What Readers are Saying about Amazing Offers
"Arresting mid-20th century historical facts, quirky characters to care about, off-beat humor, and a complex effective structure add up to a novel well worth reading." -- Lynne Page
"Reminding me somewhat of John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, Eldo St. David's Amazing Offers presents a rich, memorable cast of peculiarly American characters populating this funny, but touching family portrait of dysfunction in 1950's Los Angeles. Repeating the style that made The Boundary Wall at Kana'aho so refreshing, Eldo St. David again crosses the outlandish and the mundane with highly satisfying, and often hilarious results....[he] has taken his own version of "Chaos Theory" one step further by somehow having the many apparently unrelated storylines all come together successfully in the end. Amazing."
-- Eric Williams
"A funny, nostalgic tale set in a re-imagined Southern California of the 1950's, populated with real and make-believe characters....that most of us will easily recognize and identify with, even if we weren't around at the time." -- Cassandra Smorczynski
"Eldo St. David is a very talented writer. Amazing Offers grabbed my attention from page one and kept me entertained and amused for the entire book. Errol is a great character! I would love to read a sequel with him in it." -- Nancy Mendoza
"As a retired pediatrician who specialized in long-term disabilities, I loved [this] accurate, touching portrayal of...a boy dealing with, and overcoming adversity he acquired at birth. There are plenty of subplots swirling around him....Beautifully realized mood and relationships ringing true. Some tears came to me, and I literally paused, unable to think of another time I had read something like this [one particular] chapter, so beautifully written and realized." -- William Boelter, MD (retired)
Tagging along through his front yard, on “safari” with “Colonel Berdon”, five-year-old Errol longs to see Africa, where the alligators may have gone after the earthquake—either there, or Highland Park. He isn’t sure.
According to the kids-who-go-to-school, hurling insults and handy objects at him as they pass by each day, Errol “talks like a monkey!” His uncle’s “death ray shield” hasn’t been much help—even against space invaders like the Evil Doctor Sklood. The big plastic “bubble” sitting on the lawn is apparently only good for killing everything underneath it, including the dandelions. Whether it will give anyone a “nice, even, all-around tan,” as his uncle claims, is debatable.
This morning, Errol sits on their patchy lawn waiting for his favorite bus, so he can wave to the driver, and maybe ask him how to get to Africa. His mother frets nearby, worried about the weeds. She can’t seem to get her new husband to come out and help with the gardening. Mother and son hardly notice the big green car rolling to a stop across the street. The Man in the Gray Hat, a woman with a bandaged face, and a couple of “gorillas” will soon shake things up.
"Amazing Offers is a finely crafted story---a dandelion kind of daydream story---dug in, bitter at the roots, but with head held high dancing on a breezy, fast-paced narrative. It's a touch of Hemingway, softened by humor. I am sure the hero, five year old Errol, will live on with you long after the telling of his tale." -- Jan-Marie