Portofino [Paperback]

Frank Schaeffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

Some kids told lies to be special. Calvin told lies to be normal. The son of a missionary family, he looks forward all year to summer vacation in Portofino--especially since he'll once again have the chance to see his beloved Jennifer. But even in this seductive seaside town in Italy, the Beckers can't really relax. Calvin's father could slip into a Bad Mood and start hurling potted plants at any time. His mother has an embarrassing habit of trying to convert "pagans" on the beach. And his sister keeps a ski sweater and miniature Bible in her luggage just in case the Russians invade and send them to Siberia. Dad says everything is part of God's plan. But this summer, Calvin has some plans of his own. From the author of Saving Grandma, this delightful coming-of-age novel will bring a smile of recognition to anyone who's ever been embarrassed by their parents.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A boy's attempts to enjoy an Italian vacation are undermined by his family's strict religious views in Schaeffer's coming-of-age comedy.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

From the author of The Scapeweed Goat (1989): a pleasant, low- key comedy of manners about a family of fundamentalists and their hormone-driven son who vacation each year on the Italian Riviera. Calvin Becker, ten, has been vacationing at a pensione on the Riviera with his parents ever since he turned three. Reformed Protestants, his parents bicker ceaselessly with each other while they try to reform the European Roman Catholic world. Dad had ``a highly developed sense of personal grievance,'' and Calvin, along with his mother and two sisters, spends a good deal of time trying to gauge ``Dad's Moods.'' Set during 1962-65, the novel works largely as a picaresque as Calvin explores the town, makes friends, discovers the dual pleasures of drink and female companionship (mostly innocent), and walks a thin family line between sophistry and lying. The book is vivid with the things that Calvin sees and experiences: the yachts of the ``Very Wealthy,'' snorkeling (and, eventually, getting entangled by an octopus), the sights of the large hotels on the family's waterfront strolls, and, especially, the stories of the family's Prayer Charts and Sword Drills (the Bible is their sword) and long dining-room benedictions. Finally, Calvin rebels and refuses to carry his Gospel Walnut with him. He shoots a cat with his spear-gun, adopts a family of ``sadly lost Roman Catholics,'' and, reacting to love-interest Jennifer, begins to wonder how to hide his ``Little Thing'' when it gets hard--those tight Italian bathing suits, you know. Finally, though, after his parents discover his drinking, ``My wickedness brought the family back together.'' Sometimes contrived or predictable, but, overall, good-humored diversion: a wry coming-of-age tale with a few splendid laugh-out- loud moments. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425166945
• ISBN-13: 978-0425166949
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

New York Times best selling author of more than a dozen books Frank Schaeffer is a survivor of both polio and an evangelical/fundamentalist childhood, an acclaimed writer who overcame severe dyslexia, a home-schooled and self-taught documentary movie director, a feature film director and producer of four low budget Hollywood features Frank has described as "pretty terrible," and a best selling author of both fiction and nonfiction. Frank's three semi-biographical novels about growing up in a fundamentalist mission: "Portofino," "Zermatt" and "Saving Grandma" have a worldwide following and have been translated into nine languages. Jane Smiley writing in the Washington Post (7/10/11) says this of Frank's memoirs "Crazy For God" and "Sex, Mom and God": "[Schaeffer's] memoirs have a way of winning a reader's friendship...Schaeffer is a good memoirist, smart and often laugh-out-loud funny...Frank seems to have been born irreverent, but his memoirs have a serious purpose, and that is to expose the insanity and the corruption of what has become a powerful and frightening force in American politics... Frank has been straightforward and entertaining in his campaign to right the political wrongs he regrets committing in the 1970s and '80s...As someone who has made redemption his work, he has, in fact, shown amazing grace."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo for "Portofino"!, May 4, 2002

By 

Tom Hinkle (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Portofino (Paperback)

Frank Schaeffer proves his skill as a storyteller in the coming-of-age novel "Portofino." This often hilarious tale revolves around the son of fundamentalist missionaries to Switzerland on annual family vacation in Italy. There is a lot of humor here, with an undercurrent of fear (father's "moods") and even, in one instance, cruelty. The boy, Calvin, tries to be normal in the face of his family's evangelical quirkiness, proving that "correct doctrine" does not preclude dysfunctionality. Some conservative Christians (a group of which I consider myself a part) may be offended, but only if they take themselves too seriously. The sexual euphemisms, the excessive "Thees and Thous" used in prayer (especially by the long-winded, super-spiritual mother), the splitting and resplitting of a denomination due to doctrinal hair-splitting (do they follow Hodge or Warfield?), and especially the infamous "Gospel Walnut" I found very humorous, probably from recognition as much as anything else.

With Schaeffer, it is fairly well known that he is the son of conservative Christian icons Francis and Edith Schaeffer, and that he has turned his back on his strict Calvinist upbringing and embraced Eastern Orthodoxy. Are Calvin's parents in the book Francis and Edith themselves, or just people based on them? I really don't know, but I'll give Francis and Edith the benefit of the doubt, and just say that Frank Schaeffer has given the world a terrific novel with excellent characterizations. Highly recommended.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining story!, July 20, 2000

By 

gtigrl "gtigrl" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Portofino (Paperback)

If you're looking for a humorous and effortless read, this is the book for you. Portofino is about a religious family and their summer vacations in Italy. Being a non-religious individual, I sometimes felt the Mother's prayers were a wee bit too long, but the main character, Calvin, made those pages easy to tolerate. Calvin, a young boy, just wants to go out and hang with his vacation-time girlfriend. His family often embarasses him with their "wittnessing" and long mealtime prayers. Calvin hangs with an Italian family and is friends with a local Gay artist who gets the young boy drunk. I couldn't stand his sisters, but they were perfect members for the family the author has designed for us. An interesting twist is thrown in having to do with his Mother! You'll be surprised! I often found myself laughing outloud and can't wait to read Saving Grandma. I wonder if the movie for Portofino is really ever going to be released?

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The new Huck Finn is Calvin Becker!, December 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Portofino (Paperback)

Portofino was given to me by a friend. I missed a meeting because I stayed in my hotel room reading this book, unable to put it down. Portofino comes as close to being the most perfect novel I've read. It is ceryainly the funniest book I have read in years. I bought the sequal, Saving Grandma with a great sense of relief because the only thing I didn't like about Portofino was that it ended too soon. The two books taken together are not only a great comming of age saga but the best commentary on growing up in a religious family I've ever read. The women in our reading group all agree that these two books are the best we've read together. The generated the best discussions about life and the loudest laughs. I've gone broke giving out copies of Frank schaeffer's books.