BELIEF.

Advantages: SHOWS HOPE AND DISCOVER.
Disadvantages: Too sentimental for some.

...I watched this film many years ago on VHS and recently bought it on DVD, because it was a film that impressed me and stayed in my minds eye for a long time after watching it. --- As an introduction to the film, imagine that you have a child with a rare illness and you are told that there is no cure for that illness. This was the dilemna that faced a real life family and one that could happen to any family in the world, but what is remarkable about this film is the way in which the delicate subject matter of childhood illness is dealt with. It is a story of hope, a story of one woman's fight for her child, and shows how powerful motherhood can be and also how inadequate the system is when dealing with rare deseases. The story begins with Lorenzo being diagnosed at the age of 5 with a terrible illness for which there was no known...

thingywhatsit 29.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of Lorenzo's Oil (DVD)

Excellent book

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...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 Lorenzo Carcaterra. 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...

WAD1-2-3 30.05.2001 · Read review
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Review of Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

A book you will never put down

Advantages: see text
Disadvantages: -

...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...

sam123 02.04.2001 · Read review
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Review of Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Amazing, True, tearful.

Advantages: Amazing, True Story
Disadvantages: You will not get any sleep. You'll be reading and reading and..

...The first thing that appears evident about Sleepers is that it is a true story. This is determined from observation of the front. Turning to the back of the novel will then give you a taste of what this remarkable, compelling story is about. Lorenzo Carcaterra is a journalist-turned-writer. He is author of such books as ?Street Boys? and ?a safe place?. All of which, including Sleepers are based on true encounters and experiences. The fact that Sleepers is a true story makes it all that more interesting and remarkable. Before explaining the concept of the novel, I believe it would be beneficial to touch on the title- ?Sleepers?. The term is associated with criminals. Its first meaning is an out-of-town hit man who spends the night after a local contract is completed. The second definition is a juvenile sentenced to serve any...

ScottyG 09.10.2003 · Read review
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Review of Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

When Children Are Forced To Grow Up

Advantages: Very well written
Disadvantages: Extremely disturbing

...Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done On earth as it is in heaven And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not to temptation But deliver us from evil... 'Sleepers' is a true story about friendship, hope, loyalty and revenge. In 1963, Lorenzo Carcattera, Michael Sullivan, John Reilly and Tommy Marcano were four boys, best friends, who lived in one of New York's most dangerous neighbourhoods - Hell's Kitchen, sharing the joys and tears of an impoverished childhoon. To forget their woes, the boys spent their time reading (The Count of Monte Cristo being the favourite) and playing pranks. Until one day, one of their pranks backfired and the boys were sent to the Wilkinson Home for Boys. From thereon, the boys suffered twelve months...

pureblue 23.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Godfather meets Goodfellas

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 Lorenzo Carcaterra 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...

grizzlybear 15.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of Gangster - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Love / Amore

Advantages: thrilling, moving, intelligent
Disadvantages: none

...Amanda Prantera is one more name in the long list of authors of the English tongue who go to Italy, fall in love with the country and use it as the background for their literary production. 'A Note on the Author' informs us laconically, ´Amanda Prantera was born and brought up in East Anglia. She went to Italy for a brief holiday when she was twenty and has lived there ever since.´ At least we can trust her that she knows what she´s writing about! The story is told by Juliet, a young English woman, who met an Italian student, Lorenzo, at uni in Cambridge, married him and followed him back to Rome where she now lives with him and their son. Lorenzo is an engineer, the heir and head of a building company, his family belongs to the Roman High Society. BANG! The first paragraph contains the word ´bang´ three times, we are drawn into...

MALU 23.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Letter to Lorenzo - Amanda Prantera

Not one for the faint-hearted

Advantages: A very detailed story
Disadvantages: A little gritty and very violent if you can't stomach that kind of thing

......

SHERENE3 10.05.2002 (17.05.2002) · Read review
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Review of Gangster - Lorenzo Carcaterra

Thinking about it stil makes me tearful

Advantages: you'll never forget this story
Disadvantages: leaves you feeling, pessimistic, there's so much evil in this world.

......

Nevermind 11.01.2001 · Read review
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Review of Sleepers - Lorenzo Carcaterra

A Good Sci-fI Novel

Advantages: GOOD READ
Disadvantages: NOTHING

...DOUBLE STAR. Author ? Robert Heinlein I recently picked this book up from a small book seller for 60p and read it over 2 night shifts. 60p well spent. The story follows Lorenzo as an out of work actor who suddenly gets offered the acting role of his life. At first he thinks he is just being set up as a stooge or a fall guy for any lurking assassins who might want to bump off the character he has been hired to double for. But things in a Heinlein but are never predictable or that straight forward. Soon Lorenzo is visiting Mars, meeting Martians, arranging world changing events, having an audience with Willem the Royal Emperor of the known Universe, oh and yes avoiding the odd assassin. He is surrounded by an eclectic cast of friends all of whom are fighting to keep him safe and protect him from their own...

Maximus-Qualitus 18.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Double Star - Robert A. Heinlein