daftfader's review against another edition
5.0
a look into the mind of a villain. Very exciting telling of it
lumakip's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting to fill in the blanks about the story behind one of my favorite movies. Quite a life led, very interesting,
ruthie's review against another edition
3.0
It's hilarious to go from finishing this book to reading the actual wiki article about this guy, which has numerous citations about how this is a bunch of lies, gross exaggerations, and stretches of truth.
all that aside - looking at this as just a story, and not parsing through the (very limited) plausibility of it all - this is a fun book. I would've given it four stars, but the ending was just unsatisfying and not what I expected it to be. and also, the movie was way better. just watch that instead. it's got Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio, you can't go wrong.
all that aside - looking at this as just a story, and not parsing through the (very limited) plausibility of it all - this is a fun book. I would've given it four stars, but the ending was just unsatisfying and not what I expected it to be. and also, the movie was way better. just watch that instead. it's got Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio, you can't go wrong.
nat_romero17's review against another edition
this book was for school and i ran out of time to finish it
ldegough's review against another edition
4.0
*4.5 stars
Comment that I wrote on my Kindle:
"I can't believe that this is a true story!
EDIT: Well, apparently this ISN'T a true story. There's a new book that came out in 2020 all about how this book does not match up with the facts. Which is disappointing, because the Frank Abagnale tricked everyone into believing that he really pulled all of this off, but also... it's kind of obvious that it was highly fictionalized. The story is too dramatic to be real. He had me in the beginning, but by the end I was sure that it was fake.
He IS a con man, though. Just not as cool of a con man as he tries to pretend to be in the book. He did steal money by using bad checks, but he stole it from the parents of a girl he was stalking. (He stalked a flight attendant by pretending to be a pilot.)"
(Note: This is ironic, because in the book he insists that he only conned an individual once. His targets were always big corporations. But in real life, he took money from a family and small local businesses.)
Review:
So, like I wrote in the comment... this is (mostly) fake according to recent evidence published in a book in 2020. Still, it's a good story! I was extremely interested from page one.
I do think that if Frank Abagnale wanted to convince his readers that this all really happened, he should have tried to make it seem less dramatic. The book moved so quickly, and it was difficult to believe that it could have happened like he described.
My main complaint was how Abagnale treated women. He mentioned having a "new girl" every couple of pages, which is extremely excessive. I mean, I couldn't really complain if that was true, because he would just be reporting the facts, but like I already mentioned... this story isn't completely true. He did not treat women well, and he didn't seem to regret that at all, even by the end of the book.
All that aside, however... this guy is a genius for even coming up with this stuff! Even if he didn't really do everything in this book, he did come up with genius plans that seem like they could actually work! I was constantly shocked by the plans that he invented (and supposedly pulled off). I am not condoning his behavior, but you can't help but admire his genius.
This book can be summed up like this: Frank Abagnale is not the world's greatest con man, but his greatest con was tricking the world into believing that he was the world's greatest con man.
Comment that I wrote on my Kindle:
"I can't believe that this is a true story!
EDIT: Well, apparently this ISN'T a true story. There's a new book that came out in 2020 all about how this book does not match up with the facts. Which is disappointing, because the Frank Abagnale tricked everyone into believing that he really pulled all of this off, but also... it's kind of obvious that it was highly fictionalized. The story is too dramatic to be real. He had me in the beginning, but by the end I was sure that it was fake.
He IS a con man, though. Just not as cool of a con man as he tries to pretend to be in the book. He did steal money by using bad checks, but he stole it from the parents of a girl he was stalking. (He stalked a flight attendant by pretending to be a pilot.)"
(Note: This is ironic, because in the book he insists that he only conned an individual once. His targets were always big corporations. But in real life, he took money from a family and small local businesses.)
Review:
So, like I wrote in the comment... this is (mostly) fake according to recent evidence published in a book in 2020. Still, it's a good story! I was extremely interested from page one.
I do think that if Frank Abagnale wanted to convince his readers that this all really happened, he should have tried to make it seem less dramatic. The book moved so quickly, and it was difficult to believe that it could have happened like he described.
My main complaint was how Abagnale treated women. He mentioned having a "new girl" every couple of pages, which is extremely excessive. I mean, I couldn't really complain if that was true, because he would just be reporting the facts, but like I already mentioned... this story isn't completely true. He did not treat women well, and he didn't seem to regret that at all, even by the end of the book.
All that aside, however... this guy is a genius for even coming up with this stuff! Even if he didn't really do everything in this book, he did come up with genius plans that seem like they could actually work! I was constantly shocked by the plans that he invented (and supposedly pulled off). I am not condoning his behavior, but you can't help but admire his genius.
This book can be summed up like this: Frank Abagnale is not the world's greatest con man, but his greatest con was tricking the world into believing that he was the world's greatest con man.
vintage_b's review against another edition
5.0
Who knew true crime could be funny? While reading this, it was not hard to see why Frank got away with so much. His wit, humor, and charisma serve him well. It has been some time since I have seen the movie adaptation of his memoir, but I remembered the gist of his crimes. Hearing it in first person voice from him though was amazing! It is not often one hears from the perpetrator directly, let alone gets an insight into their thoughts at the time. Not sure this story would be as interesting to me had it not been from Frank himself. Barrett does a wonderful job narrating the story and kept me quite engaged. Highly recommend it if you are looking for a quick read and a bit of a chuckle. While his crimes could not be duplicated today, I was fascinated with how much he was able to get away with, and how easy it seemed for him.
christygsp's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the way this story was communicated. It felt part biography and part fictional plot, with some fun and hilarious phrases and word choices.
Frank’s life was insane and so much fun to follow, and I’m glad I decided to read the book - and not just watch the film! As much fun as Leo and Tom are, this was great 😊
Frank’s life was insane and so much fun to follow, and I’m glad I decided to read the book - and not just watch the film! As much fun as Leo and Tom are, this was great 😊
skigirl1689's review against another edition
4.0
Wow, it's really incredible how much he pulled off at such a young age, but it is inspirational that he turned his life around, and is not only successful in his career but also his personal life (although this is not discussed in detail in the book, which kind of disappointed me).