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Mark Helprin

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Freddy and Fredericka Paperback – July 25, 2006

by Mark Helprin (Author)

4.4 243 ratings

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A New York Times bestseller by Mark Helprin, author of Winter's Tale, which is now a major motion picture starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Russell Crowe, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly

“Freddy and Fredericka is a vast, sprawling book of Homeric proportions and design in which Helprin exploits to the fullest his powers of invention as well as a lesser known talent for comedy.” —Bookreporter.com

Mark Helprin’s legions of devoted readers cherish his timeless novels and short stories, which are uplifting in their conviction of the goodness and resilience of the human spirit. Freddy and Fredericka—a brilliantly refashioned fairy tale and a magnificently funny farce—only seems like a radical departure of form, for behind the laughter, Helprin speaks of leaps of faith and second chances, courage and the primacy of love. Helprin’s latest work, an extraordinarily funny allegory about a most peculiar British royal family, is immensely mocking of contemporary monarchy and yet deeply sympathetic to the individuals caught in its lonely absurdities.

Review

“Freddy and Fredericka is a vast, sprawling book of Homeric proportions and design in which Helprin exploits to the fullest his powers of invention as well as a lesser known talent for comedy.” —Bookreporter.com

From the Back Cover

"With a pitch-perfect sense of the absurd . . . he has produced a delightful romp of a book."
Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Freddy and Fredericka recalls American journeys of self-discovery by Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac. . . . I promise you, this will be one of the fastest . . . novels youll ever read."
Los Angeles Times

"A rollicking, heartwarming examination of the state of the nation . . . Working his own magic, Helprin transforms the thinly veiled satire of the monarchy into a quirky love song to the colonies."
People

About the Author

Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, Mark Helprin served in the Israeli Army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Refiner's Fire, Ellis Island and Other Stories, Winter's Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, and Memoir from Antproof Case.

Print length

576 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

July 25, 2006
Dimensions

5.4 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

0143037250
ISBN-13

978-0143037255
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (July 25, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 576 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143037250
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143037255
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.12 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 1.2 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #309,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,531 in Fiction Satire
- #2,955 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #10,833 in Paranormal & Urban Fantasy (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 243 ratings

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Mark Helprin

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Educated at Harvard, Princeton, and Oxford, MARK HELPRIN served in the Israeli army, Israeli Air Force, and British Merchant Navy. He is the author of, among other titles, A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Refiner's Fire, Winter's Tale, and A Soldier of the Great War. He lives in Virginia.

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4.4 out of 5

243 global ratings

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NYMinuteman

A Swift Kick in the Pants

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2005

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Summarizing the plot of this book would be a complete waste of time -- it defies description. Trying to convey the brilliance of Mr. Helprin's prose, even when he's just having fun, would be hopeless. Describing the deep and satisfying humor it contains would be pointless, beacuse you can't describe a really good laugh.

What motivated Helprin to take on the decline of Western civilization through the foils of an ersatz Charles and Diana is hard to fathom. But, given the words and erudition of their creator, Freddy and Fredericka are at once hilarious and unerring in their pronouncements, actions and observations.

Like other readers' spouses, my wife had to contend with my snorting laughter late at night. Though he often plays for laughs, Helprin issues a siren call to Americans to aspire to something greater and larger than that for which we have become too willing to settle. His political satire savages both sides of the aisle, and again demonstrates why it is hard for him to find full acceptance in the bosom (that's singular) of the mainstream media -- even while most critics recognize the weight of his talent.

I have no idea if the Britain Helprin has created exists as he portrays it though I have been there dozens of times, and even worked there. I suspect that, as in all his work, he has managed somehow to capture completely the essence of something he has no right to know so absolutely.

If you can read, have a working soul and love life and laughter, this book is worth buying and giving as a gift to everyone you possibly can. It is a wonderfully fun and quick read, for a book of its bulk. Think of it as Harry Potter goes to America, if you must, but read and enjoy it!

11 people found this helpful

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J. Brian Watkins

To Find a Silver Chalice

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2005

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My advice is to find a quiet place and prepare to read this one all the way through in one sitting. Don't get lost in the comedy--though it is hilariously funny, it is a gallows humor. As ridiculous as the plot or characters may seem, the book is never far from the truth. Our society passed into the absurd some time ago and Mr. Helprin is merely holding up a mirror.

In my opinion there are a good deal of readers who just don't get this book. It would be most instructive for them to review Mr. Helprin's "Swan Lake" series and to see Mr. Helprin's contempt for the ersatz "leaders" most now choose to follow. If we learn anything from this book, and most will choose to disregard its very simple teachings, it is that anything just and true has a cost. Those who pay the cost are entitled to an understanding that brings the peace and contentment that money or fame falsely promises. Frankly, there is not one of Mr. Helprin's works that doesn't clearly address a theme of rising above the ordinary--a quest for perfection.

An author this gifted writes at many levels--I cannot hope to have plumbed the depth of this work on one reading but like his other novels expect the book to reward additional study. Helprin reminds us that we each have an unlimited destiny and power to do good in the world if we will choose the correct path. Indeed, that there is one correct path to success, which is admirably summarized by Freddy in a particularly memorable speech, is Helprin's message. There are no shortcuts. There is absolute truth.

We can become kings and queens--it is our inheritance. Disagree if you will with the message or its presentation but I have encountered no other modern author possessed of the sheer force of language to do justice to the argument.

79 people found this helpful

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Forza

A Wild Road Trip with a Lesson

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2005

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If you decide to read this book, let me give you a bit of advice: You must get in the right frame of mind, which is to say you should temporarily suspend any disbelief, in preparation for some of the literally unbelievable things that happen in this wacky story. Just accept and laugh at some of the situations the two main characters get into, which at times border on the absurd, and you will enjoy this book more.

This is a story about Freddy, the educated and able, but bumbling Prince of Wales, who is constantly finding himself in the most embarassing of predicaments. And Fredericka, his beautiful, but shallow and emptyheaded wife. Their lives are that of ultimate privelege. Attended to by servants, enjoying meals of endless delicacies, living in palaces, and all the expected trappings that royal lives provide. But trapped is also exactly how their lives make them feel. Constantly in the public eye, they are unable to enjoy the simple pleasures of life that an ordinary person can.

In order to prove his worthiness to assume the royal throne, Freddy is required to conquer "the most savage, strange, and unconquerable region of the earth". America. And so their journey begins, by parachuting half naked into the badlands of industrial New Jersey. From there, you are taken along with them for a wild, adventure filled, and sometimes sobering, tour of America. The people they meet, the places they go, and the things they have to do, all in the name of "conquering" this vast land are all interesting. They slowly transform into more complex people (especially Fredericka) with a deeper understanding of things that are meaningful, and enrich us as human beings.

Behind this book's facade of humor, there is a deeper message, in which you just might see a bit of yourself. The underlying message develops as you continue to read and experience the transformation they both make as they overcome one challenging situation after another. They develop into more enlightened and complex people, with a deeper understanding of things that are more fundamentally satisying.

If I were to compare this book to Helprin's other novels, it's very good, but not his best. Having said that, he's raised expectations so high in his previous stories and quality of writing, that compared to other authors and novels, it's still better than most.

7 people found this helpful

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Tom Gray

A Very Funny Book <--> A Very Serious Book

Reviewed in Canada on July 22, 2017

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Firstly, I must say that this novel is uproariously funny. Secondly, I must say that this novel is a moral tale about how adherence to duty provides the knowledge to be truly free. Many of the reviews here have provided plot summaries of the novel and noted the presence of magical realism within it. This magical realism seems to me to be an attempt to reach the spiritual; essence that is behind human existence. For despite the and maybe within the humour, this is a very serious book. It is the classical tale of the quest for the Grail placed within the 20 and 21st centuries. It is a story about the coming of understanding of what the object of the universal quest is.
This is a very funny book. This can be a very serious book.

Jason Mills

Uproariously funny comedy about both Britain and the USA

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 31, 2010

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The unlikely premise of this glorious romp is that the Prince and Princess of Wales are behaving so fecklessly as royals that they are parachuted without resources into the USA, to undergo trial by fire and retake the colonies for the crown! The pair begin as alternate versions, caricatures, of Charles and Diana, but their journey transfigures them into bigger, bolder and deeper characters. They follow a picaresque series of increasingly funny adventures as they cross the continent, finding new resilience, reviving their love and piloting a buffoon towards the presidency.

It is, in the book's own words, "a love song to this country" (ie. the US), and though it revels in ridiculing the royals, it is equally a hymn to their sense of duty, and also a heartfelt and often moving romance, in which our heroes fall in love not only with each other but with life itself. All this is accomplished in Helprin's characteristically luminous prose, enough to make aspiring writers gnaw off their own arm in envy.

But most of all it is a generous, clear-sighted, big-hearted comedy. Helprin's humour is shamelessly contrived: for instance, he is not above naming Fredericka's dog "Pha Kew", merely to engineer a scene in which Freddy chases it through a wedding party, repeatedly shouting its name; a gag from which Helprin is still getting mileage two chapters later. Page after page of riotous dialogue flows again and again from the flimsiest of misunderstandings; and the reader does not merely forgive these transparent devices, but wills them along, eager for the next.

It is not quite, to my mind, Helprin's best book (look to "Winter's Tale" or "A Soldier Of The Great War"), but it is certainly his funniest. Since it frequently reduced this reviewer to dizzy fits of laughter and left him gasping for breath, it fully merits its 5 stars.

One person found this helpful

Chase

ユーモアと知性がいっぱいの小説

Reviewed in Japan on April 30, 2007

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ヘルプリンらしい、ウイットに富んだ物語。

きまじめで、抜けてる主人公Freddyの、哀しいながらもおかしいエピソードが素晴らしい。

今、丁度エリザベス女王の映画があってたりして、イギリス王室の話は旬なので、読むと面白いと思う。

愛嬌に溢れ、意味なくチャーミングなFrederickaからは、人として豊かに生きる事の本質を見る事ができる。

変わり者のFreddyのお陰で、普段触れないような英単語が出てくるのも楽しい。

深いストーリーです。

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Monica L.

Feel good fairytale

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2017

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This is the first book I read by Helprin. I love fairy tales and fantasy, and this was perfect! Beaufort prose, hilarious characters, morals. It felt like I was on the trip with Freddy and Fredericka. I laughed and cried! And I've now bought two more Helprin books!!

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