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77th out of 122 books
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13 voters
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A Safe Place: The True Story of a Father, a Son, a Murder
"Dramatic, graphic and wrenching...The reader is left to wonder--at the devastation of Carcaterra's youth, at his survival to adulthood, and at the grace that allowed him to craft this piercing memoir."
THE WASHINGTON POST
Lorenza Carcaterra grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York in the 1950s and '60s in a confusing world of love and fear of his paradoxically violent and affect...more
THE WASHINGTON POST
Lorenza Carcaterra grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York in the 1950s and '60s in a confusing world of love and fear of his paradoxically violent and affect...more
Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages
Published
September 22nd 2010
by Ballantine Books
(first published 1993)
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Safe Place is a very accurate account of the dynamics that fuel domestic violence. Lorenzo Carcaterra does an excellent job of showing the abuser as being more than just evil. His father is not a one dimensional man, but a man who would swear that he loved his wives and his children more than anything else in the world. And yet, this is not a romanticized story but a gritty, at times shocking portrayal of violence, secrets, hate, poverty and what the sins of the father really means. Ho...more
You've got to have a strong stomach to read this book. The descriptions of domestic violence in the author's house by his father are horrific. The reason I read this book was that the review said that the author was trying to break the cycle of violence in his family. Unfortunately, there wasn't much about how his life turned out, but was primarily about his experiences growing up. A disappointment.
I really hated this book. I hated that Carcaterra chose a first person point of view and then cheated out by telling us other people's thoughts. I hated that he presented this story, his discovery as a teenager that his father had a criminal past, as a life-altering event. Yet if one computes the timeline of Carcaterra's memoir life, the events in A Safe Place must have taken place just after he was released from a horrific stay in a juvenile facility, as depicted in Sleepers. Wouldn't that also...more
Fascinating look at how it was to grow up on the gritty streets of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Being a true-story, it adds an element of horror to the abusive life that one of my favourite authors endured during his childhood. It sets up the premise of one of my favourite books, Sleepers.
Sue Harris
added it
I really enjoyed this book, it kept me interested from beginning to end. It is his first book and it is a true story about his Life with a Violent Father living in Hell's Kitchen.
very deep...another book i could not put down...it is slower then the others i have read by him...
Toni-ann
added it
I liked it cant believe the mother stayed with the father through all that domestic abuse
Also the author of "Sleepers", which was made into a movie. Excellent read!
An unforgettable and remarkable book that is very good and will keep you gripped from page one.
Back Cover Blurb:
Before there was Sleepers, Lorenzo Carcaterra survived a very different kind of nightmare in his own home in Hell's Kitchen, New York. For behind closed doors he and his mother survived the erratic, violent outbursts of his father. A powerful father who tempered his rage with affection. To a young boy he was a man both to love and to fear. Until Lorenzo learned a ...more
Back Cover Blurb:
Before there was Sleepers, Lorenzo Carcaterra survived a very different kind of nightmare in his own home in Hell's Kitchen, New York. For behind closed doors he and his mother survived the erratic, violent outbursts of his father. A powerful father who tempered his rage with affection. To a young boy he was a man both to love and to fear. Until Lorenzo learned a ...more
This is nowhere near as good as Sleepers. But it should not put you off reading it but if you were going to read one or the other - then pick Sleepers.
I read this because of how much I liked Sleepers, which was an easier read, although this one was a "true story" rather than "based on" (e.g. used people's real names, etc.). It was good, but I haven't really felt the need to read any of Carcaterra's fiction.
Angie
marked it as to-read
"Dramatic, graphic and wrenching...The reader is left to wonder--at the devastation of Carcaterra's youth, at his survival to adulthood, and at the grace that allowed him to craft this piercing memoir."
THE WASHINGTON POST
Wouldn't that and the title intrigue ANYBODY?
THE WASHINGTON POST
Wouldn't that and the title intrigue ANYBODY?
If you've read "Sleeper" by Lorenzo Carcaterra, you have to also read this one.
Anthony
marked it as to-read
Aaugusto
is currently reading it
Jill Astmann
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