Catch Me If You Can : The Amazing True Story of the Youngest and Most Daring Con Man in the History of Fun and Profit!

Rating:
Summary: Frank Abagnale, Jr., conned me.
Review: He sure did. What starts off as an annoying, arrogant read quickly turns into the sort of real-life account that leaves you saying, "No way..." Abagnale conned his way into a pilot's uniform, a law practice, hospital rounds, and 6 months in a French prison, and he'll take you with him if you let him.

My roommate recommended this to me for fun, but warned me that she had quit reading it after the first 20 pages. I almost didn't even get that far. Abagnale's narrative voice is one of the most immediately annoying I've ever read; he comes across in the initial chapters as a chauvinistic (women are "delicious foxes"--did ANYBODY ever sound so dull?), arrogant, self-pitying (despite his wavering between denials and awareness of this) jerk from a bored suburban home.

Keep reading, though, and you won't be disappointed. What starts off as tentative bad-check-floating quickly becomes full-blown international larceny. More amusing, though, and more disturbing, are the ends to which Abagnale's capers force him. By the end of the story, feeling the heat, he abandons his pilot scam and ends up faking a Harvard Law degree and practicing law, and the pace picks up so quickly at this point that the last chapters rush by. Abagnale ends up in jail in France, and then in Sweden (and, apparently, there was a whole line-up of countries wanting to try him!), but the book's not over there; he's way too resourceful a con-artist to go quietly, and his post-arrest movements are even more exciting than anything before.

It's a fast-paced, fun read. The prose is at times appallingly bad, with metaphors that are both overdone and mixed ("I wanted to be one of the bulls in this Georgia peach orchard"), and, as Abagnale goes on and on about how much he likes women and how often he likes them, you'll start to see in him the high-school kid who talks such big talk because he never walks the walk and thinks you won't like him unless he does. This book could have been punchier and better (and about 100 pages shorter) without those digressions.

Still, by and large, I'd recommend it. I couldn't put it down for the last 150 pages, as it moves quickly and crazily, and Abagnale and his co-writer are careful to up the ante as the story progresses. All of which makes for a satisfying light read.

Rating:
Summary: an incredible book!! Highly recommended!!
Review: I'll admit it. I never would have read this book if it was not for the movie that came out last year. I still haven't seen the movie but decided that perhaps the book would be interesting since it was written by the subject of the movie. I didn't learn until the end of the book (in a Q&A section with the author) that this was written in 1980. Abagnale has a very easy going style and it almost feels like he is right there next to you telling you this wild story of his youth.

Catch Me If You Can is an interesting, exciting, fast paced novel that is a pure joy to read. I don't know if I can put it better than that. This was a book that I simply did not want to put down and I flew through the book. The plot of the memoir is the criminal career of Frank Abagnale (he has since paid his debt to society and now works to prevent exactly the sort of crime that he once committed). Frank Abagnale was a con man. He began his career at a young age (15) conning gas station attendants to give him cash when he pays with his father's credit card. The leads to Frank leaving home, moving to New York City and trying to begin an honest life. Unfortunately, Frank's one main vice is women, and to be with women he needs to have more money than a 16 year old high school dropout can earn. So he begins to con.

Frank's primary method of conning was passing bad checks. However, he found that it is easier to make the con if he is a member of a well respected profession. Frank researches every role that he plays so that he will be as convincing as humanly possible without actually having to do that job. In some cases, he was able to con so well that he was paid for it and he didn't have to forge checks. The professions that Frank had impersonated were: Pilot, Doctor (he was paid to be on staff but not actually have to practice for nearly a year), Lawyer (he managed to pass the bar on his third try and worked as a laywer despite having no background in law), and a Professor (he taught two summer courses). The reason everything worked so well was that Frank is an extremely smart man and nobody expected this sort of con.

As was expected (and as Frank expected), he was eventually caught (and escaped, and was caught again), and part of the book dealt with Frank's ride through the prison systems (France and Sweden play prominent roles).

I can't say enough good things about this book. It was so interesting to read and I would recommend it to anybody.

Rating:
Summary: a heart-racer!
Review: One of the most intriguing moments of this autobiography comes in the first few pages of the book. When asked why he used his dad's Mobil card in order to steal money, he responds, "It's the girls, dad. They do funny things to me. I can't explain it." The first chapter prepares the reader for the rest of the book by giving the implication that Abagnale's crimes were committed because of his out-of-control obsession with women. And not only that, but he committed crimes only because he wanted to see how much he could get away with.

This is a tale of America's "youngest and most daring con man in the history of fun and profit," a man who got away with absolutely everything before he was finally caught. The reader is brought into Abagnale's childhood and how he grew up, and follows his life in the years after he ran away from home and began his life as a criminal. The way Abagnale wrote the events as they happened is witty, charming, and has you rooting for the bad guy! The 293 pages go quick as you jump from airplane cockpits, to classrooms, to courtrooms, to hospitals, and back to the beginning again. Your head spins as you read on and find out just what he gets away with, right until the very last page.

Rating:
Summary: Astounding!
Review: Saw (and bought) the movie then had to find out what was true and what were Hollywood embellishments... so I quickly ordered the book.

I was absolutely amazed that the real story of Mr. Abagnale's "escapades" were even more cleaver and brazen than in the movie. To think that this kid was able to convince people that he was a pilot for a major airline, a pediatrician, a lawyer (who actually passed the BAR exam without ever taking even one course in law school!), and a college professor... not to mention the most prolific bum check artist that ever lived!!!

You can read many reviews here that condemn Mr. Abagnale's actions and feel that he glamorizes theft and deception. But even young Abagnale had a sense of morality, albeit a bit skewed. He would not allow himself to swindle the common man or take money from anyone who could not afford the hit.

Upon maturity (and after doing some hard time) he found that he could use his talents and knowledge to help educate and protect the very same companies and institutions from being defrauded by other would-be "Frank Abagnales". There is little doubt that his expertise in this area and his willingness to share his knowledge with them has saved these companies billions of dollars. So if you really think about it, the banks and corporations that he conned actually just paid into a scholarship fund for someone who, down the road, went to work for them! Alas, poor Pan Am paid the bulk of his tuition.

This is a brilliant, brilliant book...I simply could not put it down. It is very well written and extremely entertaining. It is simply incredible that this is not a work of fiction... everything can be verified. The best book I have read in years.

Rating:
Summary: LIKED THE BOOK- NOT THE AUTHOR
Review: This was a hard review to write.

I like the book. It had me hooked. And if you see the movie, the book is a must-read. It fills in a lot of spaces. But...
I hate the author. This guy gives new meaning to the word pompous. He's a scam artist and he's pulling a con job on the reader. He's trying to make us like him. He almost succeeded with me. But hey, hold on, wait a minute- this spoiled kid scammed his own father. He scammed ordinary citizens with one of his bank robbing schemes- not the big businesses or banks- but ordinary people. I don't like this pompous jerk one bit. I wish I could give this book a one star rating- but I can't. It's a fascinating story and the author is a fascinating guy. He's also evil.

This guy tells a story- glamourizes it- gloats a lot- then throws in the obligiatory "but I was wrong"- but not often enough and a little too late.

Recent interviews show us that the author now runs a successful business teaching businesses how to avoid falling prey to the type of cons he used to perpetuate. He mentions how he regrets the past. That is after he once again tells about it. Yeah, right, Frank. You regret it when it costs you a client. Then you regret it. Not before. Not after.

He tells of the one girl he had to tell the truth to. She fell in love with one of his persona's and he couldn't perpetuate the con. So he told her. And she "betrayed" him by turning him in. Hey Frank, you stupid moron- you betrayed her!!! He goes on to lament that now he can't trust anyone. Hey imbecile, you got it backwards, no one can trust you!! Remember? Idiot!

Frank is a jerk. An arrogant, selfish, spoiled jerk. He wants our respect.

I won't give it to him.

But I will heartily reccomend this book. It is a good read. It also, upon careful examination, id testimony to the fact that Frank is the most supremely arrogant individual you are ever likely to meet. In print. On film. In person. Anywhere.