Skinny Legs and All
by Tom Robbins
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Read in July, 2007
After having been recommended this book, I was really surprised at how most everything contained within it boiled down to either a simile or a stereotype. I was disturbed by the racism, not so much in the characters (he uses the racism in his archtype of most of the Southerners) but in the narration. Each of the individuals were invariably described not in terms of their personality (or even their importance within the storyline), but were mentioned only as black, palestinian, jewboy, etc. Contr...more
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recommended to Anne by:
Connie?
recommends it for: anyone on my list so far!
recommends it for: anyone on my list so far!
Awesome book, Robbins' best IMO. In Skinny Legs, he gives us his trademark whimsy, metaphysics, romance, sex, pseudo-sociopolitical commentary and wacky hijinks without going batshit crazy and self-indulgent with it--Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, I'm looking at you. Tighter narrative structure than Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, more compelling plot than, really, any of his other books, the main wonder of SLaA is its cast of characters. Artist-turned-waitress ...more
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Read in August, 2007
Tom Robbins, you're so kooky. I loved this book, you know. It is the first Robbins original that I've read. I liked the following...
1) Cherry Ellen Charles
2) that the can of beans was he/she
3)"Welcome to the modern world, Painted Stick."
4)"...knee high to a wiggle worm..." (I've heard of being as such to a pig's eye.)
5)"Money itself was incomprehensible. Almost from its inception, it had perplexed and befuddled those in whose lives it had appear...more
1) Cherry Ellen Charles
2) that the can of beans was he/she
3)"Welcome to the modern world, Painted Stick."
4)"...knee high to a wiggle worm..." (I've heard of being as such to a pig's eye.)
5)"Money itself was incomprehensible. Almost from its inception, it had perplexed and befuddled those in whose lives it had appear...more
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Read in January, 2003
recommends it for:
pilgrims and frustrated artists; also: foot-fetishists
A passage:
"You are an artist. You know that big picture at the museum midtown, that picture by that fellow Rousseau, it is called The Sleeping Gypsy?"
"Yeah. Sure. That's a very famous painting."
"It ought to be called The Sleeping Arab, that picture. An Arab lies in the desert, sleeping under the crazy-faced moon. A lion sniffs at the Arab, the Arab is unafraid..."
See the painting: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slee...
I...more
"You are an artist. You know that big picture at the museum midtown, that picture by that fellow Rousseau, it is called The Sleeping Gypsy?"
"Yeah. Sure. That's a very famous painting."
"It ought to be called The Sleeping Arab, that picture. An Arab lies in the desert, sleeping under the crazy-faced moon. A lion sniffs at the Arab, the Arab is unafraid..."
See the painting: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slee...
I...more
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Read in January, 2006
Although I have determined that it is impossible for me to pick a favorite Tom Robbins novel, this one is strong in the running.
Ellen Cherry Charles isn't my favorite Robbins woman, but in many ways, she is his most sympathetic female protagonist. Caught between her art, her stupid husband, and her hypocritical uncle, she made me want to jump into the pages and help her straighten everything out. (That's saying a lot coming from me, a generally unsympathetic person and least of all to other ...more
Ellen Cherry Charles isn't my favorite Robbins woman, but in many ways, she is his most sympathetic female protagonist. Caught between her art, her stupid husband, and her hypocritical uncle, she made me want to jump into the pages and help her straighten everything out. (That's saying a lot coming from me, a generally unsympathetic person and least of all to other ...more
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I started and stopped reading this book about 20 times. Eventually, maybe about 100 pages in, I decided to forget about it. The whole thing with the inanimate objects just turned me off, and I felt like the story itself with Ellen Cherry Charles just seemed to be dragging on, nothing interesting was happing anymore. I guess I was looking for more action.
But, I spoke to a friend who's also a Tom Robbins lover, and he couldn't believe I had put the book down. He told me that his take on Rob...more
But, I spoke to a friend who's also a Tom Robbins lover, and he couldn't believe I had put the book down. He told me that his take on Rob...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Laura by:
Jill Z.
I believe this novel was so enjoyable because of its lighthearted mix of the absurd, the everyday, the magical, and the sexual. I consider those the four food groups of fun literature, and they each find a home in this ridiculous tale of self-awakening and revelations of truth. Robbins asserts that patriarchal society has blinded us to a heritage that recognizes and rejoices its feminine deities that embrace expressions of sexuality and the magic of nature. Blinded by “seven veils” of unt...more
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Read in February, 2007
I started this book at least three times. Tom Robbins is one of my favorie authors, and this was his only novel I hadn't read. However, each of the times I started it I found myself becoming very disappointed. At the beginning it was too weird, or trying to be too cute, even for Tom Robbins. Ellen Cherry and Boomer driving across country in a turkey. A talking and walking spoon, dirty sock and can of beans. It was too much. I couldn't take it seriously. He was trying to be too 'Tom Robbi...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
smart, progressive types with a sense of humor
Tom Robbins is a genius. His use of the English language is so playful and dangerously intelligent that I can't belive he isn't a bigger literary celebrity.
Skinny Legs and All delves into all of life's big issues: religion, politics, love, war, money and so on, though it has a light touch; main characters include a Can 'o Beans and a Dirty Sock, for example. Seven fundamental truths are revealed as a modern day belly dancer named Salome dances The Dance of the Seven Veils - a veil drops, an...more
Skinny Legs and All delves into all of life's big issues: religion, politics, love, war, money and so on, though it has a light touch; main characters include a Can 'o Beans and a Dirty Sock, for example. Seven fundamental truths are revealed as a modern day belly dancer named Salome dances The Dance of the Seven Veils - a veil drops, an...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
open minded people who like to think and laugh
The story of artist/waitress Ellen Cherry Charles and her husband, redneck/welder/accidental artist, Boomer Petway. Also, we hear from Buddy Winkler, Ellen’s uncle, a southern preacher who is cooking up some sort of scheme for the end of the world. And then there is the crew of inanimate objects: Painted Stick, Conch Shell, Dirty Sock, Spoon and Can ‘o Beans who are on a spiritual quest of their own. Add to that Spike and Abu, a Jew and a Muslim, who have opened “Isaac and Ismael’s,” a...more
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Read in August, 2007
So I finally finished this book. It turned out to be better than I was expecting it to be. I enjoyed it much more than Robbins' other book I've read: Still Life With Woodpecker. I'm not rushing off to read more by him, but I might try another at a later date.
I found his discussion of art and the market insightful, as was his discussion of the situation in Israel/Palestine (though having been published in 1990 it is both a little out of date, and disturbingly still accurate). For a rath...more
I found his discussion of art and the market insightful, as was his discussion of the situation in Israel/Palestine (though having been published in 1990 it is both a little out of date, and disturbingly still accurate). For a rath...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
eccentrics
I am a Tom Robbins fan, but I was a little disappointed in this book. Fierce Invalids is still my all-time favorite, closely followed by Jitterbug Perfume. Both are MUST-reads.
My whole theory on how Tom Robbins writes a book:
--step 1: find some random unlikely stuff to be associated-- people, places, things, or topics.
--step 2: weave them together using witty humour, a renegade main character, some sort of historical or theological revelation tied into all random people places or things....more
My whole theory on how Tom Robbins writes a book:
--step 1: find some random unlikely stuff to be associated-- people, places, things, or topics.
--step 2: weave them together using witty humour, a renegade main character, some sort of historical or theological revelation tied into all random people places or things....more
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Read in March, 2008
I don't know what it is about Tom Robbins' books but due to the titles I rarely want to pick them up, yet once I do I just can't put them down and find myself laughing out loau ( a rarity when reading most books) as well as nodding emphatically and generally enjoying everything about the story.
If I were to be given the right to name this tale it would be called 'The Dance of the Seven Veils' for that is truly the fulcrum for this yarn. Just like the perverbial dance, this book strips precon...more
If I were to be given the right to name this tale it would be called 'The Dance of the Seven Veils' for that is truly the fulcrum for this yarn. Just like the perverbial dance, this book strips precon...more
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Read in October, 2007
Okay, here goes. I haven't started this yet, but it was recommended by a friend of mine who is a bit of a free spirit to use the common parlance. From what I can see its something of an uber stream of consciousness thingy, and I was warned that I need to give it time.
Adjusting my scuba gear, I dive in ...
Okay, so my previous thoughts about this weren't totally accurate. More to write later, but this was a fairly enjoyable parable about mankind and it's relation to art, religion and se...more
Adjusting my scuba gear, I dive in ...
Okay, so my previous thoughts about this weren't totally accurate. More to write later, but this was a fairly enjoyable parable about mankind and it's relation to art, religion and se...more
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recommends it for:
all of the above
Little spoon, can of beans and stick are characters in this book that speaks to the Palistine-Israeli conflict, if that give you any idea of what you are about to get yourslef into. He is a freak, but a master of words... if anything, I enjoy his books because of the way he makes you question the definitions of words and the definitions of grammar. It's a very interesting look at where conflict begins. But it's also wacky!
A couple of the reviews on this website are confusing this book with on...more
A couple of the reviews on this website are confusing this book with on...more
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Read in January, 1990
I went through a Tom Robbins period in HS and maybe the first year of college. Then read things as they came along.
He is a part stupid male humor and preoccupation with sex/part athiest cheerleader/part lover of women with red hair!
I reread a couple of them lately so I could write a review, a great book for someone who thinks that everything needs to be a heavy read or that it has to be non-fiction to be true.
This man is smart and complicated and right about many things if you can ma...more
He is a part stupid male humor and preoccupation with sex/part athiest cheerleader/part lover of women with red hair!
I reread a couple of them lately so I could write a review, a great book for someone who thinks that everything needs to be a heavy read or that it has to be non-fiction to be true.
This man is smart and complicated and right about many things if you can ma...more
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what a crock of crap
i like Tom Robbins just a little less than the DMV
i like Tom Robbins just a little less than the DMV
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Read in April, 2008
The air pressure inside a champagne bottle is almost identical to that inside a big truck tire: approximately ninety pounds, for the record, but there the similarity ends. They’re bound to be major differences in the ambiance department.
Most of the period that she had been in New York, beginning around the time of the sale of the Airstream turkey, Ellen Cherry experienced a sensation of internal pressure. While the force it exerted was constant, its character was not. The pressure could be...more
Most of the period that she had been in New York, beginning around the time of the sale of the Airstream turkey, Ellen Cherry experienced a sensation of internal pressure. While the force it exerted was constant, its character was not. The pressure could be...more
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Read in June, 2007
In a previous LiveJournal post I commented on the extravagant number of ingenious metaphors in this book. What I've come to realize, aside from the fact that my choice of adjective no longer suffices--try 'ludicrous' instead--is that these metaphors serve a purpose. The book is a commentary on the veils of repression, ignorance, and delusion that obscure reality, yet reality is a matter of perception. Thus, each metaphor becomes a vehicle for allowing the reader to alter their perception of real...more
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So many people have recommended Tom Robbins to me over the years, but now that I think about it, most who recommended it were in their early 20s at the time. (Hello, Kara!) While I do think Robbins is very inventive in his descriptions, both in terms of setting and characterization, the philosophy he integrated seemed very sophmoric. Or am I just too jaded? I do like that he does attempt to make his literature relevant and meaningful, albeit a little too educational. (He assumes his readers...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.98 (5392 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.99 (4124 ratings) number of reviews: 362popular shelves
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"This is the room where Jezebel frescoed her eyelids with history's tragic glitter"
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