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A review by lit_terary
I formidabili Frank by Michael Frank
3.0
3.5?
I have such mixed feelings about this book, and I can't isolate my disappointment for it not meeting my expectations. I thought it was going to be a fun, crazy, lighthearted book (much in the vein of Patrick Dennis' "Auntie Mame"), but I was wrong. The story mainly focuses on the protagonist's experience of growing up in a dysfunctional family (and when I say 'dysfunctional' I mean it). While I usually love reading about complicated family relationships and dynamics, things got pretty heavy and bleak at times, and I was not in the mood for that. However, that is not the reason why I couldn't fall in love with this book. I would say that the main problem for me was how the author decided to structure and plot the memoir. Certain scenes felt disconnected and scattered; I don't expect a memoir to be extremely linear, but something about the development and deterioration of certain relationships didn't feel very organic. Overall, this book was a ride and a true rollercoaster of emotions, so much that it's hard to consider it a memoir at some point. [Trigger warnings for the depictions of death and loss]
I have such mixed feelings about this book, and I can't isolate my disappointment for it not meeting my expectations. I thought it was going to be a fun, crazy, lighthearted book (much in the vein of Patrick Dennis' "Auntie Mame"), but I was wrong. The story mainly focuses on the protagonist's experience of growing up in a dysfunctional family (and when I say 'dysfunctional' I mean it). While I usually love reading about complicated family relationships and dynamics, things got pretty heavy and bleak at times, and I was not in the mood for that. However, that is not the reason why I couldn't fall in love with this book. I would say that the main problem for me was how the author decided to structure and plot the memoir. Certain scenes felt disconnected and scattered; I don't expect a memoir to be extremely linear, but something about the development and deterioration of certain relationships didn't feel very organic. Overall, this book was a ride and a true rollercoaster of emotions, so much that it's hard to consider it a memoir at some point. [Trigger warnings for the depictions of death and loss]