Relieved to be done with this one. Sheesh. Tom Robbins does not age well. His brilliant literary skill is overshadowed by his persistent misogyny and tired monologues on “philosophy.” Every male character in this book reads as just another vessel through which he pontificates ad nauseum about the nature of the human condition. If this book were a person, it’d be a disheveled middle-aged white man with a perverse fascination of underage girls, bestiality and Asian culture.

3.5

Typical Tom Robbins - always a joy to read. Very different characters and plot devices.

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From Publishers Weekly
Donald Barthelme once said, "Those who never attempt the absurd never achieve the impossible." Robbins (Still Life with Woodpecker; Jitterbug Perfume; etc.) has made a career of attempting and achieving both, and in this, his eighth novel, he pulls it off again. Here we have weirdness personified, a quirky, outrageous concoction that is a joy to the imagination. The novel begins with the story of Tanuki, a badgerlike Asian creature with a reputation as a changeling and trickster and a fondness for sake. Also part of the cast is a beautiful young woman who may or may not have Tanuki's blood in her veins (but definitely does have a chrysanthemum seed embedded in the roof of her mouth), and three American MIAs who have chosen to remain in Laos long after the Vietnam War. Events are set in motion when one of the MIAs, dressed as a priest, is arrested with a cache of heroin taped to his body. In vintage Robbins style, the plot whirls every which way, as the author, writing with unrestrained glee, takes potshots at societal pillars: the military, big business and religions of all ilks. The language is eccentric, electrifying and true to the mark. A few examples: "The afternoon passed more slowly than a walnut-sized kidney stone"; "He crooned the way a can of cheap dog food might croon if a can of cheap dog food had a voice"; "Dickie's heart felt suddenly like an iron piano with barbwire strings and scorpions for keys." While the ending is a bit of a letdown, this is delectable farce, full of tantalizing secrets and bizarre disguises.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From AudioFile
Once upon a time, a satyr-like Japanese badger-spirit seduced and impregnated a mortal. Many generations later (two or so years into the present century), an infant descendent arrives in the U.S., promising a more joyful, mystical, nature-loving future for all Americans. This is the story of how the child/creature got here with the unwitting help of three Vietnam-era Army deserters living in the title Laotian villa, where they traffic illegally in medicinal heroin. These nefarious smart-asses are heroes, according to our author, who invests them and his narrative with mischievous, sexy, and subversive humor. Crisp-toned Barrett Whitener totally buys into the romp, unintimidated by the overrich vocabulary and mystical esoterica. He does an astonishing job impersonating the Asian characters. When the text runs out of steam near the end, he perks it up. Thanks to Whitener, staying tuned through the end is a pleasure.

I had forgotten how off the wall some of his writing can be. Lots of literary references, prurient vignettes (about tanuki balls, etc), fun similes ("the day passed more slowly than a walnut-sized kidney stone" / "trying to find Elvisuit in Patpong was like trying to find Jonah's contact lens in the belly of the whale"), cuts to the chase very quickly sometimes, and then spends a page or two applauding mayonnaise ("all Carolina folk are crazy for mayonnaise" - not true?).

With regards to the themes of a life well lived, making one's own choices, and advocating pragmatic opioid, well, I enjoyed reading his takes on those. And the interlude about the circus troupe up in the hills and mountains of Laos. It just didn't always feel like a story. But it was funny and entertaining.

Others-
-Favorite quote from Stubblefield - "Let's not chisel that last one in stone. Okay? It may be high wisdom, it could be pure bullshit. There's often a thin line. ..."
-I loved the image of Elvisuit getting paged and making appearances all around Patpong.
-“It is what it is. You are what you it. There are no mistakes.”

rom robbins is such a perv i love it

I started reading this book no fewer than 4 other times, and I could never get past the first few pages. Well this was my lucky time! I cruised right through it and couldn't have enjoyed it more.

Some passages and quotes I loved:

"Outside, beyond the open shutters, a monsoon wind played the palm fronds as if they were musical saws. Somewhere below the window, cicadas were holding a political really, Morse-coding their single slogan--Live and let live!--over and over to the four indifferent directions. A flesh-colored moon, as ripe as any "vine ripe" tomato, was skinny-dipping in a lake of its own light. Leaning back, Lisa watched it slowly swim out of sight, languid, naked, and unashamed. The occasional stars were like inflamed eyeballs, spying on the swimmer--and the bather--through peepholes in an anthracite curtain. Due to the lateness of the hour, the city's acrid charcoal cookfires had long since cooled, and as it lumbered through the bathroom window now, the air sagged under the weight of the sweetness it carried: jasmine, lemongrass, sandalwood, frangipani, and olfactory reminders of the afternoon's explosive rain."

"The ecstasy of living completely in the present moment, which almost everyone experiences briefly in sexual orgasm, mystics access during deep meditation, shamans savor as a reward for their psychedelic ordeals, and some artists stumble upon gratuitously when they lose themselves in their work, that egoless euphoria was, according to Stubblefield, at the core of transcendence, the liberated state of elevated innocence for which every human animal unwittingly hungers. Transcendence was, quite literally, heaven on earth"

"What your seeing is the perfection of a conscious act of craziness. What you're seeing is pinpoint focus combined with mad abandon in such a way as to cause the specters of death and the exaltations of life to collide at some kind of crossroads. The sparks that fly from that collision are like little shards of God. If you can hold them in your mind for more than five seconds, you can understand everything that ever was or will ever be."

"...danger is the perfume of change, and change is the future's vocation."

I literally have no idea why this was published.

Tom Robbins. I want so desperately for my brain to accept Tom Robbins and love him. But there's a disconnect.

The story is okay, three MIA Americans, a mysterious (magical?) circus trainer, some Animal Gods/gods. Several threads of the narrative are left dangling, a few others are hastily tied up with 2 epilogues.

The best thing about this book are the random one-liners sprinkled throughout. It's not terrible, but it's definitely not great.

My desire to love Tom Robbins has been thwarted again.

What a wild and crazy read. Where does Tom Robbins come up with this stuff? Wildly imaginative, cleverly humorous, and perfectly outrageous. Having a beer with Robbins would be fun. Tanukis forever!

This is definitely a bit of Tom Robbins light, like the short essay collection Wild Ducks Flying Backwards (which is referenced here, as is the essay in honor of a mayonnaise and tomato sandwich on WonderBread). So, treading on familiar territory in some ways, but still offering sharp insights into the human condition, humor, and obscure knowledge. I learned about the existence of Tanukis, social hierarchies of Lao culture, and that the Playboy Mansion houses a Satanic cult. So, a worthwhile read by any measure.

I will say thought, this is smaller in scale than Robbins' other major works, both in length and scope of the story. The story is shorter and simpler, leaving some characters less developed (Bootsey, Pitter Patt, Dern) than I feel like they would've been if Robbins was swinging for the cosmos like he's done in other novels (Jitterbug, Even Cowgirls). There was much to enjoy about a novel that starts with a mythological creature parachuting to Earth via a scrotal pouch. Even if it doesn't reach the same heights as his classics, this one still manages to fall into the abyss and walk away with its dignity.

I can't believe I read this whole book. The first chapter was engaging, funny and had some promise. And then the book just turned into a soapbox. All these ridiculous speeches and crap about "Lao" vs "Laotian", US foreign policy, Americans, whatever - you name it - and a really ambiguous plot that had us guessing at what the fate was of more than one of the protagonists. Maybe I lack imagination but reading this book made me question why I thought any of his other books were funny or interesting.

Just want to give this supposedly non-memoir a "5."
TRobbins has been with me for so long and given me so much hope and a huge sense of the possibilities.
Won't recap plot.
All good.
To find the Villa, Miss Ginger, four generations of KO, Stubblefield, Dern and Dickie, their loves and siblings and associates. as well as all of Robbins' lifelong teasing and foundation with transformation, change, acceptance, rejection, and finding the calm place despite...
And the Circus McGurgis, the Circus Supreme...the cream of the cream!
I so see Ringling Brothers on Long Island.
I so see and remember all the folks I've known who found their place by leaving where they were.
Wake up.
Treasure the moment and the millenium, albeit a short one.
You are what you it.
Pla-bonga.
Hooray for Tom Robbins being now over 80!

Tom Robbins....στα κέφια του!