Customer Reviews

Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde, The

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The family photographs, provided by Clyde's youngest sister, Marie Barrow Scoma, are the highlights of this brief, nearly journalistic account of the notorious bandits who cut a path of robbery and blood across the depression era raped southwest.

Having read the majority of material published about Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, I was disappointed that this book offered very little new information or sincere insight into their lives, deaths and motivation. E. R. Milner's "The Lives & Times of Bonnie & Clyde" still remains the epitome biography of the deadly duo. Milner confronts rumor, speculation and legend and delivers the unveiled truth. Scoma and P.W. Steele offer no justification for fact and often cushion the deadly blows dealt out by these two killers (as would be expected when a beloved family member tells the tale).

Obviously, the spotlight lingers on Clyde throughout the book, leaving the reader with much less of an insight on Bonnie than other publications have. This is unfortunate because if Clyde was the mastermind of the Barrow gang, the force behind the violence, Bonnie was the spirit which documented it in her personal writings and communication with her mother and sister (most of this missing in "Family").

Sadly enough, when the reader finishes this book, his or her mind will linger on the photographs ... the haunted look of love and desparation on the faces of the killer's mothers ... the poverty ridden historical sites connected with the duo ... and the casual, sometimes delightful, poses by two of America's most deadly yet fascinating lovers. Their images may be here within these pages, but their spirit, albeit evil, lies elsewhere.

It would be nice, with all that's been written about them so far, if someone would write a good book about Bonnie and Clyde. Unfortunately, Phillip Steele hasn't managed to do this. Slim and poorly researched, errors abound in this book to the point where one wonders if Steele interviewed Marie Barrow Scoma before or after her death. Some of the photos are even wrongly captioned. This book is so bad it's embarrassing, as bad as anything Jay Robert Nash ever did, except that his books are at least useful as paperweights or doorstops.

The legend of daredevil and obnoxious outlaws Bonnie and CLyde was not served well with this book. One would think that, having the contribution of Clyde's sister, this book would be sort of a "definitive" book about the those gangsters. No way, pal. The book is foolish.

If you've seen the movie and liked it, but wanted a little more detail and background info then you should really check out The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Phillip Steele and none other than Clyde's own sister Marie Barrow Scoma. This book really takes full advantage of Marie's first hand knowledge about her brother and runs with it. Although, if you have a problem with violence or gruesome details i would probably avoid this one. Clyde Barrow's life begins near Teleco, Texas where he spent his early years often left to the care of his older sister Nell. He and his 6 other brothers and sisters were often unintentionally neglected by their parents. Even as a young child, Clyde loved movies with outlaws like Jesse James and would imagine himself to be these outlaws for weeks after seeing the movies. His family never stayed any one place very long, and, as a result, the kids didn't attend much school. The family soon moved to West Dallas, a homeless and vagrant area. Clyde left school at age 17, and, being handy with cars and machines, he easily found work. His first crime was merely taking a few turkeys from a neighbor's yard, but not long after that he pulled his first armed robbery. Then, teaming up with his brother, Buck, and a few other friends, he robbed the Buell Lumber Company. Soon after this is when the Outlaw Gang was formed and they robbed a few more shops before getting caught. When this happened, Clyde decided to clean up his act and he opened a family gas station with his dad. Clyde met Bonnie in January of 1930. Bonnie Parker, who had just suffered a divorce, was helping a friend who had broken her arm when Clyde stopped by to visit the girl he also new. "It was apparently love at first sight for both of them." Clyde spent the night at the Parkers and must have been pretty embarrassed when police showed up with warrants for his arrest. Bonnie wrote Clyde in jail and pleaded him never to do anything like this again, but she later aided in his escape by slipping him a gun that he and an inmate used on the guard. This marks the beginning of the infamous duo known as Bonnie and Clyde. Over the next few years, the 2 partners in crime, along with various other gang members, successfully rob over 100 businesses. You probably already know or at least have heard about the dramatic finale, but just in case, I'll leave it to you to read the book. I will tell you, however, that the tragic ending involves over 200 bullet holes. This book altogether gives an in depth background to each member and has incredible action along with humor and drama. I enjoyed The Family Story of Bonnie and Clyde tremendously. Even if you haven't heard, read, or seen anything about Bonnie and Clyde, this book covers everthing from A to Z( even whether or not Clyde was homosexual)in a way that is fairly easy to follow. I would recomend this book to anyone who enjoys action and a gripping tale of love, hate, betrayal, comedy, and two wild outlaws.

I have always been intrigued by the story of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, and have looked forward to a book that provided both an accurate history of their criminal careers as well as a glimpse into who they were as people. Unfortunately, this is not a book I can recommend as meeting either of those requirements. It's clear that the author (actually, the co-author, as Clyde's late sister Marie is also credited) pursued this project with a good deal of heart. The greater is the pity, for this falls short as history, as criminology, or as a study of the two Depression era bandits. This book shows signs of being hastily produced; with greater time, it could have been a much better book.

I wanted to like this book. It was written by family of Clyde, so I thought that it might have some interesting insight into the minds of the two notorious criminals. But the book skipped from event to event without going deeper into the whys AT ALL. I did not enjoy this book one tiny little bit. I thought the writing was stilted. I thought the story lacked emotion and didn't get us involved with the characters at all. There are MUCH better books on the subject out there!

The author of this book had such an opportunity to bring a fresh perspective on Bonnie and Clyde to the reader, but instead, he just rehashed the same information that is already out about Bonnie and Clyde. I thought I would read commentary on how family members felt during Bonnie and Clyde's crime spree. I thought I would get to read what family said to each other and to the public during B & C's life and after their deaths. I imagined that they would talk about what was in Clyde's mother's diary. Fat chance! This book does none of that. Extremely disappointing.

Marie Barrow the youngest of the Barrow children decided to tell her story regarding Bonnie And Clyde and brother Buck Barrow but unfortunately she died within 60 days of meeting her co-writer at the age of 81. The result was mainly rehashed stories that I had read in other publications. Not enough of her personal story was included which I attribute to her untimely death. To bad the book did not go real deep into Marie and her families personal perspective. I feel the co-writer felt he had to complete the book with recycled stories

Why Marie Barrow thought the world needed yet another book about Bonnie and Clyde is a mystery in itself. Basically, it's 146 pages of a little sister's adulation for her big brother. The tone of the book has Marie almost reveling in her sicko sibling's accomplishments, i.e., death and destruction, and she [Marie] never seems to be without an excuse for every demonic deed. Meshed in here and there are various family photos of both the Barrows and the Parkers, turning it into a bit of a psychotic family album. I have only three words for anyone thinking of buying this book......save your money!

The author makes much hype about how good he is with history and the fact he wrote this with Clyde's youngest sister,Marie,that is until she died before the book was finished.Years ago I read the book that is accredited to Clyde's other sister:Nell and to Bonnie's mother.I say "accredited" since its publication its authorship has been challenged,but its still often quoted by writers and historically holds up well.
So I read this book with great eagerness and was very disappointed,a lot of "facts" are plain wrong,a simple check with vital stastics,or cementery records could have corrected them, even a mislabeled picture or two,We know Marie was ill but could the author not checked facts-or did he make the mistakes after she died??
There are no pics that I have not been seen elsewhere-except of the author in Marie's home with her son.
If someone has a copy-its worth a read-but don't waste your money buying a copy.