Customer Reviews

American Zen

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I was extremely disappointed. I would have rated it even lower but one star is the lowest possible rating available.