'Sutton'
by J.R. Moehringer
I really enjoy books based on true stories and following characters that truly existed. I know this was only J.R.'s assumption of what may have happened the day the infamous Willie Sutton was released from prison (for the last time after several stints behind bars) but I thought he did a fantastic job.
The relationship that forms between the reporter, photographer and himself is one of the better parts of the story line. It shows that people thrown together in a situation with completely different backgrounds and life experiences can still impact each others lives greatly. The last portion of the story was told through Reporter's eyes but I would have really liked to have learned more about how that day resonated with Photographer as well.
I, like grandma, feel as though Willie turned to crime after attempting every viable option. Things may have turned out differently if the boys had joined the war effort but they still would have returned home to a depression if they made it back at all.
Although Willie was a criminal he was a genuinely kind man. He treated everyone with respect, even the employees of the institutions he hated, banks. Apparently that was a normal attitude towards the banking industry back then which made him sort of a vigilante. He was more famous than infamous later in his career but his childhood he was greatly ignored or sought out as his brothers' punching bags. With this sort of upbringing you would think he would be prone to violence but he wasn't, in fact he went out of his way to avoid it. He had very little reason to trust yet he was loyal to a fault.
The most fascinating storyline was that of Willie and Bess. She was the driving force behind all that he did. She was the air that he breathed and later you find that that was all she truly was.
People have so many layers to them and 'Sutton' seems to touch on them all.
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