Portofino (Calvin Becker Trilogy)

Rating:
Summary: Well written but....
Review: Frank Schaeffer is obviously a talented writer. He comes from a family of talented, intellectual yet empathic people. After having read and loved his book, "Faith of Ours Sons", I purchased Portifino. It is a real "page turner", but unfortunatly, it may be a catalyst to really "stick it to" either his own family or Christian Fundamentalism in general. While I DO NOT believe that this is actually his REAL family...many might, because he has so handily used his family as the prototype for the Becker family. (Frank grew up in a religious community in Switzerland called L'Brie, was the youngest with older sisters, etc) This is unfortunate because the Schaeffer family has done so much good for others over the years. I personally have read many of the books of his mother Edith, his famous Dad, Francis, and his sister Susan, and benefitted enormously from them. In "Portifino", I believe that Schaeffer is working out his own angst against Christian Fundamentalism, but I think some of his portrayals are unfair and probably fueled by his annoyance that his new-found faith of "Orthodoxy" is not accepted by the community of people he grew up in as being legitimate. I gave it five stars because it is so well written.