Portofino

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: "Portofino" is a story about a boy's annual summer vacation with his family, headed by two alarmingly religious yet all-too human parents. This coming-of-age tale wrapped me around its little finger on Page One and did not let go until the very end, which came much too quickly. I bought it at an airport bookstore and read most of it during a short flight, finishing it (instead of unpacking) when I got home. Schaeffer has drop-dead perfect pitch for the rhythms of family life, which he captures in warm, compassionate, and seamless storytelling prose. I especially appreciated the way he blends family humor and pain (even abuse) into a uniquely personal yet totally universal mood of adolescent yearning. This book is poignant and incredibly funny (my frequent guffaws had people turning heads on the plane) and I would recommend it to anyone who loves to get pulled into a book you can't put down until you're done.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious coming-of-age novel: Jesus against Hormones
Review: A family of Christian fundamentalists vacation annually on the Italian Riviera, and their 10yo son, Calvin, has discovered his Hormones, with a capital H.
Dad, determined to convert European Catholics to his Holy Roller way of thinking, is sometimes a little, shall we say...unpredictable. Calvin spends a lot of his time trying to gauge Dad's moods. Calvin is left to ramble on his own a lot of the time, and in his explorations comes to discover the pleasures of alcohol and women. Watching as he tries to permit himself to enjoy the world without outright lying to his parents is hilarious and very touching. His 'little thing' (a unique family euphemism, if ever there was one) develops a life of its own, and Calvin doesn't quite know how to keep it under wraps, especially when he's wearing only a bathing suit.
Splendid, all around.

Rating:
Summary: He told my story
Review: Although most reviewers of this book said it made them laugh out loud, I found it poignant, but not humorous for two reasons. First I was raised in a missionary family in Johannesburg in a fundamentalist sect. The story reminded me so much of my own family that it wasn't humorous, it was amazing.

Second some of the writings that helped me get out of my sect were the writings of Frank Schaeffer's mother, Edith, whom I adored. Calvin's fictional family matches exactly the details Schaeffer's mother wrote about in her book "L'Abri", the account of her family's missionary work in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was intensely upsetting to see the fictional Elsa portrayed as such a codependent personality, with all the foibles of that personality. However, upon consideration, I realized that if I took away some of the worst situations in the book, my family was all too similar. Also, as a writer, I realize that all my own fiction comes from real situations that I exaggerate, organize, truncate, etc. Good fiction involves intense conflict and tension. Some of the stories may be completely fictional, though if they are fictional, why does Schaeffer make no effort to disguise the fictional family? He leaves them as Reformed Presbyterian missionaries in Lausanne, Switzerland, exactly as his famous parents were. It seems like a deliberate statement to the world, yet one which he does not have to defend, because, after all, this is fiction.

At first I found Schaeffer's constant hammering at his fundamentalist upbringing accurate but irritating, however I realized that he also took various European ethnic and political groups to task as well. I also found the trashing of fundamentalist "villains" and the idealization of a gay hero a little too clicheed and politically correct.

All in all though, I was disappointed when the book came to an end, and I can't wait to read the sequel, Saving Grandma.

Rating:
Summary: whimsical "Life with Father" set in Tuscany
Review: Frank Schaeffer is great. I realize many think the book is an unfair jab at his family, but speaking from an objective standpoint, the book is damn funny. I grew up in a similar situation, though much less tragic, in Northeastern Italy, and Schaeffer's depiction of the Italian coastal town is beautiful. He correctly identifies the struggles and interchanges that take place in a fundamentalist Christian home overseas. I do not think I have read a more accurate depiction of being thirteen, in a missionary family, in Italy, and in love. It was a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: I am not much of a fiction reader, in fact the only fiction books I have read recently are the Chronicles of Narnia series. But that was until I picked this book up, and after I picked it up I could not put it down! Its a first rate story that captures the magic of youth through the eyes of Calvin Becker. This book does poke fun at most Reformed Protestants though, so beware if you are a long-winded Baptist. I don't know how much of this is autobiography, but many of the situations seem as if they may have actually occurred in Frank's life. Even though he may poke fun (and at times just criticize) reformed folks who are always saying that 'Catholics worship Mary, etc etc,' he still portrays his family as one that has a tender and loving side to it. His father's walk with his son in the hills of Portafino really touched me. It almost made me wish I was Calvin! This is a great book!

Rating:
Summary: A great book to read aloud
Review: I picked up Frank Schaeffer's Portofino in an airport bookstore as my wife and I took off for a trip to Europe. For the next week, as we prepared to go to sleep in different hotel rooms and camping grounds I read aloud the story of Calvin and his family.While the book is represented as a coming-of-age story, we were most enthralled with the challenges to a child growing up in a devout missionary family where religion was the sacred basis of life, but also the tedious anchor to adventure.Our favorite scene involved the 'bahini' (beach attendant) arguing with the English and the Italians after a dispute on the amount of time a rental boat was used.A delightful book, and moreso as a book read aloud between two adults

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining story!
Review: 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?