Customer Reviews

The Weeping Buddha

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

 

 

This may be my only way to speak to you directly, both as a potential buyer of this book and as a fan. So, let me just say that while some people don't see the connection between my creative nonfiction work and my fiction, in my opinion making a connection between Nazis and serial killers is not a stretch. And while this is a work of fiction--there is an element of truth to the story.

I was twenty-three the night Sam Todd disappeared from our New Year's Eve Party in Chinatown, and have been writing endings to the mystery of Sam Todd's disappearance ever since. I suppose this story is an attempt to put that past to rest. I got the idea during Soka Gokkai-an all-night meditation for Buddha's birthday-and was so enthralled with the idea that I left the Zendo hours before dawn to begin writing.

The question of Sam Todd had been haunting me for years, until finally it seemed that the only way to exorcise the past was to make it fiction. As a part of my research I went into the New York Times archives at the NYU Library and pulled up the old articles about Sam, the loft, the party. I copied them, made notes on them, remembered things about that time of my life. On my way out of the library I headed down West Fourth toward the East Village, and the now trendy area called NoHo. A bitter wind blasted off the East River and darkness descended as it does around those old factory buildings-quick and dense. I looked up and down Lafayette Street still able to hear his name echoing down the alleyways, our voices forever calling him to come home.

Until that moment, I thought I had left New York City because I was burned out, my career as a professional dancer over. Standing there on Lafayette, a few blocks from my old loft-a few doors down from the homeless shelter where we had scouted for Sam, night after ruthless night-I realized that I left New York because Sam Todd left me on the dance floor to get a breath of fresh air and never returned. Ever.

THE WEEPING BUDDHA is my worst nightmare made manifest in fiction. It is the result of imagination being left alone too long with an unanswerable riddle-a Zen Koan, if you will. What really happened to Sam Todd?

This is definitely a book that you want to keep
reading until finish. You can see the author's research
in the NY times.. At certain point I was reading a non
fiction novel. The detail of every character gives
you the feeling of knowing them, also physically. I loved
also the way chapters were written , you don't loose anything.. it all clicked. I give her a 10 !

This book is a great read!...I started to read - just for a little while, then had to order takeout for dinner and turn my phone off for the evening. I hope this is just the beginning of a series. I need more of Devon and Loch on the trail of criminals...and more of Boo. Best of all was the dialogue - none of that stilted filler I often find, real dialogue, and wonderful description, I felt like I was walking in the streets of lower Manhattan, and on the main drag of Sag Harbor.
Please write more!...

THE WEEPING BUDDHA came out of a real life disappearance that the author experienced when she was twenty-three. She has developed a criminal thriller with much research and familiarity. I could sense being there whether in lower Manhattan or Sag Harbor, Long Island. You can see that she has taken the time to create characters and situations that will guide the reader to try and figure out the resolution. But some of the story seemed to be lost in its own pages and the ending a little too contrived.

I'm limiting my reading of this book to no more than 3 chapters per day so I don't finish it too fast. I am enjoying the story, and have no idea how it will end, and I only have 5 chapters left. I love the spiritual slant to the book, and it's Buddhist aspect. I feel as though I know the characters in the book. They're developed in depth and they're understandable to me. GREAT mystery- I highly recommend this book.

The "Weeping Buddha" is many things. The author evidently has a lot of experience with the New York City performing arts crowd of the 1980s, with Suffolk County and the impact of development on the long-time residents and with Buddhism. The author has also evidently done a lot of research regarding forensic procedures and apparently based her main characters on two very interesting detectives on Long Island. Finally, the author appears to be using the book as a tool to exorcise an old ghost in her life, the book flashed back to a diesappearance during a New Year's party in the `80s.

But the ingredients do not come together to make up a readable story. A reader who likes the modern mystery as done by Sue Grafton, Peretsky, Linda Barnes, one that traces its lineage back to Chandler and Hammett, might want to skip this book. A reader who does have some interest in the same areas that the author does might want to read it for those ingredients.

...but it isn't - it is a police procedural filled with forensics and homicide detectives who totally fail to act the part - ignoring totally obvious clues - the whole thing rests on very amateurish improbabilities and errors. As for the Zen milieu, it really didn't add up to much for me - you get more from Janwillen Van de Wetering's stuff. Not deep, and not well constructed.