Helpful Score: 3
I had thoroughly enjoyed the rest of Tom Robbins' novels over the years, so I was excited to finally be able to read this, his first. Honestly, this book didn't impress me from the get-go, and I was kind of disappointed with it; in my mind it took a while to pick up. But, oh, when it did, it lassoed me in just like all his other books had in the past. So give it a chance!
Helpful Score: 3
One of my least favorite Tom Robbins books, but still a worthwhile read. If you haven't read Robbbins yet, don't let this be your first.
Helpful Score: 2
Robbins style is unique. He's fanciful and very funny but he is also brilliant.
Helpful Score: 2
Very Tom Robbins: crazy characters, events, and plot turns.
Funny, lyrical, engaging, this book has all the good stuff. I zipped through it, and I want to read it again.
My favorite novel by this hilarious wordsmith. And I'm not just saying so because my stepdaughter is named for the heroine of this wacky tale. So, so, so funny. Buckle up and enjoy the ride through this novelist's inventive, yet familiar, psyche. Recommended!
A classic!
fantastic
quirky in the Ken Kesey vein. fairly good writing, but not enough story for me.
Enjoyable read.
This is the book that swept me into the world of Tom Robbins. It is fun, imaginative, daring, and Tom is at his best when he "writes what wants to be written" - using his completely unique style of metaphorical writing. Fantastic!!!
by the same author as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.
Robbins' riff on organized religion is still as sharp and funny as it was when it was written half a century ago.
Even though it was his first novel, 'Another Roadside Attraction' already shows the structural elements Robbins continued to use in his other works: a collection of oddball characters and seemingly unrelated and wildly unlikely events, all stitched together with wry observations and astonishing metaphors. The reader is entertained, amused, and frequently baffled as to just where this journey is going but it eventually gets there and it always turns out that the trip was worth the effort.
In this debut effort, John Paul Zimmer (loincloth-clad musician, sculptor, and mystic) in company with his companion baboon, Mon Cul and his lubricious bride Amanda (the ultimate hippy-chick Earth mother) decide to rehabilitate an abandoned diner in Washington's rain-soaked Skagit Valley. There they open a hot dog stand and zoo containing, among other things, a tsetse fly preserved in amber, a flea circus whose performers are costumed by Amanda in microscopic velvet and spangles, a collection of garter snakes, and a bow-legged rooster. From there, it's but a hop, skip, and jump (which, in Robbins-land means about 200 pages) to an astonishing discovery in the catacombs of the Vatican and the need to reveal something which could bring down Western civilization. Actually, there are two decisions: should they tell, and is Western civilization worth keeping, anyway.
If one digs down below the mushroom-glazed surface, there's a great deal to think about in this novel. Robbins is not reluctant to tackle The Big Questions. Only the reader can decide who comes out on top in the resulting brawl.
Even though it was his first novel, 'Another Roadside Attraction' already shows the structural elements Robbins continued to use in his other works: a collection of oddball characters and seemingly unrelated and wildly unlikely events, all stitched together with wry observations and astonishing metaphors. The reader is entertained, amused, and frequently baffled as to just where this journey is going but it eventually gets there and it always turns out that the trip was worth the effort.
In this debut effort, John Paul Zimmer (loincloth-clad musician, sculptor, and mystic) in company with his companion baboon, Mon Cul and his lubricious bride Amanda (the ultimate hippy-chick Earth mother) decide to rehabilitate an abandoned diner in Washington's rain-soaked Skagit Valley. There they open a hot dog stand and zoo containing, among other things, a tsetse fly preserved in amber, a flea circus whose performers are costumed by Amanda in microscopic velvet and spangles, a collection of garter snakes, and a bow-legged rooster. From there, it's but a hop, skip, and jump (which, in Robbins-land means about 200 pages) to an astonishing discovery in the catacombs of the Vatican and the need to reveal something which could bring down Western civilization. Actually, there are two decisions: should they tell, and is Western civilization worth keeping, anyway.
If one digs down below the mushroom-glazed surface, there's a great deal to think about in this novel. Robbins is not reluctant to tackle The Big Questions. Only the reader can decide who comes out on top in the resulting brawl.
Clairvoyants, trained fleas, the Second Coming - what more could you ask for?? Tom Robbins is a wonderful writer and this is one os his classics. Of course, in my opinion, they ALL are.
