Book Description

The New York Times bestselling follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestseller A Million Little Pieces-the heartrending story of a friendship between a newly-sober James and the charismatic, high-living mobster he met in rehab, Leonard.

A Million Little Pieces was the first Oprah Book Club pick by a living author in over two years. It instantly became a #1 New York Times bestseller, a #1 USA Today bestseller, and a #1 Publishers Weekly bestseller, with over 1.7 million copies in print.

My Friend Leonard picks up right where Pieces leaves off. A New York Times bestseller in its own right before the Oprah pick, My Friend Leonard is James Frey's story of his friendship with Leonard, the larger-than-life mobster who "adopted" James as he left rehab. Leonard, who offers James lucrative-if illegal, mysterious, and slightly dangerous-employment when he needs it. Leonard, of the secret deals, of the surprising passions that belie his violent career choice, of fantastic generosity and ferocious loyalty. Leonard, who has been holding on to some remarkable secrets, and who has invested in their friendship more than James could ever imagine.

My Friend Leonard is, at its core, about the responsibility that comes with loving someone and going out on any number of limbs to care for them. And it is a book that proves that one of the most provocative literary voices of his generation is also one of the most emphatically human.

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Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring. The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict ""West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm"" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces. The son is, of course, James, damaged perhaps beyond repair by years of crack and alcohol addiction-and by more than a few cruel tricks of fate. James embarks on his post-rehab existence in Chicago emotionally devastated, broke, and afraid to get close to other people. But then Leonard comes back into his life, and everything changes. Leonard offers his ""son"" lucrative-if illegal and slightly dangerous-employment. He teaches James to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. He instructs him in the art of ""living boldly,"" pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, and provides a watchful and supportive veil of protection under which James can get his life together. Both Leonard's and James's careers flourish . . . but then Leonard vanishes. When the reasons behind his mysterious absence are revealed, the book opens up in unexpected emotional ways. My Friend Leonard showcases a brilliant and energetic young writer rising to important new challenges-displaying surprising warmth, humor, and maturity-without losing his intensity. This book proves that one of the most provocative literary voices of his generation is also one of the most emphatically human.

Customer Reviews:

i wish i had a friend like leonard .......2007-10-04

the million little pieces has brought me to read on this book, which i really hope there could be another one i can still read on

the story has closed emotions and bonds within
very unforgettable

i shed tears again

Better then AMLP!!!.......2007-08-31

I thought this book was a better story then amlp. While the first story was incredible and hard to put down. I always was waiting for him to crack, and fall back into addiction. As you read "My Friend Leanord" you'll learn many things about James Frey, all of them hard to belive, but all in all, real story-fake story,...an amazing story at that!

Pleased.......2007-08-17

I was pleased with this book because it gave me the closure that I didn't receive from A Million Little Pieces. I don't mind the whole controversy thing. How much truth do you expect from a self-professed crack head?! The emotion that this book draws from the reader is amazing. I felt fully involved and will always have a place in my heart for Frey's work.

A great continuation of "A Million Little Pieces"..........2007-08-16

Despite the issue Oprah had the the question of whether "A Million Little Pieces" was completely autobiographical or not, I really enjoyed the story that was told and was very excited to read "My Friend Leonard" to find out how life after rehab was. The story was great! I enjoyed the fact that this was a continuation of the original book, which I loved!

It took me about 4 days to read this book. I absolutely could not put it down! I couldn't wait to turn the page and find out what was happening! In all honesty, I was sad the book ended! I wanted it to keep going because the story was that good!

Great read....lies or no lies!.......2007-07-30

I read this book LONG after the Oprah controversy and frankly I didn't care if it was a lie. James Frey is a fantastic storyteller. I'm not much of a reader and it is hard for me to find a book that actually captivates my attention. And this book along with AMLP did just that!!! I do suggest that you read A Million Little Pieces before you read this(you'll like this one much better if do!). Both are GREAT reads and recommend it to anyone....lie or no lie.

Average customer rating: A Dark Ugly Book Pimp Vivid and raw but dated and bumpy Far and away the best of the pimp books Good But Underwritten

Pimp: The Story of My Life Iceberg Slim Manufacturer: Holloway House Publishing Company ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books General | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Urban | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Urban | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Similar Items: Trick Baby Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim Dopefiend The Art of Mackin' ASIN: 087067935X

Customer Reviews:

A Dark Ugly Book.......2007-09-28

"Pimp" is a dark, ugly book. It's author Robert Beck, aka Iceberg Slim spent much of his life as a pimp. It's written to leave a bad taste in your mouth. That is the intent of the author. This is a chronicle of how he wasted twenty-five years of his life.

Maya Angelou's brother told her a pimp is one of two kinds of men. Either he hates women or he fears women. The process of encouraging, enforcing a woman to sell her body is neither sexy or romantic. The life of a hooker, especially one working the streets is harsh and degrading. A `good' pimp only cares about using his women until they have no more left to give. Only someone who hates or feels the need to control women would make a `good' pimp.

Iceberg Slim hated women.

His father deserted them while he was a baby. Bobby and his mother lead a hand-to-mouth existence for his early years. Early on he is sexually abused by his babysitter. Stability came into his life when his mother marries an older man who was a successful businessman. Young Bobby loved his stepfather. They lead a comfortable upper middle-class existence until his mother runs off with another man.

The image of his stepfather crying in the street begging his mother to stay is repeated throughout the book. He took his hatred of his mother out on women - as a pimp.

Of course things go down hill for his mother. Eventually she gets her act together. But even though stability is restored in his life, Robert wants to be a pimp. Possessing a superior I.Q. (175), he was a straight-A student. In a time of blatant racial discrimination (the 1920s, 30s, 40s) he is given a college scholarship. But his path is set, the seeds of hatred planted years before take root and flourish.

For more details about his descent into depravity and his redemption - read the book.

His writing style is not polished. His language is not refined. But his imagery is stunning. He induces mood and feeling brilliantly. Mood and feeling are enhanced by his lack of polish.

The reader may have trouble with his slang. It's been out of style for 80 years. For example, "vines" means clothes. A woman "georgias" a man when she uses him for sexual gratification without paying. A "square" is a cigarette, etc.

I have noticed a disturbing trend. The black pimp is a role-model for some segments of society. Performers such as Ice-T extol the pimp lifestyle. Iceberg Slim is 'the man'. Whenever this book is discussed as a movie project, the gangsta rappers start lobbying for the part. These guys want to be like him. But not the man he became but the man he was - a depraved parasite. Some of them talk about this book as though it's the Bible.

While this is an excellent book, it is ugly. Richard Beck wanted it that way. He wanted to send a message against pimping and it's lifestyle.

Sometimes I wonder if these pimp wannbes can read.

Pimp.......2007-09-23

I just finished reading this book for the second time, cover to cover in 2 days this time, it is possibly one of the best books I have ever read and keeps you enthralled throughout the whole read.Everyone should read this book because it really gives an insight into a world that most will never see.I have read all of the man's books and this is by far his best work although Mama Black Widow and Trick Baby are up there as well they just don't equal this masterpiece.They only have a 5 star rating but if I could this book would rate 10 stars.

Vivid and raw but dated and bumpy.......2007-09-05

Wanted to like this book better than I did. I was hoping for something great but instead found the tale merely lurid.

Iceberg Slim's tale of pimping in and around Chicago in the 40s is raw and vivid. His life is twisted and he revels in showing us its brutality.

If there is moral clarity anywhere here it must be at the end. I ground to a halt after 75 pages of beatings, betrayals, kinky sex and drug use. The 40s ghetto slang is almost impenetrable at places, a fact acknowledged by the publisher's placement of an (inadequate) dictionary at the end of the book.

Far and away the best of the pimp books.......2007-08-30

Isn't it funny how pimps and pimping are totally mainstream pop culture terms and attitudes among young people these days? From multitudes of 18 year old white boy "pimps" on Myspace, to several HBO documentaries about pimps, to grown white men saying things like "keep your pimp hand strong" and dressing up as parody pimps trying to be funny (this has to be the most tired joke on the planet at this point) to Uncle Toms like Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent doing their modern day minstrel show on Mtv, to those who have "game", the con artists, deceivers, and criminals being the heroes to a good portion of the black community. Those enlightened social engineers and producers of our pop culture sure do enrich our society don't they!?!?

I also notice there are multiple books about pimps and "how to be a pimp" type books on Amazon which at casual look seem so ridiculous that they almost seem to be comedic parodies reminding me of those books written for losers that tell you how to bed beautiful women. If you want a good laugh just read some of the Amazon reviews of the pimp books.

Excluding Magic Don Juans book which is somewhat entertaining Iceberg Slims book is probably the only one worth reading and is head and shoulders above any other books by or about pimps. He doesn't try to glorify himself or being a pimp and while he does give glimpses in the life of being a pimp, drug addict, criminal and eventual prison inmate this book is just as much a self analysis for him as a look into that lifestyle. He states most of the stuff that he experienced and did matter of factly but you get a feeling that writing this book served as therapeutic introspective for Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck. He does a good job of showing what a scumbag he was but he doesn't get preachy or come off as an attention seeker. Its like he took a step back and made an appraisal of what he once was and put it down on paper. He does a good job of painting a picture of the times in which all this occured and situations he was in. I have to be fair and give the guy credit he really was a good writer.

Good But Underwritten.......2007-02-20

This is a very entertaining, fairly informative novel that is worth the read, particularly if you have a novice interest in the subject matter. The problem I have is that some important aspects of Slim's "life story" are too sketchily described. He writes in sufficient detail about the lessons he learned on how to pimp (from Macks he befriended). He effectively pulls you into the story with his vivid anecdotes of the drug abuse, crosses and petty crime that plague urban street life. He goes into the life of a prison convict. Although it's set in the early 20th century, it doesn't read back as dated even with some of its old-fashion slang. It has a contemporary, almost timeless feel which I appreciated. It also has its fair-share of humor and I found myself laughing several times.

But as stated before, it's glaringly underwritten in many places. All of the female characters lack clear personalities traits; this is even true for women he had for many years like "The Runt", Chris, and Rachel. They should've been made more dimensional and distinct from each other if only to provide a more beneficial read. It also would've been intriguing if Slim had depicted the daily life of his stable, to show what being a part of that group was like and how they interacted and co-existed. I realize that the book is entitled "Pimp" but the lives of his ASSETS, on the streets and off, were never described. It almost leads me to believe that Beck had no clue about that part of the life, and that raises my misgivings.

It's also just a little too convenient that he never turns out a normal but troubled, fresh square with finesse and true manipulation. Every woman he cops is a brainless nymphomaniac who's already in the game to begin with (or headed there anyway) and all too happy to work for him after a weak rap or a nasty reproach. To me this is just uninspired and not wholly credible.

While his youth in the first half is painstakingly detailed at a steady pace, some parts of his life in the second half were rushed that shouldn't have been, like his endeavor to get off of heroin. That takes up only about a page. The circumstance of a love-struck girl bent on murdering him is almost mentioned in passing. I would've rather read about these things than about his Tuskegee years or his Georgia affair with the cop's mistress. I saw a lot of wasted potential with this book. As good as it was, it could've been even better- a definitive masterpiece.

All that being said, it's recommended for being intelligently written, somewhat informative, and above all entertaining. Read if you are curious about the subject matter and like hard-boiled, unapologetic fiction.

Average customer rating: A Big Surprise OUT OF THIS WORLD AWESOME Romance with Imagination Couldn't put it down Simply entertaining!

My Outlaw Linda Lael Miller Manufacturer: Pocket ProductGroup: Book Binding: Mass Market Paperback Miller, Linda Lael | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books General | Romance | Subjects | Books Time Travel | Romance | Subjects | Books General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books General | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books Miller, Linda Lael | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Contemporary | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Historical | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Time Travel | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Similar Items: The Vow: A Novel of the American West Memory's Embrace Banner O'Brien The Legacy Corbin's Fancy (Corbin Series) ASIN: 0671873180

Book Description

Seven-year-old Keighly Barrow never forgot the night she spied a boy her own age at her grandmother's Redemption, Nevada, mansion. He was staring at her from an antique mirror in the ballroom, standing among gaudily dressed women in an old-time western saloon. Keighly could only discover that his name was Darby Elder -- and that he lived a century ago.

Twenty years later, engaged to be married, Keighly inherited her grandmother's house. Back before the ballroom mirror, she faces a handsome cowboy whose roguish air radiates trouble. Keighly senses the spirit of Darby Elder -- along with an electric charge of passion passing through the glass...and into her heart. But old news clips declare this outlaw son of a local madam would die in a shoot-out. Keighly's magical connection to Darby is too strong not to try and save his life or, if history will not bend, to love him as fiercely as the fleeting moments will allow.

Customer Reviews:

A Big Surprise .......2006-06-23

I normally don't like books with time travel in them, however; this book really grabbed me. It was the way the author described the love between Darby and Keighly that really made the difference. The book was a wonderful read, and I couldn't put it down. Again the love between the two main characters was something to be cherished. Definitely worth the money spent and this will stay on my bookshelf.

OUT OF THIS WORLD AWESOME.......2005-08-25

I don't know what the bad reviewers expect but if they don't like this book it can't possibly exist. This was undoubtedly one of most beautiful love stories I have EVER read and I read A LOT! I won't ruin anything for you but if you enjoy time travel love stories, stories about cowboys, or anything to do with true passionate soul mates READ THIS BOOK NOW! I have never read anything by Miller before but I think I have found a new favorite author!

Romance with Imagination.......2005-01-31

The is a love story about two people who fell in love through a mirror which allows time traveling. There was never a dull moment and the story was not predictable. This is the second time that I read this and will read it again. Great read if you like romance and a mystery.

Couldn't put it down.......2004-04-03

I just loved this book. There were points in it that I just could not put it down. I can not believe that anyone would not like this. It was the most romantic novel i have come accross in such a long time. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

Simply entertaining!.......2003-09-21

I didn't know if I would enjoy this book or not because I'm not big on time travel, but this was a wonderful romance. Darby and Keighly had such wonderful chemistry and I found the whole book intriguing. Wonderful work by a wonderful author!

Average customer rating: Should be required reading at all highschools. Wake Up!! sorry! Deserves to be well-read HE LIVED A LIFE!!!

My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King (Illinois) Reymundo Sanchez Manufacturer: Chicago Review Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Midwest | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Once a King, Always a King: The Unmaking of a Latin King Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member Inside the Crips: Life Inside L.A.'s Most Notorious Gang 8 Ball Chicks Life in Prison ASIN: 1556524277

Amazon.com

In My Bloody Life, Reymundo Sanchez tells a chillingly sad tale, from his birth in the back of a pickup truck in Puerto Rico to the day he quit the Latin Kings gang, 21 years later. From the first page, his narrative is unpretentious, disarmingly honest, and horrifyingly riveting. His early years were so full of pain and abuse that by the time he opts, at age 11, to hang out with the local gang, the Latin Kings, it seems a perfectly logical choice. In his shoes, any one of us--smacked nightly by a mother and beaten ragged whenever the stepfather got the chance--would likely have chosen the same path. The gang was the family that accepted him as well as the peer group that offered girls who didn't say "no." Any violence that went with the territory couldn't match the atmosphere of brutality that permeated his own home.

Sanchez was a Latin King for six years and participated in innumerable bloody gang battles--years rife with sex, drugs, booze, and acts of gang revenge. He finally got up his pluck to leave (and the only way was to be "violated" out through a gang beating), but admits in his conclusion that life since then has, in some ways, been even harder. He's had to quit drugs, lose the only community he's known, support himself, and deal with the nightmares of all the horrors he's seen and done. Though Sanchez still hasn't accomplished his dream of completing college, he has managed to leave the Kings, leave Chicago, leave behind his mother's legacy of violence, and write an impressive first book. --Stephanie Gold

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Should be required reading at all highschools........2007-06-22

For all of those people who ask -- Why gangs? This book exists. This boy who really didn't even want to be a gangster gets pulled into the undertow and becomes one of the most violent. If all teens could read this, gang activity might keep slowing down.

Wake Up!!.......2007-05-21

This is a great book. It'll let you feel the truth behind the "hard core" thug image. It will blow any preconceived notions of "gang banger" out! They are still kids, struggling to stay alive, this proves it. Not an easy read for anyone with any empathy for others, Reymundo Sanchez will force you to feel and experience some of what he did!! Extremely commmendable- I wish there were more books like this.

sorry!.......2007-04-02

I hate to give bad reviews to anyone else's hard work because one's relationship to art is essentially subjective. I just feel compelled to give an honest review in the case of this book. This story is not very well written. It is really difficult to find anything satisfying about this story and charcters at all. I was looking for a book to use for an adult literacy class. Sadly, this book is not it. The descriptions given by the narrator are lifeless retellings of horrible violence in strictly temporal terms. It was somewhat boring in that the characters were superficial and difficult to care about and the actions lacked purpose. Perhaps reviewers here viewed the story through a different lense than mine. Like I said, art is subjective. Unfortunately, I live and work with the horrible distruction described in the book, and the narrator does little than describe and profit from the destruction. Again, I'm sorry for writing anything negative. I just want to recommend that anyone looking to use this book for educational purposes should think about trying another book.

Deserves to be well-read.......2006-12-28

This is a well-written book that deserves to be well-read. Told in autobiographical style, it helped me understand gang culture much more deeply than I did before.

This is an extremely graphic story, but we can't shield our youth from a reality that many already experience in some form or another. I would definitely consider using selections from this book with my high school students during our study of gangs. Although the author in no way intends to glorify gang-life I can't help but wonder if some younger readers might walk away from this book without fully absorbing the dangers associated with all of the author's activities--not just his explicitly violent acts.

The author doesn't provide any easy answers but if you read between the lines the implications are clear: Urban areas need job programs, expanded youth activities leagues, increased education funding and community policing/anti-police brutality programs. Rather than clipping at the branches, we need to deal with the roots of gangs and gang violence.

HE LIVED A LIFE!!!.......2006-12-09

this is a very good book. i couldn't put it down at all. their was a teacher that left a comment here. saying he hated this book due too, this is how his students think or some trash like that. well, this is how you can reach your students. you already took a step in the direction to see where their heads are at. so, you should read this and understand it. then use this to talk to your students. if they refuse to get more out of life after you talk to them. that isn't on you. you tryed to help them. i am 31 years old. i love this book.

Average customer rating: amazing book! Amazing AMAZING!!! It could happen to you! Interesting

Almost Home: My Life Story Vol 1 Damien Echols Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc. ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Murder & Mayhem | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three Paradise Lost - The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills Paradise Lost 2 - Revelations Last Pentacle Of The Sun: Writings In Support Of The West Memphis Three Blood of Innocents: The True Story of Multiple Murder in West Memphis, Arkansas ASIN: 0595357016

Book Description

Almost Home is a message to you from a faraway place. It is a message from a 12-foot by 9-foot cell in a cinderblock building surrounded by coils of razor wire in the middle of a dirt field in Arkansas. It was written by a young man named Damien Echols and it chronicles his life and his experiences in a way that clearly illuminates him, not as a monster, but as a human being. For over 10 years Damien has been an inmate on death row for a crime he did not commit. He, along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley have become known as The West Memphis Three, and though the story of their arrest and conviction is widely known, most people don't know the real people behind the sound bites and the TV news segment clips. Damien has spent much of his time behind bars diligently maintaining his integrity and his sanity by writing.

Almost Home is the product of that self-discipline, and in it you will meet someone who has survived an ordeal many of us would find impossible to live through. There are a few who still believe that Damien is a devil-worshipping child killer, but as time passes and more facts rise to the surface, it becomes even more clear that he is the victim of a peculiar species of hysteria. Read this book and know the truth about him. It is an urgent message from death row; the whole story of who Damien Echols really is.

Customer Reviews:

amazing book!.......2007-10-02

If you know anything about this story(WM3) you should really read this book. I had read Devil's Knot and followed this story for some time and reading Damien's own story really gave me more insite on the story! You really understand what this poor guy went through in his life leading up to his arrest and conviction for something that he did not do.

Amazing.......2007-09-16

This is a wonderful portrait of a man who has been maligned by many and misunderstood by even more.

AMAZING!!!.......2007-08-10

I have followed the case of teh West Memphis Three for a long time, and itbreaks my heart to know how they have to live in prison, when they are so innocent...if you are intersted in the case, and carry great empathy for Damien Echols this is the book for you. He's such a gifted writer, and the look inside to him and his life are fasinating....i just want to hug him and tell him i'm so sorry by the time i was done...he's very talented and an excellent story teller. he's also strong, stronger than any of you or i could ever be if in that circumstance. its the best book i have ever, read, i am so glad he wrote it..it changed my life.

It could happen to you!.......2007-06-27

Damien's book supplies great insight not only about what he's gone through as one of the West Memphis 3, but also as an intelligent, artistic human being. I couldn't stop reading it and finished it very quickly.

Interesting.......2007-06-14

Worth the read if interested in the case to understand Damien and hear his side of the story. What an amazing individual. Aside from his past, his courage and strength for someone in his situation is really quite remarkable. He has a great sense of humour as well and made me laugh on numerous occasions!

Average customer rating: Fairy tale Brutal history of a "hit" man New York Times bestseller To be brutally honest, I couldn't put it down! enjoyed it

Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob Kevin Weeks , and Phyllis Karas Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Organized Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century Rat Bastards: The Life and Times of South Boston's Most Honorable Irish Mobster A Criminal and An Irishman: The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster ASIN: 0061148067 Release Date: 2007-03-13

Book Description

I grew up in the Old Colony housing project in South Boston and became partners with James "Whitey" Bulger, who I always called Jimmy.

Jimmy and I, we were unstoppable. We took what we wanted. And we made people disappear—permanently. We made millions. And if someone ratted us out, we killed him. We were not nice guys.

I found out that Jimmy had been an FBI informant in 1999, and my life was never the same. When the feds finally got me, I was faced with something Jimmy would have killed me for—cooperating with the authorities. I pled guilty to twenty-nine counts, including five murders. I went away for five and a half years.

I was brutally honest on the witness stand, and this book is brutally honest, too; the brutal truth that was never before told. How could it? Only three people could tell the true story. With one on the run and one in jail for life, it falls on me.

Customer Reviews:

Fairy tale.......2007-08-06

I'm sorry ,but reading this book was like reading a fairy tail.
Kevin not only followed in his mentor footsteps and became a rat ,but told the biggest fantasy story in the past 100yrs
You don't work your way up the ladder of an organization like Whitey's with out paying your dues.
How convenient that Kevin was never involved in any of the murders ,only the clean up and disposal.
His hands were dirty , plain and simple ,but to get the plea bargain he received he had to lie through his teeth to the feds ,and has told the story so many times , he now believes it.
I have read every book written about Whitey and the South Boston rat pack , and this one is by far the biggest fabrication since Snow White.

Brutal history of a "hit" man.......2007-07-09

This book has a killing almost every page. Well not exactly but his antics are very interesting. It really happened is the interesting thing.
You will enjoy it.

New York Times bestseller.......2007-06-09

There are probably many reasons why this became a best seller. I'll give you one reason to read this book. It's a fantastic read. An incredible 'true crime' story told by Kevin Weeks. I hope he writes more books.....

To be brutally honest, I couldn't put it down!.......2007-05-18

This book had my attention the whole time. An unbelieveable story. To know that Weeks was hanging out with Jimmy Bulger and Stevie Flemmi regularly made it anything but dull. These guys basically did whatever they wanted to with permission. You could say at the time they were getting away with murder. It seems like Weeks shows some remorse for chosing to live his life that way and I'm glad he wants to redeem himself. He should be sorry for causing pain to families of the victims. To learn that so many people were living a lie including the supposed good guys.In the end just about everybody was a rat! Pretty right about the title. If you're into this stuff you'll probably love the book.

enjoyed it.......2007-05-08

Was good book i also read bulger brothers and i beleave some were in between both books is truth this book was more entetaining other was lot of politics

Average customer rating: 4,000 Days: My Anti-Drug FULL of lies!!! Completely unbelieveable. Great read WORSE THAN ANY FICTIONAL HORROR STORY I'VE EVER READ!! Would be captivating if better written

4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison Warren Fellows Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail Forget You Had a Daughter Midnight Express The Damage Done: Twelve Years of Hell in a Bangkok Prison Doctor Dealer: The Rise and Fall of an All-American Boy and His Multimillion-Dollar Cocaine Empire ASIN: 0312253648

Book Description

In the late 1970s, author Warren Fellows and two of his friends had the perfect scheme: they would traffic heroin between Australia and Thailand, concealing it flawlessly in high-tech, invisible compartments in suitcases. The money was there, and the process seemed foolproof--especially because they hadn't gotten caught in all their prior attempts at smuggling. But in 1978, all that would change, and Fellows would spend the next twelve years of his life enduring violations of his human rights of unimaginable hideousness. Fellows, convicted in Thailand, spent these twelve years in Bangkok's infamous Bang Kwang prison, witnessing atrocities committed by both prison officials and his fellow inmates. He survived countless torturous beatings, was forced to eat rats, and endured solitary confinement under terrifyingly inhumane conditions. On a daily basis, Fellows also witnessed the torture and execution of those around him, their screams as common as the insects and vermin in his cell. Many of the prisoners in Bang Kwang turned to heroin--the vice that landed Fellows there in the first place--to escape their daily nightmares, and the prison guards often helped feed this deadly addiction. Fellows, now a free man, has lived to write about these twelve ghastly years. He has captured the filth, pain, anger, hopelessness, and torture of life in a Thai prison with vivid, engrossing detail and brutal honesty.

Customer Reviews:

4,000 Days: My Anti-Drug.......2006-11-22

This book is the best out of the "white person imprisoned in the Asian hellhole with tragic results" category that is practically requisite reading when you're on the Southeast Asian backpacker circuit. 4,000 Days delivers what it promises- it's an interesting read and you won't be able to get a lot of the imagery out of your head.

Mr. Fellows is obviously not the smartest cookie in the world and his writing reflects this, but I still think it's worthwhile to read this book. Especially if you have food poisoning in Cambodia or if you're thinking about smuggling opium out of Myanmar so you can afford to tighten your dreads on Khao San Road.

FULL of lies!!! Completely unbelieveable........2006-11-20

The book starts out with a horrible urban myth but set inside this prison. A prisoner is screaming in pain, they hold him still and see his skin wriggling, and out pop worms!!! Seems roaches laid eggs in his skin somehow, and we all know that baby roaches are worms, right? Puh lease. This set the stage for unbelievability. I learned that nothing was his fault, and he was a do gooder cruisading to help fellow prisoners at every turn. I threw this out after reading about half of it. I want my money back.

Great read.......2006-10-27

Although Warren Fellows book comes off as not that well written (in an english sense), his story definitely makes up for it. I worked in a prison for over a year in the US and it is so hard to believe that there are actually prisons out there that make people feel so bad. Prisons in the USA are like a luxery to stay at compared to this. His story will captivate you and you will not want to put the book down. It is a very quick read, and unfortunately it will make you want more and more (where can I get more!?!?!). Definitely check this one out. Don't smuggle drugs in Thailand...that's for sure!

WORSE THAN ANY FICTIONAL HORROR STORY I'VE EVER READ!!.......2005-05-07

I read this horrifying, ghastly memoir and couldn't get the images out of my mind! My heart broke for Warren and the other petty drug dealers who whose punishment far outweighed the crime. The agony of 4,000 days in the hellish prisons, solitary confinement, etc. is beyond imagination. This book is more shocking than anything I have read apart from a few survival stories of men & women who endured communist and/or Nazi concentration camps. Warren's story is just as absorbing, just as terrifying, and truly an incredible testimony to his courageous spirit. God bless you, Mr. Fellows, you have written more than a book, you have given the world a masterpiece of a memoir!

Would be captivating if better written.......2004-08-30

This book is, to some extent, a memoir of Warren Fellows' experience with being imprisoned in Thailand for 12 years. Mr. Fellows, a native of Australia, was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to smuggle heroin out of Thailand to Australia. During his trail and imprisonment, Mr. Fellows serves time at several different facilities in Thailand. Finally after 12 years of a life sentence, he is pardoned by the King and deported back to Australia.

The prologue of the book begins by describing a scene involving a French prisoner who had a "problem" with the local insects. The scene, which is something right out of a horror movie, is described in excellent detail, enough to make my stomach churn. However, the book went downhill fast from there. The writing in the book is below average. I did not feel that the chapters flowed together at all. While I am sure that prison life is repetitive, Mr. Fellows described how he got into drugs, 12 years in prison, and what it was like to go home in 200 pages. I expected the book to contain more detail of what a day at a Thai prison was like. However, the book seemed to concentrate more on several randomly selected stories from those 12 years.

Some of the stories in the book were atrocious. The physical and mental terror that went on in the Thai prison system was astounding. For example, in retaliation for not ratting out a prisoner, a Thai guard made a group of prisoners who were playing dice stand in a tank of sewage for hours. There are other graphic stories of mental torture, such as the guards walking circles around a blindfolded prisoner, stopping for a minute, beating the prisoner, and repeating the whole procedure for a hour.

There are a couple of scenes in the book that do not seem to add up to me. First, the author mentions the dirty water in prison and how he thought it came from the river outside. In top of it, the water intake was supposedly a short ways downstream from the sewage outlet for the prison. Coming from a first-world country as Australia, which has clean water, then being forced to drink untreated river water contaminated with sewage, I suspect that the water would have made him mighty sick (coming from personal experience). However, there is no mention of that in the book (granted it could have been left out intentionally). I found it curious that the author would mention the dirty water in detail, but leave out how sick it made him.

Also, the author described a game (though he admits he never witnessed it) where the guards would make a "ball" out of bamboo, insert a prisoner, lock the "ball", and use it to try an teach an elephant to play soccer. Eventually, the elephant would get bored, and crush the ball with the person inside. I would think it would take a long time to make a "ball" out of a material such as bamboo (which does not have a consistent thickness, thus increasing the difficulty) that would be able to hold a prisoner securely, and be able to take a few kicks from an elephant before the elephant crushes it (granted the guards could be really bored and have time on their hands). These two events could very well be possible, but I just found them suspicious.

What the author describes of prison life in Thailand is definitely inhumane. While there was a lot of physical torture, it seemed that the mental torture was what drove prisoners over the edge. The book kept me reading as I was anticipating a climax to the book that never really came. By the title of the book alone, any reader knows the ending. In the end of the book, the author talks about how no one should have to go though this. While I do have sympathy for the author, if I am scared to go to prison in a certain country, I do not commit a crime in that country, as simple as that.

The book is a quick read and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in foreign prison life. I felt the book was just average. If you are bored and need something different to read, by all means pick it up. If you are looking for a white knuckle, on the edge of your seat experience, I'd recommend something else.

Average customer rating: Roy Demeo the Gangster AND Family Man (as told by his son Albert) There's a flip side to every coin Albert Demeo Poor don't bother

For the Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life Albert Demeo Manufacturer: Broadway ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Criminals | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Murder Machine (Onyx) Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob, the Mafia's Most Violent Family Made Men (Seven Brothers) Born to the Mob: The True-Life Story of the Only Man to Work for All Five of New York's Mafia Families The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino (Berkley True Crime) ASIN: 0767906896 Release Date: 2003-09-09

Book Description

A suspenseful, emotionally charged real-life Sopranos: The son of New York's most notorious Mafia killer reveals the conflicted life he led being raised by a cold-blooded murderer, who was also a devoted family man, and the wrenching legacy of Mafia family life.

Al DeMeo will never forget the day in 1992 when a coworker, a fellow trader at the New York Stock Exchange, taunted him with a copy of the hot new book Murder Machine, chronicling the horrific criminal life of DeMeo's father, Roy, the head of the most deadly gang in organized crime. The moment sent DeMeo into a psychological tailspin: How could he have spent his life looking up to, and loving, a vicious killer?

For the Sins of My Father recounts the chilling rise and fall of the man who led the Gambino family's most fearsome killers and thieves, through the eyes of a son who had never known any other kind of life. Coming of age in an opulent Long Island house where money is abundant but its source is unclear, Al becomes Roy's confidant, sent to call in loans at age fourteen and gradually coming to understand his father's job description--loan shark, car thief, porn purveyor and, above all, murderer. But when Al is seventeen, Roy's body is found in the trunk of a car, a gangland slaying that places Al between federal prosecutors seeking his testimony and a mob crew determined to keep him quiet.

Desperate to abide by the father-son bond, but equally determined to escape his father's dangerous and doomed life, Al Demeo embarks on a courageous quest for the truth, reconciliation, and honor. With the implacable narrative drive of a thriller and the power of a painfully honest memoir, For the Sins of My Father presents a startling and unprecedented perspective on the underworld of organized crime, exposing for the first time the cruel legacy of a Mafia life.


From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Roy Demeo the Gangster AND Family Man (as told by his son Albert).......2007-08-20

Wow! If you've ever read books that involve Roy Demeo (The Ice Man, Murder Machine to name a few), you will know that his reputation is that of a ruthless, antagonistic, killer who was widely feared by many for such a reputation. However, this book is interesting in the fact that the author tell about his life with his father, Roy Demeo, as told from a son's point of view. This exposes Roy Demeo's "family Man" side, and shows how much he really did love his wife and children.

Once criticism of the book is that it has a slow start. The first few chapters are slow and a little boring, but it gets better from there.

There's a flip side to every coin.......2007-08-01

After have read Murder Machine I came over The Since of my father by accident after surfing the net...I think it's a wonderful book by Albert, that gives you the insight from a sons perspective of a mob hitman.
Murder Machine was great, but how much did they acctually "spice up" the stories??? I thought "the sins of my father" was a fantastic book, very interesting and hearthwarming. If you like me enjoy mob-books, have a big heart and haven't read this one: buy it. Don't mind the people who gives it a low rating, they were expecting Lucky Luke or something.
Great book Albert De Meo. May your father R.I.P.

Albert Demeo.......2007-07-20

We see the life of a gangster through the eyes of a young boy. A young boy who adores his father and will do anything to please him. He is slowly introduced into the workings of the Mafia. The older he gets, the more tradegy his life encounters. Very well written. My only regret was that there were not enough photos in this book.

Poor.......2007-05-19

Getting a book published merely because your daddy was a gangster is a bit of crime. Me buying it and toiling through the amateurish prose even more of a crime.

don't bother.......2007-05-07

The kid doesn't know anything about his father other then what the police knew. you can find a lot better book about Demeo

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