THE BOOK OF FRED, by ABBY BARDI

Washington Square Press

A BOOK REVIEW
by KATHRYN MAGENDIE

In Abby Bardi’s The Book of Fred, at times I felt as if I were lost in a room of fun-house mirrors, but in that deliciously entertaining way those wavery-reflectors have of making us see ourselves and the world about us in a different way, and sometimes in a way that isn’t flattering—for through the first person accounts of Bardi’s main characters: Mary Fred, Alice, Heather, and Uncle Roy, we see perspectives of lives filled with desire, addiction, pain, loss, loneliness, bewilderment, betrayal, and finally, hope. Abby Bardi handles delicate issues with a light touch, but not so light one does not deeply feel each of her character’s voices in a whole and unique way.

When Mary Fred’s fundamentalist religion parents refuse medical treatment to their children, and two of her brothers die of treatable maladies, Mary Fred becomes a foster child and is sent to live with Alice, her daughter Heather, and Uncle Roy. Mary Fred has never been allowed to watch television, never worn any clothing that is not plain and brown, never read a book other than “The Book of Fred,” and further, believes that “the Lackers” (everyone who is not a “Fredian”) are doomed to a fiery end, while the Fredians will be spirited away to an everlasting garden of wonders.

Meanwhile, Uncle Roy holds a terrible secret tight, Alice tries to please everyone but herself and is unwilling to move on from her past, Heather pretends not to care about anyone or anything but herself and television, and Mary Fred struggles with her beliefs against the teasing pull of American Pop Culture. This “Family of Misfits” learns that things are not always as they seem, and that love, trust, sacrifice, and family are sometimes hard-won, but more beautifully, happiness and peace can come in unexpected and surprising ways. (As an aside, I would have liked to know what happened to Mary Fred’s remaining brothers, “The Littles,” but was mostly satisfied to know that she would try to find them later, for I understood that things were as they needed to be for the book without going into too many “tangents.” Still, I did wonder.)

There are passages and phrases in the book that made me nod my head and smile, or say, “Yes! She’s got it…” Bardi’s writing is hopeful, fresh, and quite good. I appreciate how each character struggles to remain locked in their own “status quo,” but with Mary Fred as the catalyst, Alice, Heather, Uncle Roy, and Mary Fred herself, at last find their way to redemption. The ending left me with a sigh, for I liked the main characters (although, I did enjoy Mary Fred and Uncle Roy’s voices the most), and wished them well— Abby Bardi's The Book of Fred did not disappoint me in that regard.

KATHRYN MAGENDIE is too quirky-chaotic to survive in the real world, so she left behind her moss-filled grandfather oak trees in South Louisiana and escaped to her mountain fiction world in North Carolina where she spins tales, drinks Deep Creek Blend coffee, an occasional glass of wine, an even more occasional glass of vodka tonic with lime, and contemplates the glow of old Moon. She has written novels, a novella, numerous short stories and essays, and a few terrible, but hopeful, poems. Visit her website http://www.kathrynmagendie.com/


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