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

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Iwanttodie
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Joined: 21 Jul 2018, 11:50
Currently Reading: may I be frank
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Latest Review: Can I Be Frank? by Rob Wyatt

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

Post by Iwanttodie »

[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? You certainly can if you’re in the mood for almost-international-incidents at airports, vehicular mishaps, strangers in strange lands filled with volatile money-pots and their salacious wives. Wrong turns, sanctuary and… aliens? That you’ll have to read for yourself.

From the beginning the book was engaging. The humour had me laughing out loud when my reactions to funny things are usually a quiet ‘huff’ of expelled air. I adored the bumbling Priest who’s innocence always seemed to get him into one type of trouble or another. His willingness to admonish himself in times of doubt and his unwavering faith for his god were endearing indeed. His relationship with his religion was easy going and seemed very natural.

Each of the main characters had a lovely level of sass I quite enjoyed. The Church Lady was appropriately Churchy, the villain, Slimy as all get-out. The ‘Love interest’ properly ambiguous (he’s a PRIEST, guys). Where I expected the story to turn down a path I hoped it wouldn’t, Mr Wyatt indulged me and went elsewhere to my delight. I very much enjoyed the alliteration and use of words even I had to look up. With gentle good nature, Mr. Wyatt picked a bit at both American and British foibles sparking many an ‘a-ha! Yes’ from me and I adored the proper use of ‘u’ in many english language words which our southern friends do not tend to do.

Mr. Wyatt’s use of deeper level descriptions made the story more engaging, bringing a much clearer picture to imagine. E.g. “Her tone heavy with irony and Marlboros” and ‘Fetid Florida Fug” - just delicious (I had to look up ‘fug’). Mr. Wyatt’s dry wit had a slight Douglas Adams influence I very much enjoyed for it’s raw sass that we usually think, but rarely say. It added a steady levity to the entire book that did not detract from the more serious scenes as one would expect that amount of levity to do. The more comedic occurrences never made their way to slapstick (thankfully), but added an excellent level of engaging silliness that matched the Priests’ innocence and, indeed, ignorance.

Technically speaking I saw very few issues of note, one slight spacing error here, one typo there, but I found the short length of many chapters interrupted the flow of the tale. Throughout I would say many of the chapters that would span a single scene could be collaborated into one solid chapter without making it much longer than some of the other sections. Page breaks could be utilized so the bible verses that introduced each chapter would not be lost as they are pertinent to each piece they proceed.

I give this work a rating of 3 out of 4. The story itself was a wonderful read (I finished it in three days!) but the choppy nature of the chapters did not suit my tastes. This one has made it to my bookshelf.

******
Can I Be Frank?
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