The Book of Fred

Mary Fred, 15 years old, has been raised in a secretive and bizarre cult, the Fredians, whose beliefs were shaped by their prophet, Fred Brown. Alice Cullison is an unhappy divorced Mom, who is trying to hold her family together. Roy, her brother, seems to do nothing but hang out and make bad jokes. Heather Cullison, Alice's daughter, deeply wounded by the divorce, has withdrawn into a shell of sarcasm and defiance. The characters are brought together when Mary Fred's parents are jailed for child neglect and Alice becomes Mary Fred's foster mother. An unlikely combination, with unpredictable results.Mary Fred is naive to the modern world, has never watched TV, has never been allowed to wear anything but the color brown, and has lived a life of discipline and service. Now what will happen when she is plunged into the very secular, modern, up-to-date but shallow Cullison family? And what will happen to them?Author Abby Bardi explores this question through a succession of narrators, each of whom takes the story a little farther along. It is a challenging situation for all of them, and all of them will change as a result. But what kind of change? Better or worse? What will happen to Mary Fred? Will she ever get back to her real family? Will she discover who she really is? Read the book and find out!Author Bardi writes extremely well, in a lucid, conversational style that is easy to follow, and with a great sense of humor. She drew me right into her story. As the book moved toward its conclusion I found myself racing through it. Of course, it is a little far-fetched, and sometimes comes a little close to being over-dramatized, a little too close to sentimentality. Still, it works. Take it for what it is, and you will find the book both entertaining and uplifting. I recommend this one. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

I loved this book! I started it last night and could not bare to go to bed until I 'd read every word. The characters are all somewhat eccectric but lovable, each in their own way. Mary Fred is somewhat like a modern-day Pollyanna, changing the environment everywhere she goes just by being herself. I can't wait to read another book by this author! Read it you won't be disappointed.

When I first began reading A Book of Fred by Abby Bardi, I couldn't imagine how I could come to care about four such eccentric characters so dissimilar to me - a fundamentalist teenager who has been isolated from the modern world; a somewhat dysfunctional and scattered single mom; a sullen teenager with blue-streaked hair; and a man whose sole interests in life seem to be freeloading and watching television. This wonderful first novel reinforces a philosophy I try to live by - do not stereotype! The author quickly and skillfully draws the reader into the complex characters and deepening interrelationships of these four people. I came not only to care about them, but to root and applaud and cheer for them. Told with wit, perception, and near-perfect dialogue, Abby Bardi shapes four distinct lives and weaves them together seamlessly.It's refreshing to find a book that keeps you up until 2 am, knowing full well that the alarm goes off in less than 4 hours.Please read this book, love this book, and recommend it to any intelligent person you know - it's a treasure. To Abby Bardi - more soon, please!

A young woman raised in an extreme apocalypic religious community is extensively educated about the world outside, but has never been exposed to it. By a government decree, Mary Fred then joins a curious family which knows nothing of her world, but is enmeshed in their own. The inevitable culture contast brings about few sparks and much unexpected mutual contribution. Mary Fred, one of the four protagonists of the volume, elegantly repels the needy-ness that her hosts imagine for her. By pure strength of character and benign cleverness, she molds the world of her adoptive family to meet her needs, while at the same time using their embrace to grieve her catastrophic losses, which are never far beneath the surface. Despite her bizarre beliefs, Mary Fred's integrity causes a turmoil in her adoptive family. Her purportive mother Alice is a middle aged woman whose main characteristic is the need to be needed and molded by others. Alice's teenage daughter Heather is bent on cynicism and depression at all costs, which she has willfully paid. Alice's brother Roy, whose unexpected secret shall remain for the reader to discover, ultimatley carries the unspoken message of The Book of Fred: human transformation. Mary Fred is a stone that plunges into the pond of her adoptive family, whose ripples grow in intensity and tension as each family member is forced to confront him or herself in succession. By the stunning climax, all that each has always known is violently torn apart by an unexpected catastrophe, and the structure of lies they have been telling themselves collapses like a house of cards in the resulting quake. The seemingly inevitable response to these disturbances is that each family member becomes the better angel of their nature, and they do it in a hurry. Where there was weakness, suddenly there is power.Soon Mary Fred's work in the city is done, and she returns to her biological family and their strange rural world. But she is not the same -- her strict doctrines been tainted by the wisdom and compassion of the new family she has come to know and love. But now she finds herself in a third universe, without either the integirty of her native family or the compassion of her adoptive one, and ultimately she rejects it, with the heroic assistance of her true mother.It is impossible to read this volume and not recongnize yourself and those you love in its pages. That's what makes the reader so passionate about devouring every kernel.

I can't remember the last time I rooted for a character the way I rooted for Mary Fred. Fifteen years old and raised in a Koresh/Ruby Ridge sounding cult, Mary Fred has never seen a talkshow, or the inside of a school, when she's plucked from her true-believing parents and thrust into the thick of the modern world. The story of how she educates her foster family, and how they return the favor, will keep you riveted, break your heart, and give you hope. What a great debut!