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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
From the looks of other reviews, I might be the only reader entirely uncharmed and unamused with Frank Bascombe and his antics. Maybe I would feel differently, if I had read the other Bascombe books and carefully awaited this finale, but "Let Me Be Frank with You" gives me no desire to spend any additional time with this protagonist. The literary canon is full of self-important men with too little respect for women and people of color. This was in no way fresh.
The fourth and final chapter in the Bascombe stories. I wouldn't say this book is better than any of the others, but the finality of the series made it hit harder than the rest. For me any great story is a long story and Ford did a good job writing his.
This is somewhat of a departure from the long, dense Bascombe trilogy; really this is four linked stories set in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Frank Bascombe is now 68, musing on the "Default Period" of his life. I was glad to read it, especially having been as immersed as I was in his inner life just a week ago, and it felt like an appropriate closure (assuming this really is the last we'll hear from him). It's not a book to become wholly absorbed in -- there isn't enough for that -- but it seemed right for a few quiet winter evenings.
Two disks in, I wasn't really feeling this book, so while I was at the library, I returned it. Maybe it was because I had not read the earlier books in the series, but I didn't get Frank Bascombe and I wasn't sure where the plot was going. Bye, Frank.
I'm a big fan of Canada, but I haven't read the other Frank Bascombe books. Now I'll have to. Wrapped up in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, this book is funny, dark and touching. Ford makes not-so-simple storytelling look easy.
This was my first Frank Bascombe book and I loved it! It's made of four chapters which almost read like four short stories--they all thematically build off each other. Lots of insights on aging with a strong sense of character in Frank.
Richard Ford knows language, can put words together in a captivating way, and observes everyday life with sometimes heart-stopping insight. And as a reader of all of the Frank Bascombe books, I needed to check in on Frank. There just wasn't enough there, which is maybe the point with an aging Frank...but the language got bogged down and the words were too showy, the stories developed too slowly, the surprises were not surprising enough. Frank, I'm happy to see that you're still around, but your narrowing worldview just didn't give me enough. Sorry man, maybe next time.
A wonderful coda to the trilogy. Manages to distill the sense of Frank Bascombe as a very dislikable man whose voice is very likable to listen to.