Τόσο γλυκόπικρη αίσθηση κάθε φορά που τελειώνει ένα βιβλίο του..

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 on themes of life and death and immortality, and the importance of our sense of smell throughout all of these. You meet the ancient Greek god Pan and by the end, you're dying to smell this amazing perfume discovered by our protagonists. It is a crazy romp through centuries and around the world, and I love every minute of it.

Ya ama Allah kahretsin ya! O kadar güzel bitip neden bir Kudra - Alobar karşılaşması yok bu kitapta! Neden son bölümde sayfalarca Priscilla gereksizini okurken benim ikilim yok, AMA BÜTÜN KİTABI BU İKİLİ GÖTÜRMÜŞKEN NEDEN ONLARA AİT Bİ SON YOK!!!
HATTA BÜTÜN KİTABI ALOBAR YÜRÜTMÜŞKEN ASLINDA NEDEN SON SÖZÜ ALOBAR SÖYLEMEDİ AQ!!!
Ayrıca Dannyboy'ın kızını da yarım bıraktı bence.
Allah kahretsin epilog istiyorum!
ÇILDIRACAĞIM!
Şey... Muhtemelen hayatımın en anlamsız yorumu oldu ama buraya çok güzel alıntılarla dolu yorum bırakmayı düşünüyorum.
Şimdilik benim isteğim türde (Kudra & Alobar'ın) sonu, ileri giderek epilog eksikliği içinde, Alobar'ın son sözü yokluğunda kıvranacağım izninizle.

Ayrıca bu kitabı öneren İlkim'e sonsuz teşekkürler. Bir ablam vermişti kitabı ancak kalın ve kurgu olduğu için cesaret edememiştim. Şahane bi kitaptı!

4.5*

The library gave me a musty, beat up hardcover edition with a missing dust cover. I’m so visually oriented that in order to better enjoy the book I printed out pictures of both the hardcover and a paperback cover too.

I really struggled while reading this book and it took me forever to read it.

I enjoyed the main love story and liked the parts that take place in ancient Bohemia much better than most of the modern era portions.

While I was reading I felt as though I was reading a series of different stories. I felt that the plot disintegrated toward the end as the author seemed to go from writing a speculative fiction novel to a combination of philosophy, science, political, and health/longevity treatise, but not in a particularly interesting or compelling manner, or with enough accuracy either. The very end did bring all the parts together, and I suspected that it would. I think that the author tried to do too much with this novel; it was as though he was working out for himself some of the mysteries of life, but not in a way that entertained or enlightened me. Parts were brilliant but for me the whole was not.

I did find interesting the main theme of avoiding death, of the search for immortality. Immortality, perfume/smell/odor, and beets, yes beets, are the main subject matter of this novel. The god Pan makes an interesting appearance.

However, I found it long and rambling and at times irritating and annoying. It was a strange book. It’s hard for me to evaluate it given what was going on in my life while I was reading it. At another time I might have appreciated it more or been even more peeved by what I consider its flaws.

I do think it can make a good book club selection though, and I did read it for my real world book club; there’s some interesting material for discussion, especially regarding the ramifications of immortality.

Edited a day later: I just downgraded this book a star. Despite moments of brilliance and many interesting parts, at best it was just an ok book for me. I struggled through it and wouldn't have finished it had it not been for my book club. While I liked the author's ambition, I didn't really like the book enough to give it 3 stars. I couldn't even be bothered to write a long, thoughtful review because I didn't want to extend the experience.

This book is fake smart and I am real smart.

Tom Robbins in this book opened my eyes to the wild, wild world of modern satire, absurdity, light-hearted comparative religious blasphemy, and BEETS.

Just ignore the stench that just entered the room... it's only my old pal and buddy, PAN.

Drunken revelries are pushed aside for the enjoyment of tons of sex, hot baths, and more sex as the keys to immortality, but if you think that's just fine for a novel like this, THINK AGAIN. A genius waitress working in a Mexican restaurant in Washington State is working on a 1000-year-old mystery perfume while a 1000-year-old sacrificial king refuses to die, working as a janitor. Add a wild cast of Tibetan monks, a low-caste ancient woman, the coming floral revolution, and more sex than you can shake your stick at, and throw it into one hell of a funny satirical soup full of great lines and beets on your doorsteps.

This book changed my life the first time I read it, but I didn't exactly fall into a quest for the perfect taco... I went on a road trip to find the perfect pizza, tho, and while I only did the homeless wandering bit after college for a month, Alobar got to do it for a millennia! I'm so jealous! Oh, yeah, and he's easily had more sex than ANYONE in the world. And baths. Sigh.

Such a wild, irreverent ride. :) I read this and then I look at what Gaiman did later. I definitely thought of Robbins when I read American Gods. :) It's a bit funnier than American Gods, too. :)

I usually give a book until page 50 to hook me, but I chucked this one at 42. Robbins strikes me as a sex-obsessed adolescent desperate to prove how clever he is. I felt like an indulgent mommy pushing myself past page after page. "Oh, Tommy. What big words you use. Such an original way to describe an orgy. Good boy." The premise of "mystery beets" did nothing for me and we didn't stay with any one character long enough for me to care. The king's discovery of "individualism" felt about 200 years past being relevant. "Gee you're deep, Tommy." I can see why he might appeal to some readers, the way Douglas Adams appeals, but for me, this is a novel only a mother could love. And luckily, Tom Robbins is someone else's kid.

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.

I have vacillated between a four and five star rating on this. I LOVE the words. Each page was a delicious treat that kept me on the edge of my seat...what metaphor or simile or pun would Robbins pull out of the treasure chest that is his brain? I fell in LOVE with the language. I know it sounds weird, but the way he wrote about the beet and all vegetables on the very first page sold me. I knew this book would be amazing.

The only thing that keeps me from giving it 100% are the main story lines. They didn't flow as I hoped they would, or intertwine as simply as they were supposed to for me. I lost a little interest in Priscilla, I wasn't all that fascinated with Pan....the French Marcel didn't hold any special place in my heart....thus, the four star rating.

But READ it! Four stars from me is a GOOD, GOOD thing!

You'll never look at a beet the same way again!



HERE ARE SOME OF THE QUOTES I LIKED:

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 forever.

In the quiet ache of the evening, Alobar listened to his calluses grow.

I journey to the east, where I have been told, there are men who have taught death some manners.

Louisiana in September was like an obscene phone call from nature. The air - moist, sultry, secretive, and far from fresh - felt as if it were being exhaled into one's face. Sometimes it even sounded like heavy breathing.

To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.

n  n
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.

Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.

Let's jump straight in with a quote from somebody else's review:

"I was surprised at how much I liked this book" - Gertien

Ditto, Gertie, ditto!

A couple of years back I decided to get all of my immediate family the same present (same-same, but different) - as many second hand books as I could get for £20. I averaged about 7 books each.

My brother got various Mann Booker Prize winners. My Mum got a platter of modern sci-fi and fantasy. My Step-Dad got a selection of humorous fantasy works: this being one of them.

He likes authors like Tom Holt, Robert Rankin and Chris Moore. I wasn't familiar with Tom Robbins (at all, like, zilch recognition) but it kept popping up on Amazon's 'if you like this, you might like...' so I took a punt and chucked it into his birthday bundle.

There were two books he came back to me raving about and thrust into my hands - n  Lambn and n  n    Jitterbug Perfumen  n. Having read one Moore beforehand, I knew what to expect from n  Lambn, so I breezed through it in while stuck on a plane - and it's a good book. I didn't know what to expect from n  n    Jitterbugn  n, so I left it on a shelf... and it kept looking at me...

It's good! Not to put down their own work, but this is the kind of story that Holt & Rankin would kill to write! It's got just as much imagination and whimsy as their zany tales, but a much deeper and more finessed use of theme, and bucketloads more 'blood-on-the-walls' heart to it.

It's a story about immortality, perfume, passion and beets!

Quick tangent:(If you've never heard of British poet/rapper Scroobius Pip, check out the song 'The Beat That My Heart Skips' on youtube - that kept popping into my head (over and over again) as the 'The Beet That My Heat Skips')

It's light hearted and smart, it's fun, funny, and tremendously enjoyable. Robbins knows his way around a sentence and can certainly produce a playful paragraph - the man can write!

I particularly enjoyed Pan, the whale mask, the lesbian not-lover, heaven and the bees. A delightfully incongruous combination of words!

So why not a 5-star?

Because... It's just not quite my thing. It's a bit like watching Friends with the wife - there's no doubt it's entertaining, I don't complain about watching it - but I'd rather be watching Battlestar!

I doubt I'll ever feel the urge to re-read, and if there was a sequel I'm not sure I'd pick it up. We enjoyed our time together, but like a blind-date set-up that seems good in theory, it's clear the chemistry isn't right for a long term relationship.

After this I read: Greywalker

A farcical novel involving beets, the mythical Pan and immortality. I would have given it 4 stars but the ending was muddled.