Stanley N. AlpertGenre: Memoir
Published: 2007
Personal Rating: 3.75/5
Yearly Count: 54
Stanley Alpert describes, in detail, his ordeal of being kidnapped near his apartment in Greenwich Village by a group who set out to only steal his ATM card and PIN number.
Stanley's story is one that I never want to experience and he does a great job of explaining the details of all that happened to him. However, maybe I have a distorted view because I read a lot of suspense novels, but I found it to be lacking in oomph. Just the thought of being kidnapped arouses anxiety in me and I didn't feel any major fear from him throughout the whole episode. Yes, thankfully for his sake, he remained calm, which contributed to his survival, but for a written memoir I would have thought he would have chosen words that would instill a sense of fear or make it more suspenseful. He literally just wrote what happened. By no means am I suggesting that he embellish his story, but I think the manner in which it was told could have been more exciting.
I had to laugh when I read your note about embellishing because I was having the same thought while reading your review. Too bad it didn't grab you--sounds like it could be an intense story. I haven't heard of this one.
ReplyDeleteTrish ~ I actually thought of you and your last book review when I wrote that! :) Since posting my thoughts I have read other people's reviews and many people have said that maybe he should have written it in third person. There's just something amiss. They also express their dislike of him because he sounds arrogant.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read the book (though I now want to) so I can't really judge, but it seems to me that unless this fellow is an idiot or arrogant to the point of ridiculousness, he must have felt real fear. It does sound a shame that he didn't share that part of the experience as well.
ReplyDeleteDebi ~ I think Stanley must have channeled his fear into purposeful thinking. He is a lawyer so his mindset has been trained (if not naturally so) to focus on details. I can really understand that part of his survival.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand as much is if you're going to write your experience, why not make it the best it can be. Ya know, I'm just the reader and was expecting some ooohs and aaaahs. He may think that's what he did or his focus is from a lawyer's perspective - just pointing out the details as they happened and how the police force was grand. ???
This is a time when a book club would be good. My husband is reading it now, so at least we can talk more in depth when he's done. :)
I've seen 4 reviews of this book while bloghopping today! It's on my TBR list for the In Their Shoes challenge.
ReplyDeleteCallista ~ Where have you been hopping? I haven't seen any! My comment above refers to some reviews on GoodReads. I read it for the In Their Shoes Challenge, as well.
ReplyDelete