Frank and Maisie: A Memoir with Parents

Anyone who reads this book will become --- if they are not already --- an admirer of the author's parents, Frank (Sheed) and Maisie (Ward); and will be moved to laughter and to tears in tracing the fortunes of this exceptionally talented, quirky, and rollicking Catholic family. It is odd, and it can provoke a bit of hand-wringing in some readers, that although Wilfrid remembers his mother tenderly and clearly idolizes his father --- and who wouldn't be smitten by Frank's goodness? --- he has rejected in his own life the very core of his parents' character, their strong, sound Catholic Faith. It makes some of Wilfrid's narrative, though affectionate, sound just a tad patronizing: the agnostic son "explaining" his parent's religious fervor to a supercilious and secular world. But I decided to give Frank & Maisie 5 stars anyway; partly to bring up their overall average (permit me to do this!) and partly because I appreciate the fact that Son Wilfrid NEVER falls into the all-too-common all-warts, my-parents-done-me-wrong genre. Far from it. He has gifted the world with a fundamentally positive and loving re-telling of the family epic, full of wit and drollery but serious for all that. Through this book I actually met Frank & Maisie: met them, appreciated them, loved them. For this I owe Wilfrid many heartfelt thanks. And five stars for gratitude.