"Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy

"Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy

Review of Book Club selection for March 

My rating: "B"

This almost 500 page novel by Maeve Binchy, an Irish author, was a pretty good read.  The book is about a lonely unmotivated alcoholic, Noel who finds out from an ex-fling (1 night stand deal) that she is pregnant with his daughter.  Only she (Stella) tells him from her death bed in the cancer unit of the hospital.  Stella asks Noel to take their daughter and raise her.  The book is about Noels journey to sobriety and adulthood as he takes on the task of raising Frainkie. 

Noel is able to accomplish this seemingly unattainable feat through a network of friends and family in the small town where he lives.  There are over 30 characters in the book so it is hard to keep everyone straight the first half of the book.  By the end, the majority of them come to conclusion and you feel like you could walk into their town and know everyone.  She does a great job giving the small town feel in the story. 

There are several major subplots which made the book become more interesting as I was initially getting bored just reading about Noel and his misery.  They introduced the character Lisa and her obsessive love with a celebrity chef Anton and that keep me intrigued through the middle of the book.  There is also a skeptical social worker who serves as the antagonist, dropping by Noel's house unannounced trying to catch him messing up.  There is Noel's cousin, Emily, who comes from the US in search of her family's Irish roots (Noel's family), and ends up breaking through the love-less family and helping them find their passions and purposes in life.  Noel's parents who are obsessed over a saint called Saint Jarleth and are determined the erect a statue in his honor.  And like 10 other contributing subplots, kinda reminded me of Steel Magnolia's with the crazy neighbors and community support feel behind it. 

At our book discussion, we saw an itunes video of Maeve talking about her book and she said she wanted readers to come out of the book with the knowledge that we can make what we want out of our lives.  In Noel's case, we can choose to live alienated from the world in a miserable stupor or we can choose to live to our full potential as he did!  It is up to us!

So, I would recommend the book if you are looking for a feel good read. The book didn't evoke any emotions from me and at our discussion we determined that we were torn about our feelings towards several of the characters. There were a couple of twists which is always nice.  I haven't read any other of Maeve's books but look forward to checking another one out!