Let Me Be Frank With You

A Frank Bascombe Book

By: Richard Ford

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

A brilliant new work that returns Richard Ford to the hallowed territory that sealed his reputation as an American master: the world of Frank Bascombe, and the landscape of his celebrated novels The Sportswriter, the Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner winning Independence Day, and The Lay of the Land.

In his trio of world-acclaimed novels portraying the life of an entire American generation, Richard Ford has imagined one of the most indelible and widely discussed characters in modern literature, Frank Bascombe. Through Bascombe—protean, funny, profane, wise, often inappropriate—we’ve witnessed the aspirations, sorrows, longings, achievements and failings of an American life in the twilight of the twentieth century.

Now, in Let Me Be Frank with You, Ford reinvents Bascombe in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In four richly luminous narratives, Bascombe (and Ford) attempts to reconcile, interpret and console a world undone by calamity. It is a moving and wondrous and extremely funny odyssey through the America we live in at this moment. Ford is here again working with the maturity and brilliance of a writer at the absolute height of his powers.

Ford captures the Zeitgeist of 20th Century Middle-Aged Man

There is something about the ordinariness of Frank Bascombe that is captivating. After a few chapters you know what he’s going to think and say because you know who he is. What makes him interesting is that he’s totally unapologetic. He knows who he is. He knows the Life he’s led, the relationships he’s had and the mistakes he’s made and he’s OK with that.

Now, in his declining years, he’s got his regrets, but he’s not going to whine about them and he doesn’t ask his readers to pity him. He wants you to listen to what he’s got to say, and it’s been a pleasure to do so. Four Stars and excellent narration. Thanks.

A Really Fine Story

Liked it very much, already recommended it to a friend! I prefer the shorter story and Richard Poe is so very good as well

Laconic but oh so serious

Would you consider the audio edition of Let Me Be Frank with You to be better than the print version?

The actor's intonation helps contextualise the human being represented. Very useful for a non American.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Let Me Be Frank with You?

There are many cameo moments. Sometimes an " aside," such as the " fear of falling" passage, grabs you and totally immerses you in " Frank's" life.

What does Richard Poe bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Poe's gentle pace, not strident accent and tone of bemusement and pain are rendered most authentically.

If you could rename Let Me Be Frank with You, what would you call it?

It's perfect as it is, isn't it?

Any additional comments?

Read this if you are approaching or have already reached your next, but last phase.

Keeps your interest but doesn’t have much of a point

Ford describes his protagonist, Frank, early on as listening to Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, hearing the oboes and strings swelling up, when the piece is for brass and percussion. Oops! Ford also attempts to virtue signal via cheap shots against what were the liberals’ bogey men of the time: Romney, Ryan and the Tea Party. The results are just as flat footed and erroneous. If you can get past that, the book is amusing enough, without achieving the profundity it occasionally hopes to muster.

Bascombe is great as always

I love the Frank Bascombe books more than any other series. Just impeccably written with insight into the human cons unlike any other writer.