Robbins, Tom

Average customer rating:

Tom Robbins at his BEST.
Sweeping, Dynamic and Entertaining
Ingenious
Robbins' Best
Toys in the attic

Jitterbug Perfume
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553348981
Release Date: 1990-04-01

Book Description

Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight [Paris time]. It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle is actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon becaused it is leaking and there is only a drop of two left.

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Customer Reviews:

Tom Robbins at his BEST........2007-06-23

I am a die hard Tom Robbins fan and this is his best work and my all time favorite book. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone. Right now I'm re-reading it for the fourth time, its a great story to revisit every once in a while.

Sweeping, Dynamic and Entertaining.......2007-04-28

Tom Robbins shows in "Jitterbug Perfume" that he is the master of language and not afraid to play with the English language. His similes and metaphors are always good for a laugh or gape of awe . .

This book tells the story of a perfume bottle, a man who started as king, became a peasant, then a wanderer and finally an immortal and his journeys, the decline and death of Pan, and various perfumers who are seeking the ultimate fragrance. And let's not forget the unwritten hero of the book - the glorious beet!

The book is full of twists and turns, mostly created by Robbins' creative use of the English language - he bends rules into all sorts of interesting shape. If you are a fan of Robbins, a fan of epic stories, or even a fan of books that are a bit different, you will LOVE this one! Don't miss it!

Ingenious.......2007-03-14

Tom Robbins is a master of the English language.
He takes at least 4 different and seemingly unrelated stories (except for the one common thread of beets) and though there are times the reader has no idea how or when these stories will come together, Robbins beautifully intertwines them into a fantastic and brilliant ending that all of a sudden makes the whole story make sense.
Don't take the words of those who haven't finished the book. At times it may seem like it will bog you down, but it is all worth it. This is a magnificent book.

Robbins' Best.......2007-03-10

Tom Robbins is my favorite all-time author and Jitterbug Perfume is my favorite Tom Robbins novel. It is a story that covers several hundred years of one man's life. It is very well written and entertaining in Robbins' own descriptive writing style. It is full of colorful characters and outrageous situations. He has a way of making the unbelievable seem probable. This fantasy covers subjects including beets, fountain of youth, savage ceremonies, a quest for the perfect taco, mythical gods, mountain nymphs, drapes vs. draperies, love, life, happiness, bees, perfume and despair. The story begins hundreds of years ago and ends today. Years ago when I first started reading Jitterbug Perfume, I picked it up a half dozen times before I got through the first chapter. (The first chapter on beets seems pretty boring but comes into play later in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the first chapter when I went back and re-read it.) However, since that first complete reading I keep going back and re-reading this book. After 7-8 times, I still enjoy it and continue to find something I can't believe I missed previously. This book is a perfect escape from reality and is quite entertaining. You could even find a little something in here to add to your own philosophy of life.

Toys in the attic.......2007-02-06

I read TR's books and they changed my life-when I was 13. I thought that what TR said about the soul being light as a feather was so very deep. Not the second time around. Really, let's be serious. I think you have to have an IQ of about 70 in order for that to happen.
He has the same cutesy prose as Dennis Fariña, who only got published because he knew the right people. TR writes about sex like a creepy, impotent old man. You know, like Robert Heinlein.
At least Heinlein's female characters have talents other than (....). AND his stories are cool. I'll take A Confederacy of Dunces or any of Lynda Barry's books any day. And I like Dave Barry too, as far as dorky older white dudes are concerned.
I still like beets though.

Average customer rating:

Must Read.
Debunking an American myth
INSPIRATION TO LIVE
Obtuse, pedantic and goofy.
Cast Your Ballot For Fun

Skinny Legs and All
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Jitterbug Perfume
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Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

ASIN: 0553377884
Release Date: 1995-11-01

Book Description

An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations....

It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around which spins this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel, in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine--while the illusions that obscure humanity's view of the true universe fall away, one by one, like Salome's veils.

Skinny Legs and All deals with today's most sensitive issues: race, politics, marriage, art, religion, money, and lust. It weaves lyrically through what some call the "end days" of our planet. Refusing to avert its gaze from the horrors of the apocalypse, it also refuses to let the alleged end of the world spoil its mood. And its mood is defiantly upbeat.

In the gloriously inventive Tom Robbins style, here are characters, phrases, stories, and ideas that dance together on the page, wild and sexy, like Salome herself. Or was it Jezebel?

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An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations....

It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around which spins this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel, in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine -- while the illusions that obscure humanity's view of the true universe fall away, one by one, like Salome's veils.

Skinny Legs and All deals with today's most sensitive issues: race, politics, marriage, art, religion, money, and lust. It weaves lyrically through what some call the "end days" of our planet. Refusing to avert its gaze from the horrors of the apocalypse, it also refuses to let the alleged end of the world spoil its mood. And its mood is defiantly upbeat.

In the gloriously inventive Tom Robbins style, here are characters, phrases, stories, and ideas that dance together on the page, wild and sexy, like Salome herself. Or was it Jezebel?

Customer Reviews:

Must Read........2007-05-19

Tom Robbins knows where it's at. Everything is sacred, yet nothing is. If you need to relax and stop taking life so seriously, grab a book from this author.

Debunking an American myth.......2007-05-12

Any novelist can use a thesaurus, but few contemporary novelists mix tomfoolery and philosophy with the magic and mayhem of Tom Robbins. In Skinny Legs and All, Robbins puts Middle Eastern politics under a prismatic lens, shedding an interesting light on art, religion, sex and consumerism in the process.

This novel was my first experience with Tom Robbins, a man that I now find to be the most trail-blazing, barn-burning of authors. He has a gift for stringing words together, weaving them poetically into great metaphors and larger-than-life characters, all the while crafting this poetry into a story that reminds and re-educates us of our myths and cultures.

And Skinny Legs and All is Tom Robbins at his best.

INSPIRATION TO LIVE.......2006-07-31

This book is amazing, incredible, inspiring. The story line is interesting, but what was wonderful about the book was the way Robbins used the 7 veils idea and Salome's dance to reveal some fundamental truths about the world that we live in. As usual, Robbins is able to so eloquently describe these truths, more so than any other author i've read. Its like a bible of love and hope and nature - it draws the curtain on ideas and philosophy behind money, sex, love, nature, and life. It is a book of revelation, of hope, of sunlight and thunderstorms, and ultimately of inspiration. It made me want to live life, and live it in a new and healthy and loving way.
I wish everyone could read this book and be as inspired as I was, and maybe our world would change just a little.

Obtuse, pedantic and goofy........2006-06-03

Tom Robbins is an oddball. His books are fantastic and original but cater to the hungry reader. You must work a bit and enjoy irreverence. After all, most of the main characters are animate inanimates; a can, a stick, a conch shell and a well worn sock.

This novel is a bit pedantic but thats because I'm not as talented.

Cast Your Ballot For Fun .......2006-03-14

Tom Robbins' "Skinny Legs and All" is a novel that pulls in two directions. Any novel that opens with the image of two "newlyweds driving cross-country in a large roast turkey," and follows a gang whose members include a can-o-beans, a shell, a spoon and a painted stick on a journey to Jerusalem, has no problem allowing fun, pleasure, and even silliness to be ends in and of themselves. Yet the novel also energetically concerns itself with religious, political, and aesthetic ideas. A novel is not an essay, in that it does not sink or swim solely on whether it its propositions are "right"; but when a novel does concern itself with ideas, does it not deserve to have those ideas taken seriously? How much does agreeing with the ideas matter?

Here is the pull. Should value be placed on its "fun-ness" or its "rightness"? I vote for fun.

The underlying position of "Skinny Legs and All" is one of sensuality, that our devotions should be pulled out of the sky, away from "organized religion" and returned to the goddess of the Mother, Astarte. Further, art should be pulled away from both abstraction and elitism, and returned to personal inspiration. Regarding religion, our villains are played by a exaggerated mockery of a crazed southern fundamentalist Christian, Buddy Winkler, who just like his ancient patriarchal murderers, violently oppose to a cosmetic using, sexual martyr, Jezebel. For these murders, this Jezebel is all too literal, but for Winkler she is represented in his niece Ellen Cherry, who he finds painted up and lets her know just how this offends his sense of a woman's proper behavior.

All of this religious rage flows towards, where else, Jerusalem! And again, Jerusalem is both figurative (a restaurant co-owned by a pair of Jerusalem loving friends, one who is a Jew and an Arab) and literal (both ancient and Modern). Robbins take on art is a touch more subtle. Our roasted turkey becomes the rage of the New York art world and we see how acceptance, or lack thereof, by the "cultured" world infects, and almost ends, one individual's artistic activity.

God, sex, art, Arabs, Jews, Christians, terrorism, Jerulsalem, New York, Bean cans who are intellectuals, spoons, modern and ancient times; O, what food for thought! Or maybe just appetizers. Refreshingly, there is no pretention towards bitter, nicotine-stained, philosophical brooding found in many modern novels. Unfortunately, after all seven veils have fallen, what has been revealed is a totally recognizable philosophical outlook that you can get at your local organic foods store. Against repression of our feminine, sensual instinct. Against oppressive, corrupt politics. Against "organized religion" (what would unorganized religion look like by the way?). Against consumerism. Against hate. This is all well and good, and I even agree with a lot of it (esp. concerning art) but in no way is it a revelation. Even if such musings come from the "mouth" of a can of beans.

Yet, underneath the more deliberately philosophical storylines is a relationship that is truly pleasant to watch unfold, even as it naturally goes through its difficult times. Too often when a novel or a movie sets out to portray a romantic relationship without resorting to sentimentality, there tends to be some overreach, and what we are left with is something loveless and bitter. Not the case with the relationship between Ellen and Boomer. There quirky but sweet relationship is tested when the artist Ellen has to watch the spotlight that she was so sure was destined for fall on her naïve turkey-mobile making husband. It's nice to see a couple you want to root for as they find their way back to each other.

The fact that Robbins' thoughts are "unveiled" along a most preposterous plot is inevitably fun, and that is most important. And if you need to be reminded that corruption and pettiness are bad, and that sex isn't something to get too worked up about, it might be good to hear again. There is no new breaking of ground here, but there are some good times to be had.

Average customer rating:

FAVORITE
The Tao of Tom Robbins
Audio Book Version
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Robbins best to date

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Jitterbug Perfume

ASIN: 055337933X
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Amazon.com

The fierce invalid in Tom Robbins's seventh novel is a philosophical, hedonistic U.S. operative very loosely inspired by a friend of the author. "Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll are enormously popular in the CIA," claims Switters. "Not with all the agents in the field, but with the good ones, the brightest and the best." Switters isn't really an invalid, but during his first mission (to set free his ornery grandma's parrot, Sailor, in the Amazon jungle), he gets zapped by a spell cast by a "misshapen shaman" of the Kandakandero tribe named End of Time. The shaman is reminiscent of Carlos Castaneda's giggly guru, but his head is pyramid-shaped. In return for a mind-bending trip into cosmic truth--"the Hallways of Always"--Switters must not let his foot touch the earth, or he'll die.

Not that a little death threat can slow him down. Switters simply hops into a wheelchair and rolls off to further footloose adventures, occasionally switching to stilts. For a Robbins hero, to be just a bit high, not earthbound, facilitates enlightenment. He bops from Peru to Seattle, where he's beguiled by the Art Girls of the Pike Place Market and his 16-year-old stepsister, and then off to Syria, where he falls in with a pack of renegade nuns bearing names like Mustang Sally and Domino Thirry. Will Switters see Domino tumble and solve the mystery of the Virgin Mary? Can the nuns convince the Pope to favor birth control--to "zonk the zygotic zillions and mitigate the multitudinous milt" and "wrest free from a woman's shoulders the boa of spermatozoa?" Can the author ever resist a shameless pun or a mutant metaphor?

The tangly plot is almost beside the point. Switters is a colorful undercover agent, and a Robbins novel is really a colorful undercover essay celebrating sex and innocence, drugs and a firm wariness of anything that tries to rewire the mind, and Broadway tunes, especially "Send in the Clowns." Some readers will be intensely offended by Switters's yen for youth and idiosyncratic views on vice. But fans will feel that extremism in the pursuit of serious fun is virtue incarnate. Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates is classic Tom Robbins: all smiles, similes, and subversion. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

Switters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government; a pacifist who carries a gun; a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy; a cyberwhiz who hates computers; a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior).

Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol. And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, discovering in the process the "true" Third Secret of Fatima, we experience Tom Robbins -- that fearless storyteller, spiritual renegade, and verbal break dancer -- at the top of his game.

On one level this is a fast-paced CIA adventure story with comic overtones; on another it's a serious novel of ideas that brings the Big Picture into unexpected focus; but perhaps more than anything else, Fierce Invalids is a sexy celebration of language and life.

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Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol. And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, discovering in the process the "true" Third Secret of Fatima, we experience Tom Robbins -- that fearless storyteller, spiritual renegade, and verbal break dancer -- at the top of his game.

On one level this is a fast-paced CIA adventure story with comic overtones; on another it's a serious novel of ideas that brings the Big Picture into unexpected focus; but perhaps more than anything else, Fierce Invalids is a sexy celebration of language and life.

Customer Reviews:

FAVORITE.......2007-06-13

THIS IS MY FAVORITE TOM ROBBINS BOOK!

The Tao of Tom Robbins.......2007-05-12

A poet, a philosopher, a polygon, there are many sides to author Tom Robbins. We see this in his earlier novels: In Another Roadside Attraction, he replaces paranoia and cynicism of Catholism, secret societies and conspiracy theories with humor and fun; in Skinny Legs and All, he spins a prosaic punchline around politics, religion, art and sex; in Jitterbug Perfume, we get a colorful allegory that travels over a period of a thousand years and traces the life of Pan, the god of nature, and a bottle of perfume that's the essence of the universe.

In Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, Robbins again does a remarkable job of pulling in the secrets of history, religion, and anthropology, adding myth, magic and metaphor to present-day events, without being a heavy-handed preacher. The characters aren't as colorfully absurd and outrageously zany as they were in his previous works, but you won't forget them nevertheless. And his zest for language and life is sure poetry; his message is as sinuous and sly as the line in the yin-yang symbol.

Fierce Invalids lays it out for you clearly, faithfully.

Audio Book Version.......2007-02-13

Jitterbug Perfume is my favorite Tom Robbins novel...Fierce Invalids runs a close second! Well done, very suspenseful. I listened non-stop from beginning to end. Now, if they'd get around to publishing Jitterbug Perfume as an audio book, I'd gleefully celebrate with some juicy beets, Wonder Bread and a big jar of mayo...just might walk around on stilts as well!

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates.......2007-02-07

I am a Tom Robbins lover anyway, this is one of his best. A well told tale that made me laugh so hard people asked what I was reading. As usual some great scenes in Seattle. Then he takes you around the world. Smart, funny.

Robbins best to date.......2007-01-25

Fierce Invalids was the 5th Tom Robbins book I read, and my favorite since I was first introduced to his philosophy and writing in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Over time I had found Robins' mantras and prose to be somewhat repetetive and expected after reading too many of his novels. However Fierce Invalids broke free from the ordinary mold while sticking to the Tom Robbins zaniness and intelligince. The philosophy and humor were fresh with irresistable characters. Despite my love for Cowgirls, Fierce Invalids has quickly become my favorite Robbins novel. I recomend this book to any and all Robbins fans.

Average customer rating:

Can't get enough from Tom Robbins
For Robbins Fans
Literary viagra
I really didn't like this
I love Tom Robbins!

Wild Ducks Flying Backward
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Villa Incognito
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Jitterbug Perfume
Still Life with Woodpecker
Another Roadside Attraction

ASIN: 0553383531
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Book Description

Known for his meaty seriocomic novels–expansive works that are simultaneously lowbrow and highbrow–Tom Robbins has also published over the years a number of short pieces, predominantly nonfiction. His travel articles, essays, and tributes to actors, musicians, sex kittens, and thinkers have appeared in publications ranging from Esquire to Harper’s, from Playboy to the New York Times, High Times, and Life. A generous sampling, collected here for the first time and including works as diverse as scholarly art criticism and some decidedly untypical country-
music lyrics, Wild Ducks Flying Backward offers a rare sweeping overview of the eclectic
sensibility of an American original.

Whether he is rocking with the Doors, depoliticizing Picasso’s Guernica, lamenting the angst-ridden state of contemporary literature, or drooling over tomato sandwiches and a species of womanhood he calls “the genius waitress,” Robbins’s briefer writings often exhibit the same five traits that perhaps best characterize his novels: an imaginative wit, a cheerfully brash disregard for convention, a sweetly nasty eroticism, a
mystical but keenly observant eye, and an irrepressible love of language.

Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are a couple of short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an off-beat assessment of our divided nation. And wherever we open Wild Ducks Flying Backward, we’re apt to encounter examples of the intently serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.”

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Can't get enough from Tom Robbins.......2007-05-19

My favorite author of all times. I wish he could come out with a new book every week. Oh well. I just have to read them over and over.

For Robbins Fans.......2007-05-13

As the introduction says, I was alittle disappointed even before I began. Being a fan, I was looking forward to a novel, a book full of flights of fancy. However, I enjoyed this collection of shorts. And found myself satisfied when it was over, a condition Mr. Robbins has graciously afforded me with each new offering! Thanks Tom.

Literary viagra.......2007-05-12

Tom Robbins is the cult God of literature. Funny, sexy, real!! It was interesting to read his short prose. The piece on Leonard Cohen was perfect and Debra Winger just got way cooler.

I really didn't like this.......2007-05-12

Okay, so anyone who scrolls down to review number 700 will probably be upset by this. Everybody just loves Tom Robbins. Well, this stuff is actually boring. It's like the ramblings of Dennis Miller on meth with a stack of almanacs at his disposal. I actully got frustrated and threw this book away. There's a section where he did odes to people, boring insignificant people. His articles are packed with so many metaphors that quite honestly make no darn sense, I wondered if he did it to meet some word count requirement. It's too much like modern art: unnecessarily presumptuous. I don't think I'll be buying another Robbins book ever again.

I love Tom Robbins!.......2007-03-09

This compilation is not like reading one of Tom's novels, but it is just as entertaining. Read it for Tom's piece on the Northwest weather, if for no other reason.

Average customer rating:

Review of "Still Life" from user Savannah
a great re-read
A unique story-still life
Still Life with Woodpecker
Good Choice

Still Life with Woodpecker
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Jitterbug Perfume
Another Roadside Attraction
Skinny Legs and All
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

ASIN: 0553348973
Release Date: 1990-04-01

Book Description

Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.

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Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.

Customer Reviews:

Review of "Still Life" from user Savannah.......2007-05-09

After reading the novel Still life with woodpecker by Tom Robbins, I felt not change on my point of view of how I look at the world and life, but how there can be different ways to define the purpose of life in itself. I enjoyed the book to a great extent even though it wasn't relent for my point of view in things but informed me to be accepting to universal opinions and ideas that would socially be unaccepted. I was sure if I was going to like the novel but to my surprise I loved it! Becoming so intuitive and intellectually involved in the story with its mix between a sort of love story to the reasons for outlaws, social individualism, how we portray society, and symbolism with the purpose of the moon, solar power, and how it resolves around us. It's filled with action and excitement with its sexual content and thrilling scenes of bombings and explosions.

One aspect in enjoyed in this novel was the author's style in writing. In the beginning of the story he starts off boring but when the interaction of the different characters come into play the detailed and descriptive metaphors and symbolism make the story worth wild in continuing the reading. Words to describe his style of writing would be askew, unique, contemporary, and out of the ordinary with a cultish twist. He has a thing for dragging out his scenes in his writing by going into unnecessary descriptions and explanations, so I just skimmed over those sections in the book. Some times his tangents can be out there depending on how you interpret either as a funny, entertaining, or just plain weird. The most important quality was that he sucks you into his writing that way you feel involved in the content and the point he is trying to get across.

The quality of the book I liked the most was the metaphorical use for each object used to represent the either the characters mood, behavior, identity, or symbolism for reasons for things that have not been yet explained and the meaning behind unsolved universal mysteries. There is a point made in the novel where it explains the importance of pyramids and more important the relationship that one of the characters Leigh-Cheri, a princess and the heroin of the novel. Amazed by its beauty and purpose she uses the pyramid has a symbolic reference to her love the outlaw the "woodpecker", named Bernard Mickey Wrangle, who is known for his bombings and explosives strapped to his chest.

A good quotation example would be when she is consoled in her sorrow and thinking about the history behind the pyramid and its great mystical powers;
"Pyramids, although everywhere in bad repair, are not in the usual sense ruins....Pyramids were built to endure, made to defy both time and humanity. Their stones, jigged into position without mortar, were fit together so snugly you could not slip a bill between them, nor for that matter, a credit card.....we can conclude from the pyramids that for thousands of years the position of the terrestrial axis has not appreciably varied-pyramids are great global reference points, unequaled in technology or nature."

The princess strongly agrees with this belief in that pyramids hold the explanations for the purposes of the universe and portrays solar and lunar power, as well as mysterious powers. There are so many other metaphors and symbolic references made through out the novel and used with different objects. Such as a golden ball, pack of camel cigarettes, what is on the pack of cigarettes, the moon, blackberry vines, and ect... If you are the kind of reading that enjoys a mind bubbler and thrilling story that allows you to be open to any ideas, this is the book for you. It is full of thinking out side the box philosophies and invites to a mind twisting experience that who'll never forget, let it be somewhere in the back of your mind.

I highly recommend reading this book at least once in your life time and maybe who'll even take some of these philosophical objectives into some relative importance in you own life! I know I did when it came to the explanations for love and hate relationships with someone you truly care for and devote yourself to. The emotional toll it can take on someone and how to revise and get out of it to a happier remedy. I found myself finding different things in this novel that I could relate to on some immediate level, so I don't see how any one else wouldn't either.

~Savannah

a great re-read.......2007-04-23

"How do you make love stay?" is the question that Robbins' poses in this surreal novel. This book was given to me years ago by an ex-lover. I, in turn and in spite, gave it to someone else.
Now that I know even less about love than I did then, I'm still as perplexed, but none the less entertained by Robbin's musings. Some of the references - Ralph Nader, the Remington SL-3 typerwriter, etc., may be beyond a younger reader's cultural memory. However, terrorism, social activism and pregnant cheerleaders are, unfortunately, not.
This book was worth picking up a second time, and I will not be giving this copy away anytime soon.

A unique story-still life.......2007-04-05

Tom Robbins new and uniquely refreshing writing style draws in the reader from the beginning of the story. Many will consider the story "Still Life with WoodPecker" to be random, funny, and surprisingly enlightening. Tom Robbins ability to play with the plot robs readers of the ability to predict what will happen next. Consequently, Tom Robbins is able to create interesting and strange stories which creates a new reading experience. If one is looking for a new and refreshing story, then I personally believe Tom Robbins "Still Life with WoodPecker" is the story you must read.

The part I enjoyed about "Still Life with Woodpecker" is the fact that this is not a novel meant to be read seriously but meant to be a fun and relaxing fast read. It is a story of the powers of pyramids, the truth behind the camel pack and it is also a story between two people named Leigh Cheri and the WoodPecker who despite living separate life styles, fall in love. The Woodpecker is an outlaw who has a passion for explosions while Leigh Cheri is a naïve and needy girl who comes from royalty. Do opposites really attract? Is that the secret to love? To search for someone who is the complete opposite of you? Tom Robbins, of course, does not answer theses questions but plants these ideas in the reader's head.

Tom Robbins has a unique way of creating mystery out of ordinary items. For example, take a pack of camel cigarettes. To the normal eye it would just be a regular box which contained cigarettes. This is not the case though for Tom Robbins because for Tom Robbins that box is something different. To Tom Robbins the box offers an opportunity for him to create a fun side to the story. It gives him an opportunity to take an item which everyone basically has seen or has experience with, the camel pack of cigarettes, and makes the item an important part of the story. Through the use of the camel pack he is able to talk about something everyone surely has been amazed by, pyramids. Do pyramids have special powers? Why did the Egyptians build them? Again, Tom Robbins does not answer these questions but instead plays with these ideas in the story.

Tom Robbins is also able to create these moments of enlightenment out of items like the box of cigarettes. It is through the box of cigarettes that Leigh Cheri learns that "CHOICE. A person's looking for a simple truth to live by, there it is. CHOICE. To refuse to passively accept what we've been handed by nature or society, but to choose for ourselves. CHOICE. That's the difference between emptiness and substance, between a life actually lived and a wimpy shadow cast on an office wall". It is also through dynamite that the reader is able to learn that "Equality is not regarding different things similarly; equality is regarding different things differently". One would not expect these types of truths to come from a story of this caliber but because Tom Robbins does this, I think it makes his story even more unique.

Tom Robbins is also able to create an exciting adventure story out of the places he chooses to place the characters. Tom Robbins takes us to Seattle, Hawaii, Giza (country next to Egypt), and to top it off includes characters from the planet Argon. How many stories do you know which take place within the universe? How many stories do you know which attempt to explain the secrets of pyramids? Better yet, how many stories even take you inside of the Pyramid? Tom Robbins story "Still Life with Woodpecker" is one of those stories which is why I found this story refreshing.

This book is one I highly recommend for people to read. I think if you read this book understanding you must not take it seriously then you will enjoy it. It is a book you would read if you were going on vacation and wanted something to enjoy just to pass the time. A book which makes some valid points at random times but does not make you spend your whole vacation pondering life's quirks and truths. A book which you will find somehow makes you keep coming back to it and wanting to read more. And finally a book that you will find you recommend to others.

Still Life with Woodpecker.......2007-04-05

Still Life with Woodpecker is certainly an unusual title for the novel written by Tom Robbins to say the least. If I were into have walked in a book store and saw this book on the shelf, I probably would have just kept on walking not giving it a second look (that would have been a terrible mistake on my end). The saying goes, "You can't judge a book by its cover," with this book I could not have agreed more. Depending on what version of this book you pick up, on the cover you might see a woodpecker flying, carrying a stick of dynamite in its claws in front of a desert type setting. After seeing the cover I began to predict what I thought this book was going to be about. One of my ideas was that is book was going to be about a bird that carries dynamite to different places, maybe for on overseas construction company. After cracking the book and reading the first few pages I realized that all my predictions were so off. Still life is an interesting book that allows you to get lost in a make believe world full of explosions, cheerleaders, outlaws, and much, much more. Tom Robbins did a great job of capturing the readers attention and keeping it from start to finish.
It's not very often that you get a chance to read a book about a man who makes it past security with explosives attached to himself trying to board an aircraft, especially in this day and age. "Bernard Mickey Wrangle sat in the rear of the aircraft with seven sticks of dynamite strapped to his body."(29) Now I realize this book was written prior to 9/11 but what a weird coincidence that something could happen on this aircraft that might harm the people aboard. Reading this nook now, I thought to myself, "There's no way he would have made it onto aircraft today or would he have? What would I have done if I was sitting next to him? Was he going to harm the passengers?" Its questions like this that continue to hold my attention throughout this novel. The way Tom Robbins writes allows your brain to continue with the question, "What's Next?." To leave a reader in suspense is a tough writing skill to hone and Robbins has mastered it.
You may be wondering where cheerleaders fit into a book with a man carrying explosives onto a plane and so was I. Throughout reading this story I realized that Robbins finds pleasure in connecting ideas and people who would not have normally been together. He is able to create parallels when it seems impossible. In this book he is able to have a bomber fall in love with a princess. Not only is he able to tie these two characters together but he is so descriptive with his wording, it's as almost if you were there too. You experience what the characters are going through too.
The final idea that I wanted to point out the was the "outlaw" that he refers to in this book. Robbins describes the difference between an outlaw and a criminal. The way he describes the two is an interesting way of seeing them. I mean I always viewed the two as being the same, but now I can see his point of one being different from the other. "The difference between a criminal and an outlaw is that criminals frequently are victims, outlaws never are. Indeed, the first step toward becoming a true outlaw is the refusal to be victimized."(63) He goes on to say that outlaws live beyond the spirit of the law. While describing the difference I found that he was almost glorifying being an outlaw. Trying to prove that it's a good thing, where I see them both as bad. Even her whether you agree with what he's saying or not, you still think. And whether you think Robbins is full of himself, you still find the desire to know more. I found myself wanting to know what crazy idea he could come up with next, and believe me he found a lot of them.
This book was full of suspense, intrigue, romance, and action. It was good for many difference audiences of a mature age. Due to some graphic adult content, I do not think this book would be suitable for teenagers. I would definitely recommend this book to readers because it was an easy read. It's one of those books where it's much more enjoyable if you just read it at face value and not try to take it too seriously. The ideas that are in this book will definitely make you think, not only because its interesting but because you begin to wonder if the things he says are true. Robbins is a very talented writer and this book is proof of that. If you want to sit back with a good book, this is definitely the one you should choose, you won't want to put it down.

Good Choice .......2007-04-05

"Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins is a novel that I would recommend to others. It is a book that is very unique and unlike anything I have ever read. The plot is twisted and creative. The setting of the novel is the fifth quarter of the twentieth century in a suburb outside of Seattle. The novel revolves around a European Royalty family, especially the daughter Leigh Cheri. She is a redheaded princess and a former cheerleader who seems to have what one would call a ruff life. She has no luck with love, especially after being dumped by the school jock. Leigh Cheri begins to deal with her pain by convincing her parents to allow her to attend Care Fest in Hawaii. On the plane ride to Hawaii, she meets a character named Woodpecker.
To me, Woodpecker was the most interesting character of the novel. He is a bomber who has an obsession with tequila. Throughout the novel, I think, Woodpecker grows as a character. In the beginning Robbins makes Woodpecker to look like a bas character with his constant drinking and obsession with bombing, which makes the reader really wonder what he would act like if he never drank. I personally don't think he would be as much as an interesting character. As the novel goes on, Woodpecker's character matures with the growth of his relationship with Leigh Cheri, especially when they fall in love. The reader finds that Woodpecker really cares about Leigh-Cheri through his actions and slight cut back of drinking. The two are such opposites that they seem to create a balanced relationship that lasts majority of the novel.
Overall the novel is a fun-loving and easy read. As well as being well written, it is also engaging. The quirkiness of the characters and the random events help the reader to stay focused and not wonder off a lot, which was a small challenge with me. As a reader, the pot didn't seem to make sense a lot of the times. The book is distracting with the confusion of the characters, unlike most novels I have read. Overall I thought this book was an entertaining love story that I would recommend to others.

Average customer rating:

God Bless You, Mr. Robbins
Huh
Best Premise For A Book, EVER!!!
Here's to the good old days
In awe I reflect.

Another Roadside Attraction
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Still Life with Woodpecker
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ASIN: 0553349481
Release Date: 1990-04-01

Amazon.com

It's clear that when Robbins sits down to write, he has one thing on his mind: having himself some fun. I read Another Roadside Attraction, years ago, then immediately went back to the beginning of the book and read it again. Robbins holds nothing back in this, his first novel. It's a perfect introduction to the Robbins oeuvre of oddness.

Book Description

What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if "the Corpse" on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is--what does that portent for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind.

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Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind.

Customer Reviews:

God Bless You, Mr. Robbins.......2007-06-13

If you can picture the scene of sitting in a high chair (I'm not saying you have to remember this, mind you) and you can go so far as to imagine an adult is scooping orange mush from a small jar, only to stuff it in your face despite your bitter resentment, then you may empathize with me when I say I've read altogether too many books without substance. My point about this novel is that it is intellectually satisfying, not necessarily that the substance allows one to derive life lessons. This book was written in some sense for more liberal thinkers who enjoy literary allusions, social and cultural allusions, political history, among references to a host of information you never thought you'd pick up (a far-reaching reference to the religion of Bokonon...perhaps a shout-out to Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut).

You know, it's hard for me to describe Tom's writing style at all. Many people find it inaccessible. In fact, long ago as an undergraduate I wandered into an independent bookstore in Spokane, Washington looking for something that was, "Like 100 Years of Solitude, something magical and unreal, but significant..." The bookseller smiled and handed me Skinny Legs and All, along with the information that the story included a tin can, a painted stick, and a conch shell for a start. I was utterly defeated by the first 40 pages because I didn't know what I was in for. Vague references can be overlooked and discarded because Robbins makes so many that you're probably not going to 'understand' everything. But those you do understand are incredible.

The writing is wonderful because it combines a decent story and amazing knowledge of the world. I guess this is one of those books that, overall, really isn't 'too hard' to read but, that being said, one should remember that perseverance through seemingly unrelated information will be necessary. But don't despair! Robbins will not let you down, tying everything up nicely by the time you finish.

Huh.......2007-05-04

This book is retarded. I'm obviously a mouth-breathing moron since I can't appreciate it.

Best Premise For A Book, EVER!!!.......2006-07-20

I don't want to give anything away, but if you like poking fun at institutionalized religions, then this is the book for you! My 3rd favorite Tom Robbins book, after Jitterbug Perfume and Skinny Legs and All.

Here's to the good old days.......2006-06-06

I first read this book 30 years ago, the week after I graduated from high school. I remember liking it immensely. I've just now read it a second time, with less enthusiasm. I guess 30 years on I'm less interested in promiscuous hippie chick philosophy, and more bothered that it took over half the book for the corpse to show up. Oh well, I'll give it five stars anyway. Call me sentimental.

In awe I reflect........2006-05-07

merely reading reviews written by other's who have read this book gives me chills if that is any indicator of quality

The Tom Robbins Trade Paperback Boxed Set

Average customer rating:

His Best Yet
About the most fun a person can have with their clothes on.

The Tom Robbins Trade Paperback Boxed Set
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Another Roadside Attraction
Skinny Legs and All
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Wild Ducks Flying Backward
Villa Incognito

ASIN: 0553675958
Release Date: 2002-10-01

Customer Reviews:

His Best Yet.......2003-06-30

This is by far Tom Robbins's best novel yet. I've read all of his work except Skinny Legs and All, and this is an absolute pleasure to read. As usual it is a wacky and bizarre story. Initially it takes some careful reading to understand what is happening. Not many books are written in the second person viewpoint as this is. Once you are used to that and the characters begin to develop, you are hooked. I absolutely loved this story and highly recommend this book.

About the most fun a person can have with their clothes on........2003-01-01

It's hard to describe Tom Robbins and his work, but I'll try.
Terry Gross once asked him on NPR's Fresh Air program what got him started as a writer. His answer was "lysergic acid diethlymide (sp?)". And while he is clearly the hallucinogenic son of Richard Brautigan, he brings a joyful, loopy optimism to his altered perception of the world that Brautigan lacks.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was his second novel, and while he had learned some things from "Another Roadside Attraction," it is uneven. Still, the story of Sissy, the world's greatest natural hitch-hiker and her pursuit of normalcy is at turns hillarious and heart-wrenching. I would reccomend this book to anyone unhappy in their job simply for Dr. Robbins' concept of "calling in well", but it is primarily the unique coming-of-age story of a young girl who does one thing better than anyone else in the world.
Jitterbug Perfume, however, may be Robbins very best work. One would expect a novel whose central idea is that one should have a heart lighter than a feather to be sappy, but Jitterbug Perfume is far from it. It is essentially the life story of an immortal king of Bohemia who will eventually work as Einstein's janitor (who reveals that the secret meaning of Einstein's last words were "lighten up"). But in telling this story of working through adulthood, Robbins takes his most mature look at male-female relationships and the real importance of sex. It is no coincidence that other artists name their work or work groups after characters in this book; it is a unique instruction set for how to life an adult life.
In all, this set is higly recomended; if you haven't read Robbins before, start here and enjoy.
One caveat though - Tom Robbins will offend those of rigid and conservative beleifs of almost any stripe, so if you don't want to open yourself to new ways of thought, don't pain yourself with this book. On the other hand, if you think you're weary of seeing our cynical old world the same cynical old way, this collection is a sip from a beet-flavored fountain of youth. Enjoy.

Average customer rating:

Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs
The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value
Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius.
Whither the Amphibians!
Completely Awake

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Skinny Legs and All
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Villa Incognito
Jitterbug Perfume
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

ASIN: 0553076256
Release Date: 1994-08-01

Book Description

When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you — an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker — are
convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell. Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but
there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in your
life of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses. Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from
mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after
all, a Tom Robbins novel — and the author has never been in finer form.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Download Description

When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you -- an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker -- are convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell.

Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in yourlife of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses.

Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after all, a Tom Robbins novel -- and the author has never been in finer form.

<hr>

"If reality is starting to feel a little too much like a Tom Robbins novel, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is a good source of inspiration to start making some sense of it."
   THE HOUSTON POST

"A whirlwind of mad incidents . . . and an endless supply of great lines . . . a very funny book that might incite a bit of thinking as well as laughter."
   LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Once again, Tom Robbins has proved he is the emperor of description, the master of metaphor, the sultan of simile -- the man is like Jackson Pollock with a word processor."
   SAN ANTONIO CURRENT

"Turn off the television, unplug the telephone, curl up in bed (with or without pajamas), and consider this book an interactive experience that requires neither a CD-ROM nor a modem."    ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (RATING: A)

"For people who enjoyed the decade of greed, this is a quite subversive book."    THE SUNDAY ADVOCATE, BATON ROUGE

"It's hard not to fall under Robbins' seductive spell."    ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

"Like good Psilocybin, Robbins shows us things that we would not otherwise see, and after the light of his particular vision has shone upon an object, we will never see it again in quite the same way."    THE PARK CITY (UTAH) RECORD

"More than mere entertainment . . . Frog hops over its bright and clever zaniness to plop us into a shadowy plot rippling with caution and prophecy."    THE OREGONIAN

"Frog Pajamas is . . . a ribbeting read."    FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM<hr>

Customer Reviews:

Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs.......2007-05-27

This book is classic Tom Robbins in the sense that almost every page has some hilariously humorous play on words, or unreal observation about real events, including a lot of incisive commentary on the subject of Washington's allegedly wooden teeth. (I kept wondering if he got knot holes instead of cavities, and whether he used Terminix for dental services*)

That said, this is not one of his best books by a long shot. It starts slowly, works up to a purple passion and then lands flat on its squatty Buddha-esque rear end. The tortuous tale twists around a feckless female Filipino stock broker, facing the fall of the fickle stock market over the Good Friday weekend, frantically forming far-fetched formulae to foil her forthcoming firing. Her acquaintances include a traditionally built psychic, whose fall-back occupation is watching home movies of the lonely and attention-deficient, a philanthropic Lutheran real estate broker who desperately wants to marry her, and last of all, a born again Barbary ape with a yen for banana popsicles and larceny.

While living through the worst days of her lives, she meets a tattooed ex-broker recently back from Timbuktu, and tracks him to his den of decadence beneath a bowling alley. Through this earth shaking incident, not all of which could be blamed on the rise and fall of the bowling pins, she has an Alice in Wonderland experience involving a distant planet, a toothy Japanese doctor who is said to have found a cure for cancer, an inscrutable Indian and a whole lot of amphibians.

Highly pseudo-philosophic, with unlikeable characters and flimsy plot, the main thing this has going for it is the dry humor of the word play, and all the rain in Seattle can't wash that away.

Amanda Richards, May 26, 2007

*Not a Tom Robbins quote, but it might have been if I didn't write it first

The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value.......2006-01-18

I think the reason this book represents Tom Robbins' descent into mediocrity is twofold. The first reason being the initial 100 pages simply aren't that good. The second reason is that the following 300 pages, while easy and enjoyable to read, aren't nearly as dense and full of wisdom as his previous books. Those who randomly pick up this book will probably like it, provided that this is your type of material. Those expecting the same Robbins you get in ARA, Cowgirls, Jitterbug, Woodpecker, etc, will surely be disappointed.

Looking at page 119, specifically the end of the second full paragraph, here lies all you need to know to see how off the mark this book is for Robbins. The Poona Tang? High school caliber writing. This typifies what we get in the first 100 (and then some) pages. For me, it's obvious that Robbins was straining too hard to write "knowledgeably" about the economy, something he likely didn't research carefully and cares little about. It shows in his writing - not that you can fault him for this. But it's there, and it shows.

The first paragraph of page 126 shows where he starts to turn it on. If I were to guess, I would say that somewhere between 119 and 126 he took a hiatus, and when he came back he was ready to dive into the book. The narrative takes on the expected Robbins narrative. The absurdity and craft that Robbins readers have come to know and love peeks it's head out of the clouds built up in the beginning.

This isn't to say that the book stands as one of his all-time best, because it doesn't. The reader will get more out of taking it in as it comes, which is rapidly, as opposed to the normal Robbins book which is 5-10 pages at a time. This book can be read briefly, whereas the typical Robbins book is so thick with brilliance that you want to savor it.

This isn't to say it's a bad book, it's not. The last 100 pages cruised by, I couldn't put it down. Again, that's probably saying something considering Robbins books tend to be more dense than that. In the end, it's still a good book - just not what you expect. The philosophies less deeply frequent, the metaphors less imbibing.

The actual content overview can be gleaned from any number of other reviews here, so restating it is a waste of time for the reader. What I will say is that the book tends to go into the typical Robbins realm, but as mentioned above, not quite so deeply. This isn't to say your average Joe Bestselling Reader is going to like Robbins, because he's not. Larry Diamond's dialogs are sure to annoy your typical 9-5 worker.

Still, there's a lot to be gotten from the book. Those who shy away from the typical best seller and look for alternative material will find this an entertaining read. While not as good as most of his others, it still stands as a good example of excellent writing.

Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius........2005-09-23

I, like many others, have read most of Tom's books and while some of his main characters have been slightly annoying (Still Life with Woodpecker, anyone?), Matti takes the cake. Don't let her character dissuade you from reading the book. Her character is a money-grubbing stockbroker containing no true love or passion for life. She is intended (I believe) to represent the consumer in all of us, albeit the worst parts. She is not supposed to be likable. A likable Matti would have taken away this stories point: how even the most vile, egotistical, greedy person can transform, or should I say be pushed to transform when the stakes are raised high enough. The story begins at the start of a four-day weekend, just after a major stock crash. Matti is in jeopardy of losing her job, she can't even make the payments on her new Porsche, boo-ho! Moreover, the boyfriend that she's been dating because of his giant paycheck has decided to give it to charity. On top of everything, his monkey gets loose (did I mention that this monkey was trained to steal jewelry and that the aforementioned boyfriend has taken it upon himself to convert the monkey to Christianity?) and may be heisting peoples belongings. Craziness!

As always, Tom's writing is spectacular and you'll be learning arcane bits of knowledge on every page. Some of his ideas are crazy, but deep down are not all ideas crazy?

Whither the Amphibians!.......2005-08-12

A good quote at the beginning of this four day romp is from Isaac Bashevis Singer, "No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world." Sometimes, it is hard to know what is real and what is only a fanciful idea in your mind.

The stock market crashed on the Thursday before Easter, and its the 'worst day of Phil's life.' He drowns his sorrow with a double gin martini instead of his usual white wine. At a time like this, the stronger drink is needed just to sustain some kind of acceptance of your fate. From here on in, you're on your own, and tht's had to do in a crisis.

On April 5, he's 'just back from Timbuktu, when the ball drops out of the basket. The next day, he decides 'the dream ain't over till the White Dearf Sings' as he gets more soused and more into a fantasy world. But, by the 9th, it's 'just another day in the life of a fool' as he returns to Timbuktu.

I have a stubborn skin cancer on my forehead above the browline between the eyes caused by the sun, I am told, but nothing helps and it hurts and stays looking ugly. So a friend named Linda gave me a semi-hat to wear in my favorite color blue with the I LOVE FROGS in bright colors on the front and a baby frog on the back. I feel silly wearing hats, or carrying parasols, which is the reason I have the skin cancer in the first place. But I especially try not to wear something which will draw attention to that area of my face. The other day, I ventured out without makeup to Walgreen's to buy some Revlon with sunscreen in it for a special occasion; when I cross over Cumberland to Macdonald's, the girl working there said "You look precious." I was shocked to say the least. She loved the hat, and said that God had sent me there that day for her to witness his love for me, to touch that place every day and talk to God. Well, I haven't done that yet, but I have found a more competent dermatologist who can remove this blasted thing so that the scar won't show. God sent me another 'angel' who'd had the same problem and gave me the name of the doctor who worked miracles on her. Monday I go to see if he can do a minor one on me as well.

I think I'd rather be 'half asleep in frog pajamas' than still wearing the 'frogs' hat. The brothers Grimm's first published fairy tale was THE FROG PRINCE.

I'd rather it be a cat or a bird or even a rose. She made my day by her greeting and now I may get the help I need to look good again. I'll know on the 15th.

Completely Awake.......2005-07-30

I picked up this book while staying at a friend's loft in NY and only had enough time to read the first twenty-five pages before I had to leave. I was so engrossed I wanted to take it home with me. Yes, it was so brilliant I actually considered stealing from a friend. The first thing I did when I got back to LA was buy the book. I had read some Robbins as a kid and after reading this fun, brilliant, provocative book, decided to reread all of Tom Robbins books. With so many crappy, stupid, uninspired, poorly written books these days, Robbins is a breath of fresh air. Not only is he a truly great writer, a master and lover of the written word but he is a writer with something interesting to say and the smarts to back it up. Robbins knows how to construct plot and character, while mixing in so many interesting ideas without being didactic or arrogant. There is nothing cliche in what Robbins writes and he shares in an entertaining way his knowledge of so many topics. This is a man who thinks, is interested in the world seen and unseen and paralays the information into the most imaginative and fun stories I've ever read. His creativity is astonishing, his style flawless and his ideas provocative. I recommened all his books to anyone who wants to be reminded what literary genius is all about.

Average customer rating:

on and on and on and on
Form over Function
two freakishly large thumbs up
Literary Review
Amazing for some, not for me

Even cowgirls get the blues
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Similar Items:

Another Roadside Attraction
Still Life with Woodpecker
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Jitterbug Perfume
Skinny Legs and All

ASIN: 039524305X

Book Description

Sissy Hankshaw, an almost flawlessly beautiful small-town girl with big-time dreams, hitchhikes her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bag in Tom Robbins's magical, funny, and most famous novel. Follow Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax. This is Tom Robbins at his offbeat, outrageous, and inventive best.

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Starring: Sissy Hanshaw -- flawlessly beautiful, almost. A small-town girl with big-time dreams and a quirk to match -- hitchhiking her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bags...

Featuring: Bonanza Jellybean and the smooth-riding cowgirls of Rubber Rose Ranch; Chink, lascivious guru of yams and yang; Julian, Mohawk by birth -- asthmatic esthete and husband by disposition; Dr. Robbins, preventive psychiatrist and reality instructor...

Follow Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax...

Customer Reviews:

on and on and on and on.......2006-09-10

I got this book because it was highly recommended by a college professor. I thought that it was entirely too wordy. I would skip through paragraphs because it was just too much. I thought the story plot was interesting and could have been fun to read, but Tom Robbins came off sounding pretentious because of his overuse of words. It could have been much better.

Form over Function.......2006-05-16

The language is beautiful in form. Inspirational is the best way to describe his ability to describe any one moment. The internal mechanisms that move a story from one moment to the next is what was painfully absent. The main driving force of plot was overt sexual tension. Once this aspect had reached its climax early in the novel there was little holding my attention. I put the book down not knowing what became of the Chink or any of the Cowgirls.
Is literature supposed to have a point or not? There are works of art that are beauty in of themselves, and only for themselves, and represent a voice that was never heard of before. Then there are pieces of art and literature whose point is to edify through illustration, explanation or even catharis. This work was absent of any meaningful satire that I could discern. Robbin's strength here was in his unique way of illustrating with words.
I believe an earlier reviewer used the words "literary masturbation." Perfect discription.
Sadly, this was my first exposure to T. Robbins. Doubt if I will try again any time soon. I do get Cinemax afterall.

two freakishly large thumbs up.......2006-04-18

A young lady with fantastically large thumbs. An all female ranch. Roundabout routes to self-descovery, hitchiking and whooping cranes. The troublesome part about reading "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" is twofold. The first is that you cannot put it down. The second is, having subjected yourself to such a large dose of Robbins trippy, meandering style, you begin to think like him. Worse, you begin to talk the way he writes. One moment, you're having a perfectly lucid conversation with the boss about deadlines, the next, you're babbling incongruously about the average rectal temperature of the hummingbird.
The novel moves along with the crazy, fast-and-slow pace of an acid trip. As a reader, you bounce and groove along with the story as though you were clinging to the side of a raft in rough seas.
Robbins has mastery over his readers, and "Cowgirls" is the book that welcomed me into his twisted world. The uniqueness of his writing style is apparent from page one. You might advance to page three just out of some perverse curiosity about this strange, gushing style. After that Robbins owns you. Thumbelina owns you, as she hitches away around the country with those freakishly sexy thumbs.
That's another thing about Robbins. Things that shouldn't be funny are hilarious. Things that shouldn't be sexy are... well. You get my point. Read the book.

Literary Review.......2006-04-06

Well, I could say a lot about this book; however, one thing I'll say is that it's just a little wordy for me. Too much explanation. I guess I could say four more words: Confused About The Hype.

Amazing for some, not for me.......2006-02-08

It cannot be said that Robbins doesn't know how to write beautifully or elegantly. The problem is that his prose seems to be thrown around for no purpose other than literary masturbation. Yes, there are plenty of times when it helps to enrich the story, but there are even more moments where the language detracts and even derails the story. If I remember correctly there were as many as two chapters (albeit short ones) that did nothing to develop the central themes and plot lines - it was just Robbins spinning his wheels, beating the proverbial dead horse.

The bottom line was that there is are excellent themes and a good story hidden inside of the metaphorical playground he has created. I can only imagine that his enthusiastic following finds this to be the very reason for their love of his work. I find it to be the very reason for my abhorrence. To me it just screamed of Robbins trying too hard to become a literary legend, the stuff graduate courses are taught around.

The reason for my anger and annoyance wasn't that I wasted my time, but was that I had to spend so much of my time to enjoy it. Perhaps my downfall was that I hit a particularly dense section just at the same time that I was taking a long flight, although reading while I fly is one of my favorite times to read. I was angry because I was spending quality reading-time trying to slog through a book that I was getting more frustration than pleasure from.

It has been a couple of weeks since I have finished the book, and my initial rage has subsided. I have decided, upon a lengthy period of digestion, that I am not ready give up on him quite yet. I still have Jitterbug Perfume and Another Roadside Attraction sitting on my shelf, waiting for their number to come up. Robbins has one more chance to redeem himself before I write him off completely.

Average customer rating:

My Favorite Robbins Book
Quintessential Robbins...
Not his best, but not bad
A verbal carnival ride
What a letdown...

Villa Incognito
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Another Roadside Attraction

ASIN: 0553382195
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Book Description

Imagine that there are American MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War.

Imagine that there is a family in which four generations of strong, alluring women have shared a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure from Japanese folklore.

Imagine just those things (don’t even try to imagine the love story) and you’ll have a foretaste of Tom Robbins’s eighth and perhaps most beautifully crafted novel--a work as timeless as myth yet as topical as the latest international threat.

On one level, this is a book about identity, masquerade and disguise--about “the false mustache of the world”--but neither the mists of Laos nor the smog of Bangkok, neither the overcast of Seattle nor the fog of San Francisco, neither the murk of the intelligence community nor the mummery of the circus can obscure the linguistic phosphor that illuminates the pages of Villa Incognito.

A female fan once wrote to Tom Robbins:
“Your books make me think, they make me laugh, they make me horny and they make me aware of the wonder of everything in life.”

Villa Incognito will surely arouse a similar response in many readers, for in its lusty, amusing way it both celebrates existence and challenges our ideas about it.

To say much more about a novel as fresh and surprising as Villa Incognito would run the risk of diluting the sheer fun of reading it. As his dedicated readers worldwide know full well, it’s best to climb aboard the Tom Robbins tilt-a-whirl, kiss preconceptions and sacred cows goodbye and simply enjoy the ride.

From the Hardcover edition.

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Tom Robbins, maverick author of eight juicy, daring and sagacious novels, is one of those rare writers who approach rock-star status, attracting SRO crowds at his personal appearances in Europe and Australia as well as in the United States. He lives primarily in the Seattle area.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

My Favorite Robbins Book.......2007-03-14

Villa Incognito is probably Robbins's simplest and least complex book, but comparing it to books written by anyone else in the world shows that it is not simple at all.
This book is very straight forward, entertaining and wonderfully written. It is pure entertainment and very stimulating. Plus, it talks about how awesome Hellman's mayo is, something no one can disagree with.

Quintessential Robbins..........2007-03-08

This book presents us with the stylistic condensation -- of Tom Robbins' generally garrulously wonderful stoner-erudition -- into a polished metaphorical gem which elucidates the meetings of sacred and profane, East and West, man and woman, art and politics -- and much more -- in the context of recent Southeast Asian history and expat sentimentalism...A virtually epigrammatic masterpiece.

Not his best, but not bad.......2007-02-17

_Villa Incognito_ contains much of the visual imagery for which Tom Robbins is famous. Unfortunately, it lacks the beautiful combination of time periods that characterized _Jitterbug Perfume_ or the thought-provoking premise behind _Another Roadside Attraction._ Instead, it follows the bizarre adventures of an unusually anthropomorphized animal bent on exploring sexual encounters with humankind. Half-way through the book, the time period switches to modern day and the lives of three MIA's who decided to continue missing. True, there is a connection between the decades, but the connecting elements are never fully explained. Unlike Robbins' other novels, I was not left with the satisfied feeling of understanding that comes from a well-integrated and well-concluded novel. Still, I enjoyed reading the story, but I was a bit disappointed with the ending.

A verbal carnival ride.......2006-12-25

Initially, I found this book more than a little surreal, but as I continued to read, the verbal fireworks of Robbins' prose gradually won me over. Reading this book is the verbal equivalent to a carnival ride: fast and vibrant, it will make your head spin. The imagery painted here is vivid and alive, and the characters are quirky and complex. There are several seemingly divergent threads in this story, which suddenly converge in the end, though not all the questions are answered. The numerous themes that twist through the rapid-fire prose might be contraversial to some, but thoughtful readers will find plenty of ideas to chew on. An incredibly original book, it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I found it entertaining.

What a letdown..........2006-10-26

After reading Skinny Legs and All, and loving every word, I bought this book on tape. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed with it and stopped listening after the first CD. How many times do we need to hear about an extra large scrotum? It must be repeated a hundred times, and it just wasn't amusing. The reader, Barrett Whitener, tries to do the best he can, but his poorly contrived Japanese accent (which sounds more like a German accent), just doesn't cut it. I'm sure if I gave it another 3 or 4 hours of listening, I might get hooked, but who has that kind of time to gamble???

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