Sleepers

Rating:
Summary: Better then your average autobiography.
Review: (N.B.: When I wrote this review, I was unaware of the controversy surrounding the book's authenticity. It has since been drawn to my attention. Please take all comments as to the book's veracity with a grain of salt...)

Lorenzo Carcaterra, Sleepers (Ballantine, 1995)

It's not often that a tell-all bio from someone not inside the Hollywood Beltway spends months on the New York Times bestseller list and gets made into a movie with the kind of high-powered cast that fueled the film version of Sleepers. The movie was compelling enough to require checking into the book; as is almost always the case, the book is a superior form of media. In this case, that's saying something.

Sleepers is the story of Lorenzo Carcaterra and three of his friends. They grew up in Hell's Kitchen, one of New York City's less affluent neighborhoods, and were on the road to the future everyone but they expected for them, a future that was no future at all. Then one of their small-time pranks got out of hand, and the four of them ended up in a juvenile detention facility for varying periods of time. Their tenure at that facility is the centerpiece of the book, but it is in no way the whole story. There is more to the four friends than that. That's what lifts Sleepers out of the ranks of the basic autobiography; while most everything in the book points to its central motif, many of the episodes contained here also point in other directions. Carcaterra paints a bleak picture of Hell's Kitchen in the sixties, but is still able to look back on his and his friends' life of petty crime and quotidian ruin with something approaching joy. Given the trauma of the events that followed, that's something special.

Not to say that the book looks at life through rose-colored glasses. Far from it, in fact. Those who've read Dwight Edgar Abbott's excellent autobiography about the California juvenile penal system, I Cried, You Didn't Listen, will find nothing in Sleepers to surprise them about the four boys' experiences in a correctional facility (others may be shocked). The material is presented in a light that comes off as surprisingly objective, but the reader is made well aware of the pain and suffering Carcaterra and his friends were subjected to at the same time. Unlike Abbott, however, Carcaterra was able to achieve some closure regarding his stay there (covered in the third of the book's three parts), giving the book less rage and more balance. Good stuff. *** ½

Rating:
Summary: A True story told Brilliantly
Review: ... I saw the film after the book, and I personally don't think the film did the book as much justice.

This true story shows you how kids can grow up and shape into different individuals through an unfortunate accident.

Set in Hells Kitchen, a man has been is shot in a bar, two men have been identified at the scene with witnesses and charged for his murder. A specific lawyer has been assigned to the case subtly with the help of a writer, who is sure that he can win these murderers' case. The story unravels...

Before all this, a group of boys are introduced with sentimental character, good nature and hope, which is later transformed after one of their small-time mischevous antics go wrong. After years of teenage torment and suffering that were behind closed doors of a place that was meant to help them, they have grown up.

The way this was written was just brilliant. The way it unravels, and the journey you endure with these characters becomes an emotional attachment. This book contained great moments, the whole novel can be quite joyful at times, but mostly quite saddening. Justice goes both ways in this novel, and the writer has told it as it is. And that's what really makes this book.. it's story-telling of a real-life tragedy that can affect anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A horrific account of a man's life
Review: Adam Bolduc
I give this book five stars.

Sleepers

When I started to read this book it wasn't that exciting. Then the book started to get good. In book one, the author goes into his life with his friends and his life in Hell's Kitchen. The women were portrayed as cheaters, the men as violent drunks. Lorenzo's father did time in prison for the murder of his first wife. Most of the people in Hell's Kitchen were Irish and Italian. Lorenzo and his friends collected baseball cards and did other things that teenagers did. On one hot summer day the boys were hungry, so Lorenzo asked the vendor for a hotdog and takes off so his friends could eat and drink what they could. When the chase is over, the boys and the cart are at the entrance to the subway. The cart was too heavy and fell down the stairs and nearly killed a man. The boys got sentenced to do time in The Wilkinson Home for Boys. Every day the boys were beaten and raped. The third part describes what happened after all four boys were out of the home. If you want to know what other things happen in the book, you'll have to read it for yourself. I would recommend this book if you like books with crime, abuse, and dirty cops.

Rating:
Summary: You must read this one! I couldn't put it down!
Review: Amazing! I could not believe how powerful this book was. Lorenzo Carcaterra can write! This novel is about four young men who do a little childhood prank that winds them up in a correctional home for boys. There, they are abused, beaten, and raped by the guards that are suppossed to protect them. About a decade later, two of the boys have turned into cold blooded murderers. It is the result of their time at the home for boys. One night they walk into a bar, and run into one of the guards that forever changed their lives. The rest is breathtaking. There is only one terrible part in this book, and that is the fact that it is a true story. It is written by one of the few people who have gone through hell and lived to tell about it. It is an excellent tale about friendship, hate, and most of all, revenge. GO OUT AND READ THIS ONE!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Skip the movie, and stick to the book
Review: Anyone who would dare label an episode of "NYPD Blue", gritty or disturbing, hasn't discovered the intense true to life "Sleepers" by Lorenzo Carcaterra.
The book takes the reader on a chilling ride, seated next to four real life New York trouble-makers. Four bad boys who go about their days in Hell's Kitchen, keeping their boredom at bay in between street ball games by engaging in a string of petty crimes. A pack of gum here, a magazine there, childsplay, but sooner or later a seemingly normal heist goes awry. In the end leaving one man dead.
A police prompted apology or even community service won't do this time. The boys are hauled off to a prison upstate, which proves to be tougher than any NYC street.
The intense novel shys away from nothing. The gripping detail and dark portrait which is painted is only augmented by the fact that it is all real. The horrors; beatings, psychological belittlement, and even rape filled Carcaterra's days.
The reader, equipped with the brutality of the boys crimes, no less finds themself rooting for the boys, cheering them on against the gaurds.
"Sleepers" leaves nothing out. Carcaterra is raw in his telling of the most frightening years of his boyhood lost.

Rating:
Summary: i don't think so
Review: As a piece of fiction I would have given this book a higher score but it is supposedly a true story and I'm not buying that for a minute. Everything worked out too pat to be true. I was very happy to learn that others had questioned the book's authenticity. I know an author takes artistic license on some things when writing a book and that is fine. Those authors are up front with it in a statement telling the reader so. Carcaterra crossed the line by saying the story was true. He could have said it was an extrapolation of his childhood experiences or said it was based loosely on his own personal experiences and that would have been fine with me.

Rating:
Summary: An experience that we will never forget!
Review: At the beginning of the book was boring. After the racing part, the names of the characters, and what they do for fun, there, is where the interesting part starts. Tommy, John, Michael, and Shakes were very good friends in those times and anything that went through their mind had to be done. These guys were like regular guys who look for adventures and fun, but sometimes it didn't turn out to be fun. They take it so seriously that they end up paying the price of the consequences.
They loved to pilfer stuff and that's what made up the majority of their problems. The last assault they made was stealing a hot dog, which they paid for with jail. They hurt the guy who was selling hot dogs accidentally, but nothing could help them get away with it in court.
They went to jail and here are where their problems, internal conflicts, and external conflicts began. They had to suffer the experience of being trapped in a jungle of criminal guards performing atrocities that will never be forgotten. The rapes that the guards have done to the boys were horrific and unbelievable. The guys couldn't say a word or other wise they would have suffered more pain and punishments.
After they got out of jail, the guys were extremely different; they weren't the same. Jail had changed them in many different aspects. One of the reasons John and Tommy took their revenge on Nokes in a bar, was because of the rapes.
John and Tommy, paid the price again, they went back to jail. Shakes and Michael were trying to do their best to explain the judge why they killed Nokes. Michael had graduated as a lawyer in those days, so he opened John and Tommy's case back again. Here, is where I should stop because I don't want to spoil the end.
I could say that, if I want to rate the book from 1 to 10, I could say this book would take a 9. I recommend this book for anyone who loves to know what life in jail is like, and what are the consequences of troubles.

Rating:
Summary: An experience that we will never forget!
Review: At the beginning of the book was boring. After the racing part, the names of the characters, and what they do for fun, there, is where the interesting part starts. Tommy, John, Michael, and Shakes were very good friends in those times and anything that went through their mind had to be done. These guys were like regular guys who look for adventures and fun, but sometimes it didn't turn out to be fun. They take it so seriously that they end up paying the price of the consequences.
They loved to pilfer stuff and that's what made up the majority of their problems. The last assault they made was stealing a hot dog, which they paid for with jail. They hurt the guy who was selling hot dogs accidentally, but nothing could help them get away with it in court.
They went to jail and here are where their problems, internal conflicts, and external conflicts began. They had to suffer the experience of being trapped in a jungle of criminal guards performing atrocities that will never be forgotten. The rapes that the guards have done to the boys were horrific and unbelievable. The guys couldn't say a word or other wise they would have suffered more pain and punishments.
After they got out of jail, the guys were extremely different; they weren't the same. Jail had changed them in many different aspects. One of the reasons John and Tommy took their revenge on Nokes in a bar, was because of the rapes.
John and Tommy, paid the price again, they went back to jail. Shakes and Michael were trying to do their best to explain the judge why they killed Nokes. Michael had graduated as a lawyer in those days, so he opened John and Tommy's case back again. Here, is where I should stop because I don't want to spoil the end.
I could say that, if I want to rate the book from 1 to 10, I could say this book would take a 9. I recommend this book for anyone who loves to know what life in jail is like, and what are the consequences of troubles.

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Read
Review: I am reader who is up to reading anything, as long as it is interesting. True stories have not always been my style, until I read "Sleepers." Once I started reading the extraordinary book I simply could not put it down. Carcaterra does an amazing job of explaining his childhood years. How he grew up in Hells Kitchen in New York City, and how he and his three friends had to hear about the murders, drugs, and beatings that were going on in Hells Kitchen. Though the boys had to go through hard times, they were still able to have fun and stay relatively innocent children. They read comic books played games in the street, ate candy, and watched wrestling matches in Madison Square Garden. Until one small prank to steal some lunch resulted in a severely injured person and a year at an up state Juvenile facility. Once there, the four boys were beaten, tortured, and raped by their guards; the only people the boys had to keep them safe. This true story kept me reading and interested throughout the whole book. Though it was an uneasy read at times, the book resulted in justice. It resulted in justice for the people who suffered at the hand of the guards for a year, and justice for future children who had to attend the facility. "Sleepers" is now one of my favorite books and Carcaterra is one of my favorite writers. This tale of overcoming the odds is an amazing read.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully written but very disturbing
Review: I am writing this in response to all the people who are questioning its authenticity. Don't you wish the revenge really worked I would not have wanted to read any other ending. Why do you care if it's true I can only believe that they got revenge for all the terrible abuse they suffered as children. If you can not give credit to the author for this heart wrenching book only because you question if it's true than you really missed something. I could not put this book down it was very hard to read because of the terrible abuse. I don't think I could ever read it again because it left me so disturbed because of the terrible things they went through true or not. I would recommend this book highly with a warning to be prepared.