Kidnykid's Full Review: Frank Abagnale and Stan Redding - Catch Me If You ...
If you have seen the movie version of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, you already have the basic idea of the plot of the book. Yes, Virginia, Frank Abagnale really did pass a lot of fake checks and pose as an airline pilot. He also was something of a ladies' man.
The only substantial differences between the book and movie were that the Hanratty character is actually a consolidation of several FBI agents who chased Abagnale over the years, and that Frank Abagnale, Sr. wasn't the con man Christopher Walken portrayed him as being. (As a matter of fact, the junior Abagnale makes it clear that his father was actually an honest man, who continued to woo his mother unsuccessfully after their divorce.) I will not say any more about the plot of the book, with the exception of some of my comments about his prison experiences, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise for those who have not yet read CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
Frank Abagnale, Jr, missed his calling. He would have made an excellent writer of true crime, rivaling my favorite author in the genre, Jack Olsen. Make no mistake about it: Abagnale doesn't waste words, and it is for this reason that his story really makes for a good movie retelling. Granted, there are possibilities inherent in his lived experiences, no matter what you might think of his writing style; it's just that the way in which he writes this memoir makes it just that much easier to translate to the demands of the big screen.
My favorite part of the book, however, is the FAQ section at the end, after he has actually told the story of his adventures around the world. Some of the questions he is asked have answers so self-evident as to strain credulity, however; I was especially amused by the fact that someone out there really didn't know that one earns one's rights and privileges (like one's passport, for example) back after one has paid one's debt to society in prison. Now that Abagnale has done time for his crimes, he is again able to do such things as vote, and travel around the world in his capacity as a fraud-prevention expert. (Unlike some Epinionators, I feel strongly that his prior life of crime qualifies him eminently for his current position as a person who helps to prevent fraud. He can easily say "this is the list of things tellers I scammed did wrong, and here's what you can do to prevent fraud yourself.")
I do not have any specific criticisms of Abagnale's writing style, per se. Instead, the faults I found in this book are inherent in some of the prison systems Abagnale served time in. Although Abagnale acknowledges now that the French are actually prevented from engaging in crime by what prisoners go through in their prison system, I would want to see it revised if I were a French citizen. Prisoners really do get abused in France, more than they would in the worst prison system in the worst totalitarian regime in the world. (And this is supposed to be a civilized country, no less.)
Sweden has precisely the opposite type of system. Although prisoners are treated well there, I don't feel that such treatment presents enough of a deterrent. As much as right-wingers might gripe about the country-club conditions of American prisons, Abagnale makes Sweden's sound like a four-star hotel in any major world capital. In fact, I'm surprised Abagnale didn't want to find an excuse to go back and get arrested and convicted in Sweden solely in order to be able to become a Swedish prisoner again.
His ability to deflect attention from the mechanics of his writing to the conditions he endured (or enjoyed, depending on the era you're talking about) shows that he has the ability to draw vivid word pictures that stay with the reader long past the time when a reader puts the book down. I would recommend CATCH ME IF YOU CAN for those fond of true crime stories, for that reason.
However, if you want to see a suffering sinner who is still going around beating himself on the breast for crimes committed years ago, look elsewhere. Abagnale has paid for his crimes many times over; he realizes this, and simply wishes to go on with his life once the publicity surrounding the movie adaptation of his book has died down. He also recognizes that one can only dwell on one's crimes and sins for a limited amount of time, no matter how serious those errors are, without doing serious psychological damage to oneself and one's loved ones. What matters is that Abagnale has successfully rehabilitated himself, at times despite our prison system's best efforts (which are detailed in a special afterword in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN).
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