Rating: 
Summary: Even if this *is* true, it's not nearly as good as Sleepers.
Review: After Carcaterra's painfully prolongued stunt of trying to push his written-with-movie-rights-in-mind "Sleepers" as a "true story" for months, I can no longer believe anything that he says is "true". I think if I heard Carcaterra say "New York is a city in USA", I would check a map. That's why I was sceptical about this book, again. However, regardless of how fake - or real - the story is, its major flaw is that it's not as good to read as the fictional "Sleepers". "Safe Place" just isn't as involving and it lost my interest rather quickly. It's an average book and only recommended if you really cannot find anything else for that time when you're in bed with a cold.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read, but inconsistent with 'Sleepers'
Review: Although I enjoyed this book, especially the harrowing and sometimes amusing descriptions of life in Hell's Kitchen, I was disappointed that the part of Carcaterra's life which must have had the greatest effect on him, his experience in the boys' home, described in 'Sleepers', was not even mentioned. Even the close friends he has in his 'Sleepers' account do not feature at all, which makes one wonder how factual their existence is and how credible that whole story is (although I'm sure he wasn't making it all up). Caracterra attributes the change in his personality to the discovery that his father is a murderer, but surely the experiences in the boys' home had just as negative and life-changing an effect on him. The story of Lorenzo's life is told well, with interesting parallels between his father's and mother's first marriages - I like the way they were juxtaposed. I found his hero-worshipping of his father, even before he knew of his murderer status, rather strange, as it just didn't ring true that a child so abused would still love his father - maybe this is just my poor understanding of their relationship. Ultimately, this is a worthwhile read, although not quite as gripping as 'Sleepers'.
Rating: 
Summary: A book that galvanizes your imagination, a must read.
Review: Few books have so literally depicted growing up in a turbulent household. This book, like Westies, gives a good graphic account of Hell's Kitchen NYC, but the true power of the story is the authors ability to seemingly get into the mind of the subject without being obvious about it
Rating:
Summary: me and my review
Review: I can't usually be bothered to write into places and say what I think (like people who write into Points Of View.) However, I must say that Sleepers is my favourite book and I think Lorenzo Carcaterra writes with original style. A Safe Place was also an interesting account of his life and I just want to say that I can't wait for the next instalment
Rating:
Summary: it's a can't-put-downer
Review: i didn't think he could top Sleepers, but he just might have done it with this book. the fact that he is such a skilled writer becomes all the more amazing when you think about the horrors he had to endure growing up. a lot of kids, especially ghetto kids, would have given up on life. carcaterra has good stories to tell, and he knows how to tell them. my favorite book so far this year.
Rating: 
Summary: Startling Bad
Review: I read and enjoyed Carcaterra's Sleepers and followed it up with a reading of this book. I found the contrast between the two books startling.
Carcaterra has chosen to write from a first person point of view, which is certainly appropriate in a memoir. But he doesn't follow through with the conventions and limitations of this POV. He constantly gives information that he, as the narrator and a character within the story itself, could not possibly have witnessed. If he learned these facts and anecdotes by being told by someone else (as he must have), he needs to acknowledge that with "as she told me" or some similar explanation. I was repeatedly pulled out of the story by thinking, "<snort> Now HOW could he know that?"
Further, I was deeply disturbed by the loving detail lavished on descriptions of every beating Carcaterra's mother ever took from his father. I don't need repetitious blow-by-blow descriptions to understand that the abuse was constant and long-lived. I was a little sickened by what appeared to be relishing of recounting the horrors.
Finally, as was mentioned by a previous reviewer, I was bothered by the contention in this book that Carcaterra's entire life was unutterably changed by being told in adolescence of his father's crime. By my calculation, this revelation must have come shortly after Carcaterra was released from his time in a juvenile detention center (as depicted in Sleepers), where he suffered horrific abuse. No mention is made anywhere in A Safe Place of the dear friends described in Sleepers, nor of the crime, trial, and sentence that all went through together. This redoubles the doubt of the accounting of this part of Carcaterra's life. Is one book true and the other false? Surely the time spent in juvenile detention was equally as life-changing as finding out about his father's past.
Carcaterra must have reflected on his own violent (though accidental) crime and jail time when he learned his father had a similar past. Inclusion of this aspect of his discovery of his father's past would have made a more believable story and would have made this reader more comfortable with balancing the two accounts of Carcaterra's coming of age.
Rating:
Summary: Startling Bad
Review: I read and enjoyed Carcaterra's Sleepers and followed it up with a reading of this book. I found the contrast between the two books startling.
Carcaterra has chosen to write from a first person point of view, which is certainly appropriate in a memoir. But he doesn't follow through with the conventions and limitations of this POV. He constantly gives information that he, as the narrator and a character within the story itself, could not possibly have witnessed. If he learned these facts and anecdotes by being told by someone else (as he must have), he needs to acknowledge that with "as she told me" or some similar explanation. I was repeatedly pulled out of the story by thinking, "<snort> Now HOW could he know that?"
Further, I was deeply disturbed by the loving detail lavished on descriptions of every beating Carcaterra's mother ever took from his father. I don't need repetitious blow-by-blow descriptions to understand that the abuse was constant and long-lived. I was a little sickened by what appeared to be relishing of recounting the horrors.
Finally, as was mentioned by a previous reviewer, I was bothered by the contention in this book that Carcaterra's entire life was unutterably changed by being told in adolescence of his father's crime. By my calculation, this revelation must have come shortly after Carcaterra was released from his time in a juvenile detention center (as depicted in Sleepers), where he suffered horrific abuse. No mention is made anywhere in A Safe Place of the dear friends described in Sleepers, nor of the crime, trial, and sentence that all went through together. This redoubles the doubt of the accounting of this part of Carcaterra's life. Is one book true and the other false? Surely the time spent in juvenile detention was equally as life-changing as finding out about his father's past.
Carcaterra must have reflected on his own violent (though accidental) crime and jail time when he learned his father had a similar past. Inclusion of this aspect of his discovery of his father's past would have made a more believable story and would have made this reader more comfortable with balancing the two accounts of Carcaterra's coming of age.
Rating: 
Summary: A suspensful thriller that will keep you up all night.
Review: I thought this book was a very enlightining book for people who think that they live in a perfect world. It really gives you a sence of reality.I love it.
Rating:
Summary: MR.CARCATERRA,You are the best writer in the world!
Review: I thought this book was absolutely brilliant,thrilling,tragic and well written.If you have read SLEEPERS you are sure to like this.The way he expresses himself is perfect although I still love SLEEPERS a wee bit more.
Rating:
Summary: THIS AUTHOR CAN WRITE!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I truly enjoyed this book, it is well written and so very real. Carcaterra is so descriptive, I feel as though I am right there with him. He writes this book with the truth and with his heart. It really moved me and got me to think about what some kids like him went through during their childhood. I wiil definately read his next books
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