Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19165 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 282 pages

Synopsis
Bullied at school, and growing up dreaming of revenge, Mark "Chopper" Read determined to be the toughest in any company. This autobiography tells how he became a crime commando who terrorized drug dealers, pimps, thieves and armed robbers on the streets and in jail - but he boasts never to have hurt an innocent member of the public. As a streetfighter, gunman and underworld executioner, he has been earmarked for death a hundred times but has lived to tell the tale.

Customer Reviews

The luckiest criminal to ever live
The autobiography of Mark Brandon Read ‘Chopper’ gives us a unique and seldom told insight into the criminal underworld of Australia, particularly Melbourne. The story begins by an infatuation with guns, explosives and military history crossed-wired with a young child who spent a lot of time drugged up in a psychiatric rehabilitation prison. Mix two vital ingredients together and you’re left with a dangerous man.

Probably the most sought-after criminal in Australia, Chopper acquired his enemies through his friends’ enemies and from robbing the bank robbers and other similar criminals. He’s killed plentiful, but protests “I’m no murderer…I’m a garbage disposal expert” and from a certain perspective, his tales hold a strong point of view. The only men he has claimed to kill are murderers themselves, drug dealers and rapists. Any other men he has killed may well have been innocent, but Chopper was acting purely in self-defence.

Spending most of his life behind bars, Chopper inevitably made friends with other inmates and also confronted his worst enemies. Cleverly thought out antics and plots to burn down prisons are just a range of things Chopper and friends would execute in an attempt to relieve boredom and pass time. Nevertheless he claims: - “It is a madhouse in prison – and twice as bad outside,”

Packed with hilarious non-chronological stories about imbecilic big shot gangsters; Close attempts to wipe out Chopper; And a world where criminals fear Chopper over the law; this book will keep you thoroughly entertained from start to finish.

In his own words; “You can fool some of the people all of the time, And you can even fool all of the people some of the time, but in the real world of blood and guts you don’t fool Chopper Read any of the time.”

Very Disappointing
I have read stories about Chopper read in the past and have seen his excellent movie. I was hoping that this book would tell the truth about his violent past. I wanted to read how it felt to be stabbed, beaten and have your ears cut off and about the villains he caught and what he did to them to exact his revenge. Sadly the book reads more like a "who's who" of the Australian underworld almost as if he was paying homage to his foe. The first few chapters are dedicated to telling you about his friends, but this is not what you want from an autobiography is it? You want to know about the man himself and are ultimately frustrated by the lack of information.

He refuses to talk about his childhood because "it would make grown men sick". This is very disappointing since these formative years made the man who he is and it would have given the reader an excellent insight into how a person's upbringing provides the direction they will follow for the rest of their lives.

Chopper seems like a nice bloke underneath the ultra-violent façade. On occasion he opens-up and tells you things he reckons to have never told anyone before. He certainly does not glamorise his criminal past simply because he does not tell you enough about it.

This is a very disappointing autobiography that starts well but quickly becomes tedious. I am hoping that "Chopper 2" will include the material which is sorely missed from this book.

Brutally Addictive
This is an addictive read - full of anecdotes from Mark Brandon Read's notorious life and the criminal characters he has known - some alive but, unsurprisingly, most dead, many at his hands. Read decided that stealing from other criminals was the most lucrative choice in the Melbourne underworld but also made him the deadliest enemies. With the odds against him it is amazing Read is alive today and his book gives an insight into how he has survived murder bids and the measures he has taken to stay alive. The chapters are written in a casual narrative with no real chronology: stories of his childhood in gangs, his prison exploits and attitudes to his experiences are peppered throughout.
I couldn't help but find Read likable, especially as he boasts never to have hurt any innocent person. Chopper is enjoyable and offers an insight into the Melbourne underworld of the past few decades but is brutal and stomach turning in places - don't read this book before bedtime - it may well give you nightmares.