Freddy and Fredericka

By: Mark Helprin

Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie

Length: 25 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Best-selling, critically acclaimed author Mark Helprin's work has drawn favorable comparisons to an elite group of literary legends, including James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Edgar Allan Poe, and Thomas Mann. Helprin's sheer comic brilliance shines in this ingenious farce.

Freddy is the bright but aloof Prince of Wales. Fredericka is his blonde, beautiful, and beloved wife. When they stumble into a public relations nightmare with no easy solution, they must make amends by serving an unusual penance. Literally dropped from a plane into a mysterious place called Hoboken, New Jersey, Freddy and Fredericka are given one task. They must reconquer America!

A thinly veiled satire of what might have happened if Princess Diana had survived, Freddy and Fredericka is an imaginative gem full of clever wordplay and wicked political jabs.

©2005 Mark Helprin (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Helprin's entertaining new novel [is] a rollicking picaresque saga that reads as though Evelyn Waugh had put the movies Roman Holiday and Duck Soup into a blender along with some old copies of People magazine and a couple of Mark Twain's travelogues, and seasoned the resulting confection with generous helpings of his own black comedy....Mr. Helprin has constructed a perfect showcase for his heretofore underused gift of humor, and in doing so he has produced a delightful romp of a book." (The New York Times)
"Irresistibly mischievous." (Booklist)
"Wildly imaginative, adventure-filled, clever." (Publishers Weekly)
"[Mark Helprin] frequently astounds with the freshness of voice and the oddly soaring majesty of this...comic call for greatness in a mediocre era." (Kirkus Reviews)

The best fiction book I’ve ever known

This story is at once magical, historical, and utterly relevant. It speaks to all corners of the psyche and conjures idealism whilst simultaneously reminding us that nothing will ever change. Yes, so many hours of paradox might wear a person down, but after listening to it twice, I still feel invigorated. Really.

Funniest Book Ever...with a nice moral

I laughed out loud while listening to this book. Besides being cleverly written, the performance was superb! I will listen to this over and over, what fun it is!

Charming

This book was pretty charming and laugh out loud funny in many places. I really liked the off-beat characters and the story. It really drew me in and kept me on the tread mill longer. I recommend this book particularly to people who have a little bit of an off beat sense of humor.

The narrator was excellent as well.

mixed bag

Helprin wrote a very funny story, but it is unlike his Winter's Tale which will be a disappointment to many who hold that up as a model. While a wonderful unlikely fairy tale, he does over due it on very sophmoric jokes and sort of beat you to death with them. Yes, they're funny-ish the first time, but then he keeps beating you with it and it just becomes annoying. However watching the characters change for complete prats to people who actually do a little thinking and caring is worth the read. It is well read and the character voice not grossly over done nor are they too dramatically read. It's easy to listen to the narrator and let your imagination fill in the faces and scenery. Helprin uses his wonderful imagry here but does keep get too contrived putting his characters through the same pronuciation pit falls time after time. You just want to yell from the third to the upteeth time there is a issue, 'Teach him to ennunciate properly and we won't all be in this mess'. He over plays that angle, while twisting a tale in a beautiful fashion and showing the under belly of many. It's a nice read and pleasurable.

Okay. . . but not great.

I liked this book, but just couldn't suspend my belief enough to really get into it. If you enjoy the foibles of royal families then you will probably like this.

I did not recommend this book to friends but did not regret listening to it. FWIW.

Fantastic and fun - a work of art!

I've been through this book three times now, it's a wonderful performance. Helprin's work is insightful, elevating and this - his only comedy, is also big fun. I highly recommend it.

Pinching myself

I cannot get over how much is in Mark Helprin’s head.
While I am one of his biggest fans, I realize that you never quite know what to expect. This book is highly entertaining and fabulously detailed. The performance is remarkable. I loved every minute of it.

Laugh out loud

I listened to this walking through the supermarket and I was laughing so hard tears ran down my cheeks. People stared. I was helpless...

Love it or hate it.

You can see from the other reviews that people either love or hate this book. I loved it. Helprin has a wonderful sense of comic timing that is drawn out to great (sometimes excruciating) effect when experienced "out loud" vs. on paper. I loved both the laugh out loud descriptions of American and British politics; well as the idiosyncracies and beauties of american life and landscape. I listened to some parts of this book multiple times. Helprin has a unique viewpoint; somehow both sorrowful and silly. Enjoy!

Download this now!

Freddy and Fredricka was, hands down, the best book I have listened to. I have listened to this book three times, and I still find myself laughing out loud. The story is so original, and you never know what might happen next. I wish there were more stories like this one. Get this one now!