Review: Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Expected to be available
June 2, 2015 from
Algonquin Books

Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo is essentially a novel that also has spiritual lessons that are an important part of the plot. 

Otto Ringling is a sort of Everyman representing the seeking, skeptical human. Volya Rinpoche is a world renowned spiritual teacher and Otto's brother-in-law. Together they travel around what I think of as the American West. They see both what are considered the great places to go sight-seeing and the more ordinary places that people live most likely getting there via a meal at a local restaurant. 

Along the way, Otto is exposed to many lessons of a spiritual nature. Some are easier for him to swallow than others. The hardest one of all may be that his niece might be the next Dalai Lama. To be honest, the author almost lost me on that one. But I realized that wasn't as important as Otto's reaction to the news. 

This is the third book in this series. Breakfast with Buddha is the first one and is described by the Boston Globe as "Enlightenment meets On the Road." I think this book could basically be described the same way.The actual places they travel aren't the same, but the idea of all this change happening on a road trip is the same.

It took me a while to read the book because I was trying to absorb the lessons to a degree as I read. It could be read straight through without doing that, but it seems you would miss out on a big part of the book that way. Or if you want the lessons after absorbing the fiction, you could always go back and read it again.

I gave this book 3 stars. I liked it. I enjoyed the story for the most part. I didn't like the aimless feel to some of the traveling around. It felt plotless in those parts and slowed down my reading. The spiritual lessons continued during those parts, but the sense of them having a destination faltered.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Teaser Tuesday - Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

The book often has a meditative quality and is full of lessons for the character Otto Ringling and by extension the readers. In the first part, Otto is speaking. At the end, Rinpoche is speaking. The two of them are on a trip around the west, sight-seeing and taking  Rinpoche to different speaking engagements. And Rinpoche is facilitating Otto's spiritual growth at the same time. The quote is from an ARC and may be different in the final edition. The book is due out June 2, 2015 from Algonquin Books. The bread maker in the example was his sister who makes horrible bread.

From page 241:

"I see. I think if you'd used a different bread maker, a different end product, the message would have hit me harder, but I get the message. The bread of my meditative life has risen, maybe, and that part was quite exciting, but I shouldn't think about eating it quite yet."

My spiritual guide reached across the table and squeezed me hard on the upper arm. "Wery good my friend."

What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy Reading!

Tuesday Teaser: Dinner with Buddha by Roland Merullo

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can participate, just do the following:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

Expected publication: June 2,  2015
by Algonquin Books

"During those years there had been several emotional and psychological body blows - I'll go into detail a little later - I'd started keeping irregular hours, gained weight, wandered off the spiritual path into an All-American backwater of TV watching and semi-indolence, a therapy of game shows, take-out meals, and bottles of red wine. It was a dark night of the soul, maybe." (p.2) 

The synopsis from Goodreads.com: 

The author of Breakfast with Buddha brings his characteristic whimsy to a new novel about New York book editor Otto Ringling and Mongolian monk Volya Rinpoche, who embark on a road trip from Rinpoche’s meditation center in North Dakota to the glitter and glitz of the Las Vegas strip. What prompts the trip is Otto’s recently altered life, having lost first his wife, then his job, and then seeing both his children leave home for lives of their own. With Rinpoche’s guidance, he hopes to find a new meaning in his life, and a new direction. But what begins as a quietly contemplative journey becomes much more, as the two men travel through the heart of the American midwest, witnessing the decimated lives of so many American natives and giving Otto new perspective on the trials he is experiencing in his own life. Along with these inner awakenings for Otto, there is also a very real hint of menace in the novel, as men show up who may be looking to make sure that the world never knows of the existence of Shelsa, the 8-year-old daughter of Rinpoche and Otto’s sister, Cecilia. Shelsa has consistently shown that she has the markings and the instincts of a spiritual leader, leading to speculation that she may be the new Dalai Lama.
The two previous titles are, BREAKFAST WITH BUDDHA (October, 2007) and LUNCH WITH BUDDHA (November, 2012) 

I'm about 30 pages into the book. It's interesting. The characters are for the most part very different from people I've been exposed to, but I think the author does a good job of trying to point out similarities that readers might find so they can connect better with the book. For example, that yes, Rinpoche is an enlightened teacher, but he is also the father of this lovely child, Shelsa. It's being told from the perspective of Otto, brother-in-law to Rinpoche and godfather/uncle to Shelsa. 

What are you reading this Tuesday? Share your teaser or a link in the comments so we can check it out. Happy Reading!