Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra


Category: Book

Genre: Non-Fiction

Author: Lorenzo Carcaterra


Overview and Review of Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra a true story.


*It has a movie already.

The true West Side Story.

Sleeper
  1. Out of town hit man who spends the night after a local contract is completed.
  2. A juvenile sentenced to serve any period loonger than nine months in a state managed facility.

Hell's Kitchen is a place where everyone knows everything about everybody and everybody could be counted on. This is the West Side streets of Manhattan, where secrets lived and died on it. An area pretty much populated by a blend of Irish, Puerto Rican, Italian, and Easter European laborers.

John (The Count), Tommy (Butter), Michael (Spots), and Shakes (Lorenzo). Four boys inseparable, content and happy to live within the closed world of Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. Having friends were important as neighborhood loyalty in Hell's Kitchen. They gave them an identity and a group one could trust that extended the bonds of family.

These four friends finds solace with each other's company since they can't find it in their own homes where their mothers are beaten and some of their fathers are out romancing other women. These four boys shared a common interest, like reading books, watching movies, listening to music, collecting classic illustrated comics and baseball cards, listening to Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons on portable radios and playing pranks.

One prank would change their lives forever. One prank that would cost a man's dream to fade and a man to never walk again. One prank that could send them to a facility with multiple horrors to endure and one they would never forget. A mistake that would give them a heavy consequence.

It's a great "true-to-life" book. One that you could never put down and one that would make you read and read until the end. A story one could not forget and a horror you couldn't quite fathom if you live seeing the world in rose-colored glasses. One autobiography that never fails to put you in the edge, to bring tears in your eyes and make you laugh every once in awhile. It's amazing how he builds up the story up until the end. You would actually envy the way he depicted their childhood friendships. The bond they had when they were still young. I like the way he describes things. Everything seemed so important and so you want to read every line.

2 comments:

orange said...

From your review, I can conclude that it's a really good read. :P I wish I could have the time to read a thick book like that.

Btw, thanks for dropping a comment. :) check out also colourorange.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I've read this book when I was in college. The day after the movie was shown here. Grabe, Tina. I always hug my younger brother after reading it, asking God never to let that happen to any other young boy out there. Nakaka-trauma yung part ng book where they are being sodomized by those guards. Sobra.

The other Lorenzo Carcaterra book is not that good na. I forgot the title but I read that as well.

Happy weekend!