes Abagnale both as a writer and a character. The language the first pages alone tells me the author is pretentious and sexist. That tone continued for the rest of the book.

In fact, sexism is rampant in this book. It’s clear Abagnale only views women as sexual objects. He constantly uses them as pawns. Professional woman are the main non-monetary victims of his crimes He perpetually uses them for his own pleasure, targets them as easy to manipulate, and illustrates most of them as unintelligent and naïve. More than once, he blames women his mistakes and trouble. Early in the book, he claims women (excuse me – “birds”) were the reason he got into crime in the first place.

So that’s the flaw in the content. As far as technical writing, the first half of Catch Me if You Can is too slow. It is wrapped up in setting Abagnale‘s childhood and his foray into flight. The second half of the book deals with all of the rest of his other cons as well as his international trip and finally his arrests. The balance is way off, and the pacing is messy.

If the early pacing and Abagnale’s voice don’t push you away, the underlying story is interesting. This book is a genre classic if you are fascinated by white collar crime or the art of the con. You have to be really patient for the ramblings of a self-important, older cis white man to enjoy this book. It’s incredibly, stereotypically the type of book you would expect from that caricature, and it’s something between offensive and exhausting when it isn’t being entertaining. And often even when it is.

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