Fresh Eggs

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUN 24, 2002

Levandoski (Serendipity Green; Going to Chicago) takes satiric aim at industrialized farming and the fads of the late 20th century in this adult fable. Calvin Cassowary is the reluctant heir to his Ohio family farm, where he moves with his uncomplaining bride, Jeanie. He converts it into a highly successful modern egg farm by teaming with megacorporation Gallinipper Foods. Jeanie gives birth to a daughter, Rhea, but five years later succumbs to illness and leaves Calvin widowed, a situation he remedies by marrying Donna Digamy, who is allergic to everything. Rhea is traumatized by the brutal realities of egg farming, a revulsion reinforced when she visits the corporate headquarters and sees genetically altered hens being cruelly prepared for their work as productive layers. She then develops a curious physical reaction of her own: she sprouts feathers. In the meantime, Calvin is beset by enormous debt, encroaching land developers who want the egg farm shut down and by the public's sudden decision to eat healthier and avoid eggs. The story evolves in the tradition of other modern, adult fantasies from such writers as W.P. Kinsella and Joe Coomer. Calvin is comically bewildered by life but never tragically confronted; Rhea, who even joins a county fair freak show at the age of 14 to help raise money, is precocious and sweet without being saccharine. The satiric examination of animal cruelty, Reaganomics and social change is sharp, but the use of ridiculously onomatopoeic character names and stereotypes leads it close to farce from time to time. Still, it is satisfying summer reading that resonates with bittersweet humor and wisdom. Fans of Fast Food Nationwill appreciate this unique title for its activism, while the father-daughter story line increases its emotional resonance. Paperback rights sold to Plume.