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saidtheraina's review
3.0
Tells short stories about a series of ten people who convinced the world they were someone else for a time.
The author takes great pains to get at the motivations of the protagonists in these stories. He tells the stories in second person ("You are a fibber."). This makes the reader get into the characters heads in a more direct way than most nonfiction. I was anticipating this form to become annoying, but it didn't really. Only in the afterword, where the author writes second person about himself. That got over the top. But for most of it, it gives things a sense of immediacy.
Interesting stories, most of which I hadn't heard before. Lots of great examples of disadvantaged peoples needing to pretend to be another race/class/gender to survive. And a great story of a kid who just wanted to drive a train...
The author takes great pains to get at the motivations of the protagonists in these stories. He tells the stories in second person ("You are a fibber."). This makes the reader get into the characters heads in a more direct way than most nonfiction. I was anticipating this form to become annoying, but it didn't really. Only in the afterword, where the author writes second person about himself. That got over the top. But for most of it, it gives things a sense of immediacy.
Interesting stories, most of which I hadn't heard before. Lots of great examples of disadvantaged peoples needing to pretend to be another race/class/gender to survive. And a great story of a kid who just wanted to drive a train...
heatherhira's review
2.0
The premise of this book is simple enough and I found the cursory level of detail enough to learn a bit about the topic.
The style of writing, though, drove me nuts. It's all written in second person, as if to the subject of each section. This was not only confusing but annoying to try and figure out what was opinion and what was fact. I appreciate the quirkiness of presenting information this way but it's not my favorite.
The style of writing, though, drove me nuts. It's all written in second person, as if to the subject of each section. This was not only confusing but annoying to try and figure out what was opinion and what was fact. I appreciate the quirkiness of presenting information this way but it's not my favorite.
plaidpladd's review
1.0
The second person narration is TERRIBLE. It's so incredibly distracting, which is too bad because some of the stories could have been interesting.
pwbalto's review
4.0
Can I See Your I.D.?: True Stories of False Identities presents ten deceivers - teenagers, adults, men and women - some playing for keeps and some just trying on a life as someone else. Some of them are criminals and some are embroiled in desperate schemes to save their lives or liberty.
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2011/04/can-i-see-your-id-chris-barton-review.html
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2011/04/can-i-see-your-id-chris-barton-review.html
hollowspine's review
3.0
A neat collection of ten true stories of deception. Some of which I'd heard of before, and a couple new to me. The aspect of this book that struck me the most was the way the author chose to present the stories. Rather than just giving the information, and telling the stories as a narrator, Barton pulls readers into the story; by using "You," in describing the characters and their stories he lets the reader momentarily don a disguise of their own and put themselves into the identity of another.
One of the main questions of the book was, "Who are You," which was clever and worked well with the stories he chose. You could be anyone, from a boy obsessed with trains to a couple running to freedom. What is your disguise? At the end of the book the reader even gets to play at being Barton himself.
A thought-provoking, if brief, book.
One of the main questions of the book was, "Who are You," which was clever and worked well with the stories he chose. You could be anyone, from a boy obsessed with trains to a couple running to freedom. What is your disguise? At the end of the book the reader even gets to play at being Barton himself.
A thought-provoking, if brief, book.
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