Richard Ford's "Let Me Be Frank With You" Receives a Pulitzer Prize Nom.

Richard Ford latest work,"Let Me Be Frank With You" a novella of 4 linked stories, heralds the return of Ford's main character, Frank Bascombe.  Frank was the hero of a trilogy of novels. "Independence Day" won Ford the Putlizer Prize.  "Let Me Be…" earned Ford another Pulitzer Prize nom. & deserves accolades for his deft writing I find reminiscent of literary giants such as Updike and Roth.  All 3 prolific writers have carried a person into subsequent novels.  What makes these characters so inhabitable are the astute observations rendering them all zeitgeists.  Ford reportedly retired Frank Bascombe but the tempest of Hurricane Sandy and it's massive destruction volted his resurrection.  The carefully strewn events & characters in Frank's life are given their due and their story arches.  The eye of the hurricane in these brilliant novellas is the Hurricane itself and its aftermath. "There's something to be said for a good no-nonsense hurricane to bully life back into perspective."  Ford refers to life's ever changing impacts all leading towards death; the final, permanent transition.  Far from being macabre, Ford's eloquent writing is dense with profound observations of life & love.  "Love isn't a thing, after all, but an endless series of single acts."  Frank's wife "views life as one thing leading naturally, intriguingly to another; whereas I {Frank} look at life in terms of failures survived."   To be perfectly honest "Let Me Be Frank With You," is a work of literary genius.  I recommend reading everything written by Richard Ford, including his afterword in "Let Me…" where he argues his prerogative to call upon his alter ego Frank.