Customer Reviews

Breakfast with Buddha

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this book after reading a review emailed to me. I am so very happy that I did! Although Buddha is in the title, the book is only obliquely about Buddhism...the secondary character happens to wear a robe and is a guru...this story is about a physical and spiritual journey frought with humor, reflection, good food and pathos. Even casual characters are painted wonderfully by this author, but you are really along to share Otto's journey of self-discovery and I believe every reader will learn much about themselves as they travel through it.

I have a long list of friends and family members waiting to read it and look forward to discussions with them about their take on Otto and Rinpoche.

Otto Ringling is your typical American: upper middle class, happily married, one boy, one girl, one decent-paying job. House, picket fence, nine yards of the "whole" variety. But Otto's in store for an atypical ride when his "New Age" sister, Cecilia, asks that he allow a guru named Rinpoche to ride shotgun with him from Jersey to North Dakota.

The premise is a bit far-out, forcing Merullo to negotiate an opening that attempts to make it all feasible. This takes time and doesn't entirely succeed, but eventually we settle in for this "road novel" with the grumpy Doubting Otto (Thomas was busy) behind the wheel and the beatific, beaming Volya Rinpoche (the Dalai Lama was busy) riding shotgun.

On the Road (sorry, Jack), we're treated to all manner of fun and games, both physical and verbal. The physical comes compliments of Rinpoche's naivete in all things American. The verbal comes in the form of cynical Otto trying to trip Mr. Mystical up (he fails, of course, every time).

If you like philosophy or religion, if you are middle-aged and have given any thought to that Mortality fellow creeping up behind you, or if you have ever asked the clichéd question, "What's the meaning of life, anyway?" then this is a book for you. Rinpoche claims he isn't Buddhist, and his words show how well-versed Merullo is in many religions, not just Buddhism, but nevertheless, our charming man of wisdom, swathed in maroon robe, comes off in a Zen kind of way. Thus, readers with an interest in the East will be treated to an easy, story-based introduction to Buddhism (which goes down much easier than many of the introductory books you could find in the Eastern religions section of your bookstores).

Ultimately, this interesting exercise wins you over only to break down at the end. As was the case with the beginning, the ending stretches credibility a bit (especially the last page), but overall you have to give it to Merullo -- it was mostly fun, mostly thoughtful, and mostly worth the trip. Reservations aside, I recommend it if you are part of the target audience. Go ahead. Look over your shoulder. If you see this Mortality guy I mentioned (or ANYthing carrying a scythe), buy the book, focus on your breathing, and let go of your anger. Hey, it's a start anyway (and, fortunately for you, endings are beginnings in this book... even in such garden variety items as Life).

I loved reading Breakfast with Buddha. It was an easy and fun read. The story flowed and the characters were interesting and likeable. I could not put it down and then parts of it continued to come back to me throughout the following days. I reread it and shared it with two friends who also loved it. I recommend this book to anyone even if you don't usually read straight novels. I am a mystery reader myself and I loved it.

BREAKFAST WITH BUDDHA is Roland Merullo's story of a man's journey to self-discovery. The means by which Otto Ringling transforms his viewpoints on life, love, parents, children, siblings and growth is told quite simply. Otto begins a cross-country drive from his home in a New York City suburb to the remote plains of North Dakota, to the farm where he spent his childhood. His novel could read as a travelogue across the mid-section of the United States. However, BREAKFAST WITH BUDDHA is a trip marked by memories revived in the places he now visits.

Told in the first person, the book engulfs the reader immediately into the task that Otto must perform. His parents' lives have been snuffed in an automobile crash. Otto plans an August itinerary for travel that accommodates his busy schedule as a New York editor. Summer is the slack season for book promotion, an ideal time to re-bond with his flaky sister, Cecilia. She's a retread from the '60s, complete with yoga, incense and her spiritual guru, Volya Rinpoche. The crimson-robed Skovordinian monk is a Zen-master in his own right, with the credit of books written and a dedicated following. His popularity reaches into the Midwest where he is scheduled to speak on his favorite subjects.

Arriving at Cecilia's sanctuary, Otto meets the affable, intelligent monk and plans to whisk his sister off to North Dakota, where they hope to settle the family estate. Otto's first impression was that Seese was dating the Dali Lama. Trepidation floods him when she states, "Otto, Sweeethart...Rinpoche is going on the trip to North Dakota." Her brother pretends not to hear her.

Furthermore, she plans to deed her half of the family farm to the monk for a spiritual center. Angry and feeling duped, Otto excuses Rinpoche from the scene. Brother and sister will have a knock-down fight over Seese's latest revelation. She's squandering her inheritance! Her ardent pleas sound ridiculous, but Otto loses the argument and agrees to show Rinpoche America. Cecilia's words stick with him.

"The country needs help, spiritual help. He'll change your life too, if you just let him."

Though not overweight, one reads into Otto's fascination with food choices as a mask for the areas of his life he chooses to ignore. Rinpoche dubs Otto as "angry" toward life in general. While the spiritualist meditates, smiles a Cheshire-like grin and expounds an occasional platitude, Otto plans ahead for the next lodging space and meal. Chicago is a turning point in his journey. There, he accompanies the monk to a yoga class and participates in the activity. Determined to make it through the postures, his face turning crimson, sweat trickling onto his clothing, Otto's fury miraculously subsides. For a brief time, he has experienced a quietude he has overlooked in an activity-filled life.

Revelation marches toward Otto like a slow-dripping faucet that cannot be ignored. Together, the two unlikely companions share witticism, food, yoga, a round of bowling and silence in the miles they travel. Rinpoche cautions his driver to slow down the fast life, to unlearn the cluttered knowledge of a frantic world and to listen to breathing in a body renewed by yoga. By the time they exit the fast lanes into the quiet country of rural prairie, Otto discovers a new understanding of his world. It is there, in his childhood place, that his final surprise awaits.

Merullo's skill with the pen enchants the reader with a fresh awareness of how man confronts his spiritual side in a chaotic world. The monk's character is rich with humor, silence and understanding. It matters not that his audience shares a religious conviction with this man but that change can occur in a skeptical soul.

--- Reviewed by Judy Gigstad

Sometimes you need something to read that just makes you feel good -- this book did this for me. It had all the ingredients of a good read: road trip across America, use of language which caught me writing snippets down because written so well, spiritual odyssey of a modern man, filled with religious/spiritual teachings in a nonthreatening nor intimidating way. Author gives a litany of substantive sources for the thoughts his character espoused within the text which clearly shows the underpinning spiritual message is meatier than one might think. Yes, it is formulaic, but who cares because when reading it you just want to smile!!!!

What a wonderful way to start the day! This was a quiet thoughtful book. It didn't smack you in the face with life-changing ideas. It seemed to be more of an osmosis-type experience. It was a simple story about a man changing his mind with a little help from his traveling companion. And with that simple premise, the author encompassed so much of the human condition; so much of our commonality, our thoughts, dreams, hopes, questions about life. I closed the book often to contemplate something the holy man had said, to soak it in. I found myself to be so at peace that sometimes I drifted off to sleep with the book in my lap (an attempt at meditation).

The messages in this book will stay with me. I plan to do more reading along this line and it is because of this book.

"Breakfast with Buddha" is an excellent read. The message is beautiful, the delivery smooth, the decriptions priceless, and the editing superb. Creative writing classes should read this exemplary book to study its word choice, sentence structure, and grammatically correct paragraphs.

I'm buying ten copies to give as gifts.

A novel with a slightly lost, middle-aged man and his journey with sharp-eyed & wise teacher.
Merullo has wonderful scenes around food.
A delightful and insightful book.

Food book editor and ordinary suburbanite dad/husband Otto Ringling drives from New York to North Dakota with improbable passenger, Buddhist guru/yoga master Volya Rinpoche. Is this serious or another Bing & Bob "On the Road" movie to provide guffaws? In the end, it's neither.

The serious spiritual transformation of Ringling is shallow, rushed and predictable. By the very end, it feels phony. Diner conversations about the meaning of life are limpid and meatless: "What matters is how you treat people." "Live a good life. Help people. Meditate. Don't Hurt." And seven days later, a miracle: Otto is transformed.

The comedic aspect falls short, too. Two oddballs, picture Zippy the pinhead and Walter Matthau, leave the planet for seven days to travel in the mash potatoes and gravy of the mid-west. There are some lame scenes where the crimson robed monk is embarrassingly out-of-place (swimming in a Speedo at a Minnesota lake, mini-golfing in Wisconsin) and where Otto struggles in his spiritual awakening (tearing muscles in a yoga class). Amusing possibilities, but Merullo's humor is flat. Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods" interplay with his friend Katz come to mind as far funnier.

In spots, Merullo is very ordinary and humdrum. An entire paragraph devoted to the motel décor in South Bend that depicts Notre Dame football? The observation that football, not Catholicism, is the religion at Notre Dame? C'mon. Cliché. Detailed descriptions of mid-west German restaurants down to the pictures of lederhosen on the walls? Yawn.

Merullo isn't too bad at describing meals. By the time, our boys hit dinner, like ever-famished Otto, we are ready to dive into the New York strip steak and roasted shallots. And Merullo knows his white middle-aged suburban audience. Otto is a good construct of Everyman Yuppie. Mortgages and marriages, credit cards and kids, he's spot on. Otto is the hook for most who will read this novel. He's just like us, vulnerable and skeptical and hungry in more ways than one. The first person writing is effective, and the descriptions so detailed, I had to remind myself it is fiction, not the author describing his own dull, seven-day trip. How many miles is it from Park Rapids to Bismark, again?

Cute premise for a novel, just wish there had been more beef on the bone.

I loved this book. It made me laugh, and...made me think. I've been recommending it to all my friends. It's not profound, but it's memorable, funny, and...insightful. Everything about this road trip worked for me. It takes 15 or 20 pages to get into, but I highly recommend this read.