n  Για όποιον/α ενδιαφέρεται, υπάρχει αναλυτικό κείμενο στο μπλογκ.n



Στη�� περίπτωση του Τρυποκάρυδου μπορούν να συμβούν δύο τινά. Είτε μια χρυσή κουτάλα θα αναμοχλεύσει μέσα σου μια πρωτόγονη, εφηβική σούπα γεμάτη σπίθες, ορμή και ακατάλυτη τρέλα, εισβάλλοντας σε κάθε νευρώνα σου και ηλεκτρίζοντάς τον, είτε θα αναμετρηθεί με τις αντοχές σου, θα ταράξει τα νεύρα σου και τις προσδοκίες σου σχετικά με το πώς πρέπει να αφηγούμαστε μια ιστορία και θα σε κάνει να τον παρατήσεις.

Για εμένα εδώ έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια ιστορία πλημμυρισμένη από άκοπα διαμαντάκια που χορεύουν στον αέρα κι έτσι όπως περνάνε από δίπλα μας, χαράζ��υν και σκίζουν μαλακές επιφάνειες, στιγματίζουν νεαρές καρδιές και προσφέρουν απλόχερα ονειρικές εξάρσεις σε εκείνους που δεν τις έζησαν όσο νωρίς θα έπρεπε.

Πιστεύω τελικά ότι ο καλύτερος τρόπος να διαβάσει κανείς αυτό το βιβλίο κρύβεται στο να αφήσει στην άκρη την εκλογίκευση και να αφεθεί ελαφρύς και πράος, να ρουφήξει τις λέξεις και να νιώσει ζωντανός και σφριγηλός μέσα στην καταπραϋντική πρόζα του Ρόμπινς, χωρίς να αναζητήσει την τάξη, αλλά να αφήσει τα λόγια του Τρυποκάρυδου να του πιπιλίσουν το μυαλό για καιρό.

Δεν ξέρω πια τι θα πει αγάπη. Την περασμένη βδομάδα είχα ένα κάρρο ιδέες. Για το τι είναι η αγάπη και πώς να την κάνεις να μείνει. Τώρα που είμαι ερωτευμένος, δεν έχω ιδέα.
Τώρα που είμαι ερωτευμένος, είμαι τελείως βλάκας πάνω σ’ αυτό το θέμα.

UPDATE: no one gives a shit about Bigfoot

This book really had a profound effect on me. I devoured it in one day, and it left me feeling an intense need for action in my life which I have become an innocent bystander. Can’t recommend it enough.

…. Also let me know what you think…

Τι διαμαντάκι είχα τόσο καιρό στην βιβλιοθήκη μου και δεν το ήξερα!
Όχι, δεν είναι μόνο μια ιστορία αγάπης.
Όχι, δεν είναι μια εξύμνηση της παρανομίας.
Όχι, δεν είναι μια φιλοσοφική και κοινωνιολογική ανάλυση.
Όχι, δεν είναι το μυστήριο των πυραμίδων.
Όχι, δεν είναι το φεγγάρι και οι Κοκκινογέννηδες.
Όχι, δεν είναι η φύση των αντικειμένων.
Είναι όλα αυτά μαζί μέσα σε ένα πακέτο Κάμελ που το απήγαγαν εξωγήινοι μέσα από μια πυραμίδα.
Όσοι το έχουν διαβάσει θα με καταλάβουν, στους υπόλοιπους θα φανούν περίεργα όσα λέω.
Λη Τσερι και Μπέρναρντ , δυο κοκκινομάλλη δες ήρωες και οι υπόλοιποι: Τζουλιέττα, Μαξ, Τίλλυ, Τσακ, Φαυζαλ, που πολύ με κάνανε να γελάσω αλλά και να αναφωνήσω: Ω, Ω σπαγγέτι, Ω!

Ay ışığında renklenmiş dinamit lokumlarıyla tatlanmış sıradışı bir hikayeydi. Karakterler, zaman ve mekan eğlenceli ve anlatım fazlasıyla yazara özgüydü. Keyifle okudum tavsiye ederim :)

The ninth book I read on my commute in 2007. I read this right after Ulysses, as kind of a palate-cleanser, since Tom Robbins is pretty far from James Joyce. But I kept thinking as I read this one about how both it and Ulysses were so very much products of their respective times - Ulysses of Ireland in the 1930s, and Still Life with Woodpecker of the U.S. in the 1970s.

The example that amused me the most is that, in SLWW, a certain famous figure is held up with great reverence and love ... and that figure is Ralph Nader. Anyone who was of voting age in the year 2000 remembers the impact Nader had on the presidential election, and the closer one was to the voting age that year, the more likely one thinks of Nader as "ruining" the election and contributing in part to making the world what it is today. But apparently, back in the 70's Nader was a guy that idealistic kids who wanted to save the world could really look up to and adore. Strange world.

Anyway, this book is classic Tom Robbins, with lots of wacky characters and preposterous plot twists, and a happy ending to boot. It was a successful antidote to Joyce. It also contains some of the greatest passages about tequila ever written in an American novel (to my knowledge and in my opinion). A lot of the cultural stuff is funny because Robbins makes fun of it, and does so with such skill that it doesn't matter if I only barely remembered such 70's oddities. But in the end it's a story about making love stay, and everyone could use a story like that now and then.

I'd give this book a zero, if I could.
Do not, by any means, waste 10 seconds of your life attempting to get in the juvenile and aimless mind of Tom Robbins.
Where does one start? Storyline. Sure. First of all, there isn't one. This book follows no know path, and I'm 100% confident the author wasn't aware of what the following chapter was going to hold while writing previous one.
Character progression? That would imply that we met the characters properly in the first place. Dancing between a fantasy land of royal prestige and middle American upper class society, we never fully grasp the home/family/income/location/tendencies/likes/dislikes of any of the characters. Save, perhaps, Bernard Mickey Wrangle, the 30-something, ex-convict, high-schooler-banging, bullshit-spewing, ever-romantic, bomb enthusiast. What we learn about him is what I've managed to more eloquently convey in the last sentence than Robbins could mouth-fart in an entire "novel." His character progression = none.
But moving on. Let's the address the borderline romance novel sex scenes that we're forced to sit through. Although, I feel a bit disingenuous to romance novels for making the unfortunate comparison. Here's a gem:
"As time passed, the air in the cabin was composed of two parts oxygen, one part nitrogen, and three parts slish vapor, French mist, and Cupid fumes. Their funk billowed over them like a sail. It carried them across the crest of spasm after spasm. The aroma of her cunt knocked the hatches back. The scent of his semen swamped the bilges."
A regular Hemingway.
Next let's address the pointless analogies thrown at you like a dozen dodge balls at every turn. Another beauty: " ... the Pioneer Inn shook like a wet mutt; every window in one end of it shattered, wallboards cracked, lighting fixtures and potted plants plummeted to the meeting hall floor, smoke and dust roiled for half an hour, and saucerites, scorched and scratched, scattered as if the Jewish Mother Ship had landed in their midst, spraying scalding jets of chicken soup."
Now maybe that was taken out of context, you say. I assure you, that made as much sense in context as out. Saucerites? Not a misspelling on my part.
Finally I come to the idiotic jumping point for this whole "American classic", the correlation between aliens, red heads, Anglo-Saxons, the pyramids, love, and all of life which this book claims to tie together. And no, there's no correlation to be explained, simply that the concept that a correlation exists is the entire basis for the book and its storyline. Yeah. That's actually the plot line. Don't ask how, cause I can't tell you, but I doubt Tom Robbins could either.
If you're not a 16 year old girl, pretend you've never heard the words "Still Life With Woodpecker", and if you are, don't read this moronic piece of shit.

9/10. Ο Ρόμπινς είναι από τους 3-4 συγγραφείς που έχω παρακολουθήσει ολόκληρη την παραγωγή τους και από τους πλέον αγαπημένους μου. Ο Τρυποκάρυδος ήταν το πρώτο του έργο που μεταφράστηκε στα ελληνικά και το δεύτερο που εγώ διάβασα. Όσοι αγαπάνε τα φευγάτα ταξίδια, την ιδιοφυή γραφή και τους πρωτότυπους ήρωες, θα λατρέψουν όλα τα έργα του Ρόμπινς και το οργανωμένο χάος που τα χαρακτηρίζει. Κάποιοι που ίσως βρήκανσε πρώτη ανάγνωση το ύφος του ανοίκειο, ας του δώσουν μια δεύτερη ευκαιρία αν έχουν χρόνο και υπομονή. Α, και προσοχή, οι Αργονιανοί κυκλοφορούν ανάμεσά μας...

Robbins has one of the most unique narratives I've encountered. He's genuinely funny, witty, and shares a penchant for the absurd and punny. He's a wordsmith and throughout his writing one can't help but feel that he's full-force funneling a rabid faucet of clever and meaningless musings constantly streaming through his hyper-associative mind.

Woodpecker is, at heart, a take on a classic fairytale story disguised in an absurd set of characters and an abnormal setting. Robbins leads one through his meta-writing world, often interjecting self-conscious chapters about the process of writing the novel. He also uses the characters as obvious vessels to relay his philosophical musings, many of whom make very good points.

Robbins self-aware writing makes a point out whenever he introduces allusion or insight, which, though it tickles my meta-bone, it also makes the novel a bit hollow. I couldn't help feel that Robbins' tale never managed to get past the surface. At the end of the day, most of the novel is hollow and substanceless. The characters are quirky but remain undeveloped.

The sum of Robbin's antics is a highly enjoyable and clever book that does all it needs in the quest to entertain and occasionally poke a finger at the absurdity of it all.

I just realized that Greg gave me a default recommendation...

I don't know the book is good though. It is tough to thing of what to say about this book. It is a giant joke, but it also is pseudo philosophical, and then it also seems to be trying to give some kind of weird advice.

Spoilers!!! not. The last line that has nothing to do with the story is "It's never too late to have a happy childhood." A perfect example of this weird advice thing that Robbins does without telling you anything about the story.

There are princesses, frogs, arabs, pyramids, communists, aliens, and conspiracy theory.

The first twenty or so pages are a bit WTF but once you get through them the rest of the book just flows through after that.

Reading this again 10 years later. It’s actually a really beautiful and sad portrait of love. So many things fail. So much is bad.

I absolutely hated this book. I could tell from the start it wasn't for me and finally bailed after 100 pages. It felt like being trapped on a road trip with someone who thinks they're funny and won't shut up.

Το ροδακινάκι.

Şairene olduğu kadar dahiyene ve düşünce bombalarını, en amiyene tabiriyle Tencere Hapsini Reddeden Patlamış Mısır Taneleri Özgürleşme Hareketi militanları misali patır patır patlatan manifestokarşıtı olmasıyla birlikte antimanifestolara da şüpheyle yaklaşan hatta yaklaşmaya dair makul bir çekinceme barındıran bir Tom Robbins manifestoantimanifosu.

Bu kitabı okumadan önce görülmesi gereken yerler:

1-Dolunayın olduğu bir gece seçilerek Mısırdaki herhangi bir piramide gidilmeli ve tam dolunay çıktığında, piramid civarında poposunu ay ışığından sakınmadan aman diyim kakasını(daha kibarca söylemek gerekirse 'kakiş'ini) yapan bir Mısırlı'ya denk gelene kadar beklenmelidir. Daha sonra, sabırla Mısırlının gözden kaybolmasını beklemeli ve Mısırlı gözden kaybolur kaybolmaz kakişin yanına uçarak gitmelisiniz. İşte orada aradığınız aşkı bulacaksınız.

2-Hazır aşkınızı bulmuşken onu verecek bir aşık bulmak üzere derhal ilk New York uçağına binmeli, şehrin en işlek caddesindeki en işlek süpermarkete girmeli ve doğrudan dondurulmuş meyve reyonuna vınlamalısınız. Orada birazcık sabırla, birazcık da sabırsızlıkla reyona gelerek dondurulmuş böğürtlen alacak ilk kişiyi beklemelisiniz. Özenle bulduğunuz aşkı, o kişiye güvenle verebilirsiniz. İçinizde fokur fokur kaynayan aşkı vereceğiniz kişi, aşkınızı almayı reddederse ısrarcı olmakta şüphe etmeyiniz. Kimliği belirsiz şahıs aşkınıza karşı kayıtsızlığını sürdürüse, derhal evini tespit etmeli ve önüne bir piramit inşa etmelisiniz. Böylece o kişinin gözleri açılacak ve aradığı aşkın sizde olduğunu şappadanak anlayacaktır!!

3-Artık aradığınız aşkı ve en önemlisi aşkınızı birlikte höpürdetebileceğiniz aşığınızı bulduğunuza göre, onu kaybetmemek için bazı ritüelleri yerine getirmenizin vakti gelmiş demektir. Bu noktada derhal en yakın kitapçıya giderek, ünlü Hawaili yazar ve aşkolog Çiki Çiki Çakçaka'nın Aşkatapan isimli romanını almalı ve aşığınızla birlikte, geceleri sadece ayın ışığından faydalanarak okumalısınız. (Kitabı gün ışığında okumanın tehlikeleri aşkınıza hırs, benbildimcilik ve kibir bulaşmasıdır. Kitabı ampul ışığında okuduğunuz taktirde ise aşkınızın bayağılaşmasını baştan göze almışsınız demektir.) (Havai'de ve dünyanın her yerinde romanlarının daha çok satması için Çiçi Çiki ÇakÇaka'nın ününden faydalanmak isteyen sahte-romancıların kendi romanlarını onun ismiyle basmaya alışkın olduğu bilinen bir gerçektir. Doğru kitabı aldığınızdan emin olmak istiyorsanız, romanın son cümlesine bakabilirsiniz.)

''Mutlu bir çocukluğa sahip olmak için hala geç değil.''