Helpful Score: 1
This is a fascinating book written by a man who was a prisoner at Alcatraz for 4 years.He describes his life of crime leading up to his being sent to "The Rock" and tells what life was like there. After his release he made a complete turnaround in his life and became a model citizen and foster parent to many children.
I bought this book on a tour of Alcatraz and it also tells about life there in general - a hard place to do time!
I bought this book on a tour of Alcatraz and it also tells about life there in general - a hard place to do time!
Helpful Score: 1
I sort of stumbled over this book through my last visit of Alcatraz. Mr. Coon was signing his book and I thought it might be a nice addition to my other books.
First of all, it's a very thin book of 144 pages and it doesn't tell much about Coon's experiences on Alcatraz. It's focus is more on why he got there and how easy it was back then to rob a bank.
144 pages are read in no time so when I got a signed copy I read it in two hours. The book isn't boring but it isn't written well either. People looking for new information's about the life on Alcatraz won't find much except maybe a few pages about the inmates pets.
Coon himself doesn't seem to be a likeable person to me. Throughout the book he always tried to sort of justify his crimes through blaming his childhood which in the end wasn't too bad. When I gave him my book for a signature he didn't say anything except that he wrote in his name, his Alcatraz number and when and how long he's been an inmate. So either he isn't the person he says he's become after he was set free or he's just sick of people asking questions about his former life. Whatever it is, I'm not really interested to know that.
The writing style is an easy one without much fuss. Interesting and a nice addition to an Alcatraz book collection as long as you don't expect too much info's about the island itself. It's just a repetition of already known occurrences and facts. Coon's experiences on Alcatraz seem to be limited as he covers maybe 30 pages about his imprisonment.
First of all, it's a very thin book of 144 pages and it doesn't tell much about Coon's experiences on Alcatraz. It's focus is more on why he got there and how easy it was back then to rob a bank.
144 pages are read in no time so when I got a signed copy I read it in two hours. The book isn't boring but it isn't written well either. People looking for new information's about the life on Alcatraz won't find much except maybe a few pages about the inmates pets.
Coon himself doesn't seem to be a likeable person to me. Throughout the book he always tried to sort of justify his crimes through blaming his childhood which in the end wasn't too bad. When I gave him my book for a signature he didn't say anything except that he wrote in his name, his Alcatraz number and when and how long he's been an inmate. So either he isn't the person he says he's become after he was set free or he's just sick of people asking questions about his former life. Whatever it is, I'm not really interested to know that.
The writing style is an easy one without much fuss. Interesting and a nice addition to an Alcatraz book collection as long as you don't expect too much info's about the island itself. It's just a repetition of already known occurrences and facts. Coon's experiences on Alcatraz seem to be limited as he covers maybe 30 pages about his imprisonment.
