Customer Reviews

Serendipity Green

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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It is magical when you have a book that is both funny and thought provoking at the same time. The funny-side of the surface is easy to see: this book is a very funny story that deals with life in Middle America, particularly in small towns where everyone knows everyone. But more importantly, the little town in Ohio is just a symbol of the whole world. Levandoski parodies the way we all try to give our lives bigger meanings by giving little petty things more importance than they really deserve. You can laugh at the pettiness and weirdness of the characters in this small town, but when you look more carefully you see that you know many people like them and we also do some of the things that they do! We are really them, with their foolishness and snobbishness, etc, etc.

The Persian psychiatrist is hilarious. He is caught between two irreconcilable worlds and he must have his head examined, regularly, if possible! But, he might also be right thinking that our angst is all due to the fact that America is still a very young and naive country. We have not yet developed enough history and culture of our own to cope with life's complexities. Maybe if we could possibly stop and think how unimportant many of the things that we care about really are, then we could cope a bit better with life's realities.

I strongly recommend this funny, funny book. It is a funny, thought-provoking and readable book (they usually don't go together!) It can be read quickly and you cannot put it down. Enjoy it since this sort of book only comes once is a long while!

I look forward to reading Levandoski's next book.

Everyday I wake up and think that there are books like this that I don't know about. This is a great book. It rings true on small-town life, politics, and "civil engagement" with a blend of humor both subtle and broad. While insightful, the examination of life in the small town is not mean or benevolent.

I just finished this excellent novel, which was recommended in a recent NYT review. The characters were fully-developed and sympathetic, and the plot zany but somehow believable. I look forward to reading Mr. Levandoski's previous book.

What gets my goat and prompted this review is the lack of proofreading, the likes of which I can't recall in any of the thousands of books I've read. The book is full of typos., spelling errors, etc. The author should take his business elsewhere, and the Permanent Press should be ashamed and hire an editor! By the way, the Press has a website but no e-mail address.

If you ever lived in small-town USA--heck, if you ever drove through it--you'll probably like "Serendipity Green." Levandoski captures the atomosphere of a small community, where no one is anonymous, everyone's a character in his or her own right, and seemingly minor events take on major importance. Some of the chief players at first look familiar--the sluggish town handyman, a truth-seeking librarian, the self-absorbed politician. But as the story unfolds, they are revealed to be anything but simple. And some of the author's creations--an Iranian shrink and New York "fashion color" expert, in particular--are truly unique. The story moves along rapidly, full of the kind of bizzare happenings that define a "normal" American community. This is a funny, interesting book, definitely worth your time. I recommend it.

I attended Mr Levandoski's creative writing class yesterday at the University of Akron -- a few weeks after first reading his novel "Serendipity Green." Mr Levandoski is not only a master story-teller, he's a stellar teacher, insightful and compassionate. As for "Serendipity Green," the prose is charming, the pacing is smooth, the humor is ironic without being forced or contrived, and his characters come so alive that they leap off the page. My favorite character is the Iranian psychiatrist, who, though not the central character, gives the reader a brilliant turn. In sum, "Serendipity Green" is a joy to read and a must for any serious observer of American popular culture.

A pinch of Sinclair Lewis, a dash of Garrison Keillor, garnishes of Thurber and Twain and Dave Barry, with just a hint of Swift and Waugh: that is the recipe that Rob Levandoski concocts in Serendipity Green, and it is as darkly delicious as devil's food. Levandoski is shrewdly observant as to how tempests brew quickly in small-town teapots; he also is in touch with the need of Americans to follow the latest trend, even if it's a particularly ugly, bilious shade of green, and to believe in their own myths, even if they are patently untrue tales of an Indian maiden whose name is Polish for "nonsense." There are characters here as rich as any in recent fiction, including D. William Aitchbone, a consummate schemer on a par with Anthony Trollope's Mr. Slope, and the odd couple of Howie Dornick and Katherine Hardihood, two painfully plain middle-aged wallflowers who find each other through their mutual loathing of D. William Aitchbone. Levandoski's invention is prodigious, indeed to his detriment: he introduces so many characters and subplots that he has to scramble madly to resolve them all. The end, as a result, seems rushed and not quite all it could be. Up to that point, however, the book is a delight, and Serendipity Green is still must reading for anyone who likes a good, funny book that is ever so lightly tinged with arsenic.

I wasn't enamoured with "Going to Chicago", but thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Having grown up in a town like Tuttwyler, I feel as though I knew each of these characters, and they all rang true. In addition, the author's style (always using full name each time a character is referred to) makes the story even more authentic. You will never look at anything green again without thinking of Serendipity Green. I may use the recipe and see if I can come up with the color!

Set in a Mayberry-like midwestern small town that was rapidly transforming (or deteriorating as some may argue) under the pressures of suburban sprawl, Levandoski gleefully skewers historical preservationists, local politicians, New York artsy types, and others with his humorous and easy-to-follow writing style. The author creates a wonderfully rich parade of colorful characters who come together with edginess, satire and, of course, some pretty zany antics.

I spent time in the heat of local politics, and Levandoski masterfully captures the petty arguing, ego trips and power brokering that goes on in town halls across the nation. It is the strongest element of his book.

The book kept my wife and I talking for days about the plot developments and who we would cast as each character if we were making this book into a film!

I agree with other reviewers who disliked the book's numerous typos and spelling errors, but I blame the publisher, not the author.

Levandoski has noisily dashed into the pantheon of great modern American novelists, manifest in his latest taking of the pulse of the Heartland. His characters are singularly striking, his dialogue is piquant and his narration drips with irreverent irony and delicious description. Levandoski is a genius!