‘Let Me Be Frank with You: A Frank Bascombe Book’, by Richard Ford
Frank Bascombe resumes his negotiations with the ageing process in Richard Ford’s fine new story collection
OCTOBER 31, 2014
Review by Peter Aspden
Men are a strange breed,” concludes Frank Bascombe, the laconic protagonist of Richard Ford’s new collection of short stories. And the older they get, he might have added, the stranger they become. Is there a shrewder analyst of the middle-aged male psyche than Ford, who has already devoted three novels to Frank’s complicated negotiations with the ageing process? The four stories of Let Me Be Frank With You, taking place in the Christmas aftermath of hurricane Sandy, form a delightful postscript to those justly acclaimed works. They are funny, touching and profound.
