Review of Can I Be Frank?

XtarZeeKim 6060 · Post by **XtarZeeKim 6060** » 01 Apr 2022, 23:32

[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 by Rob Wyatt is a comedy fiction centered around the life of a priest named Francis. He is sent by the Catholic church in England to serve in his own parish in the United States of America. From the moment Father Francis descends from his flight, it becomes one drama after another. Incidentally, Father Francis is named after his new chapel: Saint Francis of Assisi Church in Florida. The land is green but there are also green snakes in the grass. Father Francis finds a friend in Father William, Bill and he is greatly assisted and comforted by the efficiency and dedication of Martha, the Parish Administrator. However, doing the work of God is not an easy task and Father Francis soon finds himself at odds with Gene Charmois, fending off affection from Gene's wife Carly Charmois and losing his congregation. In the midst of all his troubles, he would find support in the most unlikely places. Father Francis’ adventures will plunge the reader into fits of laughter, bouts of sympathy and wrap it up nicely with a touch of admiration.

One of the beautiful things about this book is that it fostered a realization in me that sometimes we expect perfection from people. We place them on a pedestal where we expect their decisions and actions to reflect the manifestation of expectations we have from them. Take for example Martha's obvious disdain for Father Francis at the beginning of the book when she found him drunk with Bill. Or her obvious irritation at his difficulty in handling matters as simple as getting himself dressed for his first mass, handling the phone system, using his computer and even as far as his choice in a vehicle (which was greatly influenced by Bill). It was obvious she had standards she expected him to live up to as a Parish Priest, standards he repeatedly failed to reach. But this serves to teach every one of us a lesson that no one is perfect. No one knows it all and everyone, including priests, is capable of making mistakes.

I also admired the author’s writing style. The book was written in Father Francis' point of view yet it captured every other character and every action. It felt like seeing a movie in letters.

Also, the Bible quotes at the beginning of each chapter was brilliant! They were somehow always linked to the occurrences in that chapter. For example in Chapter two when Father Francis was detained at the airport for not having a visa, the author quoted Psalms 114 verse 7 which talked about deliverance from strangers! It is quite admirable, the level of research the author must have done to find out Bible texts that fit into the scenes of all seventy chapters.

I disliked that the book appeared to convey the church to be some sort of politically governed organization which only cared about getting funding and had no concern for the souls of men like when in chapter six Father Francis talked of the parish he served at in England where the homily only talked about “the integrity of the roof” and not the salvation of men. Also, Bill's comment about the church being sponsored by people like Gene Charmois and how Father Francis should bow and scrape to Gene was off putting. And then, making light of certain virtues a priest is supposed to have like abstinence from drunkenness, depicted in Bill and Father Frank getting drunk and Father Francis’ subsequent drinking, could be offensive to people of the same vocation or faith.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and also found few errors in them. However I discovered that the pages of the book were unnumbered and this posed a difficulty in marking my progress while I read the book. For that, I rate Can I be Frank by Rob Wyatt three out of four stars.

I recommend this book to lovers of comedy specifically and generally to any reader out there looking for a good book to put a smile on their face.

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Can I Be Frank?
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Grace Alabi · Post by **Grace Alabi** » 06 Apr 2022, 18:38

I couldn't finish reading this book for technical reasons with my phone which is very painful to me. I read up to where Father Francis got his vehicle and I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter read.
You got this review right. I totally agree with your points. I was hoping that all carnality of Father Francis would be sanctified by the end of the book. Guess I will have to buy a copy to find out.