Review by Bookybug -- Can I Be Frank? by Rob Wyatt

[Bookybug]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Can I Be Frank?" by Rob Wyatt.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Can I Be Frank? is a factious novel with bias towards the religious side and is well versed with tons of humour in it. The author of the book Rob Wyatt has presented the series of events in a stylish, creative and very light manner. The title of the book suits the story which is loaded with jovial incidents about a new place and its culture, doubt of faith, and challenges with laughter along the way as the young priest take on to his new venture miles away from home.

The book opens up with the usual security check at the airport but ends up with confusion as the flight of the young priest’s from England lands in America. Father Francis Gold, the young parish priest was always known to have a shadow of disasters and chaos tagged to him in whatever he did, even as he trained to become a priest. He would set on fire, tipped, ripped or knocked over things causing injury to both him and at times to people around him. This made his superiors to train themselves more on forgiveness as well as to remain calm in a hilarious way.

Father Francis on the other hand a simple minded man would rather prefer to be known as Frank since that would set him apart from Saint Francis. He nervously sets out in America holding his vile suitcase, bloated, purple and shredded which was bought and packed by his mother and feeling homesick. He was received by Father Bill from the airport who was rather dressed like a teenager (though his appearance was of sixties) with a red and orange Hawaiian shirt decorated with pineapples failing to hide his large beer belly.

As he got accustomed to the new lifestyle of an American and to his new place and status everything seemed to be going well without any catastrophe until the day he became the owner of a mopar. It created a comical rift between the priest and the Charmois who were powerful and wield immense influence around the locality, and not just in the diocese, and to top it off they were the biggest contributors of the Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. At the same time,the young priest witnesses the presence of aliens on a foggy night in the orange grove. Will the priest be able to maintain the church without its contributors? Can he bring back his parishioners to the church? Who were the short people with large head and big beady eyes who abducted him on the misty night he lost his way? Will he be sent back to England for all the chaos?

I have thoroughly enjoyed the book . This novel was a fun change from the other serious novels I have read so far. It was so full of laughter. One interesting point I noted about the book was that there were Bible verses for every chapter giving a new approach towards reading the Bible . I even found it very inspiring and it has somehow increased my faith in a way as well.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars since I feel that the story will be more likely loved by those who are Catholics or have some knowledge about how the mass are celebrated and the roles played by the priests. This is a very light book, I highly recommend to those who wants to read a light story while travelling or taking a day off and reading it in the park. It is definitely not for those who gets bored easily reading stories regarding religious books or is looking for thrills in the story.

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Can I Be Frank?
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