One thing I can say for sure is Jitterbug Perfume is nothing like anything I have read so far. This is my first Robbins so I don't know what his other novels are like, but we're talking about an exceptionally charismatic writer here.

Robbins takes a bunch of ingredients totally unrelated to one another and makes a story that's as unique as it is brilliant. Beets, horny gods, perfumes, ancient and modern history, eternal life, philosophy and sex. Not the cheesy, romantic kind of sex, but the raw, primitive and full of body fluids one. These are the basic ingredients that he uses to make a story both unforgettable and dreamy.

History-wise, Robbins has certainly done his homework. It seems like he knows what he talks about when it comes to ancient and medieval times. The icing on the cake was the masterful use of humor to communicate his rather heretic ideas about pretty much everything. And of course his depiction of the afterlife is simply genius.

To make a long story short, this is great stuff which I'll definitely be checking out more of.

2,5/5

kitaptan tamamen nefret ettim diyemem ama uzun zamandır bir kitaba böyle güçlü negatif duygular beslememiştim. parfümün dansı sevdiğim bir konu olan ölümsüzlük hakkında, konuyu güzel işlediğini de düşünüyorum aslında. ilgi çekici karakterlerin yüzyılları aşan ilişkilerini okuyoruz, favorim pan oldu. yazarın dili de zaman zaman sıksa da genel olarak keyifliydi. ama, ki bu kadar pozitif şeyin ardından bayağı büyük bir ama bu, yazarın kadın karakterleri hakkında yazdığı şeyler iğrenç. erkek yazarları okurken bazen yüzümü buruşturmama neden olan cümlelere denk gelmeye alışkınım zaten maalesef, ama çoğu yazarda bu koca kitapta bir iki yerde olduğu için görmezden gelebiliyorum. tom robbins görmezden gelmenin mümkün olmayacağı kadar tuhaf, rahatsız edici şeyler yazmış kadın karakterlerinden, hatta bir yerde 12 yaşında bir kız çocuğundan bahsederken. bu oluşturduğu dünyanın tüm büyüsünü, okuma zevkini mahvetti benim için. bir ara kitabı yarım bırakmayı bile düşündüm. bitirdiğim için mutluyum yine de, sonunu beğendim ama bir daha bu yazarı asla okumayacağıma da emin oldum.

Arkadaşımdan ödünç aldıktan sonra okuduğum, daha sonra satın alarak yıllar sonra yeniden okumaya karar verdiğim bir kitaptı Parfümün Dansı. Nasıl hissettireceğini, farklı birşey çıkarıp çıkarmayacağımı merak etmiştim.

Bundan 15 yıl önce ilk kez okuduğum zaman sıkıldığımı ve ancak sonunun beni etkilediğini hatırlıyorum. O zaman New Orleans ve Mardi Gras'a daha çok ilgi göstermiştim. Şimdi ise kitabın sonu hariç geri kalan tüm kısımları daha ilginç ve sürükleyici geldi. 19 ve 34 yaş arasında böyle bir fark oluyormuş demek ki.

Kitaba 3 yıld��z vermemin tek sebebi benim tarzım olmaması. 3 yıldız, yani "I liked it" bu kitap için beni daha iyi ifade ediyor. Elimdeki 14. basımdı. Sanırım şimdi 35. basıma gelmiş. Bu nedenle kitabın ne kadar iyi olduğuyla ilgili bir tartışmaya gerek yok bence.

Herkese keyifli okumalar!

Koku, en eski anılarımız için bir kanaldır. Beri yandan, gelecek yaşamımıza da bizimle birlikte girebilir. Bu arada da insanı keyiflendirir, hayal gücünü körükler, düşünceleri biçimlendirir, davranışı değiştirir. Geçmişle en güçlü bağımız, geleceğe olan yolculuğumuzda en sadık yol arkadaşımızdır. Koku pekala edebiyatın simgesi olabilir."
3/5

Çok uzun ve çok sıkıcıydı. Zorlukla bitirdim.


pancar, hoplamalı zıplamalı bandalup dansı, doğru nefes alıp verme, bol bol seks ve sıcak su banyosu = ölümsüzlük

Seneler, seneler önce okuyup aşık olduğum ve hala ne zaman bir "pancar" görsem aklıma gelen kitap. Yeniden okumalı.

I am a dummy and accidentally deleted my original review but I basically said that this book was recommended to me by a coworker and I love it because it is weird, funny, gross and epic.

This was … a trip. Simultaneously several road trips in parallel to one another and A TRIP. Maybe I’ve sniffed that perfume bottle one too many times.

We start in Seattle with meeting part-time waitress and amateur-perfumer Priscilla. Then, the focus shifts to New Orleans to a perfumer / shop owner (the stepmother of the aforementioned waitress) and her assistant before shifting once more, this time to a large perfume company in Paris. Yes, it’s all about the smell.
Like the godawful smell of Pan (see what I did there ;P).
But there is another level to the story, because in the 8th century, a powerful king successfully escapes regicide (it’s tradition in his kingdom to be killed off at the first signs of aging). He travels the world through the centuries, meeting a widow in India. Yes, there is a love story and some immortality there, too.
But what does all that have to do with a 300-year-old bottle with only a few drops left of the perfume it contained? And, most importantly, why are there beets everywhere?!

The author has a very peculiar writing style that not everyone will warm up to. At times, he’s almost cartoonish, some of the views on women (as seen in descriptions and comments) are definitely dated (the book is from 1984) but never too offensively so if you ask me.
Like I said before, it’s a trip. A trip through time, a trip to discovery (of several things), a trip through a world of astral planes and ancient deities.
And the author managed to incorporate quite a number of musings that may seem weird at first glance (like "Why would you even invest so much time into thinking about this?!" weird) but are actually spot-on and not as trivial on second glance. However, he does so in a very light way so you need to pay attention to notice it in the first place.

It’s certainly not the best story I’ve ever read (the middle plateaued for a while) but it’s solid and I enjoyed the flair of it as I’ve never encountered a story quite like this before - the weirdness and writing style made me chuckle often. In that regard it certainly also fit since it’s a story about Pan and that guy was seriously weird. Consequently, I did as the author intended: I simply enjoyed myself. I’ll still not warm up to beets however, and that’s final.

Δεν ήθελα να τελειώσει. Μοναδική η πολύχρωμη και παιχνιδιάρικη σκέψη του Τομ Ρόμπινς.

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 view. He was an art major in school and did graduate work in religious history before becoming a journalist. Maybe I find him interesting because I have such a different background. The less structured thinking in a book like Jitterbug Perfume is a good antidote to econometric analysis texts.

It was a long time ago that I read my favorite Robbins books, but I think I’d still appreciate the humor, the artistry, and the full twisting verbal layouts in the pike position. One of the themes I remember from this particular selection was summarized in one word: “erleichda” (meaning “lighten up”). It was a lesson worth learning after dealing with Boston traffic to and from my first job.

Robbins may not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, if any of you non-initiates are open to some unusual herbal offerings, like Passion Fruit Zinger possibly, I’d encourage you to give him a try.

“Bireyselliğimiz bizim tek varlığımızdır. Onu güvenlik uğruna ya da tüm toplumun çıkarları uğruna değiş tokuş etmeye, elden çıkarmaya razı olanlar bulunabilir. Ama onu koruyan, hayatın buruk yollarında onu hep yanında taşıyan, sevgide, düşüncede ona sadık kalan, sabah yıldızınca kutsanır.”
“İnsan sonsuzluğa kadar yaşayacaksa, kalbiyle yaşamalı”
"İnsan, yanağındaki ilahi renge, içindeki doğal pembeliğe sarılmalı; yoksa kahverengiye dönüşür."
Keşke hiç bitmeseydi.

I got curious in reading Tom Robbins on account of me getting the impression that he was a huge name in alternative circles during the 1970's but faded into comparable obscurity afterwards. I find once-big later-forgotten celebrities a fascinating topic, and other authors that were big in 60's/70's hippie circles but faded in popularity after that era I often enjoy reading. (see Samuel Delany and Roger Zelazny for more examples) This novel was published in 1984, in other words after Robbins fell out of favour with the Zeitgeist.

"Jitterbug Perfume" is one of those novels that follow several different seemingly unrelated storylines in different geographical locations and historical eras that converge later in the plot. In this case, the convergence revolves around them somehow being connected to the perfume industry (hence the title) or ending up so. Robbins also includes quite a few mystical and fantastic elements in a realistic setting, that he expects the reader to accept unconditionally. For example the Greek god Pan is a major character in the plot, hence him appearing on the cover. After the advent of Christianity causes his power to weaken since nobody worships him any longer, he joins forces with a pagan European king and his favourite concubine fleeing to India then Nepal (where the latter 2 learn the secrets of immortality from a remote Buddhist monastery) - and later on the 3 take up careers in perfume-making!

People either love or hate Robbins and his writing. I really liked this book on account of being able to deftly capture the look, feel and sensory impressions of so many different cultures and places; as well as the ability to combine absurdist humour with in depth examination of many different serious philosophical, political and religious topics. The best comparison I can think of in terms of Robbins' writing style is somewhere between Robert Anton Wilson and Thomas Pynchon but significantly less convoluted than either. With Robbins' fixation on conflict between holistic mystical worldviews and individualistic rational worldviews, clearly coming down in favour of the former over the latter while never fitting comfortably into any existing religious tradition or political ideology, he at times also reminds me of a hippie D. H. Lawrence the same way you could describe Wilson as a hippie Nietzsche. Robbins also shares DHL's tendency to present those of his opinions that are most obviously offensive towards the typical left-of-centre person in the UK/US (in this case most of his intended audience) as those that people need to hear the most.

At any rate: If there is one thing "Jitterbug Perfume" is not, it's boring!