Suzy Zeus Gets Organized: A Novel (Tin House) [Hardcover]

Maggie Robbins (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tin House | Publication Date: March 10, 2005

"Suzy hails from Indiana,
land of crops, of Fords and farms.
Suzy lives in New York City,
land of cops and car alarms.
Suzy lives six blocks from Harry.
Touch him and she'll break your arms."

Heart-rending, hilarious, giddy, and compassionate, Maggie Robbins's novel in verse tracks a blundering bombshell as she risks all, ricocheting from man to man, place to place, through a haze of sensuality, spirituality, serendipity, and psychosis. In its own singsong rhythm-the "crazy beat" of Suzy's unforgettable life-Suzy Zeus Gets Organized chronicles a furious odyssey from Astoria to Astroland-by way of such pit stops as Berlin, the Big Easy, Buddhism, Barbie, and the Bible-that leaves Suzy, although in the same town, in a somewhat better state. Excerpted in Andrew Solomon's bestselling The Noonday Demon, this marvelously told story of a rowdy city girl bent on finding inner harmony will delight readers everywhere.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Suzy Zeus fled Indiana for New York, where she indulges every naughty whim and adores her "manly boyfriend" Harry. Suzy Zeus is a streetwise goddess, a sexy, wisecracking superhero, and a babe with attitude until her waitress gig gets her down, Harry breaks her heart, and she fails to find sanctuary in church. Robbins is a New York psychotherapist and librettist, pursuits that shape her irresistible, saucy, singsong novella-in-verse, a bravura performance with the cigarette-and-cocktail purr of Kim Addonizio and the irony and outrageousness of Patti Smith. Robbins uses a simple and mesmerizing rhythm, playful rhymes, gum-snapping humor, and glamorous eroticism to hypnotize the reader as she shifts stealthily from classic men-are-jerks routines to a deep and resonant inquiry into neurosis, depression, and spiritual angst. Suzy Zeus is actually a soulful woman on a quest for meaning and goodness, and she, like every mythic hero, must descend into the underworld before she can fully appreciate life's complexity and splendor, and the true nature of love. Robbins' debut is fresh, clever, and provocative. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Maggie Robbins''s Suzy Zeus is a deadpan dead-on character-nobody''s nice girl-whose life in hypnotic verse is boldly told. Powerful, dark, and hard to forget."

(Naomi Wolf )

"Her writing is tough, brazen, exuberant, and ironic; and yet it is touched, always, with a spirit of great generosity and tenderness."

(Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon )

"A singular and wonderful work.… an extraordinary character whose dilemmas subtly and bracingly tell us about the way we live now."

(Janet Malcolm )

"With mordant humor and infinite pluck, Suzy catapults through men, work, religion, and her own neuroses…thrilling and infectious poems, a stunning piece."

(Doug Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of I Am My Own Wife )

“Pure poetry. The story of a promiscuous, manic-depressive bombshell is smart and witty.”

(Psychology Today ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158234535X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582345352
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #792,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suzy Zeus Also Gets 5+ Stars, April 14, 2005

By 

Traven (New York, NY, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suzy Zeus Gets Organized: A Novel (Tin House) (Hardcover)

I approached this book with the dread and loathing one rightly brings to any novel written in verse. I mean, wasn't "The Iliad" bad enough? Poetry gives me ADD. And don't pretend I'm the only one who's never gotten through both quarter New Yorker pages of a Seamus Heaney poem. Then there's the question of plot. Does a verse novel have the plot the author wanted, or the plot the author and the author's friends were able to find rhymes for? I picked up "Suzy Zeus" mostly out of crankiness, to confirm these suspicions.

Boy was I surprised. I mean, I had to go and wash my pants. Maggie Robbins has created a new genre here: Dr. Seuss for adults. Not in some campy, Urban Outfitter way, but rather because Robbins' poetry, like that of Dr. Seuss, has the ability to effortlessly lodge things deeper into your brain than, looking at it from the outside, you thought your brain even was. Suzy Zeus' life and voice are so fully imagined that poetry, at least as written here, is clearly the correct choice of delivery vehicle. You need the shorthand. Prose would be too impersonal and slow to give you what this book gives you.

Meanwhile, the book just reels you through. Can you imagine if all books did that? We'd all be really smart and entertained, though we'd get less done. You won't get anything done during "Suzy Zeus," but believe me, we can take care of things while you're gone: no matter how you try to pace yourself, in six hours you'll have finished the book twice. And then you can get back to your Powerpoint. Happy? You were while you were reading "Suzy Zeus."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and brilliant, April 4, 2005

By 

C. Harper (London, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suzy Zeus Gets Organized: A Novel (Tin House) (Hardcover)

This book, which is poetry, pop culture, psychoanalysis and much more, made me laugh out loud. It also caused tears to stream down my face. You won't read anything else like it. Genius.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the smartest, funniest book i have read in YEARS, May 5, 2005

By 

Caroline Weber "Caroline Weber" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suzy Zeus Gets Organized: A Novel (Tin House) (Hardcover)

sassy, sly, and sparkling, suzy zeus is a gift to us all, as is her creator, maggie robbins. buy this book! now! DO IT!