American Zen [Kindle Edition]

Robert Crawford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What is your personal salvation worth and what will you risk for it?

Five friends, 30 years, one band and a set list of rock and roll songs that defined their unique dynamic and generation, American Zen is a week in the lives of four of these friends in search of the fifth, the front man who broke up the band. As they seek the truth behind their breakup during their odyssey, their reunion garners for them more infamy and notoriety than they’d ever had as a group.

And during their largely-reluctant hunt for their elusive former front man Dave, the road trip becomes in itself a wider yet more urgent search for salvation and meaning. During their epic road trip across the eastern seaboard, their mutual friendship is put to the test and they realize how much they can afford to risk in the name of love and amity. It’s a story of undying friendship, one driving home the point that even salvation and redemption can come at a high price. Rob the conflicted Zen master, Billy the suicidal ex-commando, the ailing Jo Jo and his husband Jeremy and Mike our journalist narrator learn how cruel the last three decades have been to each other. And on their road to redemption, they give the best and most soul-defining performances of their lives.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 665 KB
• Publisher: Amazon Kindle (November 21, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004D9FUZ4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #557,821 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightenment in dark times, February 17, 2011

By 

Mary Flaig - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Zen (Kindle Edition)

I enjoyed American Zen thoroughly. It triggered thousand-year-old memories of another lifetime when we were, if not completely innocent, young, clueless and fearless. And it reminded me of what I saw as a hospice volunteer: death is inconvenient. Having a terminal diagnosis is both definitive and weirdly vague. Friends and family struggle to "be there" for the loved one, but employers aren't fond of open-ended absences. "How long is this going to take?" isn't the right question, but life doesn't wind itself down and provide an interlude for final farewells and reconciliations. You'd think impending death would have more sway. In fiction and the movies, death is the denouement. Always timely. In life, rarely so.
American Zen, the movie, would have a great soundtrack. The Immortals play good stuff. And fueled by a potent mix of youthful invincibility and subversive defiance, they play like they've found the Escape Hatch, the Explanation, the Truth. Disillusionment, of course, arrives soon enough and we know its heartless calculus. Our young heroes are no match for the predators, let alone their own internal combustion. They clearly are a danger to themselves and each other. There's plenty of comedy served up with the tragedy here. No less when they manage, barely, to come together again some 30 years later, wounded survivors with enough stupid and crazy left in them to remember who they were and what they had, and eventually, enough wisdom to find reconciliation with what might have been.
In a time when the American Dream has been revealed as a setup, and even the young are seasoned cynics, Robert Crawford chronicles the relentless slide through each character's story. Letting Mike Flanagan, a journalist, narrate provides the social, political context of American Zen. Readers of his blog, Welcome Back to Pottersville, will recognize the themes and the arguments. In a fractured America, where sanity struggles to find a home, finding our Zen is no small thing.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Know this writer, February 10, 2011

By 

D. Peters (Browns Mills, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Zen (Kindle Edition)

I knew I wouldn't be disappointed, and I was right. I read a lot and have a huge pile of books next to my bed, but put Rob's book ahead of my list because of my respect for him as a blogger. I have loved his writing style for several years now, and when I heard he had not one, but two novels available, I was thrilled. The fact that the characters are basically our contemporaries made it even better. I was glued to it, and read it in two days, and my husband is reading it now (and he's barely half the reader I am). I highly, highly recommend this to everyone. One of the undiscovered gems in the publishing world. Read on!

7 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another top value indie book, December 2, 2010

By 

Rod Govers - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Zen (Kindle Edition)

As I've said in other reviews writing them is not one of my talents. I wish I could just give books a star rating without writing anything.

Anyway, I wasn't sure I would like this book but after telling the author his original price ($9.99) was too high for me, I came back one day and found it reduced to $4.99 (I'm not taking the credit for the price reduction, just saying ...). Anyway, after that I felt I had an obligation to buy it.

And am I glad I did! I loved the book, read it in two sittings, and was really sorry when it ended. As a middle-aged man, the book rang a lot of bells for me.

Once again I've found another indie ebook author who has given me exceptional value for my money. I hope the book does really well for Mr Crawford.