Breakfast with Buddha

October 1, 2007
Merullo, author of the Revere Beach series and "Golfing with God", delivers a comic but winningly spiritual road-trip novel. Otto Ringling is a food-book editor and a happily married father of two living in a tony New York suburb. After Ottos North Dakota parents are killed in a car crash, he plans to drive his ebulliently New Age sister, Cecilia, back home to sell the family farm. But when Otto arrives to pick up Cecilia in Paterson, N.J. (where she does tarot readings and past-life regressions), she declares her intention to give her half of the farm to her guru, Volvo Rinpoche, who will set up a retreat there. Cecilia asks Otto to take Rinpoche to North Dakota instead; after a fit of skeptical rage in which he rails internally against his sisters gullibility, he accepts, and the novel is off and running. Merullo takes the reader through the small towns and byways of Midwestern America, which look unexpectedly alluring through Rinpoches eyes. Well-fed Western secularist Otto is only half-aware that his life might need fixing, and his slow discovery of Rinpoches nature, and his own, make for a satisfying read. A set piece of Ottos chaotic first meditation session is notably hilarious, and the whole book is breezy and affecting. "(Oct.)" .

Starred review from September 1, 2007
Raised in the North Dakota farmlands and now living in a solidly upper-middle-class suburb in New York, Otto Ringling has worked hard to achieve success. Despite work he enjoys, a loving family, the quintessential home, and memorable family vacations, he still senses something absent from his life. After the sudden death of his parents, Otto's plan to drive his sister Cecelia back to the family farm takes an unexpected turn. To his surprise, Otto finds himself chauffeuring not his sister but her spiritual teacher, Volya Rinpoche, a Mongolian monk. With the enigmatic Rinpoche riding shotgun, Otto takes the scenic route through New Jersey and on to North Dakota. Otto's seemingly solid beliefs are challenged as he tries to explain himself and the world he lives in to Rinpoche. Especially well written, Merullo's second visionary novel (after "Golfing with God") captures the spiritual struggle for true belief and inner peace with wit, clarity, and subtle reality. Warmly recommended for popular fiction collections.Joy St. John, Henderson Dist. P.L., NV

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2007
Veteran novelist Merullo continues the spiritual odyssey he began in Golfing with God (2005). Otto Ringling, a successful New York editor and contented family man, has been in a slump ever since his parents were killed in an automobile accident. To settle the estate, he andhis loopy sister, Cecilia, must drive to the family homestead in North Dakota. Then Cecilia tells him shesgiving her half of thefarm to her guru, the maroon-robedVolya Rinpoche, and that she wants Otto to drive himthere.A grumbling Otto reluctantly agrees, mapping out a route that will take them along some of the Midwests most charming backroads, and treating the rotund monk to a taste of American fun, includinga tour of the Hershey chocolate factory and a round of miniature golf. Volya proves to be such a jovial and serene companion that Otto soon regainsnot only his peace of mind but also his joie de vivre.The skillful Merullo, using the lightest of touches, slowly turns this low-key comedy into a moving story of spiritual awakening.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

July 16, 2007
Merullo, author of the Revere Beach series and Golfing with God
, delivers a comic but winningly spiritual road-trip novel. Otto Ringling is a food-book editor and a happily married father of two living in a tony New York suburb. After Otto’s North Dakota parents are killed in a car crash, he plans to drive his ebulliently New Age sister, Cecilia, back home to sell the family farm. But when Otto arrives to pick up Cecilia in Paterson, N.J. (where she does tarot readings and past-life regressions), she declares her intention to give her half of the farm to her guru, Volvo Rinpoche, who will set up a retreat there. Cecilia asks Otto to take Rinpoche to North Dakota instead; after a fit of skeptical rage in which he rails internally against his sister’s gullibility, he accepts, and the novel is off and running. Merullo takes the reader through the small towns and byways of Midwestern America, which look unexpectedly alluring through Rinpoche’s eyes. Well-fed Western secularist Otto is only half-aware that his life might need fixing, and his slow discovery of Rinpoche’s nature, and his own, make for a satisfying read. A set piece of Otto’s chaotic first meditation session is notably hilarious, and the whole book is breezy and affecting.