Hurricane: The Life of Rubin Carter, Fighter

An existing reviewer taint's this book as "boring". I can only believe this was concluded by someone whose literary intellect stretches only as far as comics. That said, if you're searching for a simply worded `two-syllable only' short account of Rubin Carter's life look it up on the Internet. For those of you who would prefer a detailed, extremely well researched (and well written) explanation of the `Hurricane's' tale, then look no further.

Better than the Canadians book (1/1 people found this helpful)

Hirsch at least did his homework on Carter, but still fails to present the story as accurately as he could, with a bit too much licence being given at times to events surrounding the Lafayette Grill Murders.
There was no conspiracy against Carter, certainly no conspiracy against Artis. Carter was not any kind of civil rights activists, he was also not racist, he was just a thug and an alcoholic who had a decent right hand, a slightly glassy chin, and had made it to top 10 middleweights but was dropping down the rankings fast. But that doesnt make him a murderer, although he certainly did not help himself by being so inconsistent in his account of his whereabouts that evening or providing friends with false alibis.
Having said that, Frank Graves wanted closure on a gruesome murder, two suspects fitted the bill, in the right coloured car and right coloured skin, so every last piece of circumstantial evidence was used to ensure closure. The fact that the one of the defendants was a black boxer was irrelevent, after all the other defendant was a 20 year old college boy with no previous convictions, so forget any conspiracy rubbish. Hirsch writes well about the botched police investigation, no proper forensics were caried out, the crime scene was not properly searched or sealed, the search for witnesses was not carried out fully, the search for weapons not carried out effectively, and the two defendants were taken back to the scene of the crime for all to see, including the star witness Alfred Bello, and the other key witness Patricia Valentine, effectively placing them at the crime right in front of distressed and confused witnesses.
Hirsch does open up some interesting questions such as how well Valentine and Bello knew each other already, and whether they could have corroborated their testimony (Bello dated Valentines roommate, and could well have been to her apartment before) There is also doubts cast over Valentines testimonies, she says she was alone on the night with her son, so firstly where was her roommate with whom she'd been drinking that evening, and where was Steve, the married man she was having an affair with and who was staying with her at her apartment?
Hirsch also opens up questions regarding polygraph tests which reveal the total lack of credibility in Bello.
A useful book to gain a better understanding of the failures in the police investigation.

Carter's 22 year fight for freedom By Rahil Dhul. (3/4 people found this helpful)

Hurricane: Life of Rubin Carter, Fighter.
James S. Hirsch
In 1979, a 16 year old boy called Lezra, an African American moved over toToronto in Canada. He was invited by a group of Canadians who offered himfree education. He finally had the skills to read, so he bought anautobiography of a book called 'the sixteenth round'. As he reads the bookhe was struck by the story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter.
June 1966, two men shot 4 people and killed3 in Lafayette Grill in Paterson, New Jersey. At the time Rubin'Hurricane' Carter was living large. He was already known for hisexcellence and gratifying fights in boxing and being contender for themiddleweight belt. He was only contender because of loosing against themiddleweight champion due to racism. Carter won it and the crowd knew it!A fan of Carter's called John Artis was let to drive with Carter, but twopolice men stopped them and told them to go to the police stationimmediately. They later found themselves charged with murder for alifetime sentence for being accused of the murders of the three people inLafayette Grill.
The 'Fighter' is aninspiring and tremendous book to read, of the 22 year fight to regain his(Carter's) freedom.
When I finished reading the book I wasspeechless. It is breathtaking to read if you don't now the end of it. Butthroughout the book James Hirsch has given a balanced view to the story,and hasn't taken Carter as the main object. He has described in good handsto show the change of Carter being known for his temperament, anger andrejecting to listen to anyone in the jail with authority, to a changedperson who had feelings for others, not just himself and a person whodefeated despair.
My best character isRubin Carter. I enjoyed the struggle to try and get out of jail. Thegrammar and punctuation gets you at the tip of your seat.
Lezra is a good character who unravels the mysterious evidence beingfound. His Canadian friends and he went out of their ways to freeCarter.
The story of the Hurricaneleads celebrity support from Muhammed Ali, Jesse Jackson and Bob Dylan,using Carter in a song called 'The Hurricane' to appeal against the crimeCarter never committed. The bittersweet story ends in a great andremarkable way. Please read this book it is a fast flowing book that iswonderfully crafted.
Rahil Dhul

Everyone should know this story (3/3 people found this helpful)

I am giving this book 4 stars because it portrays the story of what happened to an innocent man which only happened because of white America's racism which wasnt addressed soon enough. The best part of this book is Carter's determination and refusal to give up on what he knows was the truth. The book did grow a little boring but Carter's conviction and strength of mind are reason alone to read the book. If we all had his perserverance and attitude then there would probably be no povety, disease or world hunger! His story should be required reading in all schools in the world as a testerment to the human spirit and also to how fear of difference can drive people to such lengths as the police officers and courts in this case. If a certain police force in New Jersey had put the same amount of effort into catching real criminals as they put into victimising Carter then New Jersey would be the safest place on earth!

A story not to be forgotten...but boring as heck (5/11 people found this helpful)

I have read many books related to boxing and racial injustice. I also heard about Hurrican through Bob Dylan's song. The release of the movie made me go out and get the book.

As far as books go, this is not written very well and doesnt hold one's imagination too long. If you've read The Night Train by Nick Torsche and found that boring than avoid this one. Its just as boring...perhaps less. I barely finished it i was that bored.

Hurricane: The Life of Rubin Carter, Fighter

James Hirsch

Reader Reviews:

Well written, thought-provoking insite (0/0 people found this helpful)

Better than the Canadians book (1/1 people found this helpful)

Carter's 22 year fight for freedom By Rahil Dhul. (3/4 people found this helpful)

Everyone should know this story (3/3 people found this helpful)

A story not to be forgotten...but boring as heck (5/11 people found this helpful)

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