Customer Reviews

Welcome to Fred

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A phenomenal read. Great humor. Great writing. And a terrific, nostalgic walk down memory lane. Just like Mark Cloud, Christian fiction is coming of age. And Brad Whittington is providing the spark. The next logical step is to drop the "Christian author" moniker altogether and keep promoting great writers (like Mr. Whittington) who just happen to be Christian.

The quirky cover and title of this book grabbed me. The subject matter, and the witty writing, had me by the throat. I grew up as a PK (preacher's kid), so naturally I was curious to sneak a peek into another man's perspective on that awkward coming of age. With wry humor and intelligence, Brad Whittington peels back the curtain into a young man's mind, revealing friendship and female frustrations, loneliness, geekiness, and spiritual wrestlings.

Young Mark Cloud is a likeable and comedic conduit for lessons of mercy and grace. The story never preaches; it lets us see life and learn lessons through Mark's observant gaze. Sure, certain points become wordy, and yes, there are serendipitous moments that might stretch some readers credulity, but I couldn't stop reading. Some true gems of writing and life pop up through the pages of "Welcome to Fred."

With this book and "Flabbergasted," we are watching Christian fiction mature, particularly in regards to male perspective. What fresh and fun stories. What wonderful truths. Keep these books coming...They are more than welcome.

This is a book you pick up and just keep reading and reading when you have other things you really need to do. Brad Whittington takes the fish-out-of-water, coming-of-age story and spins it like a top. Great characters, great dialogue, warm story, very true to life.

Eight-year-old Mark Cloud's family moves from Fort Worth to Ohio just when California's flower children are spreading their message of peace and love throughout the country and beyond. It's a challenging time for the whole nation --- and for Mark, whose Texas upbringing did little to prepare him for the hippies he observes, the black neighbor he befriends, or the homeless woman he meets.

The woman, whom Mark dubs the Creature, makes curious and disturbing comments that keep him coming back for more. In a lucid moment, she tells him a chilling story that will have ramifications throughout his adolescence --- even after his family moves once again, this time back to Texas and the tiny community of Fred. By now, though, Mark is a preteen who has adopted the clothing style of Ohio's hippies, something that does not set well with the jeans-and-cowboy-boots crowd in his new school.

Mark makes periodic stabs at trying to fit in, even to the point of using less-than-perfect grammar. But as a PK (preacher's kid), the situation at times looks pretty hopeless, even after he converts to denim. Worst of all, he begins to question the very existence of God, placing him squarely in no-man's land, a place right smack between the world and the kingdom. The clouds part and the sun breaks through, though, when his father announces that the family will take a summer vacation to California, the Mecca of Mystical Hipness, the place where Mark is sure he'll find the answers to all those adolescent questions that plague him.

What ensues is a comedy of errors, the kind of car trip that makes participating parents ask each other, "What were we thinking?" There are the usual car problems that become unusual in a PK's world and strange encounters with even stranger people. And Mark's father's unwavering trust in the professional courtesy of one clergyman to another results in a priceless visit with "Elder Nelson." Finally, the family reaches California --- where an unlikely link to the Creature jolts Mark out of his state of spiritual uncertainty, and where he also discovers his true identity as a pale and skinny kid from East Texas.

Brad Whittington writes like he knows his stuff, and well he should --- his parents even attest to the semi-autobiographical nature of WELCOME TO FRED. His inability to fit in rings true on so many levels. Only a PK can reveal how it feels to be treated differently and to have a different set of expectations placed on you simply because of your father's (or mother's) occupation as a pastor. Only someone who has struggled with the more difficult questions of faith --- and the more difficult people of faith --- can write with such candor about one boy's efforts to come to terms with the foundations of Christian belief. And only someone who has felt like a misfit could write in such authentic detail about what it's like to have a psychedelic spirit in a country-western culture.

What elevates this book above others of its kind --- if in fact there are others of its kind in the Christian market --- is Whittington's ability not only to create believable, well-rounded characters but also to give them believable, well-rounded dialogue to work with. Getting both the characterization and the dialogue right seems to be a rarity. But Whittington proves himself to be well in control of both, and his attention to detail is superb.

Shortly after its release, a Broadman & Holman editor told a group of writers that they should use Whittington's book as a model for the quality the publisher is looking for in future novels. That's a good sign, because WELCOME TO FRED is among those recent fiction releases in the Christian market that have raised the bar, which in turn will force authors to produce higher-quality work.

WELCOME TO FRED is a highly enjoyable read, one that is likely to resonate particularly with those who survived a '60s adolescence.

Thanks, Fred! If you hadn't been the kind of small Texas town you were, we would never have had the chance to read about Mark Cloud. His struggle to master the footwork of a Texas two-step while staying connected to his rock-and-roll soul is classic! Although every state has its small towns, most non-Texans don't realize just how much the small-town attitude is intensified by the extreme distance between any two locations on the Texas map. Mark Cloud falls face-first into that enormous empty space and manages to survive growing up there with most of his own special view of life intact (but not unchanged). Everyone who's ever been required to sit in the "misfit seat" will feel right at home with Mark's struggles. Which were certainly Brad's struggles, too - he's obviously "writing what he knows." Can't wait to see what Mr. Whittington has on his computer for the next book. Until then, take a trip to Fred - it's worth your time to visit!

DO NOT judge a book by it's cover!

Wow, this guy is a promising writer. If ever an author has been able to develope characters and storylines to which I can connect, here they are!

Young Mark Cloud makes it over many of the bumps in the road of life as he makes the transition from a populated area of Ohio, to the east Texas rural thicket. Mark is a preacher's kid, but that doesn't hold him back from experiencing everything from bag-ladies to dirt road rednecks and community entanglements. Meanwhile, he deals with his own little problem: Who is he? How will he fit in?

There are chapters in which I felt I was in his shoes, or maybe I should say, he has lived in my shoes! I actually laughed outloud in some places. Folks, you will be able to identify with the main character in this brilliantly written novel. Keep a hanky nearby, because there is the risk of tears of both laughter and empathy.

I have Mark Cross' number. The narrator of Brad Whittington's fine novel, "Welcome to Fred," gets a 999 for turning the sadness - and evil - he confronts topsy-turvy or every-which-way, but never loose. Mark is a Preacher's Kid desperate for an attitude. We get to look over his shoulder as he struggles to find an attitude he's comfortable with. You've never read a better rendering of a what-I-did-on-my-summer-vaction story than Mark's ode to Southern Baptists and the art of Galaxy maintenance that graces the last quarter of "Welcome to Fred."

Although Mark's life in Fred, Texas is full of hoots,hollers and happenstance - both happy and sad - Whittington sets the real power of the story in Middletown, Ohio and in L.A. Remember the name Pauline. She will lodge in your memory along with the most memorable people you've ever met between the covers of a book. And you'll be glad she's there and thank Whittington for that.

I read "Welcome to Fred" in several night's time, forcing myself to put it down each night, so I would be worth something the next day. The book is delightful and difficult to put down!

Having grown up in rural Texas during the same time line as this story, I found the characters familiar and felt empathy toward the angst of the main character, a preacher's son feeling very much like a duck out of water in his new setting. In many ways, the story is universal, one of coming of age and all those things that follow with the trials of growing up, in terms of awkwardness, curiosity, and questioning one's own faith. The author's telling of the story is warm, funny, and entertaining. Brad Whittington builds his story in such a way that the reader is never lost nor loses interest. Each character is so well developed, I could see them in my mind's eye. I look forward to more stories by Brad Whittington and encourage everyone to read this book.

"Welcome to Fred" is a great book to read!
It was high quality, makes-you-think, good reading material.

It actually took me probably 2 or 3 weeks to get into WTF - but once I started it was hard to put down. ;)
I could definitely relate to Mark Cloud due to a number of things.
I really understood alot about the whole PK thing and how people expect you to be perfect - and how you're supposed to be "better" than everyone else - since I myself am a preacher's kid. :)

Also, I could relate to the small town thing, too. ;) It wasn't too difficult to see some of the same situations happening in the small town in which I live. *s* People are much the same all over the world, no matter what time period! :-D

Parts of this book would absolutely crack me up because some of the phrases used or...what's the word...analogies were so funny and SO true. They were just the kinds of things that would make my weird sense of humour respond - []P>In the past week or so I've read several different new fiction books for teens. Although well-written, I found them to be in poor quality compared with "Welcome to Fred". The other books had a fine plot and interesting characters, but unfortunately they reflected the world in all of its worldliness.
Revenge, self-love and lust were encouraged, if not openly then in such a way as to make patience, humility and purity seem the "uncool" and "old-fashioned" thing.

"Welcome to Fred" is such a terrific book. Not just because it has a fun cover. Not just because it is interesting. But I found it more so because it promotes solid Christian values. :)

Good job, Brad!!!
Can't wait til your next book. :-D

p.s. Especially liked the part about the Cloud's visiting the Church of Christ in California. lol!!! My dad is the minister of a c of C. *vbg* I've wondered the same as Mark about how c of C'ers use a pitchpipe and not consider it an instrument. *laughs*...:-D

Even if you're from Oklahoma, you're a Yankee. This story rings so true! Welcome to Fred takes me back to my 4 years of hell in a Baptist College in Texas. The story is warm and personal, the main character real(to me, at least). His triumph is that he comes to terms with his doubts about the faith he was brought up to have, and continues to love and respect those who tried to instill that faith in him. It would have been tempting to draw his father as a two-dimensional intolerant preacher, but he sees him as loving, intelligent, eccentric, and still true to his calling in the ministry. He almost gives preachers a chance! I'm definitely going to send a copy to my cousin, a PK cut from the same cloth as Mark Cloud.

But misfits of all religions should be able to relate to Mark's search for individuality. We should all be so lucky to escape this time as well as Mark does. I'd be interested to see the further history of Mr. Cloud. Does he find peers in college? Are there years of therapy in store for him?