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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
3.5 stars. Entertaining and funny! I want to be friends with Frank.
This was such fun to read. A Harper Lee-like author (reclusive, one book now taught in all classrooms) loses her money to bad investments and must right a new book to pay the bills. Her publisher sends Alice to help her out while she writes, which job turns out to be Taking Care of Frank.
This book has an intelligent quirkiness very like Where'd you go Bernadette? Hm... disappearing mothers in both. 10-year-old Frank is a splendid character, totally believable and one-of-a-kind. Not precoci0us, thank goodness, but original and different and very high maintenance. A delightful read.
This book has an intelligent quirkiness very like Where'd you go Bernadette? Hm... disappearing mothers in both. 10-year-old Frank is a splendid character, totally believable and one-of-a-kind. Not precoci0us, thank goodness, but original and different and very high maintenance. A delightful read.
A really sweet book about a unique boy named Frank, his novelist mother, their friend/handyman, and the nanny who observes it all. The underlying theme of mental/emotional health carries the plot along, and helps the narrator/nanny grow. A very enjoyable read!
Probably more of a 3.5 - for those who liked One in a Million Boy. For a debut novel the author does a great job moving the pace and instilling humor. It was annoying that Frank obviously has Asperger's but the author specifically avoids the topic (I read an interview that she did this on purpose.)
Also annoying is that descriptions about the book talk about the reclusive M. M. Banning writing her novel and the publishing assistant who is the main character - this very flimsy shell only amounts to about 15% of Be Frank with Me. You never even get a plotline as to what Banning has written. The title is a much more apt descriptor. Know that you are reading about a precocious nine year-old, not a book about writing or publishing.
Also annoying is that descriptions about the book talk about the reclusive M. M. Banning writing her novel and the publishing assistant who is the main character - this very flimsy shell only amounts to about 15% of Be Frank with Me. You never even get a plotline as to what Banning has written. The title is a much more apt descriptor. Know that you are reading about a precocious nine year-old, not a book about writing or publishing.
i loved Frank and Mimi's story, and Frank was a fantastic little boy. however, and perhaps this was intentional because she was merely the vehicle for telling the real story, I felt no connection whatsoever to the narrator and found her to be completely one-dimensional: no friends, no living family, no hobbies, etc. but the writng was smart and the pacing was perfect. (don't skip the author's Acknowledgements at the end!)
Delightful. Frank is a charming unique child, who would probably be diagnosed as having Aspergers, very quirky. The narrator Alice was a keen observer. The eccentric author did not grow on me, but I don't think she was supposed to as she was a recluse.
I am going to be in an emotional coma from this book for some time to come. I feel wrung dry from everything it put me through. But I adore Frank and Alice and everyone else in this book...Except for Mimi. She was a horrible wrench in an otherwise beautiful story. And the ending just ripped my heart out, but I still loved it.
This story is narrated by Alice, who is assigned to assist Mimi by Mimi's editor Mr. Vargas. Mimi wrote a huge hit when she was nineteen, and has written nothing since (think Harper Lee). Now financial woes are driving her to write another novel.
When Alice arrives at Mimi's, she finds that she will actually be more of a babysitter to Mimi's son Frank than Mimi's assistant.
Frank...oh, Frank. How do you describe Frank? Well, he's described in the book as a miniature Charlie Chaplin. With the mind of Albert Einstein, he dresses like a 1930s movie star, and evokes in those close to him equal amounts of adoration and terror. He evoked the same emotions in me. I adored Frank, but I also don't really think I would choose to have a Frank in my life. Mimi isn't kidding when she says, "My life was so much easier before I had Frank." Frank who has to have scissors and matches hidden from him. For example, one time he uses a battery and wire to start a fire when Alice can't find matches. Dear Frank, who has outbursts (sometimes violent, but always attention-getting). Frank is a handful, but he is also very endearing. Mimi is a very accommodating mother, letting Frank be Frank. She seems hard and stern, but she has a soft side with Frank. Her love for him is evident.
Alice is doing her best to keep the house running, so Mimi can focus on writing. And she's doing a pretty fine (albeit thankless) job of it until Xander shows up and throws a bit of a hitch into things.
My final word: I really liked this story. It was sweet and touching and quirky, if sad at times. Alice is a fine and reliable narrator for the story, and she has an intuition on how to handle Frank. Mimi is a tough old bird, and she ironically has a lot of walls for someone who lives in a glass house. Frank is "misunderstood". In a Procrustean world that doesn't look kindly on "different", Frank is like a spotlight in a dark room. He stands out and at times he's somewhat glaring and ostentatious. This is a quick, sweet story full of interesting characters and offbeat moments. I will most definitely be recommending this one to my book club!
4 1/2 stars
When Alice arrives at Mimi's, she finds that she will actually be more of a babysitter to Mimi's son Frank than Mimi's assistant.
Frank...oh, Frank. How do you describe Frank? Well, he's described in the book as a miniature Charlie Chaplin. With the mind of Albert Einstein, he dresses like a 1930s movie star, and evokes in those close to him equal amounts of adoration and terror. He evoked the same emotions in me. I adored Frank, but I also don't really think I would choose to have a Frank in my life. Mimi isn't kidding when she says, "My life was so much easier before I had Frank." Frank who has to have scissors and matches hidden from him. For example, one time he uses a battery and wire to start a fire when Alice can't find matches. Dear Frank, who has outbursts (sometimes violent, but always attention-getting). Frank is a handful, but he is also very endearing. Mimi is a very accommodating mother, letting Frank be Frank. She seems hard and stern, but she has a soft side with Frank. Her love for him is evident.
Alice is doing her best to keep the house running, so Mimi can focus on writing. And she's doing a pretty fine (albeit thankless) job of it until Xander shows up and throws a bit of a hitch into things.
My final word: I really liked this story. It was sweet and touching and quirky, if sad at times. Alice is a fine and reliable narrator for the story, and she has an intuition on how to handle Frank. Mimi is a tough old bird, and she ironically has a lot of walls for someone who lives in a glass house. Frank is "misunderstood". In a Procrustean world that doesn't look kindly on "different", Frank is like a spotlight in a dark room. He stands out and at times he's somewhat glaring and ostentatious. This is a quick, sweet story full of interesting characters and offbeat moments. I will most definitely be recommending this one to my book club!
4 1/2 stars
While I enjoyed the book and the plot, I found the main character and narrator, Alice, to be kind of annoying. I loved Frank. He was definitely my favorite character and the only reason I finished the book.
I found it interesting the way Frank is described. He seems to be on the autism spectrum, but the word "autism" was never mentioned nor any other type of diagnosis hinted at. He is simply "different".
At first I thought this was odd, it seemed that it might help alleviate some of the pressure off his mother, Alice, and himself if the teachers and principals at school had a medical term that helped explain some of is non-typical behaviors. Then, I realized that it's pretty cool that his is simply described as he is. He is not labeled so he never "becomes his diagnosis" he is simply Frank, and Frank is just a unique boy that's a little "different" from other kids his age and twice as smart as any adult.
I found it interesting the way Frank is described. He seems to be on the autism spectrum, but the word "autism" was never mentioned nor any other type of diagnosis hinted at. He is simply "different".
At first I thought this was odd, it seemed that it might help alleviate some of the pressure off his mother, Alice, and himself if the teachers and principals at school had a medical term that helped explain some of is non-typical behaviors. Then, I realized that it's pretty cool that his is simply described as he is. He is not labeled so he never "becomes his diagnosis" he is simply Frank, and Frank is just a unique boy that's a little "different" from other kids his age and twice as smart as any adult.