About this title: The world's most sought-after con man wrote $2.5 million in bad checks, practiced law without a license, practiced medicine with no medical training, and co-piloted a Pan Am jet with a fake license. Slated for production at DreamWorks Entertainment, and now updated with a new Afterword, "Catch Me If You Can" contains all of the elements of the most wildly imaginative fiction, except that Abagnale's exploits actually happened.
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Your search:Books»Catch Me If You Can: The Amazing True Story of the Youngest and Most Daring Con Man in the History of Fun and Profit!(288 available copies)
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Broadway Books
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780767905381ISBN:0767905385
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 277 p. Audience: General/trade. light edge wear to covers, corner ding, text clean and unmarked. read more
"The first 200 or so pages--I was SO into. Then, the repetitiveness about how smart he is, how young he was, how he managed to rip of countless people, etc, etc..just got old.
It was a really different feeling than I had from the movie. In the movie, I felt bad for poor Leonardo DiCaprio, and didn't want him to get caught. In the book, I couldn't wait for him to get caught. (And was a little peeved that he ended the book when he escaped--leaving it to the ghost writer to clarify in the afterword.)
When he was in his French jail cell...which was pretty gruesome, I admit, I didn't feel bad for him. Maybe I'm getting old, and crotchety, but he kept mentioning how much money he was stealing, and I kept thinking, who REALLY paid for that? Airline costs go up to cover it? Bank fees increase? Man, I'm an old fogey that I care about this stuff.
My recommendation: If you liked the book, leave it at that."
"Abagnale's ghost writer (Stan Redding?) is adept with his alliterations and clogs his "autobiographer's" prose w/ copious cliches. But an insipid narrative style was the least of my objections to this otherwise outrageous tale. I wish I hadn't been so engrossed by all his unlikely adventures and exploits. But I kept reading b/c his account really is almost incredible. I just wish he didn't portray himself so heroically and self-righteously. Abagnale is(was?) a con-man. He exploited thousands of people, duped hundreds of businesses, and defrauded his hapless marks of millions of dollars during his self-indulgent sprees. Perhaps he has indeed straightened out by now--as he insists. But I find it difficult to believe that this (narcissistic?) swindler and "playa'" w/ the ladies is the upstanding, duly chastened family man & upstanding father that he now presents himself as."
"I never saw the movie based on this book and honestly, I don't feel the need to see the movie, because I thought the book was wonderful!! I am not usually one to pick up action/adventure books, which is funny because when someone passes on that type of genre to me, I usually thoroughly enjoy them. Catch Me If You Can was a great read because the pace of the book was quick and exciting through the narrator's escapades, and then when the book shifts into prison portion, where I excepted the book to become slow and mundane, there is still a sense of anxiety and wonder if the narrator will survive, even though clearly he does. A perfect summer read, that will keep you up late at nights turning pages."
"Frank Abagnale's story of his life on the run is fascinating. The Swedish judge told Frank that if his energies would have been spent doing good instead of running from the law, he would have been a huge asset to America and the other countries he swindled. I completely agree with this statement after reading about Frank's ingenious plots to pass bad checks and his facade as a medical doctor, teacher, and lawyer.
Every time I thought that Frank had finally been caught, he would devise a new incredible plan that would leave plenty of distance between him and the authorities.
I don't think the book could have ended better. The movie is good, but the book, as usual, is better. The best paper hanger in history. Of course Hollywood makes his criminal life seem glamorous and enviable, but if you read the book, his description of the six months he spent in a bastille after being captured by the French police quickly erases all feelings of adulation."
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