Sleepers (novel)

Sleepers is a novel by the American journalist and writer Lorenzo Carcaterra with autobiographical influences. The book was published in 1995 by Ballantine Books , New York , the German edition in 1996 by Goldmann Verlag .

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In his novel, the author tells of his life and that of his three best friends, John Rilley, Thomas Marcano and Michael Sullivan.

The four young friends live in Hell's Kitchen , Manhattan , in the 1960s and spend a lot of time together. You come from a broken family and still enjoy life and feel like playing and pranking. Among their best confidants are the priest Robert "Bobby" Carillo, whose altar boy they are, and the mafioso King Benny, for whom they do smaller jobs.

One day they play a prank on a hot dog seller. Lorenzo orders a hot dog and runs away without paying. While the salesman is chasing Lorenzo, John, Michael and Thomas steal the van. Later on, there was a serious accident when the car fell down a subway staircase and met a passer-by below. In a subsequent court case, the friends are sentenced to 18 months in juvenile prison for theft in unity with bodily harm . They are transferred to the Wilkinson Boys' Home and soon experience hell there. The guards Sean Nokes, Adam Styler, Henry Addison and Ralph Ferguson lead to abuse and sexual assault on the boys, which they hide from their mentor, Father Bobby, during his visits out of fear and shame. Father Bobby, who notices broken gestures and a sudden fear of physical contact, such as hugs, in the boys, tries to encourage them to get through conversations.

1970s / 1980s: The four friends live separately from one another, but stay in contact. Lorenzo is a journalist and Michael is a public prosecutor . John and Thomas have become professional killers and founders of the "West Side Boys" gang .

One evening, John and Thomas visit a pub and run into Sean Nokes, the main person responsible for the attacks in the home. Full of vengeance, they confront Nokes and finally shoot him. The two are arrested and tried for murder. Michael learns of the arrest, takes on the case as prosecutor, and uses a sophisticated strategy to deliberately lose the case in order to save John and Thomas from conviction. With the help of Lorenzo, King Benny and Father Bobby, who after long doubts swears a perjury in court to provide an alibi for John and Thomas, he manages to denounce the real culprits in addition to the acquittal : the former guards of the Wilkinson -Heims.

background

“When I started writing 'Sleepers' I hung two long lists across my desk. On the left side all the facts were meticulously recorded, on the right everything was artfully hidden ”, says Lorenzo Carcaterra about his book.

The book became a bestseller, but it sparked heated controversy over the veracity and glorification of vigilante justice . The law enforcement agency denied that the murder trial took place. With his novel, Lorenzo Carcaterra draws attention to the dire conditions in juvenile prisons.

filming

The book was successfully filmed by Barry Levinson under the same title . The main roles were played by Kevin Bacon (as Sean Nokes), Brad Pitt (as Michael Sullivan), Robert De Niro (as Father Bobby), Dustin Hoffman (as Danny Snyder) and Jason Patric (as Lorenzo Carcaterra).