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Title: Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates : A Novel by Keith Szarabajka, Tom Robbins ISBN: 0-553-52732-0 Publisher: Random House Audio Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 10 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.07 (167 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A great and horrible book (it CAN be both, right Tom?)
Comment: Tom Robbins' books fall into three categories for me:
I. Pure genius (incl. Roadside, Cowgirls, and Jitterbug)
II. Respectable flights of fancy (Skinny Legs)
III. Lukewarm efforts (Still Life, Frog Pajamas)
That's not to say that all in (I) are five-star champions and all in (III) are horrible one-star waste of times. I've never come across a viable reason to give anything Tom's written less than four-stars (on the Amazon.com scale). Fierce Invalids is no exception. It is a third-tier Robbins book, but that makes it better than 99% of the drek out there.
It's unique (not "most unique") in the Robbins' oeuvre for one simple reason: a male protagonist. Switters is the literary equivalent of a bipolar disorder: he hates organizations, yet is a member of both the CIA and a convent; he believes in laughter as the road to Nirvana, yet he carries a Beretta with him wherever he goes; he's world-wise and pragmatic, yet spends the last two third of the story confined to a wheelchair due to a shaman's curse. This theme of binary opposition runs rampant through the book, and it gives the reader something tangible to hang on to, something Robbins usually is hesitant to do.
Midway through the narrative, I realized that all that I enjoyed about the first half of the book has been destroyed, and I was wondering how Tom would pull it all together in the end (he always does). He does -- although slightly more melodramatic than usual, I was satisfied with the knots he made to tie up the loose ends.
As for his most unique (couldn't help myself here, Tom) ability to wield the swords of simile and metaphor, it has never been sharper. My favourite: "Looking at it from another angle, their kiss was like a paper airplane landing on the moon." It's like haiku, that line.
For the Tom-completist (of which I am a recent member), pick it up and bask in its glory, cause you may not hear a peep from the old man for another five years. For the Tom-newbie, go back to Roadside, and save this one for another day.
Rating: 4
Summary: A literary feast
Comment: Throw into Tom Robbins' blender characters and settings drawn from Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and motifs from Still Life with Woodpecker, and Another Roadside Attraction. Season with his trademark fulminations on birth control, organized religion, cheerfulness and other assorted politically provocative buzz items that Robbins keeps in plentiful supply in his scribe's spice rack. Punch the button marked "chopped" and fire away. Once a cole slaw consistency has been achieved, pour into a warm, velvety, tomato-y broth of thesaurus-enriched vocabulary and you have the makings for his latest novel Fierce Invalids Home from Warm Climates. If one is recuperating from a heart cathaterization process that gave death the slip anew this cornucopia of philosophy, rant, spell-binding musical verse will refresh the body, renew the mind and replenish the spirit. There is no doubt that Robbins is a well-read, erudite middle-aged rebel; and a man of manners as is befitting his Southern heritage. He charms one's soul in his way with words, myths and story. However there is a tendency to pour it on a bit much in the middle section of the book. There were passages wherein the author's own prideful narcissism pestered the reader like a persistent mosquito. For the reader, the trip through the Peruvian Amazon was as tedious as Switters himself found it to be. Still, I was wonderfully entertained, provoked and transported to the wonderful worlds of Robbins. I commend his craftsmanship in composition and depth. I recommend this book to all who wish to stand on the edge of the world and to see a universe in "whose light we see light."
Rating: 5
Summary: well worth it, glad i read it
Comment: this was recommended by a friend and i felt embarrased i had not read it first. a cool adventure, it is just pure literature. a great story, well told, well written, funny, entertaining, enjoyable. i now reccomend it to others. tom robbins has some great turns of phrase, some i have commited to memory and used in conversation.
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Title: Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins ISBN: 0553803328 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins ISBN: 0553377876 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins ISBN: 0553349481 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins ISBN: 0553348981 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins ISBN: 0553377884 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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