Weeping Willow: Volume One: Welcome to River Bend

by Geoff Hoff and Steve Mancini

Book Overview

Imagine a staid accountant from Chicago with a beige life forced to live in the attic of a diner owned by a man with questionable hygiene who has a prom carnation (and possibly Walt Disney) in his freezer, then reluctantly falling in with the local theater group (at least one of whom would spell it "theatre") after his wife falls for another man and empties his bank account. Follow Lee Harris, who desperately tries to make sense of a new life that...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1420800477
• ISBN13: 9781420800470
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A rollicking read- recommended.

Weeping Willow is a unique, enjoyable read. You've never read anything quite like this, and you'll enjoy it when you do. Geoff and Steve have written a sunny, funny, smart book that keeps its pace up all the way through. I read it over two evenings on vacation, and was kinda sorry when I finished it. I wanted it to keep going. It's what I guess you could call a "self-referential" novel, because the authors insert comments to each other and the reader while the story is taking place. It's almost like they're telling you the story, and talking about the story, and razzing each other- all at the same time. This makes it work on many levels, and they're all enjoyable. So, stop reading the reviews and just grab a copy. You'll be glad you did.

Something fresh for a change.

This book is one of the most unusual and funniest books I've read in a long, long time. The humor comes at you from many angles - in the telling of the story, from the characters and from the writers themselves. It is so rich with detail and "real" characters that I will be sure to read it again. There were so many times I empathized with the main character, noticing the similarity in his situations and mine. And when they happened to him, I realized just how funny they were and that made me feel better about my occasional unfortunate circumstance. If you want to feel lighter about the woes in your everyday life, then you must read Weeping Willow. I'm glad I ordered it!

So good it hurts

Sue is wrong. Weeping Willow is the greatest literary work of all time. I've never read anything so utterly engaging, nor have I seen humor used so deftly. The weight of the characters is nearly tangible; although my all time favorite book is Johnny Cash's autobiography "Cash" by Johnny Cash, Weeping Willow is the only work I've read where I honestly wouldn't be surprised to run into one of the characters in real life.

Best book I've read in a while

I instantly recognized Geoff and Steve as an amazingly creative duo. Their style of writing is truly unique as it wraps the fiction with humorous interjections straight from the authors to give the feeling as though they're telling the story in person. I have love-hate relationships with books such as these largely due to my inability to put them down once I've started. The multidimensional crafting of each character creates truly dynamic personalities forging an intimate bond for the reader with each one. Everyone has been Lee at one time and everyone has a Twain in their life. A great book is one that makes the reader part of the story and yearning to meet the characters in real life. Weeping Willow is one of these books.

Highly enjoyable!

The online story serial that this book contains is wonderful. It covers the life of one Lee Harris following his painful (for him) divorce and move to a small town. While reading it, I laughed out loud each and every time. It's well-written, well thought out, and incredibly funny. I can guarantee you'll want to read all of the more recent installments, and highly reccomend it to anyone! It does cover some adult themes, so children would probably be better off not reading it; however, teenagers of all ages (you know...13 to 98 or so) will enjoy it immensely!