Catch Me If You Can

I just finished reading Catch Me If You Can, one of the Book Club options for the Fall Learning Community. Our themes are identity, gender and race. I really didn't know anything about it other than what I had heard about the movie long, long ago...which was basically that it starred Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hanks and was about a guy who had pretended to be, among other things, a commercial air pilot. Denise had chosen this one, saying it would be good for the identity category.

And she was right. This is a really good fit for the identity category as he frequently changes his identity to make a quick buck. It has much that could be said about gender too, since his pursuit of money is really motivated by his pursuit of women.

I couldn't believe some of the things he did! I won't give anything away (because I hate it when people do that!), but as I was reading, I guess I kept saying things out loud because my husband kept looking at me funny. He wasn't the only one. At one point, my son said, "Mommy, why'd you say 'wow'?"

The book raises questions about why he did what he did...and also can I trust the writing of a man who used to do all of these things? The particular book that I purchased had a Q and A with the author at the end. I was glad it did. It has his older self answering questions about his younger actions. It helped me the with the constant justification and rationalization I had seen in the book.

Anyway...an enjoyable summer read. I'm glad Denise suggested it! And now that I've read it, I'm tempted to rent the movie despite my slight dislike of Leonardo Dicaprio.