Be Frank with Me

by Julia Claiborne Johnson

A funny, poignant and unforgettable novel about Frank - one of the most lovable and unusual characters you'll ever meet.

For some boys fitting in means standing out

Meet Frank - he isn't like other kids. Intrepid explorer, sartorial connoisseur; he's as strange as he is brilliant. But Frank discovers the hard way that people don't like brilliant and they hate strange. What Frank longs for - aside from a father - is a friend.

Meet Mimi - a reclusive literary legend and mother to Frank. Mimi has been holed up in her Bel Air mansion for years, keeping her secrets and hiding Frank from a cruel world. Until Alice.

Meet Alice - the level-headed young woman charged with looking after Mimi's unusual son. In so doing, Alice discovers what it really means to love someone. And she finds a part of herself she never knew was missing.

Funny, poignant and unforgettable, this novel - like Frank - is a one-off creation you'll fall in love with.

• ISBN10: 1782399208
• ISBN13: 9781782399209
• Publish Date: 3 August 2017 (first published 2 February 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Imprint: Corvus
• Edition: Main
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Frank Banning is a nine-year-old aficionado of 1940s musicals with an eccentric writer mother. When Alice comes to stay and keep an eye on Mimi whole she writes her new book, Frank is apprehensive of this stranger in his home. But with time, patience, and trust, the two become fast friends.

While it is never expressly discussed in the book, it’s clear to me that Frank Banning is somewhere on the autism scale. He’s a sweet child and extraordinarily smart, spouting facts at every turn and requiring reminders for certain social queues. His mother is ill-equipped to help him survive in the harsh world, and school is torture for him. Instead of going through traditional means for such a gifted child, Mimi squirrels him away and spends her life sheltering him and trying to make him happy. Other than his mother, the handyman Xander is the only person who young Frank can rely on.

In comes Alice. When Alice joins the Banning family, she has to learn the rules: don’t touch Frank’s things, and don’t touch Frank. As long as she follows the rules, there shouldn’t be disaster.

So while I had some fundamental issues with how the adults took care of Frank… Frank himself melted my heart. He is in many ways a young Sheldon Cooper, but far more endearing. In his top hats and tailcoats, he’s simply sensational.

I really don’t have a lot to say about Be Frank With Me. It was very much a character book, so if you don’t love the characters going in, you probably won’t enjoy the novel. I loved the characters – all of them, even grumpy, frantic Mimi – so it worked out very well for me. Despite the plot not really going anywhere – it’s more a “slice of life” thing – the pacing was good and I was never bored.

For those who enjoyed Where’d You Go Bernadette or The Rosie Project, I think Be Frank with Me is a good choice. It’s a great contemporary with great characters, perfect for a vacation read or to break a slump.

[Leigha]

A young woman, Alice, sets out to help a writer with her book, but finds herself a babysitter to Frank instead.

I picked up this audiobook during my library's Blind Date with A Book display in February. I'm torn on rating it. On one hand, I absolutely enjoyed the charming Frank. His characterization is outstanding, and the audiobook's narrator does a marvelous job bringing him to life. On the other hand, he's the only reason I'm not giving this book a lower rating.

I guess my biggest issue is with the main character, Alice. She never has a day off once arriving in Hollywood, and she is treated poorly by Mimi and Frank. Her motivations for staying for several months to "help" do not seem legit. Additionally, I never really got to know Alice. Her characterization is stunted compared to Frank and Mimi. I wanted to get to know her and root for her. Her romance with Xander pretty much summed up my thoughts of her as a character - pointless.

I ultimately feel let down. If you're interested in this book, I suggest listening to the audiobook. The narrator is absolutely fabulous, especially during the dialog exchanges between Alice and Frank. However, the rest of the story (for me at least) falls pretty flat.

tl;dr Absolutely phenomenally narrated audiobook about a charming young man and his mom's assistant.