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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
A rare case where the book doesn't quite live up to the movie.
In the beginning of Catch Me If You Can, you're riding high on the back of Frank Abagnale's precarious capers. It's fun, it's exciting, it's a nice ride.
But after a while you start to have exactly what Frank didn't have — a crisis of conscience. Rather than a clever ne'er-do-well, Frank is a conceited, self-centered asshole. He's the kind of straight-faced jackass thief that ensures none of the rest of us can have nice things.
Sure, he's charming, but this guy is scum. He doesn't even have the humility or sense to just stop stealing for a little while to allow himself sink back into the background where law enforcement can't find him and enjoy the fruits of his immorality. What hubris!
And then there's the lingering question as to whether ANY of the words penned by a self-described con artist can be taken at face value.
By the end, I was just happy to be done with the character. If this is just a story, maybe that lends some credit to a postmodern tale of intangible morals. But if this is supposed to be biographical, there's no excusing such a bad person.
In the beginning of Catch Me If You Can, you're riding high on the back of Frank Abagnale's precarious capers. It's fun, it's exciting, it's a nice ride.
But after a while you start to have exactly what Frank didn't have — a crisis of conscience. Rather than a clever ne'er-do-well, Frank is a conceited, self-centered asshole. He's the kind of straight-faced jackass thief that ensures none of the rest of us can have nice things.
Sure, he's charming, but this guy is scum. He doesn't even have the humility or sense to just stop stealing for a little while to allow himself sink back into the background where law enforcement can't find him and enjoy the fruits of his immorality. What hubris!
And then there's the lingering question as to whether ANY of the words penned by a self-described con artist can be taken at face value.
By the end, I was just happy to be done with the character. If this is just a story, maybe that lends some credit to a postmodern tale of intangible morals. But if this is supposed to be biographical, there's no excusing such a bad person.
READ HARDER 2018: A book of true crime //
The movie took some liberties with history when adapting this autobiography for the screen, but I get the impression Frank’s “coauthor” probably took more than a few himself for the source material. Some of the claims are too outlandish. Still, I love a caper and I love the ‘60s. This is a super quick read.
The ending, however, is INTENSELY abrupt. The print version of the book includes an afterword that gives a little more closure, but the recent audiobook omits it. It’s more than a little jarring.
The movie took some liberties with history when adapting this autobiography for the screen, but I get the impression Frank’s “coauthor” probably took more than a few himself for the source material. Some of the claims are too outlandish. Still, I love a caper and I love the ‘60s. This is a super quick read.
The ending, however, is INTENSELY abrupt. The print version of the book includes an afterword that gives a little more closure, but the recent audiobook omits it. It’s more than a little jarring.
Love this book! It's such a fine line between a brilliant inventor and a brilliant criminal.
A fascinating and enjoyable read. It’s truly crazy to think that someone was able to pull off such crazy scams armed with really nothing more than over confidence and a quick mind that looked outside the box. While I do believe the author may have taken some liberties with his story and changed how some things happened and embellished others, there are some coincidences like the Vegas girl that comes to mind, it’s still very well written and engaging.
adventurous
funny
informative
fast-paced
Picked this up at a thrift store Sunday morning and read the whole thing on a plane that afternoon. It's a fun, quick read, full of 60s/70s slang (all the women are "foxes") with an emphasis on the most entertaining capers of Abagnale's career. There's a dark turn when he gets put in French prison (there's really not a way to make lying naked in your own filth into a lighthearted laugh) but soon enough he's back to his old tricks.
As you'd expect, there's more detail in the book than in the movie, but the movie did a better job at bringing the FBI agent who tracked Abagnale to life. In the book he's a sliver of a character at most.
As you'd expect, there's more detail in the book than in the movie, but the movie did a better job at bringing the FBI agent who tracked Abagnale to life. In the book he's a sliver of a character at most.
This was an engaging account of the guy who inspired the Catch Me If You Can film. I can't help wonder how much is really true, but hey, he was (is?) a conman, so anything is possible!
adventurous
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
The movie is great. The book is not. It is also partially fictional which is not disclosed until you go looking for it.
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced