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laurpar 's review for:
Be Frank with Me
by Julia Claiborne Johnson
Alice Whitley, an ambitious publishing assistant, has just been tasked with her hardest job yet: helping the reclusive best-selling one-hit-wonder M. M. Banning publish the follow-up novel she has been putting-off for decades. Her job description is intense: she must be part housekeeper, part secretary, part babysitter, part chef, and part chauffeur. What that translates to in reality is keeping Frank happy and sane.
Frank is an eccentric child who dresses in costume every day, watches classic films on repeat, is full of random facts, and is prone to fits. He is definitely autistic, though it is not expressly stated, and I think Johnson does a good job describing the condition to those who may not be very familiar with it. M. M. Banning herself is not the simplest person to get along with, as Alice soon realizes. From refusing to remember Alice’s name to being a distant, disinterested parent, to her own furious fits, Banning is a hard woman for Alice to work with. Alice has her work cut out for her.
This book reminded me of the quirky writing style of Maria Semple a-la Where’d You Go, Bernadette. The characters were interesting and made me want to read more about them. The story line was simple, but as a character-driven novel, it was still intriguing. While I enjoyed the book for the most part, I found it excessively cheesy at times and wasn’t a big fan of the characters at different parts of my read. It would probably make a great book club choice, though, and all-in-all, I’m left with mostly positive feelings about my read.
Frank is an eccentric child who dresses in costume every day, watches classic films on repeat, is full of random facts, and is prone to fits. He is definitely autistic, though it is not expressly stated, and I think Johnson does a good job describing the condition to those who may not be very familiar with it. M. M. Banning herself is not the simplest person to get along with, as Alice soon realizes. From refusing to remember Alice’s name to being a distant, disinterested parent, to her own furious fits, Banning is a hard woman for Alice to work with. Alice has her work cut out for her.
This book reminded me of the quirky writing style of Maria Semple a-la Where’d You Go, Bernadette. The characters were interesting and made me want to read more about them. The story line was simple, but as a character-driven novel, it was still intriguing. While I enjoyed the book for the most part, I found it excessively cheesy at times and wasn’t a big fan of the characters at different parts of my read. It would probably make a great book club choice, though, and all-in-all, I’m left with mostly positive feelings about my read.