Per sempre

Frank Bascombe #5

by Richard Ford, Cristiana Mennella (Translator)

Sembrava proprio un addio. Lo avevamo lasciato a sessantotto anni, già quasi deciso a tirare i remi in barca, intento al bilancio di un’esistenza comune a molte altre. E invece Frank Bascombe è tornato. Invecchiato, conduce una vita più solitaria, si limita a lavoricchiare part-time per il suo ex dipendente Mike Mahoney, che nel frattempo ha accumulato una fortuna. Scrittore mancato, giornalista sportivo, agente immobiliare, due volte divorziato, padre, ma soprattutto protagonista di una serie narrativa che ha fatto di Richard Ford uno dei maggiori autori statunitensi contemporanei, Frank Bascombe affronta in questo romanzo uno dei ruoli più ingrati e strazianti che la vita può offrirgli: assistere sino alla fine il figlio Paul, a cui viene diagnosticata una forma particolarmente aggressiva di Sla. Non resta molto tempo e, dopo un periodo di permanenza in una prestigiosa clinica nel Minnesota, dove Paul tenta l’ultima carta con una terapia sperimentale, Frank prende in mano la situazione e organizza un viaggio in camper. Destinazione finale, un monumento simbolo dell’immaginario statunitense: il Mount Rushmore nel South Dakota, con i volti di quattro grandi presidenti scolpiti nella roccia. Paul e Frank hanno due nature agli antipodi che trovandosi a vivere a stretto contatto danno vita a duetti esilaranti e tentativi improbabili di esprimere i sentimenti reciproci. La morte attende il più giovane dei due, ma la materia dolorosa non si risolve in un libro triste. Mentre riflette sulla mortalità e la felicità, Frank conserva intatto il suo stoicismo provocatorio da grande incassatore, lo sguardo attento e prensile con cui cattura la vita intorno a sé, la vena meditativa e ironica che serpeggia in ogni suo incontro con gli altri esseri umani. Dal premio Pulitzer Richard Ford un nuovo romanzo che ha per protagonista Frank Bascombe, uno dei personaggi più indimenticabili della letteratura americana.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels, Contemporary, Literature, American, Drama

355 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

About the author

Richard Ford, born February 16, 1944 in Jackson, Mississippi, is an American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank With You, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories. Comparisons have been drawn between Ford's work and the writings of John Updike, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Walker Percy.

His novel Independence Day won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1996, also winning the PEN/Faulkner Award in the same year.

Reviews

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since Richard Ford created him almost 40 years ago, Frank Bascombe has become his literary alter ego, in the same vein as Roth's Zuckerman or Updike's Rabbit. And as with Larry McMurtry's Duane Moore, what started out as a standalone novel has expanded into several sequels as Ford has found more and more issues to address.

Now in his 70's, Frank is once again on a roadtrip with his son Paul with whom he first meandered in the Pulitzer winning Independence Day, but now Paul is 47, and Frank is his caretaker since he has ALS (or Al's, as they call it). So dealing with his own aging body as well as the ever increasing needs of a person with that fatal uncompromising condition, Frank thinks it a great idea if they go to Mount Rushmore on Valentine's Day in a rented camper.

What Ford does so well is delineate life's ludicrous incongruities, usually through the skewed lens of Paul's perceptions. The conversations between these two men, addressing matters of life and death interspersed with observations on the midwest landscape they traverse ("I am tantalized, as always, by the dense life elsewhere, though smart enough not to breathe its fumes too deep.") (On the Corn Palace: "Macy's of corn-themed crapola.") A visit to Fawning Buffalo, an Indian-managed casino, had me laughing out loud. But the real strength of the book lies in its depiction of grief and its sublimation. As Ford muses, "Can grief be defeated, or merely out-lived?"

[Michael -- Justice for Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death, Not Yours

A few years ago, I picked up a copy of “The Sportswriter” by Richard Ford and before I read it, I ordered a copy of his Pulitzer Prize winning “Independence Day.” Once I got into “The Sportswriter,” though, I realized it did not interest me at all. The ramblings of a middle-aged man stumbling through his mid-life crisis seemed to have been done better by John Updike’s Rabbit books. The prose was good, the journey… bleh (to me at the time). With more attractive suitors on my TBR list I never did get around to “Independence Day.”

Recently an advance copy of Mr. Ford’s new book, “Be Mine,” was available and I thought I would give it a shot. I felt I must have missed something, had the wrong attitude. At the same time, I had an extra Audible credit available, and I thought maybe a different format might be the thing to align me with his pacing.

The central character running throughout this series is Frank Bascombe, now 74 and focused on mortality and the puzzle of life. His son, Paul, is 47 and has been diagnosed with ALS, the “Lou Gehrig” disease for which there is still no cure. It is one thing to be playing out your days trying to come to grips with life’s eventual fade, it is quite a bit more challenging to be the one guiding your son to his finale.

Frank drives Paul out to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota where he will be analyzed and studied, not cured. Paul’s condition is rapidly deteriorating, and Frank finds himself in the role of caretaker, assisting his son increasingly more often in performing his basic functions. The two men are constantly sparring with one another, with a sarcasm and gallows humor both witty and morbid.

A trip is planned– rent a dilapidated RV and make the trek up to the glorious Mount Rushmore with the goal of helping the guys bond while shaking off a painfully claustrophobic walk of death. Father and son look to break down some of the walls neglect has fostered over the years. The question looms…why this destination? What huge significance can a commercial tourist trap like Mount Rushmore be in the comprehension of a life?

Earlier in the novel, Frank details a relationship he has with Betty, a Vietnamese American massage therapist who he considers marrying and who may or may not seriously consider him as anything more than a reliable client. This may have some point in a five-novel portrait of Frank Bascombe, but in a stand-alone story it really serves little purpose.

Advancing age brings with it the examination of what life is all about. Frank had his own concerns, but they are framed much differently when it is his son’s story he is defining. Death has become the undeniable reality and its progress is being measured by Paul’s decline, something Frank cannot ignore.

So, yes… this can be seen as a depressing subject and there is very little in the way of plot movement. I have to endorse the Audible edition by Harper Audio, which I used alternating with the kindle download. Richard Ford’s prose is always witty and clever, but the audible helped to keep things moving. While this was not an easy journey, the questions posed made it a rewarding one.

Thank you to Ecco Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #BeMine #NetGalley

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a donation to my Little Free Library Shed.

And…

Apparently, this is a series, a Frank Bascombe series.

And…

This is the last one.

I haven’t read the first four in the series, so I was at a disadvantage to understand Frank’s previous world. Especially, learning that the author's book in the series: Independence Day won The Pulitzer.

So…

Does that mean this can be read as a stand-alone.

I did.

But…

I believe I missed out on the nuances that are best known when you have been following a character through their past history.

So…

I encourage others to start at the beginning.

Still…

Here is the story.

Frank, our protagonist is now 74, mostly retired. He was a sportswriter before doing real estate. He now is into observing the human condition. Frank’s grown son, Paul has A.L.S., (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and time is short.

So…

The two of them decide to take an R.V. trip from an experimental protocol at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. where Paul is, to Mount Rushmore.

They are an odd couple. Paul is 47, often in his wheelchair. They display their love through puns and insults.

Frank has also had health issues, including prostate cancer. He wants…

“To be happy – before the gray curtain comes down.”

This book is set just before Covid appeared. Ford has an interesting way of showcasing his prose as readers follow Frank glimpsing a television screen…

“President Trump’s swollen, eyes-bulging face filled the TV screen behind the honor bar, doing his pooch-lipped, arms-folded Mussolini. I couldn’t take my eyes off him – tuberous limbs, prognathous jaw, looking in all directions at once, seeking approval but not finding enough.”

If I had read the other books ahead of this one, would I have felt closer to these characters?

Understood them more?

There is still something to be said about the author’s snarky humor and wit. His view of the world.

Still…

There is a desperation about Frank’s character that makes him almost unlikable, and I don’t know if that makes him lovable, or not.

Because…

Has he been this way all along?

Yet…

In this book…

There were some parts within that touched me.

The sense of mortality felt real.

And…

As readers we can feel the fear of that, and understanding of growing older, weaker, and more uncomfortable with a body that doesn’t work as well for us.

Still…

If anyone has been following along with this series, or not…

Best to start at the beginning…

The Sportswriter, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land, and Let Me Be Frank With You.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.75

This was the second book I've read by this author, and while more engaging, his long winded approach to storytelling, isn't the sort I gravitate towards. Ford obviously has stream of consciousness 'episodes' while writing of which some are of interest, but not all.

Frank Backcomb has had a life filled with both tragedy and joy while dwelling in NJ..he's lost his wife, children and job and has a 47 year old son suffering with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He's taken a job with an unusual firm called "House Whisperers", an agency that spots real estate investments for the those with shadow corps.

His son refers to the disease as "Al's" due to his sarcastic, depressing views which are the polar opposite of Frank's. Since ALS is a neurological disease that slowly kills, Frank gets wind of a Mayo clinic in MN and takes his son there for treatment. The banter between son and father is challenging, funny and often sad due to the horrible disease's effects. A ladies man, Backcomb uncovers a Vietnamese massage parlor near their rental, and becomes 'chummy' with the owner during his son's regular sessions.

A relatively simple plot that's humorous at times, it loses momentum due to needless details, back story and oddball insights. Ford is a skilled storyteller, but I can't say he's my 'cup of tea'.

[Michael Martz · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one of the blurbs on the back of "Be Mine" states, "You don't read the Bascombe books for plot. You read them for Ford's gleaming sentences". A truer statement may never have been written, for Be Mine is chock full of gleaming sentences but is essentially plotless. That's not as bad as it sounds, since it does leave a lot of room for Ford to ruminate on life, death, and everything else.

Be Mine is 74 year old Frank Bascombe as he endures the travails of old age before suddenly being confronted with his 47 year old son Paul's more imminent mortality. Paul has been diagnosed with a less common type of ALS that progresses rapidly and for which there's no cure. Paul, a smart, quirky, underachieving man who probably is somewhere "on the spectrum" and lives with his dad, has been accepted into a study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The no-longer-married Frank is now Paul's caretaker and is trying his best to manage his son's physical and mental deterioration as they relocate temporarily to Rochester, MN. So, the first part of the book follows the father-son duo as they bicker, play word games, insult one another, and generally try to make the best of their situation. The remainder of Be Mine details the trip in an old, rented RV that Frank arranged, because he thought his quirky son would get a kick out of it, to Mount Rushmore in the middle of winter. Frank and the increasingly physically challenged Paul spend hour upon hour in the ramshackle vehicle visiting the various tourist traps along the way while continuing to bicker, Frank gently and Paul with more of an edge to his words.

I've always been impressed with Ford's writing and Be Mine is another fine effort in that regard. If you're an old guy like me who realizes the sands of time are continuing to run out, it's definitely not a feel good book. It is, though, quite a vehicle for Ford to talk about things and situations that may make us uncomfortable and his humanity and self-awareness are on display. The writing is A+, it's almost bereft of plot, and it's made me depressed, so I give it 3 stars.

[Nood-Lesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Nemo dat quod non habet’ (*1)

E’ l’ultimo libro di Richard Ford con Frank Bescombe come protagonista. Quarant’anni di vita americana concentrati in pochi giorni alla volta: quelli di Pasqua, dell’Indipendenza, del Ringraziamento, questa volta di San Valentino. In quei pochi giorni Frank è in giro per il Middle West, racconta del viaggio e poi riassume ciò che è stata la sua vita fino a quel momento. Di anni adesso ne ha 74 e una notizia sconcertante attende il lettore ignaro: suo figlio è affetto da SLA in forma bulbare. Se quel lettore, suo malgrado, conosce la patologia, può decidere se non sia meglio passare i giorni di San Valentino ad ascoltare “Cuoricini”.
È stato proprio nei giorni di Sanremo e San Valentino che ho letto di Frank, delle cure sperimentali per suo figlio e del suo folle progetto di condividere con lui la visita a Mount Rushmore (*2).
Sono costretto a ripetermi, Ford può annoiarvi per dieci pagine di fila parlando di America, americani d’America, indiani d’America e poi quasi per saggiare se siete ancora attenti scrivere

Semplicemente, mi sentivo una bomba perché, qualunque cosa fosse, mi è sembrato che facesse parte della vita

Il contatto stretto con la malattia altrui esaspera il desiderio di vita. Il sentimento d’impotenza fa il resto. Il rapporto fra Frank e il figlio Paul è complicato, si alternano affetto e rabbia, pietà ed esasperazione. Ford per descrivere la diagnosi ricevuta dal figlio scrive

scoprire di avere quella terribile malattia era stato come trovarsi a bordo di un aereo e rendersi conto che il motore si è spento, e restare lassù in attesa che la gravità prenda il sopravvento e cominci la caduta

Con l’aereo che sta precipitando Frank decide di noleggiare un camper. Se la malattia è incurabile, se il decorso è repentino e inesorabile, vuol fare un’esperienza con il figlio tale che entrambi possano ricordarla. Per chi lo fa? Per il figlio? Per sé? Frank è combattuto, non obbliga il figlio ad assecondarlo, lui però è il padre di un orfano a cui è stata diagnosticata la SLA, potrebbe suo figlio ribellarsi al progetto? La scelta della meta ricade sulla montagna scolpita, simbolica quasi quanto la statua della libertà. Dramma privato e America pubblica, tutta la saga di Bescombe viaggia su queste due corsie

A volte decido di non fare le cose solo per non farle. E quindi volevo fare qualcosa insieme a te

Mi sono spinto più avanti del solito nel rivelare la trama, spero di aver dato le indicazioni corrette per raggiungere Mount Rushmore da Mitchell, nell’incertezza chiamo in soccorso la tecnologia (*3)
È sconsigliato affrontare il viaggio in febbraio, le temperature scendono abbondantemente sotto lo zero. Se deciderete di andare valutate luglio. Nonostante l’argomento trattato non è un libro patetico o lacrimevole. Doloroso sì, però.

(*1) “Nessuno può dare quello che non ha”
(*2) https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_R...
(*3) https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZWDZtJtistNSo...

Tutto questo mentre i Carpenters cantano in filodiffusione (dal 1970) Close to You.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XYBj...

/////

-Sportswriter (The Sportswriter, 1986),
-Il giorno dell'Indipendenza (Independence Day, 1995)
-Lo stato delle cose (The Lay of the Land, 2006),
-Tutto potrebbe andare molto peggio (Let Me Be Frank With You, 2014)
-Per sempre (Be Mine, 2023)

[Cherise Wolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read the four previous works by Ford featuring and following Frank Bascombe through family and marriages and divorces and emotions, holidays, yearnings, America and more. I can't say I remember them particularly well, but I recall falling into each happily, reading them with great focus, and have each on my bookshelves. Having read this one, which may or may not be the final installment in Bascombe's world, I might very well make it a project to read them all again from the beginning. In Be Mine, Frank is now 74, working in real estate part-time, mostly a desk job, living alone, when he learns from his daughter that his son, Paul, with whom he's had an uneven relationship, has ALS. A road trip, as the other novels include, is featured here, once Paul has gone through an experimental drug program at Mayo. This is not laugh out loud funny, but the views are amusing, droll, the nature of America precise, the relationship between father and son true, and it was a pleasure to take this latest trip with Frank.

Thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for an ARC.

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ford's writing is as lyrical as ever but Frank Bascombe takes on a new tint in Be Mine: less ironic, more understanding, more tender.

It's a compact, smooth read with humour and wryness sprinkled in, but deals mainly with longing and loss and relationships. It's a fitting "finish" for Frank, who began as a wayward and absent father in The Sportswriter and who finishes as a mostly determined caregiver to his son, Paul.

Some of the secondary storylines seemed to cut out abruptly but I want to believe it's just part of Frank's rather unpredictable, choppy life.

It's a real shame this series is coming to a close. Loved spending time with FB.

[Babs Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Ford's Frank Bascombe for decades, but this one was a little too unrelentingly glum for me. Son with ALS, bleak road trip in midwinter Midwest, death cloud over everything. And yet... the son is a sardonic, wry curmudgeon who really grew on me and the father-son dynamic is like riding along with two word-nerds who see America with a gimlet eye. Masterful writing as always.

[Ken Lindholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a fan of Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe series, composed of five books published from 1986 to 2024, at roughly ten year intervals. As Richard Ford (and I) aged, so has Frank. The books have been well received by critics, with one winning the Pulitzer Prize and another being a finalist. Be Mine is almost certainly the end of the series. All of the novels take place over a short time, typically a holiday. Be Mine occurs around Valentine’s Day when Frank and his adult son Paul take a road trip to Mount Rushmore, following a stay at the Mayo Clinic assessing Paul’s terminal ALS disease.

As with Ford’s other Bascombe novels, not a lot happens in the novel. Part One focuses on Paul finishing his time at the Mayo Clinic. Part Two follows them as they head for Mount Rushmore. Frank and Paul have a testy and brittle relationship. Paul frequently refers to Frank as Lawrence, in his caregiver role as “Lawrence” Nightingale. Frank, as always, frequently reflects on the past, his failed relationships, and takes a philosophical view of life and the world. As he does, he is aware of his faults, but is also accepting of who he is. Unlike other fictional Everyman, he’s comfortable with his life, and not subject to the angst that might be found in other author’s fictional characters.

For some readers, including myself, Frank Bascombe will resonate well, as we enjoy Frank’s observations, opinions and reflections on life. Unfortunately, many others will tire of him, become bored, and may choose to leave Frank behind.

I’m glad I’ve taken this journey with Frank (over all five novels), and that, fittingly, I’ve finished on Valentine’s Day. I’m sorry to see the end of the series, but perhaps will revisit some of the books in the future.

[Christopher Whalen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Richard Ford’s fifth Frank Bascombe novel, and possibly his last, although I would welcome more. Like Richard Linklater’s Before films and Boyhood, it revisits the characters every 9 years or so. In this novel, Frank is 74 and caring for his 47-year-old son, Paul, who has ALS (MND). As with the other novels, it takes place during a national holiday: Valentine’s Day, one of the “excuse” holidays that Paul used to write dopey Hallmark greetings cards for. Their self-appointed mission is to visit Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, “most notional of national monuments”. This is really just an excuse for Frank to spend some time with Paul now that his treatment at the Mayo Clinic is over. (It wasn’t really treatment: they were just studying his decline.) Paul thinks Rushmore is “completely pointless and ridiculous, and it’s great”: it tickles his love of the absurd. On the long drive from Rochester, Minnesota, they also visit the World’s Only Corn Palace (look it up: it’s a real place): a Midwestern Taj Mahal made of corn with an absurd gift shop full of corn-themed tat - that Paul also relishes.

This is the most poignant and touching of the Bascombe novels. Frank is an asshole, but is more humble and selfless, less selfish, than in the past. His old age feels like a terminal illness and he’s beginning to suffer from “global amnesia”, which suggests dementia is on the way. Ford takes another snapshot of America in the days before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out; the novel finishes with “the long plague months” at the end of Paul’s life. There’s also an ever-present menace, which many Americans must feel: the possibility of a sniper hiding somewhere, just about to take them out.

I love spending time with Ford’s meandering prose, his long overland journeys, his drab suburbia and strip malls, his melancholy of bad decisions and bad behaviour, his gentle crescendos of experience over national holidays. None of his other writing achieves this greatness; and I’m thankful for these five beautiful novels.

[Alice Persons · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book even if you have not read the other Frank Bascombe novels. I think I have read everything Ford has ever published. This book is poignant, hilarious and profound. Frank is self-aware almost to the point of it being painful, so a lot of the book is stream-of-consciousness. He and his son Paul are quick-witted and funny. Frank has a lot to say about aging and evaluating one's life when one is in the final chapter. As with many of us, his wisdom is hard-won, especially in relationships/marriages.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think this is the best book to start reading Richard Ford's novels but this was my first one and was a sort of novice.
I got more than i bargained as I discovered a talented storyteller and read a novel that moved me to tears and made me laugh.
It's a novel about life, mortality and there's something that kept me turning pages.
I want to read the other books as I want to learn more about Bascombe.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Becks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the fifth book in a series and I never would have picked it up if I didn't have to read it for the Booktube Prize. There is a bit of a plot, but it's surrounded by a lot of ruminating by the main character and endless banter between him and his son. If you've read other books in this series I hope you like it more, but for me it mostly felt like a slog.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite its tender ending, a long and brutal slog

[Giovanna Tomai · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'indimenticabile bravura e l' innata tenerezza insieme riunite in questo ultimo romanzo della saga: Frank e Paul Bascombe. Che combo magnifica, padre anziano e figlio malato di Sla, nel viaggio della vita che si conclude.
Molto commovente in alcune parti, R. Ford si conferma un signor scrittore, come sempre.

[Mi chiedeva anche se avevo una definizione valida di bene, e un po’ mi ha stupito, perché non mi è mai parso assolutista su niente (cosa che gli invidiavo); ormai accettava il fatto che la vita offre soprattutto imprevisti, smarrimenti, sguardi di sottinsù, e che esistono solo strade incerte o, se va bene, qualche tregua momentanea dalla confusione. Ci ho pensato un po’ e poi gli ho dato la definizione che nel complesso ancora mi convince, quella di Agostino: il bene è l’assenza di male, la felicità è l’assenza di infelicità.]

[La malattia è come la salute, svegliarsi è come dormire, contento è come dispiaciuto, stupito come indifferente. Anche questa è una caratteristica della mia età, ne sono sicuro – o, come si dice, “dell’invecchiare”. Sto invecchiando. Sono invecchiato. Sono maturato. Sono di una certa età. Sono giunto a un’età importante (io però non sono importante).]

[Dorothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's Frank Bascombe come to take us on a road trip once again. Since his creator, Richard Ford, first introduced him to us almost forty years ago, Frank has taken us on several holiday trips, most notably in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Independence Day.

Once again, Frank is taking a road trip with his son Paul who is now 47 and suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease). Frank and Paul refer to it as Al's, like some neighborhood bar. Frank is in his 70s and dealing with all the problems that come with an aging body, while also trying to serve as caretaker to his son.

So, how exactly is Frank accomplishing that? Well, his latest idea is to hit the road with Paul and take him to Mount Rushmore on a Valentine's Day trip. Paul has been in an experimental protocol for treating ALS at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Frank collects him and they head west.

The topics of conversation between the two men while traveling range from observations about the midwestern landscape they are traversing to matters of life and death itself. Frank's health has been problematic as well. He's recovered from prostate cancer and now he just wants to be happy "before the gray curtain comes down."

There's a certain desperation to Frank's personality that has been less noticeable (at least to me) in the previous four books in this series. As his body grows older, weaker, and more uncomfortable to live in, he senses that time is running out for him as well as for his son. It's an awareness that many of us, especially those of us of a certain age, can easily relate to. I think Richard Ford, who was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1944, may perceive that awareness quite personally, too, and perhaps that is why he is able to write about it so feelingly.

Previous reviews in this series:

The Sportswriter

Independence Day

The Lay of the Land

Let Me Be Frank With You

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly found myself locked in and finished this in two sittings. Another holiday. Another road trip. Supposedly the last Bascombe novel, but I like the ending's openness, the way Ford left himself with options. What next, though? Bascombe's seventy-four here, and as Lorrie Moore said, "No one wants to hear what you think when you're eighty." Perhaps Ford will feel tempted to test that thesis. Perhaps not.

Some craft/litcrit stuff that jumped out at me: Meandering sentences exquisitely punctuated. When minor characters are given the stage, they steal it. Places explode as they are microscopically examined and described. Reported dialog casts certain words in quotes to show what narrator Bascombe (or is it author Ford?) considers notable (to flavor, to stress, to mark as cliche or emblematic). This stylistic use quotes to tag words is sure to be critically examined, and fully "academized." What to make of the structure that has two framing sections titled "Happiness" sandwiching two parts and eleven chapters? Paul's kitschy shirts! And, finally, there's Heidegger. Heidegger? Really? Give me 200o words on that. Due Friday.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am roughly the same age as Frank Bascombe so my adulthood has paralleled his. The subject of this chapter, his son’s ALS, as well as his own mortality made this a rather sobering read. However, the dark humor and Ford’s brilliant writing alleviate the pain.

It’s interesting to me that both Ford and my musical idol, Bruce Springsteen, have focused their latest works on aging, death, and loss of close ones. Listen to Springsteen’s last album, Letter to You, to see what I mean.

“Relations, the great master says, never really end. But it is the task of the teller to draw - by a geometry of his own - the circle within which they will, happily or otherwise, appear to do so.” (Richard Ford)

“I’ll see you in my dreams.” (Bruce Springsteen)

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Ford’s fifth novel about Frank Bascomb, now a 74 year retiree, in reasonably good physical shape, no financial worries, two grown children, an interest in public affairs, a church goer (admittedly a casual one) – he should be content. And yet he speculates about whether he should be happy, or at least aspire to happiness The question is sharpened when he meets an old classmate at a reunion, one who is suffering from dementia, but blankly assures Frank that “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful life.” A life now without worry or comprehension, but one that’s sadly lacking. Frank decides to “give life its full due” and this effort is at the center of the rest of the novel.

This “full due” takes an unexpected form when Frank suddenly learns that his 47 year old son has a terminal neurological disease, and Frank decides to take full care of his son, Paul. This involves driving him to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and then on a kind of bucket list outing to Mt. Rushmore. Essentially, then, it’s a road trip with father and son suspended in an in-between state where ideally they could be honest and direct with one another.

But Paul is a difficult person who has lived apart from his father for many years. He has a biting, sarcastic sense of humor. He’s angry at his rapidly deteriorating physical condition, and pushes away people who try to help him. Frank tolerates his son, tries to make allowances for him, and in a sense distracts himself in endless observation of the people and places around him. He says, “How much lighter on its feet the world would be if we only understood that precious fuck-all we do on any given day makes much difference in the long run or the short.” It’s a balancing act, then, being immersed in his son’s trauma, and at the same time, trying to distance himself from it and keep a sense of equilibrium.

His balancing involves reveling in, or at least appreciating, everyday trivia, striking up conversations, flirting with waitresses and women he meets casually. He is given to aphoristic summings up, as if he could somehow categorize and wall himself off from the pain of his son’s suffering.

He cares about his son, though, suggesting, unsuccessfully, that they could talk more seriously with fewer jokes. To the son, there’s nothing to talk about, and somewhat like his father, he enjoys tacky and junky things, like the “corn palace” in South Dakota, and even the commercial riff-raff that surrounds the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. It’s a way of making light of the suffering of his rapidly diminishing life.

It’s close to Valentine’s Day and Frank gives his son a valentine. “Be Mine,” it says, another joking way of showing affection, but Frank gets through to his son this time. A cheap sentimental card, yes, but behind he sentimentality, there’s a caring for each other, and I think the “Be Mine” words suggest that, however jokingly shallow they appear on the surface
In the end, in another bromide, Frank says that “happiness is not a pure element, but an alloy of metals both precious and base, and durable.” This is problematic in making Frank feel better, but beyond that, it expresses that love, and happiness, Frank’s initial concern, have to be earned, worked at.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Bascombe, now an old man, returns to usher his invalid son Paul (47) with ALS to the Mayo Clinic and then on to Mount Rushmore for a final fling at companionship in a rented RV. This is a funny, witty and moving story about family and life by an author who knows how to write.

[Lara Harrison · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Mark Maddrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Which, after all, is what we’re here for. To give life its full due, no matter what kind of person we are. Or am I wrong?” So thinks Frank Bascombe, now 74 and taking care of his terminally ill son, in this, the final book in the series by Richard Ford. I found this book to be moving without ever even getting close to maudlin, it is an honest and open look at a man nearing the end of his life while watching his son die. It ends up being mostly a road novel and Ford’s ability to describe and define place is superb. Frank and his son Paul are very strong characters, Paul is especially singular (and difficult), but they are allowed to exist in their imperfections, and aren’t we all imperfect, and Frank has always been such a keen observer of life and of America that you end up really enjoying the trip. In the end, as Frank muses near the close of the novel, “the most important thing about life is that it will end, and that when it does, whether we are alone or not alone, we die in our own particular way.” Frank has been his own “particular way” all along. This is a fitting close to this story.

[Joanne Clarke Gunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautiful book about Richard Ford's recurring character, Frank Bascombe, who at age 74 becomes the caregiver for his son Paul Bascombe who at age 47 is diagnosed with ALS, or as Paul calls it, Al's. The two of them decide to take a trip together to Mount Rushmore even as Paul's body is suffering more and more from the devastating impacts of ALS. All along the way they talk about things profound and mundane, some sad, but many hilarious. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Such a great read.

[Brian Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank Bascombe is a crazy man. This is a sad story about a man who goes to Mt Rushmore with his son who is dying of ALS. The things they talk about are hilarious. You never get to feel how sad it is because every other page there is something to laugh about. I think some more sensitive people would be quite offended by this book. I don't care. I liked it and I am sad that there are only two more Frank Bascombe books I haven't read. I read the last one because it was on sale. Now I have to go back in time and read books 3 and 4. Something I could imagine Frank Bascombe doing.

[Jillwilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are all looking at the United States a lot right now. With trepidation, with hope. With a feeling of incredulity about the state of things. Richard Ford’s writing is in part, a view of contemporary America. The shops in a midwestern mall (“A Footlocker. A Caribou coffee. A Nordic Shop. A sunglasses kiosk. “Shopping malls all emit the same climate of endgame up and down their carnivorous expanse. (They were never meant to be places where people belonged.) The mealy light emanates from nowhere. Air is a warm-cool Temperature found only here, and riding it is a cotton candy aroma, like at a state fair. “When you wish upon a Star” sung by a cricket is being piped in on top of everything.” The main character is Frank Bascombe, a character who we first met many years ago in The Sportswriter’. This older version of Frank has the full-time job of looking after his son, Paul, who has motor-neurone disease which is ramping up in terms of its effects. Franks’ goal is: “To be happy — before the gray curtain comes down.” Though what happiness looks like is not always clear. At one stage, Frank suggest that happiness may be as simple as the “absence of unhappiness”.

The novel is set just before COVID hits when Trump is President. “President Trump’s swollen, eyes-bulging face filled the TV screen behind the honor bar, doing his pooch-lipped, arms-folded Mussolini. I couldn’t take my eyes off him — tuberous limbs, prognathous jaw, looking in all directions at once, seeking approval but not finding enough.” At one stage, Franks and his sone end up in Rapid City but all the hotels are fully booked. A statewide high-school oratory contest is in town, and the kids are speechifying on “Why Do Americans Believe in Democracy?” “A good question I’d like to hear the answer to,” he muses.

The novel begins with a prologue entitled Happiness. Frank is “approaching my stipulated biblical allotment”. In the prologue, he attends his high-school reunion, where he meets Pug Minokur, once the class basketball champ. Pug now has dementia and remembers nothing. “I’m really happy,” Pug says, before being led away by his grandson. The underlay of this book is about the pursuit of happiness. Can you be happy in the face of the horrors that life throws at you? And there are plenty of horrors as Bascombe decides to take Paul on one last “great” trip before he is fully unable to move or appreciate anything at all – they decide to drive to Mount Rushmore, that over-the-top exhibition of bygone presidents carved out of rock.

Ford delights in the trashiness of what they encounter – the kitsch motel rooms, a themed restaurant, the inanities of a museum gift shop, the bizarre collection of businesses that huddle together at the outer limits of a commercial zoning. And once they get to Mount Rushmore, Frank notes: “None of these candidates could get a vote today — slavers, misogynists, homophobes, warmongers, historical slyboots, all playing with house money.”

This acerbic tones sits in contrast with the deeper part of the plot which is about the fact that his son is losing capacity to move his muscles, is slowly dying. In the face of his impending death, Paul is very funny. It’s a kind of black humour. “Paul’s observation to Frank)– “It’s completely pointless and ridiculous, and It’s great.” His eyes are jittering and gleaming. “There’s not enough in the world that’s intentionally that stupid.” (Frank’s observation) He is smiling beatifically, as if he’s experienced an extraordinary discovery and surprise. A confirmation. I’m merrily happy to believe we see the same thing the same way once – more or less. It is pointless and it is stupid. And if seeing it can’t fix him, it can a little. “We’re bonded,” Paul says slyly still smiling, gazing with complete awareness toward the presidents. I am his favorite turd.” It’s a relationship that is moving and believable.

Thematically, it reminded me a little of the Paul Auster novel ‘Baumgartner’ where the main character is trying to makes sense of his life and what it means, especially now that he is alone. But they are stylistically so different. One critic made the following comment about ‘Be mine’: “Bascombe’s America circa February 2020 is more uncertain, and Frank is less on top of it. He sees an RV with both Biden and Trump stickers, “to be on the safe side.” This wishy-washiness is Frank’s problem, but also the novel’s. “Be Mine” lacks the forward thrust of the first two Bascombe novels — both classics, however gassy. And it’s all the more frustrating because there are moments throughout the book where Frank’s status as a world-class observer is fully, delightfully intact. The book is studded with pitch-perfect observations of shabby-tacky American everydayness: a hospital waiting room (“non-aggressive paneling, tasteful, nearly-good plein air wall art”), a casino (“an elevated bank of TVs above a taxidermied wolverine doing combat with a taxidermied coyote over a taxidermied rabbit”); Donald Trump (“tuberous limbs, prognathous jaw, looking in all directions at once, seeking approval but not finding enough”); life itself (“ants scrabbling on a cupcake”).” (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...) This novel grew on me – I started wondering if I really could be bothered reading a novel viewed through the lens of a older middle-class American man, but ended by finding it quite funny, but at the same time moving.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the latter novels of Updike, some echoes of the earlier works that landed better.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just didn’t have the spark of earlier novels.

[lyny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another sad book (I was on holiday in Fiji and read three books in a row that were about aging or death or similar sad themes I could all too readily identify with). In this one, Frank Bascome, Ford’s central character of The Sportswriter and Independence Day is now 74. One son has died much younger, he has two failed marriages, a daughter who is a Republican he doesn’t much like, and a remaining son who is 47 and has ALS, a terminal degenerative disease. After supporting his contrarian son through a guinea pig trial at the Mayo Institute (which doesn’t offer any promise of cure or relief) he decides to go on a major road trip with him to see Mt Rushmore and the famous US president effigies (echoing a trip in an earlier book that had not gone well). He is consumed with awareness of his son’s fate and the limits of what he can do to help (especially as his son is a difficult character and neither of them are good at talking directly about anything) but feels that this one gesture to plan and finish something is worth doing. The book is extremely poignant and also amusing – both father and son are witty and good at word play, and both have an eye for the sentimental ridiculousness and affectations of rural America. But it is overall sad – the book of someone who considers himself old and who is very aware of his own bodily aging and limited time remaining, and who is equally dwelling backwards on his whole life, and especially his relationship with his children. He is thinking about what happiness means, and of possibilities of new relationships with women and is partly disappointed in these and partly satisfied or reconciled. It is a powerful book that lingers when you have finished reading.

[Jule Banville · Rating 4 out of 5]

I caught myself many times rereading sentences to help them sink in. They were mostly good and introspective sentences, as Frank Bascombe is a mostly good and introspective man and character. I guess I find I'm surprised that I have read all of the Frank Bascombe books and that he has grown on me so much. Maybe it's that I've grown up with him. Though I started reading these books as an adult, I was young. I'm still female, as it turns out. And now I am a different sort of reader and woman than I was when I met Frank. It makes me appreciate this last of the five books, when Frank is 74 and taking care of a son who's only a few years younger than me and is dying. In this book, Frank chases women less, though he still does here and that part was a reality check that Frank is still Frank and for sure still an imperfect man. Yet, he is still just as insightful about thinking as he was when he was the sportswriter. He thinks a lot about thinking and always has. It made me want to think more, too. I think that is a great outcome for a book. I think it's a good outcome for the long life of a character, too, one Richard Ford's been writing for the better part of five decades. I hope instead of resting, Ford, like Frank, keeps going and thinking and also writing. Maybe he will even write someone new. And I will read that one, too.