Fresh Eggs [Paperback]

Rob Levandoski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2003

Calvin Cassowary is ready to do whatever it takes to keep Cassowary Farm in the family for one more generation. Hatching a scheme to specialize in chickens, soon he's got a million hens laying eggs for Gallinipper Foods, but he still finds himself deeper and deeper into debt. To make matters worse, his chicken-loving daughter Rhea is spending far too much time with the chickens and is starting to act very strange.

Filled with as many tears as chuckles, Rob Levandoski's Fresh Eggs is a provocative father-daughter tale guaranteed to make you ponder the realities of modern farming and think twice the next time someone asks, "white or dark meat?"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Levandoski (Serendipity Green; Going to Chicago) takes satiric aim at industrialized farming and the fads of the late 20th century in this adult fable. Calvin Cassowary is the reluctant heir to his Ohio family farm, where he moves with his uncomplaining bride, Jeanie. He converts it into a highly successful modern egg farm by teaming with megacorporation Gallinipper Foods. Jeanie gives birth to a daughter, Rhea, but five years later succumbs to illness and leaves Calvin widowed, a situation he remedies by marrying Donna Digamy, who is allergic to everything. Rhea is traumatized by the brutal realities of egg farming, a revulsion reinforced when she visits the corporate headquarters and sees genetically altered hens being cruelly prepared for their work as productive layers. She then develops a curious physical reaction of her own: she sprouts feathers. In the meantime, Calvin is beset by enormous debt, encroaching land developers who want the egg farm shut down and by the public's sudden decision to eat healthier and avoid eggs. The story evolves in the tradition of other modern, adult fantasies from such writers as W.P. Kinsella and Joe Coomer. Calvin is comically bewildered by life but never tragically confronted; Rhea, who even joins a county fair freak show at the age of 14 to help raise money, is precocious and sweet without being saccharine. The satiric examination of animal cruelty, Reaganomics and social change is sharp, but the use of ridiculously onomatopoeic character names and stereotypes leads it close to farce from time to time. Still, it is satisfying summer reading that resonates with bittersweet humor and wisdom. Fans of Fast Food Nation will appreciate this unique title for its activism, while the father-daughter story line increases its emotional resonance. Paperback rights sold to Plume.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A plucky satire.... If you've still got an appetite after Fast Food Nation, break open Fresh Eggs. -- The Christian Science Monitor

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Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Plume (July 29, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452284368
• ISBN-13: 978-0452284364
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,942,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm, a girl covered with feathers..., October 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Fresh Eggs (Paperback)

Though this author can write well enough, I guess nothing prepared me for the fowl twist Rhea takes. I almost put it down when she transforms, but endured through. Perhaps had I expected the tale to turn tail and go into complete fantasy similiar to Christopher Moore's books, I would have been better prepared to love it rather than just like it. But like it I did.

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging fable, December 29, 2011

By 

Writing Mom (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fresh Eggs (Paperback)

This book was engaging and readable. It has a fairytale, fable quality that rather caught me off guard. Once I caught on, I rolled with it and enjoyed the ride. I round this to be a light read, not exactly the "materpiece" touted by other reviewers, but it is very nice.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing mix of magical realism, satire & social criticism, September 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Fresh Eggs (Hardcover)

What a find! Levandoski is a saucy yet substantial treasure. Although the novel is reflective of the Reagan-era mindset when greed was good, accepted and even expected this brilliant little story perfectly illustrates how the important lessons of the past are quickly forgotten as we chase the false glitter of one get-rich-quick scheme to the next. And always forgetting the cost of the ones who will truly suffer and pay - all of us.

Yes it is a cautionary fable, but much fun is also to be found. Forget Keating and Reagan. Read Levandoski - and remember Calvin and his feathered daughter Reah.

Time for SERENDIPITY GREEN!