The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde

by Emma Parker, Jan I. Fortune (Editor), Nell Barrow Cowan

As told by Bonnie's mother and Clyde's sister, Mrs. Emma Parker and Mrs. Nell Barrow Cowan.

Genres: True Crime, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Crime

175 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Ashley Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Irrational Love
The True Story Of Bonnie And Clyde. “Some day they’ll go down together; They’ll bury them side by side; to few it’ll be grief, to the law a relief, but it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.” This is a story of how far some people will go for love!
It starts with Bonnie’s side of town. Bonnie has a job and gets married at around sixteen years old, Her husband left her because Bonnie could never go a day in her life without seeing her mother, but they never got a divorce because Bonnie promises herself that she would never fall in love with anyone ever again........ That is until she met Clyde Borrow.
This now jumps to Clyde’s side of town. Clyde was born with trouble in his blood; robbing banks, sometimes just for fun.... living his life as a runner, running from the authority's. But as a man who seemed to be running to fast to fall in love.... that all changed when he met Bonnie. That is when their paths crossed one another, and left a bullet in their souls until the day they died.
Bonnie was the sweet and innocent girl who had a good job and loved, never lied to her mom. Everything changed when Clyde came her way. Clyde even changed, he never stuck with anyone for too long, and he sure did not mind if someone went to jail instead of him. But once again, everything changed when he met Bonnie.
In the opinion of some Bonnie lost her way for love, but stuck with Clyde no matter what. Bonnie was not aware when she first met Clyde that he was a robber. Until the day she willingly chose to help with one of many to come robberies. She hated that Clyde did this, but she still loved him anyways. Bonnie got very well known for the robbery getaways with Clyde, as “Blond haired girl”. She also left her mom for months at a time before she would come back and see her. Clyde fell in love, as did Bonnie, they stuck together and never left one an other's side, even in harm’s way Clyde made sure that Bonnie was okay and safe.
This will be a fantastic book to read if you are interested in a story where people will do irrational things for love. You may also like this book if you like an odd, strange relationship of love, and you may even learn more on the meaning of staying together through the hard times as well as the good times. You might just also want to read a action, love story.
So that is why I picked this book to review.......what kind of irrational things would you do for love?

[Carmen.R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this thing that i hope one day i can find my Clyde, but not a killer. Great love story.

[Emily Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any book recounting the lives of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow is bound to be entertaining just based on the subjects themselves. What makes "The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde" unique is the personal perspective it offers. Though the book reads less like a story as many other books about them do, this one is interesting and touching because it is written by Bonnie's mother and Clyde's sister, who also included experts from letters and the diaries of the two outlaws themselves. They provide the point of view from people who personally knew and loved the couple and explained how they dealt with the choices they made. It was especially difficult to read how Mrs. Parker described Bonnie, and what she went through emotionally seeing her daughter, who she was extremely close too, follow her lovers criminal path. Everyone knows Bonnie and Clyde were bad asses, but this book made them seem much more human and venerable than the general legends do. You get a little background on who they were before they ever met, their past lovers and lives and how they felt about the decisions they made along the way. It is also a very fast, short read that will keep you entertained during the entire thing.

[Brian Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, it is the personal recollections of direct family members that makes this book a 5 star in my humble opinion. I “felt” the whole story, so much so that the end actually caused a physical reaction even though I have read so much and visited so many places related to these two.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have heard the story of Bonnie & Clyde but is different hearing from their families point of view.It is a sad story of these 2 dangerous criminals.

[valentina · Rating 4 out of 5]

pecaron, sufrieron, y pegaron el precio.
leyendas la verdad.

[Rhonda Soukup · Rating 3 out of 5]

I watched the movie about Bonnie and Clyde with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway and ofcourse found the movie to not be a true representation of the real life story. This book had accounts from Clyde's sister and Bonnie's mother about the type of life Bonnie and Clyde led as gangsters on the run. They also put in actual letters Bonnie wrote to Clyde when he was in prison and poetry that Bonnie wrote. Very interesting.

[Gary Wallis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is actually really interesting because they`ve glamorized Bonnie and Clyde so much, that the truth is quit different. These were hunted and haunted people who could never rest or be at peace. The movie is a farce. This tells the constant running and robbing to stay alive and also the endless pursuit by the police. It also tells of some of the lighter moments of people not realizing who they were and what they did when they found out who they REALLY were. It`s actually a sad story. They were totally dependant on each other but couldn`t stop what they did. Interesting read.............

[Mabel Geronimo · Rating 4 out of 5]

you can justified the actions of these people by the argument that they were a consecuence of the hard times they lived, because there's people in worse situations than them and they still keep being humble, honest and good people. So, it's not impossible, but it's true. That's the way you choose when you choose the easy way, and because that is your choose, you're the only and utterly culprit of the result.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter is fascinating especially when you consider that it really happened. Unfortunately the story doesn't flow as well as it could, as its told by Clyde's mother and Bonnie's sister rather than written by a professional writer. It would have benefited from having some of the famous pictures of the pair.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this at least 4 times. Recollections by the Parkers and Barrows. A great love story!

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fictional non-fiction book. Try "Go Down Together" by Jeff Guinn.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a fascination with B&C for ages, and even memorized Bonnie's poem for a social studies class.

[Justin Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a professional corrections officer, I find thhis book legitimately revealing of the actions, thoughts, and feelings of criminals, their families, and their friends.

[Joshua Gillespie]

The True Story of Bonnie and Clyde is a really interesting book if you like history or want to know more about Bonnie and Clyde this is the book for you. The book is told from many points of view. There is background information from Bonnie’s family and there is background information from Clyde’s family. So you get to know how they felt and if they would’ve changed something if they could’ve. There are also letters from Bonnie to Clyde and letters from Clyde to Bonnie while Clyde was in jail or hiding from the law. Therefore you can get the inside information on how Bonnie reacted to certain actions of Clyde’s. Plus you get the feeling of how Clyde felt about Bonnie. I personally like the addition of the letters because they are actual letters from of each of them and it shows how they talked/wrote and that is just something that interest me. I also like that the book has so much information on what happened to Bonnie and Clyde after their deaths. I personally don’t like to read but this book pulled me in because of how it is not all told from one person you get many different views.