Customer Reviews

Escape from Fred

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
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This final chapter in the "Fred trilogy" brings our hero, preacher's kid Mark Cloud, full circle and all grown up. Having graduated from high school in the last book, Mark is ready to get to college and start over - escaping Fred, Texas, and all that's associated with it, including his identity as a PK (preacher's kid).

Things don't turn out quite the way he plans, however. While he initially finds fun, friendship, and even romance at college, his own mistakes and those of others soon destroy his carefully-constructed "new life." When another tragedy strikes back at Fred itself, Mark makes another escape, leaving everything behind and setting out on a road trip of self-discovery.

Through it all, Whittington carefully weaves in intriguing historical references from the 70s and earlier. The Beat Generation and their writings play a major role this time around, and the early growth of the Nation of Islam even plays a part. None of it feels forced, although at this point, alas, the similarities between my own upbringing here in Texas and Mark Cloud's come virtually to an end. I never did hardly any of the things he does in this book (though I did think about a few of them...). However, I feel I must say this, Mr. Whittington: Mark's new friend at college? The Captain? I knew that guy. Only he went to a different college and a different year. He has to be the same, though. No one else could talk quite like that...

The humor and spiritual questing as vital elements are unchanged from the previous two books, picking up on past threads and carrying them to satisfying conclusions (Jolene's wedding, for instance...). This whole trilogy is one of those excellent stories that demands multiple readings. In fact, it's ideal for reading aloud to a loved one.

There's not much more I can say than I've already said on the previous two books. If your tastes in reading ordinarily don't approach this kind of story, you're seriously missing out. Highly Recommended.

I received the last installment of the Fred trilogy for my birthday and started reading it that evening. As usual when faced with Brad's musings, I could not put the book down. This is bad if you get up at 5 a.m. the next morning to go to work. Laughing out loud in bed at 1 a.m. is not something I've done in a long time. My wife is ambivilent as to whether I should ever do so again.

The trials of Mark Cloud (and his creator) have always resonated with me, but Escape From Fred had several scenes that brought me to tears (even if Mark didn't respond that way). The endless questioning by each new generation is a source of irritation to us old folks. I only hope that the whippersnappers get as much guidance from us as we got from our forefathers, and foremothers.

Grief and grace, yin and yang, Muslim and Christian, Fred and Chicago.

Who could ask for anything more?

Charlie Jehlen

Escape from Fred by Brad Whittington is a powerful, moving conclusion to the Fred, Texas trilogy. Unlike other series dependent upon a recurrent character, not only does Mark Cloud mature throughout the books, but the writing and plot do as well. This book is much more story driven with Mark making some unexpected choices, but I see that as being true to life. As we get older, we focus in more on specific goals or desires, and we often leave behind friends and family. So while we don't spend much time actually in Fred, Texas in this book, Whittington does a wonderful job of making Mark grow up and face the world. I would very much like to know who the inspiration for Jolene is, partly so I can make sure I'm never even in the same state she is! I also really enjoy the exchanges between Mark and his sisters; they are hilarious with just the right touch of meanness for sibling rivalry. I happen to be reading the book of Job right now in my Bible, so reading about Mark struggling with it and through it helped me through it as well. The book was excellently written and ended the series on just the right note. The last few paragraphs are a letter of love just for the readers: perfection.

Mark Cloud, whom we first met as an eight-year-old in Brad Whittington's debut novel, WELCOME TO FRED, is all grown up now and on the other side of one of those truly life-changing experiences: the death of his pastor-father. As he sits in his father's study, memories of his own college years begin to surface. One year in particular captures his attention --- the year "the wheels came off."

It starts out as the year Mark had long anticipated, and not just out of the usual excitement about college. He is leaving home, and leaving Fred, Texas, where he always and forever would be known as the preacher's kid. College, he believes, will provide him with a level of anonymity he has never known and an opportunity to become his own person, apart from his family, apart from his church, apart from his hometown.

With his first taste of freedom, Mark becomes integrated into the lives of his suite-mates and their relentless penchant for playing practical jokes on each other and the rest of the campus. (This really got annoying after a while, especially when the pranks spilled over into the wedding night of two of the characters, but Whittington thankfully provided enough genuinely interesting and intelligent plot and character development to compensate for this overkill.) And he finds true love, in the form of a far more sensible student named Lori; compared to some of his guy friends, she is a whole lot more likable as well.

But then, the wheels. Things begin to fall apart when Mark is charged with drug possession, though he had no idea the friend he was riding with had drugs in the trunk of his car. That forces a major change in his life, a change that is followed by the greatest loss in his life to that point. Mad at God --- let's change that to furious at God --- hippie-looking Mark hits the road in search of a childhood friend. In the process, he finds much, much more.

Whittington's fans are likely to find ESCAPE FROM FRED every bit as delightful as the other novels in this three-book series about Mark. Newcomers, though, are likely to have more than a few "Huh?" moments, because there are numerous references to incidents, people and concepts mentioned in the previous two books that are never explained in this one. Though I had read and reviewed the first book, I also experienced quite a few puzzled moments since I had not read the second book in the series. Each time, my attention was distracted from the story, and that's never good.

Whittington does so many things right. He's great at dialogue, characterization, keeping the reader's interest, and those all-important technical elements of a novel. And he manages to weave in a good bit of soul-searching, Bible-questioning, and faith-doubting without feeling compelled to have God swoop in and make everything right in the twinkling of an eye. Everything wraps up nicely at the end, without it feeling contrived or unrealistic. Still, I can't help feeling that new readers of Whittington's novels are going to have quite the bewildering experience with this one.

From Preacher's kid to college man, what you see of Mark Cloud is sometimes what you get. Sometimes like in his final adventure, "Escape From Fred," you get more than you bargain for with this Fred man! What I remember is in the very beginning, young Mark at his dad's desk. Where is he going in life this time? Brad Whittington has the story, but does he just let Mark set the pace? We may be looking at life straight out of Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz," and not even know it yet.

Mark finds college, Mark finds tradition, Mark finds love, and eventually, Mark finds jail. And without really looking for it, Mark finds the perfect excuse to leave Fred and go out on his own. To look for what was? Mark isn't even sure he has a goal, but he ends up on an adventure. All he wants is answers to a life that hasn't exactly been fair.

I can't say that reading all three of the Fred books was easy for me. But I can say that they give some meaning to this life. And they certainly hit home as to what we're owed in this life and what we really deserve. Brad Whittington wasn't about to make this the easy story. He made sure there were bumps and bruises, and even times where the wind gets knocked out of you. And through it all, God never leaves you or forsakes you. In the end, I'm glad there was a picture of getting a little roughed up. Because the lessons you learn from all that are more valuable than what an easy road in life can offer.

They say that if you go to bed and aren't asleep in 30 minutes, you should go to another room and read for about 20 minutes. I would like to revise that advice by appending, "but not Brad Whittington". Whittington is the literary equivalent of potato chips -- you can't just read for 20 minutes. I started reading this on a sleepless Saturday night. I didn't nod off at church the next morning, but it was close.

"Escape from Fred" continues (and I'm crossing my fingers that it's not "concludes") the story of Mark Cloud, a Texas preacher's kid whose story starts in Welcome to Fred: A Novel and continues in Living With Fred. Having survived high school in the thriving metropolis of Fred, Texas, Mark goes on to college in this third book, which takes place in the mid-70s.

The first half of the book explores Mark's early college life, while the second half gets more personal. Not that there aren't personal elements in the first half; just that the second half dives deeper.

All three Fred books start with a present-day Mark reflecting on the life of his recently-deceased father. In this book, Mark finds a journal entry that his father made with his own definition of faith:

*** the determination to believe that which resonates in the soul, particularly when it ceases to resonate

Throughout the entire book (and to some extent, the entire series), Mark struggles to make his faith his own, not just something that he inherits from his pastor father. And Whittington goes deeper into what that means, the rubber hitting the road hard, in the second half of this book as Mark's faith is tried in ways he never dreamed.

To be honest, this stuff is occasionally raw. Not "Eddie Murphy" raw, but "filet of soul" raw (pun very much intended). Having recently been through some circumstances that have tried my faith like Mark's, I have to say that I identified very well with him. And Whittington's writing reveals that either he is the most perceptive man on the planet, or he's encountered this kind of trial himself. I am often reminded lately of Peter's words:

*** Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;

Not only are we not alone, but this is normal. (Which -- apart from God -- is a terrifying thought.)

Ya know what, though? Mark blows it. And so did I. This is where the identification really hit home.

I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that Mark eventually gets his head on straight. Not in a "... and they all lived happily ever after" kind of way; but in a real way, turning a corner, finding God there, and realizing that He was there the whole time. It's the beginning of a new phase in the journey, and at least Mark is headed in the right direction (and hopefully I am, too).

At the end of the day, this is a story. And it is quite entertaining, particularly looking back at fond and goofy memories of early college life, including the eponymous (at least to this review) "boy named Phyllis" (and you thought Johnny Cash's "Sue" had it bad). But if you come away from Escape from Fred *only* entertained, I'd worry.

"Passion." "Honesty." "Truth" with a capital "T". These are what I found in "Escape from Fred". I was looking for entertainment and I found transcendence.

When I picked it up off my dad's bookshelf, I was just looking for a pleasant story to while away a winter afternoon. What I left with, after reading it through cover-to-cover, was something unforgettable and real. If "Escape from Fred" is not nominated for some sort of major award, then there is no justice in the literary world.

In the person of Mark Cloud, Brad Whittington has created a character of depth, passion and honesty. Anyone who has struggled with issues of faith and loss will recognize the confusing mixture of hope and fear that Mark struggles through. But Mark is darned likable, too. You will genuinely care about Mark, and will, (unless you are some sort of zombie), see a little of yourself in him.

The book succeeds on several levels:

As sheer story, it is very entertaining. I literally could not put it down.

As literature, Whittington hits a homerun where few authors even dare to come to the plate. He captures the essence of what it feels like to be truly human, with all our jumbled experiences of love and loss, hope and despair, faith and doubt, but he never allows the story to become maudlin or preachy. An impressive feat, indeed.

In other words, "Escape from Fred" pulses with raw honesty, real emotion and believable "answers", (if answers can be found).

Recommended with passion and without reservation.

Without the benefit of reading the entire series, I found much to like in Mr. Whittington's Fred.

I will be reading more of Mr. Whittington's books. In Escape, he stages the struggle of father's faith vs. son's beliefs a wrestling match worthy of a front row seat.

An excellent, entertaining read. Laugh out loud funny in spots, achingly painful in others.

If you struggle with faith issues, or with understanding why painful things happen to nice people, this work of fiction may very well be a soothing escape.

Book three of the Fred trilogy. Mark Cloud escapes from Fred to enter college. He hangs out with the wrong crowd, though. Lots of shenanigans ensue - very funny scenes. Hysterical dialogue throughout. Events seem to conspire against him and he eventually takes to the road, hitchhiking, to see parts of the country and to get away from it all. Meets totally believable but wildly unique and even dangerous characters. Discovers himself along the way. Eventually finds redemption. This book has it all. It's a solid conclusion to an insightful, wildly funny series. Seriously, what more could you ask for?

My wife and I've read the Fred series together, and Escape From Fred is a terrific culmination to this fantastic series. Brad Whittington has accomplished a difficult feat here, blending humor into believable events, with a theological thread of truth throughout. It's not preachy at all, as seen through the quest of a seeker, but leads a person to some valuable spiritual insights about people and about the Lord. We heartily recommend this book.
Ron & Dee Arnold
Honolulu, HI.