Reviews and Comments
Moon Over Mandalay

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" I have finished reading Moon Over Mandalay and enjoyed it immensely. I am not a literary maven. However, I have a simple criterion by which I judge a book of fiction which I am reading for pleasure. Quite simply, I ask myself whether I miss the characters and wish that I could continue to share their lives. When I finished Moon over Mandalay, I closed the book and felt that I had left a bunch of friends with whom I would like to keep in touch. The characters simply had come to life and their struggles for their own identity and their relationships with others had captured me and engaged my emotions. I fully intend to read some of your other writings in the near future. Thank-you for enhancing my life."
Don Schwartz
Professor Political Science University of Toronto
"Lively writing style. In Moon Over Mandalay, set during the 1960s, author Rhoda Rabinowitz Green has penned an amusing tale of romance, love and finding oneself. Her prose style is entertaining, the perfect vehicle of this fun story. She created characters that are compelling and the reader wants to learn more about them. . . . Readers who enjoy stories about self-discovery mixed with romance and humor will thoroughly enjoy Moon Over Mandalay."
WRITER'S DIGEST REVIEW
16th Annual International Self-Published Book Awards
"Moon Over Mandalay is set in the university town of Bloomington, Indiana, and its surroundings during the turbulent, permissive years of the late 1960s and 1970s. Despite the passing of almost half a century, many of its central themes resonate in the present: the never-ending battle of the sexes, the battle between "town and gown," tradition versus innovation, career over romance, and the constant search for self-fulfillment ... Rabinowitz-Green knows her subject well as she, herself, received a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. After some years of performing and teaching, she gave it all up to immigrate to Canada . . . Her personal experiences add to the vibrancy and veracity of this, her second novel. She illuminates the difficulties men and women encounter in matching their goals to their personal needs. The author's wonderful sense of humor makes even the serious themes great fun to read."
Julie Rekai Rickerd
Canadian Book Review Annual (2009)
"Thank you so much for giving us Moon Over Mandalay. I've just finished reading it and was totally immeresed in all the character's lives and the twists and turns life hands them (and us.) . . . Congratulations on writing this novel. You have a wonderful way with words; you put me right in the Menage with April, Josh et al. . . . Looking forward to the next novel."
Brenda Silver
Educator
Toronto
"Delicious Romp! The Swinging Sixties! Were you there? We were, and loved Moon Over Mandalay, Rhoda Rabinowitz-Green's delicious, juicy, page-turning story of a mixed bag of characters sharing a ramshackle house appropriately dubbed The Ménage. Rabinowitz-Green is a terrific storyteller who has nailed those years perfectly. You can go home again...."
Elizabeth Wood
Madison, NH, USA
"I've been meaning to pass along my sister's rave review of Moon over Mandalay, which made her laugh out loud (while compulsively turning the pages)."
Rick Archbold
Author and award winning editor
Toronto
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading [this] novel! The prose and the plot are lively and inventive, the characters believable and fun. It's a very charming romantic comedy, never dull or predictable."
Kim Aubrey
Writer; Editor, Red Claw Press
"I LOVE the book (and remember the launch). Let's spread the word so many more can enjoy Moon Over Mandalay!"
Joan Sumner
Political Affairs Consultant
Toronto
"I LOVE the book!"
Elaine Batcher
Writer; Editor, Red Claw Press
"If you want to relax into the hands of [a] fine writer and an upbeat, funny, sensitive novel, MOON OVER MANDALAY is the book to buy. Set in the seventies, MOON follows a fascinating array of bright, aware characters, unexpectedly thrust into communal living, as they seek their paths in life and love. Everywhere there is music: classical contemporary; everywhere there is love: free or committed, always full of obstacles; and everywhere there is the wit of an author who cherishes beauty, comedy, art, music, humanity and love. If you want to be immersed in a lighthearted world when everything was still possible, if you want to drop everything but the sheer pleasure of a delightful read, cozy down with this novel."
Julie Brickman
Author
California
"I love this novel. Wow! I was totally captivated. It would make a terrific movie."
Joan Brantz
Jane Austen Devotée
Philadelphia
"A big plus for Moon Over Mandalay. A great combination intellectual and sexual relationships, with humor thrown into the mix. It was great!"
Alan Weinberg
graphic designer
Philadelphia
"Were you too young or too old to know what was happening in the 70's? Have you ever wondered about how your approaching "Senior Citizen" friends got that way? Rhoda Rabinowitz-Green's romantic comedy sets the stage for our artistic and intellectual contemporaries finding themselves in middle America. There is the English "town and gown" transformed into upwardly mobile young intellectuals and earth bound rustics . Love of theater and music is entwined with love of verbal sparring and sex. Street language and tender emotions combine with convincing settings and fast moving dialogue to conjure up young graduate school life that you may have missed almost 40 years ago when our culture turned a corner."
Thomas W. Fina
retired diplomat (USA)
Alexandria, VA United States
". . . a wonderful slice of [the late sixties, early seventies] and its eccentric characters and mores – written with rare perception, insight, and humour. April is a fully realized, appreciable, and likeable character. So are the characters with whom she interacts in this extraordinary rented house, at the school where she teaches, and the university where she pursues her . . . studies in music performance. The chapter depicting her session with the famed Benyamin is truly superb in its realization . . . We're drawn lovingly into April's life, her slowly burgeoning love life, and her humiliations and triumphs at the hands of her virtuoso teachers.

Like the best comedy and social satire, the book brings these characters and their age—an age we think of now as ambered in time – alive for the reader in a compelling, nostalgic, and rewarding way."
Matthew Corrigan
Professor Humanities & Creative Writing
Toronto
"Rhoda, you write fabulous dialogue that accurately captures characters and a time period....when we were young and foolish in the 60s-70s!!!"
Yvonne Singer
Artist
Toronto
"An enjoyable piece of nostalgia for those who have been there and those born too early to go."
Deirdre Hart-Jaimet
Psychiatric Nurse
Ottawa
"A beautiful day at the beach, a chair and Moon Over Mandalay, and I had a wonderful time. It's a terrific story. As I type this I still have April et al running through my thoughts. You captured a time perfectly that was so familiar and brought back so many of my own memories."
Iris Levy
Graphic Design Artist
Santa Monica, California
"Just finished reading your book and didn't want it to end. Feel like I know the characters. You captured a portion of my life. And you did it so well ! Had to tell you how much I enjoyed it. It's so well written with just the right mix of humour, romance, psychology and reality. Really entertaining. In fact I'm ordering a copy for my friend for her birthday. She will appreciate your novel novel, as she too is a product of that era. The sixties had a huge impact on us and your nostalgic story is reminiscent of those incredible times that shaped our lives.

Thanks Rhoda. It is absolutely wonderful. A triumph for you to have it published. Hope many read it. They're in for a treat !

Nothing like relaxing in the hammock with a good book. Though it's a bit of a let down now that I've finished readiing yours. Are youconsidering another ? Moon Over Mandalay lends itself to a sequel. I'm already wondering what happens to the various characters!"
Sherry Levy

Community Volunteer and Poet
Toronto
"At the time of the Vietnam war I was already a mother of four, though I marched in protests and hung out with Baby Boomers. At first, I couldn't identify with the characters and their era. Very soon due to your superb character delineation I was completely in the Menage. I consumed the book in 3 days and it's still with me. My mother used to sing "On the Road to Mandalay" to me which transported me to some exotic, mystical place as did your book. You have succeeded in transforming Bloomington, IN into that place. Thank you."
Lee Traband
Social Activist
Woodbury, New Jersey