Jitterbug Perfume
by Tom Robbins
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Read in August, 2007
One of my all-time favorite books (perhaps THE all-time) is "Skinny Legs and All," my first (and only) TR book. I refer to my underlined passages of that book more than evangelists refer to their bibles.
I became an instant Robbins fan, I thought. I battled between reading the rest of his works chronologically or by reviews/popularity.
I chose the latter and hungrily heeded the buzz of the salacious Jitterbug Perfume.
The roller coaster began on the first page - oh how I l...more
I became an instant Robbins fan, I thought. I battled between reading the rest of his works chronologically or by reviews/popularity.
I chose the latter and hungrily heeded the buzz of the salacious Jitterbug Perfume.
The roller coaster began on the first page - oh how I l...more
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"Overpopulation. If nobody died, pretty soon it would be standing room only."
"That's one of the standard arguments in favor of death, but it doesn't hold water or whiskey either. We don't have an overpopulation problem, we have a land use problem. We're sprawlin' out all over the place, like hogs in a rose garden, takin' up a thousand times more space than we need. If we were to stress vertical growth instead of horizontal, if we were to build tall apartment complexes instead of...more
"That's one of the standard arguments in favor of death, but it doesn't hold water or whiskey either. We don't have an overpopulation problem, we have a land use problem. We're sprawlin' out all over the place, like hogs in a rose garden, takin' up a thousand times more space than we need. If we were to stress vertical growth instead of horizontal, if we were to build tall apartment complexes instead of...more
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Read in July, 2006
recommends it for:
first time Robbins readers, spiritualist Beat punsters
This is a bit of a grudging 5 stars; as many have mentioned, any Robbins book has creepy stuff about gender roles, and his style does bend over backwards so far just to get in another tortuous metaphor that even in his very best work, like this one, you get tired sometimes.
But this book is so full of life and joy, and poignancy across a story of millennia, that here, at least, I forgive him for it. It's a comic epic, like most of Robbins' work, but here it's balanced with some real thinking...more
But this book is so full of life and joy, and poignancy across a story of millennia, that here, at least, I forgive him for it. It's a comic epic, like most of Robbins' work, but here it's balanced with some real thinking...more
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Read in January, 2001
Every time I read a passage I gain a sense of the myriad perspectives people can have of any one thing, person, belief, folkway, bodily function, or cosmic entity. It is a philosophical and humorous endeavor for me to pick up this book and read a passage here and there, and often I am reminded of the importance of a non-judgemental approach to life for inner peace. I always appreciate Robbins' courageous and endearing (often covert) didactics when regarding religion, physical laws ('habits' o...more
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Here’s a question for those who have read Tom Robbins: How would you describe him to the uninitiated? Certainly you’d have to say he’s quirky, in a wordplayful sort of way. His eccentric use of metaphors is like a Catskills comedian’s use of one-liners – it’s a big part of the act. There’s usually some substance to his writing, too. The social commentary is often straight from the flower power perspective, but he’s more insightful than most when it comes to articulating a vi...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
Fans of quirky fiction
Breathe properly. Bathe often. Eat your veggies (especially beets). Have lots of sex. These are the keys to staying young and living longer. Oh, and it's all intimately linked with our sense of smell.
At times hysterically funny, at times excruciatingly tedious ("Dannyboy's Theory" at the end made me want to gouge my eyes out with a shrimp fork), this book was, overall, good.
Not great. Not wonderful. Just good.
The book is full of odd characters who are likeable to var...more
At times hysterically funny, at times excruciatingly tedious ("Dannyboy's Theory" at the end made me want to gouge my eyes out with a shrimp fork), this book was, overall, good.
Not great. Not wonderful. Just good.
The book is full of odd characters who are likeable to var...more
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1 comments
Profound....
yo no busco lo perfecto, sino lo completo, y hay algo incompleto de dedicar la vida a escapar de la vida misma.
si el deseo causa sufrimiento, puede ser que no deseamos sabiamente, o que somos inexpertos en obtener lo que deseamos. En vez de esconder nuestras cabezas con rebozos para rezar y construir murallas contra la tentación, porque no ser más habilidosos para satisfacer nuestros deseos? La salvación es para los débiles. Yo no quiero salvación. Quiero la vida, to...more
yo no busco lo perfecto, sino lo completo, y hay algo incompleto de dedicar la vida a escapar de la vida misma.
si el deseo causa sufrimiento, puede ser que no deseamos sabiamente, o que somos inexpertos en obtener lo que deseamos. En vez de esconder nuestras cabezas con rebozos para rezar y construir murallas contra la tentación, porque no ser más habilidosos para satisfacer nuestros deseos? La salvación es para los débiles. Yo no quiero salvación. Quiero la vida, to...more
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I love Tom Robbins books. All of them. They are hilarious.
I do however, have two complaints that apply to much of his work.
1. His overuse of metaphors and similes. Tom Robbins uses lots of them and they tend to be creative and kind of off-the-wall. I think that these devices are totally appropriate in narrative because that is clearly his writing style. I just find it really irritating that all of the characters use them in dialogue too. I just find it hard to believe that every person...more
I do however, have two complaints that apply to much of his work.
1. His overuse of metaphors and similes. Tom Robbins uses lots of them and they tend to be creative and kind of off-the-wall. I think that these devices are totally appropriate in narrative because that is clearly his writing style. I just find it really irritating that all of the characters use them in dialogue too. I just find it hard to believe that every person...more
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Read in January, 2005
This was my first Tom Robbins novel, and is still my favorite. I am reading it again because after a TR drought, I tried to read Another Roadside Attraction (my 6th TR I think) and have really not been able to catch on... So I feel like I've forgotten what it was that I like about TR and I'm getting to know him all over again.
For being my first Tom Robbins, I can see now why I started to like him: the epic style, millenia-crossing arcs, the witty metaphors, the dabbling in religious theory.....more
For being my first Tom Robbins, I can see now why I started to like him: the epic style, millenia-crossing arcs, the witty metaphors, the dabbling in religious theory.....more
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"If a person leads an 'active' life, if a person has goals, ideals, a cause to fight for, than that person is distracted, temporarily, from paying a whole lot of attention to the heavy scimitar that hangs by a mouse hair just above his or her head. We, each of us, has a ticket to ride, and if the trip be interesting, then we relish the landscape, interact with our fellow travelers, pay frequent visits to the washroom and concession stands, and hardly ever hold up the ticket to the light whe...more
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Read in December, 2000
immortality... is life worth prolonging when you don't know what comes afterwards? Validity of religions ... gods live only as long as humans believe in them?
"Reality is subjective, and there's an unenlightened tendency in this Culture to regard something as 'important' only if 'tis sober and severe. Sure and still you're right about your Cheerful Dumb, only they're not so much happy as lobotomized. But your Gloomy Smart are just as ridiculous. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a ...more
"Reality is subjective, and there's an unenlightened tendency in this Culture to regard something as 'important' only if 'tis sober and severe. Sure and still you're right about your Cheerful Dumb, only they're not so much happy as lobotomized. But your Gloomy Smart are just as ridiculous. When you're unhappy, you get to pay a ...more
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Read in November, 2007
If I was stuck on a desert island with just one book, Jitterbug Perfume would be it.
Romantic, adventurous, spiritual, silly, sexy, philosophical, fantastical, and overflowing with the wildest array of similes and metaphors you will ever meet, JP is a phantasmagoria of language run amok, not to mention masterfully interwoven story lines and wonderfully quirky characters. And immortality.
The language of JP is practically a character in and of itself. The first time I read it, I think I...more
Romantic, adventurous, spiritual, silly, sexy, philosophical, fantastical, and overflowing with the wildest array of similes and metaphors you will ever meet, JP is a phantasmagoria of language run amok, not to mention masterfully interwoven story lines and wonderfully quirky characters. And immortality.
The language of JP is practically a character in and of itself. The first time I read it, I think I...more
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Read in August, 2007
What's up with the juvenile sex talk, man? Ugh it's a great story, pretty funny and exciting and all, but he just has to throw in descriptions of genitals and sex acts wherever he can. I'm certainly no prude, but that doesn't mean that I need to know about every erection and scenario where the main characters have more sex in five minutes of reading than most people have all month! And I'm sorry, but there is no way to make a clever metaphor for boners or boobs or whatever. It's a waste of good ...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
prepared people
I purchased this book, tried reading it and just couldnt get into. The story change way to much. I tried again... got pissed off and read something else. But on the third time, after starting the book over I realized what Tom Robbins was doing. How his writing style actually was and wound up loving the book.
The book spans a large amount of time. I think 1000 years. I cant say to much cause I will give away to much. But I will say this, when reading Jitterbug Perfume have a pen with you and ...more
The book spans a large amount of time. I think 1000 years. I cant say to much cause I will give away to much. But I will say this, when reading Jitterbug Perfume have a pen with you and ...more
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Read in March, 2003
recommends it for:
you, if you like a nice turn of phrase.
A great example of Tom Robbins' dexterous work with the English language. Just sample the following:
If you didn't serve the nasty fellow [God], the Romans would burn your house down. If you did serve him, you were called a Christian and got to burn other people's houses down.
....
The Middle Ages hangs over history's belt like a beer belly. It is too late now for aerobic dancing or cottage cheese lunches to reduce the Middle Ages. History will have to wear size 48 shorts for...more
If you didn't serve the nasty fellow [God], the Romans would burn your house down. If you did serve him, you were called a Christian and got to burn other people's houses down.
....
The Middle Ages hangs over history's belt like a beer belly. It is too late now for aerobic dancing or cottage cheese lunches to reduce the Middle Ages. History will have to wear size 48 shorts for...more
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Read in January, 2004
This probably isn't actually a two-star book. It was the third Tom Robbins book I read, and I just got tired of his pattern: assemble a cast of amazing quirky characters (one of whom is a basically kick-ass female who is highly objectified in her kick-assness), spiral up some interesting tensions, and then stop writing a novel and end the book with 50-plus pages of bullshit philosophical essay. I have no reason to believe him incapable of writing an actual novel that expresses the philosophica...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
lovers of humor and sex
In all of Tom Robbins' books, even the ones I love, there is something about the way he treats gender that keeps me a little on edge. It seems that in one moment of time (1970, Sexual Revolution, there was a Fu Manchu mustache involved), he discovered a new way of thinking about women, and since then, he hasn't found a plot twist, metaphor, or character that doesn't, in some way, lead back to our orgasms, in all their Robbins-inflected glory. That said, nobody tells a story like Tom Robbins. ...more
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recommends it for:
fun loving rebels
What Alice did to expand my mind as a child, Tom does in my adult childhood. I have read many of his books, yet this is my all-time favorite. I have read it at least a dozen times, and would gladly pick it up again this instant.
Robbins is a wonderfully overlooked wordsmith of our generation. He paints the page like it was stretched canvas, loading it heavily with colorful metaphors, similes and bizarre oddities that make crystal clear sense once they have been splashed in front of you.
Ther...more
Robbins is a wonderfully overlooked wordsmith of our generation. He paints the page like it was stretched canvas, loading it heavily with colorful metaphors, similes and bizarre oddities that make crystal clear sense once they have been splashed in front of you.
Ther...more
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Read in January, 2007
Jitterbug Perfume - The first book I read by Tom Robbins, and I loved it! His style and thematic agendas remind me much of the late great Kurt Vonnegut. All three of his books that I read this summer–Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas being the other two–have very unusual plots that end up forcing readers to question their belief systems and American society in general. Amazingly, some of the seemingly off the wall philosophies/religions/belief systems are heavily re...more
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Read in August, 2007
I was surprised at how much I liked this book... it's been a long time (we're talking over a decade) since I've read a Tom Robbins book and my expectations weren't terribly high for this one.
I knew absolutely nothing about the story when I began reading, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it was the type of story I usually enjoy.
Robbins is clearly a man who knows how to weave his wordage, which I usually appreciated, although in my opinion sometimes he delves a little too deeply...more
I knew absolutely nothing about the story when I began reading, so it was a pleasant surprise to find that it was the type of story I usually enjoy.
Robbins is clearly a man who knows how to weave his wordage, which I usually appreciated, although in my opinion sometimes he delves a little too deeply...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.21 (6920 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.14 (1497 ratings) number of reviews: 689popular shelves
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quote
"The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.
Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets.
The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes."
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