Be Frank with Me

William Morrow

Be Frank with Me
Julia Claiborne Johnson
2016

The Summary
"Meet Mimi:  Reclusive literary legend.  Wrote Pulitzer- and National Book Award-winning novel at nineteen.  Hasn't been seen or heard from much since, though, ironically, she lives in a glass mansion in Bel Air.  Lost all her money in a Ponzi scheme, needs to write another novel.  So her publisher sends...

"Alice Whitley:  Editorial assistant.  Twenty-five years old.  Highly competent.  Thinks she's going to be typing up pages and delivering cups of coffee.  Instead finds that her primary job is to be companion to...

"Frank:  Mimi's nine-year-old son.  A boy with the intellect of Albert Einstein, the wardrobe of a 1930s movie star, and very little in common with his fellow fourth graders.  About to give Alice the education of her life."

The Good
I liked Be Frank with Me.

It's zany, it's original, it's a lot of fun, yet it's quietly intense and, quite honestly, heart-wrenching.  I found I quickly became involved in their lives, but, then again, I think it's easy to become wound up in Frank's story.  (It feels like Frank's story, as much as it feels like Alice's.  He's such a larger-than-life character, and he just seems to overshadow everything else.)

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Frank and Alice.  I liked the unexpectedness of their adventures, even if it sometimes led to mayhem.  However, what I liked best about Be Frank with Me was the narration.

Tavia Gilbert does a brilliant job of breathing life into the characters.  She gives Alice depth, a distinctive perkiness that shows her optimistic attitude; she captures Frank's youth and intelligence, his boyish voice and unusual monotone; she gives Zander a gravelly, masculine voice that conveys both his age and his immaturity.

I loved the way Gilbert slipped between personas.  Even when I didn't know who was speaking, I could tell which character I heard.  Gilbert makes each character singularly unique, distinguishing them by tone and accent and attitude.  She's a masterful storyteller, and I enjoyed listening to her lend her talents to Be Frank with Me.

The Bad
I'll admit, I struggled with this story.

I am Alice's age.  I could easily see myself in the same position as Alice, working as an assistant and quickly finding herself engulfed by the work--by all the tiny rules that Mimi snaps at her for not knowing, all the rules that keep Frank to freezing up or freaking out.

I mean, I felt bad for Alice:  here she is living full time in Los Angeles, essentially working as a live-in babysitter, instead of a publisher's assistant.  Not to mention, Mimi treats her poorly; Frank nearly takes off her fingers when they first meet; and Zander--well, Zander feels like just another tragedy waiting to happen.

It's comical all the crazy situations in which Alice finds herself, yet, at the same time, it's frustrating.  I mean, Alice seems like a genuinely nice person.  She might be overly excitable and she might sometimes overstep her bounds, because she wants to do a good job.  I hate the way she's treated by pretty much everyone.

And Zander.

Don't even get me started on Zander.

The Ugly
Human relationships are complicated.  They're ugly and brutal and difficult, and it's easy to see why Frank struggles with them.  I mean, fourth graders aren't exactly the nicest bunch out there and it's easy to see how Frank feels like he doesn't belong.