Breakfast with Buddha: A Novel

Six days on the road with an enigmatic holy man who answers every question with a riddle is not what he'd planned. From a chocolate factory in Hershey to a bowling alley in South Bend, from a Cubs game at Wrigley field to his family farm near Bismarck, Otto is given the remarkable opportunity to see his world---and more important, his life---through someone else's eyes. Gradually, skepticism yields to amazement as he realizes that his companion might just be the real thing. In Roland Merullo's masterful hands, Otto tells his story with all the wonder, bemusement, and wry humor of a man who unwittingly finds what he's missing in the most unexpected place.. When his sister tricks him into taking her guru on a trip to their childhood home, Otto Ringling, a confirmed skeptic, is not amused. But in an effort to westernize his passenger---and amuse himself---he decides to show the monk some "American fun" along the way

Maria-Elisavetia Micajah said Almost brilliant--could be a 5-star but it made me mad at the end. I don't mean the ending of the book made me mad (no spoilers! Fear not!) The end just instantly negated everything I had fallen in love with in the book. I call that ruining my love for this book, which love had risen to immense size till that completely stupid ending. But what nearly killed me, due to the intensity I had felt, of love, thru the book, was like seeing Angelina Jolie peel off her skin and there stands Chastity Bono covered in mud. What caused this apocalyptic destruction of my TRUSTING near-worship of this book was the author's choice to immediately tell you after the closing paragraph (possible spoiler) that he ma. "On the road to Karma" according to Rosie. This is a travelogue of a fairly straight laced, middle aged guy who has life "all figured out" and everything is just fine thank you, and I don't want to be bothered or confused by with any unnecessary changes. Karma intervenes and he was unexpectedly paired with the current guru of his "crazy" (by his definition) sister. So he just started driving from New York (would you do that?) to North Dakota with this unknown holy man. the story details the experiences of their trip where he arrives in a different frame of mind. Not necessarily ready to wrap himself in orange robes and shave his head and face east. But it's a nice story. . Not uplifting This read took me quite some time. The road trip had just enough action to keep me going, hoping for a pay off at the end. But the end of the story didn't uplift me at all. I was left we the image of a terrified grandma screaming, I'm dying, I'm dying, while her grandson sits in another room, thinking, Did you expect to be exempt? I think the book was supposed to help the reader face death, but it just made me sad. I did enjoy the restaurants and foodie descriptions. Rinpoche was somewhat interesting. It's true that there are moments in life that seem outside of all other concerns. But the heavy sense of pessimism and irritation