Education of a Felon: A Memoir

by Edward Bunker

Book Overview

In E ducation of a Felon , the reigning champion of prison novelists finally tells his own story. The son of an alcoholic stagehand father and a Busby Berkeley chorus girl, Bunker was - at seventeen - the youngest inmate ever in San Quentin. His hard-won experiences on L.A.'s meanest streets and in and out of prison gave him the material to write some of the grittiest and most affecting novels of our time.From smoking a joint in the gas chamber to...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031225315X
• ISBN13: 9780312253158
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Education of a Felon

What justice James Frey (A Million Little Pieces) did for a drug addiction and rehabilation experience, Edward Bunker exceeds with his memoir of life in jail and as a criminal but with undulated truthfulness. His prose and descriptive talents make the reader wonder how Bunker could have maintained such a delicate artfulness through years of violence and rebellion. His diction and clear interesting reproductive detailing of events, as far back as early childhood and up to the heinous race wars within San Quentin penitentiary of his late teen years, manifest and validate his true genius and talent as a brilliant writer. Bunker pushes the reader so close to the experience of jail and on the streets of Hollywood, that one almost wishes to spend a day inside the brutal prison walls, or with the heroin crazed call girls, pimps, thieves and drugs dealers of the late night. As horribly frightening and intense as the scenes are, unspeakable situations of misfortune and crime, Edwark Bunker will have you dreaming to see it, and do it all yourself.

A Fascinating Memoir!!!

This book was an excellent and interesting account of of Edward Bunker's life growing up in Los Angeles, and many different penal institutions. You can see many similarities between his real life, and his fictional work. Thge author points on many instances where prison was a different before race relations goverened friendship and loyalty behind the walls of prisons. My only criticism is thatthe author doesn't express remorse for the victim's of his crimes. He seems to express that being a thief is somehow more acceptable than violent criminals. However, the book was interesting, and hard to put down. It is a small window into a world I hope never to experience.

A Must Read!

Want to know what's like inside? Want to know what it's like to really fall between the cracks? Read this book! It's a must! Edward Bunker is a good friend, and a great writer/actor.Jay MarvinWLS RadioChicago

ONE HELL OF A READ!

Another one of those books you better not pick up--because you won't be able to put it down. Bunker pulls no punches. I don't say it's as great as No Beast So Fierce--but does it have to be? Go for it. Get it. One or the other: No Beast... or Education of a Felon. Eddie Bunker has come a long way and deserves all the praise heaped on him. Not only are you a fine writer, brother, but an artist as well.

delve into the life of crime

This book is absolutely fantastic. I personally love to read ; but for the many who don't have the patience in this t.v. world, I recomend this book enthusiactically. This will be a book that can get the young interested in reading. I found it hard to put down. I am the kind of person that likes my intertainment raw and uncensored. This book is as exciting as any hard-core movie I've seen. It has it all ; from hookers to heroine , and the pool of the hearst castle to the prison hole. This book takes you into the criminal mind from a one time criminal to the succesful novelist of today. This book is highly intertaining.