Last night, I finished reading Catch Me If You Can.
I don’t know how many of you (or if any of you ;)) finished the book, so I will not say too much in this post about it. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who has not finished it. Not to mention the fact that I’ve never participated in something like this, so I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say.
What I will say is that I did come away from it amazed at the nerve of the guy! I thought it was a great read…fast paced and engaging.
What did you guys think?
Rose
Well, of course I read it and thought it worth convincing people to read it. I am new to this Idea as well. Has anyone else read it or should you and I take this to IMs instead?
Can I still join the Book Club? I must have missed the original thread about it. Can I still sign up? Who wrote it? Should I buy it this weekend or wait until the next book is chosen?
(I tried to keep up with Oprah’s, but all of her books I’ve either read before, or read too late and had the ending spoiled by her show. Hopefully this one will be better. :))
For the next book, I nominate Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, or maybe Mama Day by Gloria Naylor. I finished reading both recently and they kick some serious literary ass.
Nacho, the book was Catch Me If You Can, by Frank W Abagnale with Stan Redding.
Anyone can join in the discussion If you didn’t read it yet, and intend to, just watch out for spoilers.
Well, Frank Abigale was a con man with no equal in the fake check world. He impersonated an Airplane pilot and deadheaded (free flight) all over the US and europe. At one point in time he faked being a peditrician in Atlanta for close to a year. Practiced Law and passed the bar exam in Alabama with never having set foot in college. He pulled some amazing stunts and got away with all kinds of cons.
Is a true story and very entertaining.
I found it rereleased in the “true crime” section of Books a million here in town.
:: shaking head in disbelief over the speed with which REALLY IMPORTANT THREADS (i.e., the ones I’m interested in) fall to page 2–I check every couple of hours and still missed this one at first::
Diverting read, Osip–thanks for the suggestion. Not to usurp Wicked Blue’s TOTAL THREAD DOMINATION or anything, but I say we go ahead and start the discussion, because I have a couple of burning questions.
What is up with the cheesy pseudo-Steve Martin-as the Czechloslovakian guy-language? “Fabulous foxes,” and “more chicks than a hen house?” For a sophisticated international criminal, he talks like Austin Powers.
HOW DOES THE STORY END?? I assume there will be a sequel they want us to buy, but does anyone know?? Tell me now, dadgummit–I want the payoff.
Psychologically, the book gets at a few core points about human nature. The ability to stay cool under pressure is an excellent survival mechanism (reminded me of the Clint Eastwood character–in Pale Rider, I think–who stayed calm in the middle of gunfights and therefore usually hit his target while the other tough guys got nervous and shot wildly). Yeah, he had an amazing amount of nerve, Wicked Blue, but is this always a good thing? I sure like my brain surgeons and fighter pilots to be on the egotistical side, but I think there are many situations where nerve may not be called for. Likewise, people do tend to see what they expect to see instead of approaching each person they meet hyper-skeptically. But is this generally good or bad?
Humble Servant, your post cracked me up. I thought exactly the same thing about the weird swinger lingo, and even started reading some of those passages to myself with the “Wild and Crazy Guy” accent.
I read this book and took notes, too. Mr. Del saw me taking notes and said “What are you doing? Are you planning your own scams?” I can’t tell if he thinks this is a good or a bad thing.
Of course, my notes are at home, and I am posting from work (my office internet use probably constitutes a scam in and of itself). Since I realize that I don’t actually know whether we’re supposed to be posting about the whole book, or just a few chapters at a time, I guess I will wait to post more comments until I get home and hopefully that question will have been decided by then.
Some of the language can probably be attributed to the fact that it was written in 1980, when the slang was a bit more current. And hell, at times the guy comes off a bit like Austin Powers so why not talk like him.
As for the sequel, it has been 20 years so I am guessing it isn’t going to be written. The “About the Author” blurb in the back cover of the edition I read seems to sum of the last 25 years of Abnagale’s life pretty well.
The current rerelease most of you have had did not include two chapters that were in the first edition which I read in the 80’s. He was finally caught and did time in a Texas Jail (can’t remember how long but believe it was a federal jail)He did get out and on parole. His parole officer and local officials are hard asses and he had a great deal of finding a job due to his record. He did come to the point to where he was almost ready to start back to his stealing ways when He thought about becoming a Banking security consultant. In the end he donned his best duds, walked into a bank and did his con job to get a legitimate job.
I believe, these chapters were omited so that it would make for a better movie (which they are considering doing)
Nacho: I would be so with you if we did Memoirs of a Geisha. I read it last year and I really did like it. I’d second your nomination. Ah, sorry for the hijack of sorts…
this is a good, fast, read. it isn’t until midway through the book that he tells you it was the '60’s when he was conning his way across america. i figured '60’s or '70’s because of the lack of instant computer checks. i think he would have a harder time now.
the age he was when he started just amazes me. he had a lot of chutzpah.
thank you osip and wicked blue for picking this book. good call.
I thought this was a really good read … although I’m not sure how much I like the author. I wish my book had the additional two chapters mentioned by Osip because I did feel like I was waiting for some sort of resolution that never came.
There was a very interesting passage in the first chapter, when we learn that his father has had a reversal of fortunes, and is now not living as well as he used to. Frank asks his father if it bothers him to be driving a battered old car, and the father replies:
“That’s the wrong way to look at it, Frank. It’s not what a man has but what a man is that’s important. This car is fine with me. It gets me around. I know who I am and what I am, and that’s what counts, not what other people might think of me. I’m an honest man, I feel, and that’s more important to me than having a big car … As long as a man knows what he is and who he is, he’ll do all right.”
So the entire time I’m reading the book, I’m waiting for the author to come around to this point of view. He’s dishonest, he’s a criminal, he’s concerned about how people view him. Yet, in this edition of the book, he never seems to seriously contemplate these things. Does he ever have a change of heart?
It must be the librarian in me showing through but I knew from the beginning when this was all taking place because I had scanned the cataloging information on the title page verso and saw the author listed as “1948-”. From there is was just math.
What I wondered is why didn’t PanAm just send a company wide memo (or at least to all of the desk personnel and flight towers in America) saying “Frank William is an imposter.” Seems to me that would have stopped the major part of his scam in its tracks.
The most compelling part of the book, I think, is the comparison between the French and Swedish prisons. Does anybody know if those descriptions would still be accurate?
obfusciatrist, yes the prisons in sweden are like that only a bit better now. i always said if i have to go to prison it will be in scandinavia. they have an amazing penal system. i do hope that french prisons have changed. ah, math, that’s what i forgot to do. thanks for the tip. hhhmmm 1964?
i thought the book ended a bit too soon. i wondered how he went from life of crime to life of fbi. also what do his kids think about what dad did?
They took out chapters??? OK, Osip, you must give me a brief synopsis of how they caught him–that’s the “ending” I must know. The “ending” of how he rehabilitated himself would be nice, but I’m thinking it would be mostly platitudes anyway. Abagnale doesn’t strike me as the introspective type.
obfusciatrist, you’re right that I didn’t notice the date the book was written (I assumed he wrote it long after the fact), which makes the sequel unlikely; but did anyone really ever talk that “weird swinger lingo?” Wasn’t it always the subject of ridicule? Also, what is your opinion of the Swedish prison described? Appropriate or inappropriate punishment for the nature of his crimes? (IMHO, the French prison as described was inhumane punishment even for the most violent criminals.)
delphica–the contrast between his father as an honest man and Abagnale’s own dishonesty is very clear, leading us to rocking chair’s question of what his children think of their father, especially since the book as written (without the extra chapters) certainly glorifies the crimes and does not show any remorse. I think that relearning how not to automatically lie in every situation may be even harder than true remorse for a career liar. How do you stop lying when you do it all day, every day?
So, what could you pass yourself off as (substantively, ignoring the logistical and criminal difficulties) if you wanted to? I pretend to be a lawyer IRL, but could also probably handle the college professor for a summer gig. I don’t think I could do the airline pilot or the doctor.
Here is a link to the original thread which shows that a “whole-book” discussion was intended. (Also, I meant to refer to The Unforgiven, not Pale Rider, in my first post. :))
Well, if nobody ever talked that way then why would people have ridiculed it? I don’t know whether Abnagale actually talked (or thought) that way, but he may have exaggerated it in an attempt to set the timeframe. It did get laughable at some points.
Much more appropriate than the French version. It kind of bothers me that murderers apparently rarely get more than 10 years. I would be interested in seeing recidivism rates for Sweden; if their system produces fewer repeat offenders I guess I can’t really complain. That said, I don’t really see how the Swedish method did anything to rehabilitate himself; he had already shown himself perfectly capable of giong to straight when he felt he was close to being caught.
I wonder if the Swedish judge that deported him to the United States ever contacted him (though, if Abnagale has made a good straight career I am sure the judge is happy).
An interesting sidebook would be one by the FBI agent assigned to him, how did all this look from the other side?
Also, is it a crime to break out of prison by convincing the guards to let you go?
The contrast was clear, but I felt that the author never came clean on whether the difference was simply a matter of the father and son choosing different paths, or if the author someday had the realization that his criminal career was “wrong” and that his father’s outlook was “right.” Of course, the answer may be that I am looking for evidence of right and wrong in a book that isn’t about right and wrong, in which case I should be told to go stuff a sock in it.
To beat this dead horse even more, I feel this way because there were several times in the story where the author says he is unhappy, unsatisfied, or finds something about his lifestyle lacking … yet he fails to follow up on any of these points (again this may be addressed in the missing chapters). I always felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I wish I could see some pictures of this guy (kid, really, at the time) in his airline uniform. It’s hard to get my mind around the fact that he was so young when he was running this scam.
his age during this spree was a bit disturbing to me as well. goodness, the sixties must have been something.
i believe that he did know that all he was doing would end badly. i think that at the time he just couldn’t see how he could stop it all. while discussing this in work, a co worker told me that he had done an interview that was taped. he is going to try and find the tape tonight.
he mentioned that he remembers that frank said that he paid back the stolen money and that his going into the security business was just as much of a “thrill” as the illegal activities.
not only do i wonder how his kids view him, i also wonder what his wife thinks of his womanizing past. i think that a book from the law enforsement side, the fbi guy that had to follow his trail, would be very interesting as well.
the one thing that impressed me about him was how much time he devoted to researching his roles. this guy spent quite a lot of time in libraries.
