Having watched the film on channel 4, I had to read the book. Although, the film and book were similar, the read was just as good.
It is a true story written by an anonymous person, under the name of LorenzoCarcaterra. It is about a group of friends who enjoy hanging out, they play around, and one day a prank goes wrong. They are sentenced to a year in a boy's detention place.
Their they are subjected to the most horrific child abuse, by the prison guards, for a year they are victimized, abused, raped, and scared to go to sleep. They live in fear of the dark, scared of footsteps, scared of the dark, and scared to close their eyes.
The year they spend there, is life changing. They are scarred for life when they come out, and go on their separate lives. One becomes a lawyer, one a journalist, and two others criminals ...
Advantages: great escapist compelling read Disadvantages: not an original story
I don't normally read fiction, and can probably name all the fiction books i have read. However some years ago I read 'Sleepers' by LorenzoCarcaterra and enjoyed both the book and film. Being a member of 'World Books' I saw both this and 'street boys' on offer for £7.99 each and bought them.
I don't like fiction, I don't watch soap operas for the same reason that I would rather learn abour real life events. However I overcame my reticence and got stuck into the book.
It is essentially 2 books in one, and indeed is labeled as book 1 and book 2. The story revolves around the life of 2 people, Angelo Vestieri and a young orphan named Gabe, who throughout narrates some of the story over Angelo's deathbed. Angelo is brought over from Italy to America by his father (Paulino) forced to flee his native homeland. Starting in the year 1906 ...
The book Sleepers is an exact copy of the film, it is true story and very horrific at parts underlying systematic physical and sexual abuse condemned to four friends who are sent to a boys prison called the Wilkinson home for boys after a prank goes horribly wrong.
It is to change their young lives and after their twelve months at the home, their lives will never ever be the same. Lorenzo, Michael, john and Tommy were best friends and hung out together and lived near by in the deprived part of New York. The Wilkinson Home for boys changes their lives in the worst possible way it can, they are subjected to violent rapes by the wardens who target them as a source of inhumane entertainment.
Each occasion is described in the book, and when you read it, it makes you sick, angry, that people of authority were abusing their position to ...
