Review of Can I Be Frank?

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Hilda Nyanchama
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Review of Can I Be Frank?

Post by Hilda Nyanchama »

[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? Is a book written by Rob Wyatt. The story is about a young Catholic priest from England who gets assigned to a parish in the USA, Florida. Wyatt writes about the challenges that the priest, Frank, goes through including a culture change. Frank finds out that food in the USA is different and so is the language, for instance, he got acquainted with Spanish and American English.

Frank appears hesitant when making decisions. On one occasion, he had no say over the choice of car he would use during his stay. It was Bill, the Vicar General, who imposed his ideas of the perfect car on Frank. Bill got him a lime green monstrous car known as a Mopar. What Frank wanted was a smaller car with a less pronounced color but he ended up accepting the car anyway. There are however times in the book that Frank took strong stands, for example, refusing the offer of a new car from Gene Charmois, a famous businessman in town. Bill's advice on Frank's arrival was to keep a low profile, not to upset the parishioners or the well-wishers. Without intending to, Frank completely went against this advice and as a result, created a much-needed change in the church and the society.

The positive aspect of the book is the triumphant finish. Father Frank experienced many challenges and he second-guessed himself for every decision he took. There were even times when nobody came to celebrate the mass except for a few of his friends. He still went on to prepare and read the homily. Perhaps he was looking forward to a better future when things would return to normal. Despite his self-doubt, he did not go back on any decisions he took. He ended up winning the trust of his friends and that of his parishioners in the long run.

The other positive aspect of the book is that it highlights the relationship between money, religion, and society. Sometimes the church and the society may lose direction trying to please vile people simply because they have money. Through Frank, Bill and the parishioners realized their mistake of idolizing money instead of focusing on true religion which is showing love and respect to other human beings. Frank himself was an example of a true Christian when he helped the Mexicans by allowing them to live in the parish.

The negative aspect of the book is that it had a predictable ending. It would have been better if the ending was unpredictable. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because it has a good flow and one can learn important life lessons through it, however, the ending is predictable. I only detected one error therefore the book is well edited. I would recommend the book to people-pleasers who wish to change this habit. They will learn to stick to their decisions even when they have few supporters knowing that in the end, they will reap good results.

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Can I Be Frank?
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