Author Tom Robbins passed away yesterday.
NEW YORK – Tom Robbins, the novelist and prankster-philosopher who charmed and addled millions of readers with such screwball adventures as “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and “Jitterbug Perfume,” has died. He was 92.
When I was around 19, someone turned me on to their copy of “Still Live with Woodpecker” and I fell in love with his witty, absurd wordsmithing.
Surely I’m not his only fan around here?
I read all his stuff back in the day too. He made me laugh.
I was a big Tom Robbins fan for much of my 20s. Like you, a friend of mine insisted I read “Still Life With Woodpecker” and it quickly became one of my favorite books. I bought copies of his earlier books, and bought “Jitterbug Perfume” and “Skinny Legs and All” when they were published in paperback.
But Robbins did not publish very frequently, with four or five years between books, and he kind of just fell off my radar at some point. I should go back and read some of his later novels and see if they are as good as the earlier ones I loved.
He had a great knack for wordplay and interesting turns of phrases. One that has always stuck with me was from “Woodpecker”, after the Woodpecker blows up the sci-fi convention, when he talks about how “people were milling around outside like bargain-minded lemmings at a suicide sale.”
RIP Tom.
Was a big fan for a long time. Hooked by Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Amazed by Still Life With Woodpecker and Jitterbug perfume.
A reviewer once referred to Robins’, “wacky aptness of metaphor.” I know of no better description.
“There are only two mantras, yum and yuck, mine is yum.” – Bernard Mickey Wrangle.
What is it with “Still Life with Woodpecker”? I borrowed it from my parents’ bookshelf when I was 13 or 14 and it probably messed me up for life. Not that I’m complaining, of course. RIP Tom.
I read Woodpecker about a decade ago and thought it was OK but not mind-blowing or life-altering by any means. This past summer I tried reading his debut novel Another Roadside Attraction but didn’t enjoy it at all, and I quit after about 50 pages. I did not identify with or care about the main characters at all. It seemed only to be relevant to readers who identify with hippie culture.
He had me hooked when he published his first book Another Roadside Attraction.
I still enjoy reading it from time to time. I read all his other books as soon as they came out. My two favorites are Roadside Attraction, and especially Jitterbug Perfume which I also enjoy revisiting.
Wow… That is my story exactly, even the age.
I have read his entire works and hold “Jitterbug Perfume” to be the best love story ever.
Scared me for a minute
I immediately thought of the actor Tim Robbins and Shawshank. He’s 66.
RIP Tom
He lived on a houseboat in La Conner, WA, which is about an hour north of Seattle. I’ve been there a couple of times. Who knew I was near an accomplished literary giant? And, ashamed to admit it, I haven’t looked for any of his new stuff for a few decades. So, rectifying that now.
I loved Another Roadside Attraction when I was a lad.
and I am very much not a hippie…
I don’t require books to be mind-blowing or life-altering. Sometimes I’m just looking for a fun ride. Still Life with Woodpecker was a fun ride.
Of course, when reading Still Life With Woodpecker you need to have a pack of unfiltered Camel cigarettes handy.
I’ve read and loved his novels from Another Roadside Attraction through Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. Another Roadside Attraction was fun, although I thought it felt a little self-conscious, as though he knew that he was writing a countercultural tour de force and wanted the reader to know it too.
He and Vonnegut have written some of my favorite novels, and now they’re both gone.
I has a sad.
I remember how hard it was to read cowgirls slow, I didn’t want it to end.
Loved the book, was really disappointed to realize that it didn’t translate well to the screen.
The group I was in in the 70s loved ARA. But when EGGtB came out and Robbins got much more well known it was time for the “sell out” designation. (In my opinion EGGtB was a much lesser work but I wouldn’t call him a sellout.)
Indeed! Jitterbug Perfume has all the wonderfully colorful language of a Tom Robbins novel, smooth passages of psychedelic verbal jazz and also the most tightly constructed plot line of all his artistic works, all the way up to that sly surprise ending. But, yes, the core tale of Alobar and Kudra and their quest to be as undying as their love is one of the most beautifully cool love stories I’ve ever read & is one of the reasons I re-read it every few years.
That, and having the ailing god Pan as a character is just so very 
Yes. You put it better than I ever could have.