Review by Neelam Mishra -- Can I Be Frank? by Rob Wyatt
Posted: 12 Aug 2017, 04:44
[Following is a volunteer review of "Can I Be Frank?" by Rob Wyatt.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Can I be Frank? is a fiction novel by Rob Wyatt. It is said that Never judge a book by its cover but I would like to contradict this statement, specifically for this book, because the cover page gives an impression of a pleasant and mild story-line which it is. The picture of a chalice rightly expresses the ecclesial plot. Along with it, there is an image of half-cut orange which also has a significance in the story. Initially, while reading a considerable number of pages, it seemed like a light-comedy book as the protagonist innocently gets himself in funny situations and sometimes faces embarrassment, one after the other. But as I kept reading for long the main story or I should say the main struggle of the prime character began. The main theme which I extracted from this novel is that priests are human too. They make mistakes like us but what they do which we don’t is that they acknowledge their sins and pray for forgiveness.
It’s a story of a young man who chose to practice priesthood as he found it as a suitable career option. He rather likes to be called Frank instead of Father Francis. On an invitation from the Diocese of Central Florida, he travels from England to America to serve as a Priest in a Parish for one year. As it is for the first time in his life that he moved out of his city and that too to another country, he finds plenty of things fascinating. At the same time, he is concerned about making a nice impression on his Parishioners. Father Bill Williams, who is a Vicar-General of Diocese takes him under his wings and be his guide throughout. Though he also contributes to his list of embarrassing situations, yet he was all he had to count upon in a new place. Of course, there is miss Martha Moro, the Parish Administrator as well, who handles almost everything, but she is a ‘no-nonsense’ type and she is one of those in front of whom our poor Frank gets abashed. He gradually starts adapting to the new place and his work but innocently displeases the major donor of the Parish, Mr.Gene Charmois.
Frank was already advised by Bill to keep away from Charmois’s scandalous wife Carly, who never leaves an opportunity to flirt with him, while never showing any disrespect to her and Mr. Charmois. Owing to his non-greedy nature, when Frank gracefully refuses to take a generous gift from him, Charmois takes it on his ego and draws back all his support from the Parish. He spoils their meetings for the fest which they were planning and prevents any monetary support from anyone. Meanwhile, Frank gets acquainted with the plight of immigrants who work in Charmois’s orange field. Looking at their poor condition, he expresses to his fellow-parishioners that they should be the helper for them instead of being a welfare fund receiver from an egoistic businessman. He befriends a judge, Karl Mathew who has an enmity with Charmois. Amidst, the tension of low funds and upcoming fest, Frank encounters an unusual event after which his health starts deteriorating. Martha takes him to doctor Ginny Pierce, who helps him to come out of his illness and also tries to unravel the mystery of the event that led to it. Finally, Frank, Martha, Karl and Ginny work as a team to rehabilitate the poor immigrant field workers and expose the corrupt practices of Charmois.
Aa a reader, it first seems like that our protagonist has just made a career choice as a priest as he finds it suitable despite he knows nothing about the virtue of this post. But eventually, it is portrayed that he was meant to be a priest because he is the one at heart. No human is flawless, not even priests but not everyone begs for forgiveness and remembers all mistakes committed in the past like Frank does. He feels for poor, he is not demanding as long as his basic necessities are taken care of and refrain himself from getting attracted towards the physical appearance of a woman for the dignity of his job. But the most precious thing that he possess is his innocence which often gets him into trouble but as it is shown in the plot, even God helps innocents. Especially those who want to help others. His guilelessness earns him some genuine friends who stand by him during the worst of his time. To me, he first seemed like a naive young man who is not smart enough to live in America but gradually as his character unfolds, he sounds like a true gentleman who deserves all the respect. The story also talks about how some people try to control and manipulate the holy places and their servers with the power of their money just to satisfy their ego.
I am rating this book 3 out of 4 stars because neither it is a must read nor it is so bad that I won’t recommend it to anyone. Some parts I found unnecessarily too stretched for me to stay interested. It started good with some humorous situations, then gets monotonous for a while then plot starts getting interesting and the story ends in a good note. I like how the author began every chapter with a verse which has some relevance with its content. The story-line is not very binding but is a good read for passing time as the content is not intense. For not being so intriguing, some may not find it fascinating if they don’t have such taste for books. Despite all that, I would suggest this book to those who are religious by heart because this books talks about the main duty of religion, religious communities and worship places, which is, helping the needy.
******
Can I Be Frank?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Neelam Mishra's review? Post a comment saying so!
3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Can I be Frank? is a fiction novel by Rob Wyatt. It is said that Never judge a book by its cover but I would like to contradict this statement, specifically for this book, because the cover page gives an impression of a pleasant and mild story-line which it is. The picture of a chalice rightly expresses the ecclesial plot. Along with it, there is an image of half-cut orange which also has a significance in the story. Initially, while reading a considerable number of pages, it seemed like a light-comedy book as the protagonist innocently gets himself in funny situations and sometimes faces embarrassment, one after the other. But as I kept reading for long the main story or I should say the main struggle of the prime character began. The main theme which I extracted from this novel is that priests are human too. They make mistakes like us but what they do which we don’t is that they acknowledge their sins and pray for forgiveness.
It’s a story of a young man who chose to practice priesthood as he found it as a suitable career option. He rather likes to be called Frank instead of Father Francis. On an invitation from the Diocese of Central Florida, he travels from England to America to serve as a Priest in a Parish for one year. As it is for the first time in his life that he moved out of his city and that too to another country, he finds plenty of things fascinating. At the same time, he is concerned about making a nice impression on his Parishioners. Father Bill Williams, who is a Vicar-General of Diocese takes him under his wings and be his guide throughout. Though he also contributes to his list of embarrassing situations, yet he was all he had to count upon in a new place. Of course, there is miss Martha Moro, the Parish Administrator as well, who handles almost everything, but she is a ‘no-nonsense’ type and she is one of those in front of whom our poor Frank gets abashed. He gradually starts adapting to the new place and his work but innocently displeases the major donor of the Parish, Mr.Gene Charmois.
Frank was already advised by Bill to keep away from Charmois’s scandalous wife Carly, who never leaves an opportunity to flirt with him, while never showing any disrespect to her and Mr. Charmois. Owing to his non-greedy nature, when Frank gracefully refuses to take a generous gift from him, Charmois takes it on his ego and draws back all his support from the Parish. He spoils their meetings for the fest which they were planning and prevents any monetary support from anyone. Meanwhile, Frank gets acquainted with the plight of immigrants who work in Charmois’s orange field. Looking at their poor condition, he expresses to his fellow-parishioners that they should be the helper for them instead of being a welfare fund receiver from an egoistic businessman. He befriends a judge, Karl Mathew who has an enmity with Charmois. Amidst, the tension of low funds and upcoming fest, Frank encounters an unusual event after which his health starts deteriorating. Martha takes him to doctor Ginny Pierce, who helps him to come out of his illness and also tries to unravel the mystery of the event that led to it. Finally, Frank, Martha, Karl and Ginny work as a team to rehabilitate the poor immigrant field workers and expose the corrupt practices of Charmois.
Aa a reader, it first seems like that our protagonist has just made a career choice as a priest as he finds it suitable despite he knows nothing about the virtue of this post. But eventually, it is portrayed that he was meant to be a priest because he is the one at heart. No human is flawless, not even priests but not everyone begs for forgiveness and remembers all mistakes committed in the past like Frank does. He feels for poor, he is not demanding as long as his basic necessities are taken care of and refrain himself from getting attracted towards the physical appearance of a woman for the dignity of his job. But the most precious thing that he possess is his innocence which often gets him into trouble but as it is shown in the plot, even God helps innocents. Especially those who want to help others. His guilelessness earns him some genuine friends who stand by him during the worst of his time. To me, he first seemed like a naive young man who is not smart enough to live in America but gradually as his character unfolds, he sounds like a true gentleman who deserves all the respect. The story also talks about how some people try to control and manipulate the holy places and their servers with the power of their money just to satisfy their ego.
I am rating this book 3 out of 4 stars because neither it is a must read nor it is so bad that I won’t recommend it to anyone. Some parts I found unnecessarily too stretched for me to stay interested. It started good with some humorous situations, then gets monotonous for a while then plot starts getting interesting and the story ends in a good note. I like how the author began every chapter with a verse which has some relevance with its content. The story-line is not very binding but is a good read for passing time as the content is not intense. For not being so intriguing, some may not find it fascinating if they don’t have such taste for books. Despite all that, I would suggest this book to those who are religious by heart because this books talks about the main duty of religion, religious communities and worship places, which is, helping the needy.
******
Can I Be Frank?
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Neelam Mishra's review? Post a comment saying so!