Frank (Paperback)

~ R. M. Berry (Author) "REJOICE, DEAR Marge, I'm under way at last..." (more)
Key Phrases: Teeny Love, Frank Stein, Nanny Sharmeeka (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Frank is R.M. Berry’s "unwriting" of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It tells the story of Frank Stein, distant cousin of Gertrude, who, in revolt against southern racism, succumbs to the siren song of linguistics, inventing from language a life of his own. But in creating a new life, Frank revives an old plot, giving birth to a monstrography. Frank’s undoing is narrated by New Yorker Rob Lawton whose literary aspirations have gone south, all the way to the Everglades, where he has encountered Frank lying senseless in a john boat. Their story within a story uncovers a more literally untamed America than either could have foretold, a horroglyphic creation of mad weirdploy and hybrid TV-speak which exacts a violent revenge. Only by making an end of Frank’s creation can Rob hope to escape the conclusion plotted against him one hundred eighty years earlier by an eighteen-year-old girl.

About the Author

R.M. Berry is the author of two collections of stories, Plane Geometry and Other Affairs of the Heart, chosen by Robert Coover as winner of the 1985 Fiction Collective prize, and Dictionary of Modern Anguish (FC2). His novel, Leonardo's Horse, was selected as a New York Times "notable book" of 1998. His literary criticism has appeared in Philosophy and Literature, Narrative, Soundings, Symploke, The American Book Review, and numerous other venues. Since 2000 he has been publisher of Fiction Collective Two.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Chiasmus (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970321279
• ISBN-13: 978-0970321275
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,658,192 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A don't-miss for the meta-crowd, February 24, 2006

By	A Reader (Lafayette, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews

A demanding but terrific read about the worst case of anxiety of influence in the history of the universe. A story surrounding a story surrounding a story, all of them monsters, labors under a plot created by...Gothic...precursors...who just will not go away. In this world, there's nothing new under the sun, and a swampful of writers get written, and bitten, by bugs. It's funny, smart, funny, literate, funny, challenging, and-did I mention that it's funny? Metafiction meets Henny Youngman meets Mary Shelley-this novel is aware of itself, aware of its legacy, and aware of the ways culture does dictation. Frankly, the script R. M. Berry records is, like its precursor, one for the ages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beyond deconstruction, January 11, 2006

By	Want to Use My Mind "Belle" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

What a joy to read -- alternately funny, sad, intelligent, WICKED. In a way this novel is a classic deconstruction of Mary S's brilliant but youthful novel; but it is much more than that, since (I think) it takes on language itself as a topic. How it makes us even as we think we are using it and mastering it. I was also really turned on by the history elements, about race and class, and I actually cried a couple of times, WAY out of the ordinary for me reading a novel. Most contemporary best selling and mainstream novels are BORING and DONE TO DEATH. This is definately something different. CHIASMUS is doing things differently. I bought another of this authors books and was not disappointed.