Book Review: The Book of Fred

The Book of Fred is a quirky little work of fiction that tells the story of Mary Fred, a teenager who was raised in a bizarre fundamentalist religious cult and is sent to live with a foster family when her parents are sent to jail. Mary Fred is thrust into this bizarre world and with a foster family who was pretty disconnected with each other. The family has a teenage daughter about the same age as Mary Fred, a single mom who still hasn't gotten over her divorce, and Uncle Roy, who appears to be a jobless, lazy mess-up. The writing style is unique in that all four main characters serve as narrators at different points so you get to see the story from each person's viewpoint. But, I think it works really well. In fact, the last section repeats someone's point-of-view and I found myself wishing that things were wrapped up from everyone's point-of-view. Anyway, the story isn't particularly unique - how Mary Fred changes these person's lives and how they in turn change hers - but the writing style is unique enough and interesting to make this a pretty good read.