Portofino

This book follows the vacation of Calvin Becker (Swiss missionary kid) and his family in Portofino, Italy. Calvin is a mildly interesting pre-teen character, but the story is a little dull. Frank Schaeffer himself grew up in a strict Calvinist family in Switzerland and so he takes a lot of liberty to poke his finger at his own upbringing. Frankly (ha ha), it gets very old. I was first introduced to Frank (aka Franky) Schaeffer in an art class in college and read his book "Addicted to Mediocrity". I have reread it since them because it is so excellent. It is, however, out of print and not listed in his short biography on the back of Portofino. Apparently this book is the first of the "Calvin Becker Trilogy". I'm going to pass on the next two, mainly because I am not interested in Calvin's adolescent sexual awakening. A disappointing work considering what F.S. is capable of writing.