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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Hm. What to say about this guy . . . this is totally a guy you either love or hate, and yet I find myself strangely ambivalent. There are some things i really appreciated about the book and his style, and there are some things I really didn't care for. Whatever one says about this writer, the first is that he is a complete iconoclast of Rabelasian proportion. He ignores pretty much every rule that fiction writers generally, in good taste, abide by. And to an extent that's quite refreshing. ...more
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Read in May, 2008
I keep feeling like this book is like something else that I've read, but I couldn't tell you what that something else is.
I guess it's kinda like Kurt Vonnegut meets Robert Anton Wilson meets . . . maybe Chuck Palahniuk, emphasis on maybe, but very much Vonnegut meets Wilson.
And kinda Philip K. Dick, a little, just less of the science fiction and more of the mind-blowing philosophical standpoint.
That being said, I liked it. It's incredibly dense, in the sense that there is so ...more
I guess it's kinda like Kurt Vonnegut meets Robert Anton Wilson meets . . . maybe Chuck Palahniuk, emphasis on maybe, but very much Vonnegut meets Wilson.
And kinda Philip K. Dick, a little, just less of the science fiction and more of the mind-blowing philosophical standpoint.
That being said, I liked it. It's incredibly dense, in the sense that there is so ...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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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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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Kelly by:
me old housemate Katerecommends it for: people who like beets & meditation & nice smells & making out. (i.e. myself.)
As I'd said to my friend Juliana, once I'd started this book: part of me wonders what took me so long between being recommended the book in 1996 and finally getting around to reading it, like, TODAY. But then another part of me knows that I did not yet dig so heavily on, say, beets and Tibetan Buddhism (both of which have figured crucially by p. 116) back in 1996. And then, oh my God, an accordionist, a crucial accordionis...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 May, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who is open minded and who is not squeamish
This book is RIDICULOUS! Its a huge, dense story in a small package. I thought I would speed right through it, but it is so dense that it has taken me nearly 3 weeks to get through it.
I recommend this book highly. Its smart, thought-provoking, and over-the-top. I have never read anything like it before.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the incessant absurd metaphors that Robbins uses grow tiresome after the first few chapters. At first they seem clever, but then after th...more
I recommend this book highly. Its smart, thought-provoking, and over-the-top. I have never read anything like it before.
The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that the incessant absurd metaphors that Robbins uses grow tiresome after the first few chapters. At first they seem clever, but then after th...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 June, 2008
Jitterbug Perfume was the first Tom Robbins book I ever read, back in the spring of my freshman year of college in 1996 (thanks, Yanek!). I fell in love instantly. If you've never read a Robbins book before, I will warn that they are not for everyone - he likes to push the envelope when it comes to social pre-conceptions, religion, relationships, etc. - but if you tend to like weird, quirky, philosophical stories, you owe to yourself to give at least one of his books a try. This one focuses o...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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