The Whole of the Moon: Lee Duffy

Easy to read and I seriously read it from front to back in a day. I couldn't put it down!!Highly recommended book. 👌

So first off, this is not a review of Duffy's life as the author states. It is in fact a collection of 'chapters' based on the statements of people that knew him. A proper writer would form the book around the opinions of others and make reference to them in the book. It seems a very lazy way to produce a book just to regurgitate the words of others in such a verbatim style. This is not to say that the book isn't interesting an enlightening though, there are lots of crazy stories and whilst I'm sure they have been embellished over the years with a few tweaks, the general theme of Duffy's life is laid out quite well.The other underlying feeling I get is that this author idolises Duffy, it really comes across as obvious. I'm sure that he was a very tough man with a touch of mythical status about him, but he clearly committed a lot of wrongs on a lot of people and this should very much not be idolised, however much the contributors to the book were influenced by him back in the day. The town didn't have a lot going for it back then and it comes across that the area seems hellbent on creating it's own piece of folklore through fact or fiction (or a mixture of the two - which I suspect is the case with most of the memories).The story of Duffy's life is also very sad. For such a young man to pass the way he did is heartwrenching. Whatever wrongs he committed were not worthy of him being spat at and crowds cheering as he lay dying. But he himself was in control of his destiny and that was the life he chose, the path he took. Not a bad book by any means, certainly paints a picture of Duffy overall. Just don't expect anything other than a number of statements from people that knew him.

I like many others have a fascination with Lee Duffy, having heard of him when I was very young. Until now, there's been nothing of any real substance in the public domain to read about the man, and the fact there now is.. is the reason why it deserves a star. However that's where the praise ends.Mr Boyle claimed that this would be a 'balanced' book, showing the 'real' Lee Duffy, but nothing could be further from the truth. A 'balanced' book does not contain every chapter barring two to be written by friends, family and neighbours. To anyone with more than a few brain cells knocking around and an IQ higher than 50, it's obvious that 'balance' was never something the author wanted. If you didn't know any better, you could read this book and come away believing that Lee Duffy was a decent bloke who was bullied as a child and ended up getting revenge on those bullies later in life.. a hero so to speak. It's easy to come to that conclusion when the all the chapters barring two are written by people who liked him, and end 'RIP Lee' . Even the way the negative parts are written about him make his evil deeds sound somehow light hearted. 'Oh he knocked every doorman out he saw!' and 'if you were a big lad you were in trouble!'. But let's take a second to remember just how EVIL it is to brutally attack people for no reason other than for working as a doorman or for being 'big'. And that's just what's in the book.It's common knowledge that Lee Duffy was an incredibly evil human being, many people around Eston know exactly what him and his equally evil friend got upto when it came to.. let's say.. taking what didn't belong to them (and I don't mean drugs and property..) To do that kind of thing to innocent women as their boyfriends are taken for car rides around teesside by one of them, knowing full well what's happening to their woman at home at the hands of the other is just about as evil as it gets.Lee Duffy viciously assaulted many hundreds of people for no reason whatsoever, he stole people's property on the threat of violence if they did anything about it. He sucker punched people breaking many people's jaws, he terrified people because he enjoyed it, he committed gross acts of animal cruelty, he regularly stamped all over people breaking their bones.. and ask yourself, how many of these people actually WANTED to fight him in the first place? Very few, if any.The author clearly idolises Lee Duffy, even if he claims he doesn't. It's absolutely obvious by the massive inbalance in how he's chosen the people who appear in the book. The way he runs the Facebook page, it's basically the Lee Duffy fanboy page - deleting negative comments and banning those who write them. The adoration Mr Boyle has for this utterly evil man is as clear as day.This is a book for people who do NOT wish to know the true story of Lee Duffy, and for people who think hearing the same joke 'come in car 43' a million times is hilarious.It's definitely worth a read, but don't expect it to contain a massive amount of truth or anything like a balanced opinion. It's written by Lee Duffy's biggest fan, it contains very little of the misery he caused and repeats the same things over and over. 'he was bullied badly as a kid', 'he grew up and got revenge on those bullies', 'he was really hard', 'he wasn't a boxer like the papers claimed', 'he wasn't as bad as people say', 'he loved his friends and family', 'there'll never be anyone like him again', 'he was my friend - RIP Lee'. Times 30.Maybe one day a TRULY accurate book about him will be written, but it certainly won't be from this author.

An absolutely captivating story. I found the writing style to be very authentic, engaging and honest. The author was able to brilliantly bring to life this complex, contradictory and charasmatic figure. Once presented with a complete picture of Lee’s life, it is hard not to feel utter empathy for him. He had the most unpleasant childhood; and the community ultimately reaped what it sowed. Lee’s later behaviour was the inevitable result of the completely inhuman treatment he experienced as a child. In additon, it is clear to deduce from the firsthand stories and with a touch of common sense, that Lee only looked for fights with blokes who could handle themselves. Lee strikes me as a modern day British Billy the Kid. Hopefully there are more books to come.

I first heard of Lee duffy from watching mcintires documentary on the tax man, I was waiting for a long time to read this book as all the reviews were amazing, I paid 30 euro including delivery but it was worth every penny, being from Dublin I've met a few headcases in my time, but this guy was a real lunatic the stories are so outlandish sometimes they are hard to believe, but I do believe them as so many tell the exact same story's. I do think Jamie seems a cool bloke and yes he is obsessed with Duffy and does glamorize him and make excuses for his often disgusting bullying behaviour, in fairness duffy is a fascinating character who's legacy has been built up probly way more than it deserves, I'd say he got beat many of times in a fair fight that we haven't heard of, but there is no doubt he was an absolute lunatic, the whole bullying thing is a cop out and all nonsense in my opinion, he had something wrong with him and by all accounts just thrived on violence and carnage he just loved hurting people to gain his reputation and install fear in everyone. Having said all that the book is amazing the end was horrible to read but not surprising in the least. I'm actually shocked he was able to do all the things he did so long and nobody took him out way before, by all accounts Middlesbrough had some tough blokes around. GREAT BOOK