Customer Reviews

Skinny Legs & All

5 star:		(91)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

One of my biggest post-literate mistakes was choosing "Skinny Legs and All" as my first attempt at a Tom Robbins book. It was a big mistake because, for that first pass, I didn't make it past page fifty. And spent the next two years avoiding Tom's oeuvre, for fear of reliving that first awkward experience. Hindsight tells me that those two years could have been spent in an enlightened, blissful state if I'd started my Robbins journey elsewhere. When I tried "Skinny Legs" again, after 'getting' the Robbins of "Another Roadside Attraction" and "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume", I was astounded at the magnitude of its greatness. And more than a bit embarrassed that I passed off its hyper-creativity as just strangeness for strangeness' sake.

The strangeness I speak of, which rears its ugly (nay, sublime) head before page fifty, concerns an Airstream welded to look like a giant roast turkey, and sentient dialogues between a spoon, a dirty sock, and a Can o' Beans (and later, a mystical Conch Shell and a magical Painted Stick; ancient objects with an enormous task ahead of them). Hmm. A first time Tommer can be expected to run screaming from images like that, skeptical that they can be made credible. But the seasoned pro knows that Tom has something exciting up his sleeve. And can't wait to find out what it is.

"Skinny Legs" follows the 'exciting' adventures of Ellen Cherry Charles, erstwhile artist and sometimes waitress, and her newlywed husband Boomer Petway, creator of said turkeymobile. Their plan is to drive from Virginia, which is too conservative to cultivate Ellen's artistic and sexual passions, to New York City. The goal is to find fame and fortune in the art community. Which they do, but not in the expected way.

While in New York, Tom throws in many issues and ideas that are as relevant today as they were in 1990 when the book was published. More so, even. Talk of New York terrorism, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and Jerusalem as a hot button issue, all inform the story in one way or another (as do Tom's staples: art, love, passionate sex, philosophy, history, etc. etc. etc.). This can best be seen in one of Tom's most poignant creations: a restaurant named Isaac and Ishmael's, owned by a Jew and an Arab in an attempt to call attention to the brotherhood needed to end the conflict in the Middle East. "To a bird in the air, it's beanies versus dishcloths," notes the I&I's Arab owner, Roland Abu Hadee, before he summarize the foolishness of the situation. "To a bug on the street, both groups are the same." Tom's handling of the Israel conflict, and the way he weaves it into his story, is masterful. He takes his position on the conflict (through the I&I, which in an attempt at reconciliation is not-so-incidentally named after Sarah's sons: the bastard child who went on to become the father of the Arabs, and the legitimate child who went on to become the father of the Hebrews), allows his characters their passions, and even offers a number of fanciful solutions.

But he's not always fanciful and flippant about the situation. One character notes that as New York and London and Tokyo, etc. are all about money, "Jerusalem is about... something else." It's a complicated city, with a complicated history, embroiled in a conflict that's "an overload of craziness... a seventy-piece orchestra rehearsing a funeral dirge and a wedding march simultaneously in a broom closet."

While that part of the book is concerned with the unknowable, the rest of the book tries to find a solution to such problems. Enter the stories of Jezebel (idolater, hussy, face-painter, former Queen of northern Israel) and Salome (she of the Dance of the Seven Veils). Both figures make metaphorical and nearly literal returns to our modern world in the book. In doing so, they lift "the veils of ignorance, disinformation, and illusion [that] separate us from that which is imperative to our understanding of our evolutionary journey, shield us from the Mystery that is central to being." This is, in just one sentence, Tom Robbins' goal for this sprawling and magical book.

Along the way to achieving this goal here, Tom's flair for humourous language and analogy is at its peak. This, to me, has always been the sugar that allows Tom's sometimes-harsh medicine to go down easily. Here lie some of my favourites:

...Concerning the name of an ancient leader of Babylon: "Nebuchadnezzar is a poem... a swarm of killer bees let loose in the halls of the alphabet."

...Ellen Cherry practicing the menu of the I&I, at which she is the hostess, with Boomer:
"Now what the heck is 'roz bel khalta'?"
"Yiddish for Mrs. Jimmy Carter?"

..."Eviction was staring [Ellen] in the face like a deviate on the subway". (This last one is important to me because not only is it a powerful simile, but it is a powerful *New York* simile; there's nothing more stereotypically New York than deviates on the Subway. Tom, as you can see, is in full control of his gifts here.)

"Pious dogma, if allowed to flourish," says the Conch Shell. "Will always drive magic away." For Tom Robbins, an author who buys magic wholesale and manages to fashion it into something even more tangible and wonderful, this is the cruelest death that can be inflicted on mankind. Rest assured, he's doing everything within his literary powers to make sure that never happens. "Skinny Legs and All" is a perfect symbol for this fight. Now it's your job as a reader, whether a Tom-newbie or someone who's been down his lush paths before, to have patience, keep an open mind, and know that Tom would never steer you wrong. Least not here, in one of his masterpieces.

Tom Robbins takes creative writing to the spiritual. He is themad shaman of the sentence. If you give a damn about color, love,touching, art, the creative process, if you are aware enough to feel the echoes from a time long past when the earth was sacred, when men knew more about female anatomy than harddrives and batting averages, when stars meant something, if you've ever faced the blank, virgin canvas and found out who you were or weren't, if you've ever felt like an alien on Superbowl Sunday then
'Skinny Legs & All' will profoundly move you. It might even change your life. At very least, Tom Robbins will ruin reading for you -- suddenly everything else seems like soggy iceburg lettuce. 'Skinny Legs & All' is the best novel I've ever read. It costs less than a stupid pizza, do yourself a favor.

ps I also HIGHLY recommend 'Jitterbug Perfume' (I have to say this because it's the most beautiful book I've ever read and I noticed that someone here gave it a negative recommendation and I just can't keep my mouth shut when I hear someone proclaim the earth to be flat)

This is the first Tom Robbins novel I've read, and it was an incredible pleasure from cover to cover. Reviewing a Robbins novel is not so easy though. A simple plot summary surely doesn't suffice. Let me start by saying that it's a vastly entertaining book, and really quite profound. Robbins expounds--through his diverse and bizarre characters--on many topics, particularly organized religion and the middle east (inseparable, when you think about it). He's clearly no great fan of organized religion, and treats the middle east with the complexity and nuance it so surely deserves. It's also a very feminist novel (in my opinion), with multiple strong female characters, and a very purposeful attempt to show the patriarchal origins and underpinnings of the three major mono-theistic religions.

Still, the greatest pleasure of this novel is the spectacular wordplay and turns-of-phrase. Robbins prose is wonderfully creative and elegant, and though some readers may find the constant similes and metaphors to be gratuitous, I did not. Every line seems so carefully crafted -- there is not a single throw-away word. On many occasions (too many to count), I found myself saying "I really should write this down." If that happens to me a half dozen times in a book, I would consider it a good read. But 25-30 times?? Remarkable.

I don't want to give the impression that this is a preachy or obtrusively political book -- it isn't. It is laugh-out-loud funny and extremely entertaining. But there certainly are multiple layers, and I think it is bound to connect with a reader on at least one, if not many different levels. Overall, just a fantastic read. I highly recommend it!

This was my first Tom Robbins book, so at first I found the self-consciously clever metaphors and phrases tiresome, but after 50 pages or so I was hooked, looking forward to the next one. It's rare when a book that has me laughing out loud on the bus will also bring me close to tears and make me want to remorize and recite passages to my wife. By the last page, my only disappointment was the less-than-satisfying endings to some characters' stories. I've since read several of his other books, thinking I was now a serious Tom Robbins fan. I haven't found any of the others to hold onto me as tightly as this one, so I think I'm instead a serious Skinny Legs and All fan.

Here's another Tom Robbins' novel that I really shouldn't read in public. I lose all awareness of my surroundings as my brain tries to wrap its slippery gray hands around this plot. I am lost somewhere deep in this outlandish and intricate, but somehow fully believable story. I would make a great purse-snatching target. And every time I burst into a fit of laughter, I can feel the stares of people who probably think I'm a Bellevue escapee. Then I think about the main character Ellen Cherry Charles and her struggle against artistic conformity. Right on! I cackle away in spite of my disapproving peers who probably only wish they were reading this book. The story begins with two newlyweds cruising west in a 20-foot Airstream turkey and ends with the reunion of a girl and her favorite spoon. It's easy to forget that some of the central themes of this novel are so serious, like the inevitable violence of contradicting but uncompromising beliefs, or the role of the artist in society, or the portrayal of women in the Bible to name a few. But through Robbins' characters- ranging from an overzealous Southern Baptist preacher, to a mysterious16-year-old belly dancer, to a philosophical can of beans- he exposes a government plot to set the ball rolling on the rapture, manages to explain with surprising clarity the violent history of the Middle East and vindicates Jezebel and Salome. Through these seemingly unrelated characters and their equally unrelated settings, Robbins sews a unifying thread that reminds readers that like it or not, we're all connected in some way. But for some reason I'm still laughing. Maybe it's because in this novel inanimate objects have consciousness and Ellen Cherry's vibrator speaks to the inhabitants of her panty drawer in a Japanese accent. Somehow Robbins' has convinced me that this could actually be true. After reading this book, I'll never look at my silverware or non-perishable goods with the same indifference. After all, they will outlive me and could possess ancient wisdom.

I am a huge Tom Robbins fan. Accidentally introduced to his works on a plane ride between Seattle and Chicago, I have been hooked on him for over a year. Determined to read the books in some semblence of order, I now find myself on this book, "Skinny Legs and All." It has been, by far, my least favorite book of Mr. Robbins. The thing I love most about his books is the way the story comes out and wraps itself around you with loving arms, pulling you in and not letting you go until the last word. However, with this book, I feel an arm's length away the entire way through. I can't connect to the characters, the humour is only present among the inanimate objects (and even then is pretty stiff), and the story is so saturated with political and religious views and ideals, that it's hard to get into. I feel like I'm being blatantly beaten over the head with a "Tom Robbins' political/religious Stance" manual. I definitely like his more subtle books better. I agree with a few other reviewers who've said this is not the book for readers new to Tom Robbins. See to "Still Life with Woodpecker" or "Jitterbug Perfume" for that. Also, and this may be a bit nit-picky, but one final thing that makes this book hard for me to get through, is the constant references to baba ghannouj being made from chickpeas, when it is in fact made from roasted eggplant. This book should definitely be a part of any Tom Robbins fan's collection, but it is not the one you'll be flipping through on a rainy day, wishing you could escape into the sunny desert oasis of a Camel pack.

Here's another Tom Robbins' novel that I really shouldn't read in public. I lose all awareness of my surroundings as my brain tries to wrap its slippery gray hands around this plot. I am lost somewhere deep in this outlandish and intricate, but somehow fully believable story. I would make a great purse-snatching target. And every time I burst into a fit of laughter, I can feel the stares of people who probably think I'm a Bellevue escapee. Then I think about the main character Ellen Cherry Charles and her struggle against artistic conformity. Right on! I cackle away in spite of my disapproving peers who probably only wish they were reading this book. The story begins with two newlyweds cruising west in a 20-foot Airstream turkey and ends with the reunion of a girl and her favorite spoon. It's easy to forget that some of the central themes of this novel are so serious, like the inevitable violence of contradicting but uncompromising beliefs, or the role of the artist in society, or the portrayal of women in the Bible to name a few. But through Robbins' characters- ranging from an overzealous Southern Baptist preacher, to a mysterious16-year-old belly dancer, to a philosophical can of beans- he exposes a government plot to set the ball rolling on the rapture, manages to explain with surprising clarity the violent history of the Middle East and vindicates Jezebel and Salome. Through these seemingly unrelated characters and their equally unrelated settings, Robbins sews a unifying thread that reminds readers that like it or not, we're all connected in some way. But for some reason I'm still laughing. Maybe it's because in this novel inanimate objects have consciousness and Ellen Cherry's vibrator speaks to the inhabitants of her panty drawer in a Japanese accent. Somehow Robbins' has convinced me that this could actually be true. After reading this book, I'll never look at my silverware or non-perishable goods with the same indifference. After all, they will outlive me and could possess ancient wisdom.

This novel has it all: religion, politics, art, sex, eroticism, humor, mysticism, tragedy, suspense, fantasy, and a whole lot more. Amazingly, Robbins makes it all hang together as a very unusual, but thoroughly enjoyable story. The story speaks against fundamentalism, and religious and political intolerance, and for a healthy, open-mindedness, without ever becoming preachy. The style is humorous and satirical.

The characters and situations are often bizarre in the extreme. We encounter a couple of newlyweds, Ellen Cherry and Boomer, on a long journey in an Airstream motor home remodeled to look like a giant roast turkey. The couple's sexual escapades in a cave release mystic energies that awaken a number of inanimate objects (Painted Strick, Conch Shell, Spoon, Dirty Sock, and Can o' Beans), whose journey, adventures, and philosophical-religious discussions are very interesting.

Two friends, Spike and Abu, a Jew and an Arab, have their own restaurant (Isaac and Ishmael's) across the road from the UN. Their perspectives on middle-eastern politics are edifying.

Other interesting characters are: Raul, the randy doorman-cum-pop-star, Turn-around-Norman, a street-performer whose art consists of turning around extremely slowly, Salome, a young belly dancer who does the dance of the seven veils, and Buddy Winkler, a fanatical but hypocritical preacher.

Tom Robbins manages to convey deeply provocative subject matter through lightness and humor. A very worthwhile read.

From the title to the characters .. to the events of the story everything seems so complicated and condensed .. though the irony and sarcasm are very obvious regarding manmade beliefs and miseries.

I wanted to read the book becasue I liked the seeming contradiction between the title and the written review .. it touched on a very sensitive subject...an Arab and a Jew building something together!!? and wasn't I confused!! For not till the Second Veil that I began understanding what it is all about .. it is such an amazing experience!!
You start up somewhere .. looking for clues .. still lost ..then it all hits you.. the images .. the connotations.. every word has a resounding purpose and every picture has a multiple effect! The plot is so amazingly intricate that you feel all the events are woven to reach the ultimate ending! You laugh really hard .. but also sympathize with human shortcomings.

I was so impressed that I had to tell my husband about it .. but when I did .. it was the funny part of the story that I shared first ..laughing.. I explained the significance and the "wisdom" of the inanimate objects.. the detailed history.. the Dance!!

Work your imagination and enjoy reading!

I don't know how Tom Robbins does it every time. He takes disparaging concepts, merging the magical with the real, the mystical with the political, and somehow creates something which is indescribably glorious. In his pages nothing is sacred and nothing profane. Impossible to describe, he makes a universe out of chaos. I can recommend this book but how to explain what it is about? An artist marries her sweetheart and moves to NYC where politics threaten her personal and marital life. A spoon, a sock, a shell, and a stick on an exodus. A religious fanatic who would bring in the second coming asap. And a Jew and an Arab and a glorious dancer, skinny legs and all, seduce the reader into a roller coaster ride of ecstatic sensible nonsense.

Tom Robbins is my favorite drug!