Another mind-bender from Robbins
Written: Jun 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: makes you both think and laugh
Cons: ending falls a bit flat
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| shadowcat's Full Review: Tom Robbins - Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climat... |
It's rare these days to find an author who both makes you think and laugh, neither one detracting from the other, and yet Tom Robbins does this every time. His latest book is no exception.
I've been waiting for 'Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates' for over a year, and I was not disappointed. Robbins' standard mix of bizarre situations and thought-provoking philosophy is put forth in beautifully crafted language, and usually managed to make me laugh out loud at least once every five pages.
This book follows a year and a half in the life of Switters, an independently-minded CIA agent in love with his teenage stepsister, from Seattle to the Amazon jungle to the deserts of Syria to the Vatican, encountering on his way a pointy-headed tribal shaman, an unlikely convent, and his grandmother's long-suffering parrot.
The only downfall of this book, in my mind, is that the ending is a bit sudden. Switters' biggest problem throughout the book is solved by events offstage, and the story ends with another problem still hanging. Even so, this book has so much fun on the way to the end that it hardly presents a problem.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: shadowcat
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Member: Heather Keith
Location: Chelmsford, MA
Reviews written: 28
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me: Human consciousness lies somewhere between Pavlov's dog and Schrodinger's cat.
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