- Hardcover: 553 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Press (July 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1594200548
- ISBN-13: 978-1594200540
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,339,643 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Uproariously funny comedy about both Britain and the USA,
By
This review is from: Freddy and Fredericka (Paperback)
The unlikely premise of this glorious romp is that the Prince and Princess of Wales are behaving so fecklessly as royals that they are parachuted without resources into the USA, to undergo trial by fire and retake the colonies for the crown! The pair begin as alternate versions, caricatures, of Charles and Diana, but their journey transfigures them into bigger, bolder and deeper characters. They follow a picaresque series of increasingly funny adventures as they cross the continent, finding new resilience, reviving their love and piloting a buffoon towards the presidency.
It is, in the book's own words, "a love song to this country" (ie. the US), and though it revels in ridiculing the royals, it is equally a hymn to their sense of duty, and also a heartfelt and often moving romance, in which our heroes fall in love not only with each other but with life itself. All this is accomplished in Helprin's characteristically luminous prose, enough to make aspiring writers gnaw off their own arm in envy. But most of all it is a generous, clear-sighted, big-hearted comedy. Helprin's humour is shamelessly contrived: for instance, he is not above naming Fredericka's dog "Pha Kew", merely to engineer a scene in which Freddy chases it through a wedding party, repeatedly shouting its name; a gag from which Helprin is still getting mileage two chapters later. Page after page of riotous dialogue flows again and again from the flimsiest of misunderstandings; and the reader does not merely forgive these transparent devices, but wills them along, eager for the next. It is not quite, to my mind, Helprin's best book (look to "Winter's Tale" or "A Soldier Of The Great War"), but it is certainly his funniest. Since it frequently reduced this reviewer to dizzy fits of laughter and left him gasping for breath, it fully merits its 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Royal disasters,
By E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Freddy and Fredericka (Hardcover)
"it is hard to be a king, it is harder yet to become one." For a generation that has grown up with modern royalty, nothing more need be said. Mark Helprin takes on the British royal family in his latest novel, a hilarious satire on Charles and Di, and the British royals in general. Don't expect Helprin's more ethereal books of the past -- in "Freddy and Fredericka," he just seems to be having fun. The Prince and Princess of Wales are stuck in a loveless marriage: Freddy is stodgy, pompous, scholarly, and tends to embarrass himself. Fredericka is sexy, blonde, ditzy, and loves discos. She is adored by everyone, while he consoles himself with his longtime mistress. The media dislikes him for his "out-of-touchness," but she can do no wrong in their eyes. Ladylike Queen Phillippa considers Fredericka a massive threat to the throne. But when Freddy ends up naked, tarred and feathered outside the palace, Phillipa decides that her son and daughter-in-law have embarrassed the royals once too often. She calls in the mysterious Mr. Neil, who sentences the bickering pair to conquer a rough new land: industrial New Jersey. Doing manual labor, parachuting, dealing with biker gangs and dental practices, Freddy and Fredericka begin to learn what real life is like -- and more about each other. Everyone except the British royal family knows what they need -- a swift kick of reality. So it's pretty fun to see a story about Di and Charles clones having to live like commoners for awhile, and so losing their absurd pretensions. Too bad this never happened in real-life, or the British royal family might be in better shape. It does tend to ramble on in the last quarter, and Helprin gets a bit too goofy with some of the names. Faintingchair? Okay, whatever. But Helprin's sense of humour is much sharper elsewhere: Parliament laughing over the "bosoms" tape, the "Fah Kew!" incident, and the duel with the bikers. Not to mention the hilarious duplicates of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, either quietly ineffectual or rigidly disdainful. But "Freddy and Fredericka" wouldn't be really good if it were all humour. As Freddy and Fredericka explore the U.S., even helping on a presidential campaign, they become a lot more likable and fun. It's touching to see the formerly un-loving couple begin to form genuine respect and liking for each other. Helprin has abandoned his more ethereal style for a robust, undignified kind of writing. It's still detailed and witty, but he seems to have loosened up. The one exception is the note of magical realism, Mr. Neil. He's ten thousand years old, knows of every English king in history, and works in a sex toy factory. Only a writer as talented as Helprin could make such a character work. We'll never know what would have happened if Di and Charles had been commanded to live incognito in New Jersey. But "Freddy and Fredericka" offers a hilarious, touching look at what might have happened if they ever had.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Helprin Pokes Fun At Things He Doesn't Really Understand,
By
This review is from: Freddy and Fredericka (Paperback)
This book will no doubt seem hilarious to its USAnian readers with its parodies of the British Royal Family. As a Brit, the flaws and the author's lack of understanding of the Monarchy and of the British Government are far more evident.
Prince of Wales Freddy as a bumbling clod mired in ancient illogical traditions while his younger wife is an airhead. Queen Philippa is in danger of being upstaged by Fredericka and knows it. The House of Commons has just heard a damning tape about Fredericka's bosoms while the gutter press is airbrushing photographs to reinforce Freddy's image as an idiot while worshipping Fredericka as a living saint. In comes an incarnation of Merlin to send the royal pair off to America to live as commoners and get a dose of reality. Really this is little more than a vehicle for worshipping the USA and its traditions. Despite the amusing names (Lady Boylingehotte, Lord Faintingchair etc) it's unsubtle at best and sometimes crass. I'm a Brit and not a fan of the monarchy, but this is little more than a vehicle for USA-worship. Helprin may have done some research into the mechanisms of British politics, but he's ridiculing something he doesn't really understand and this book can only really appeal to others with the same superficial understanding. If you're USAnian you'll probably love it. If you're a Brit, it will just jar and irritate.
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