Rating: 
Summary: Self indulgant drek - or would that be drechk?
Review: Truly, Tom Robbins is an aquired taste. Too many that I have attempted to show the light to have not been able to get through half of it. But the idea is self indulgance. Scattered ramblings of a nut with a point. But I recommend that everyone try at least one of his books once in their life. I thought this one was better than the last but not as good as Skinny Legs - if that's any help.
Rating:
Summary: The Words are always worth the Wait.
Review: Tom Robbins again delivers another fine work of fiction. As usual the reader is taken on a roller coaster of language that is at the same time thought provoking and funny. I have never failed to laugh out loud when reading Tom Robbins. When is another book due?
Rating: 
Summary: A Verbal Ramble
Review: Our fierce invalid has stirred interesting ideas with wonderful metaphors into a goulash that overflows its dish. Tighter editting would have made for brighter, more continuous, reading, and about 150 fewer pages.
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Summary: Fierce Invalids
Review: Waiting five years for every new Tom Robbins' book is torture. Fierce Invalids is a wonderful novel. Very appropriate for the new millenium. It combines religion, modern technology, sex and drugs (as usual). I highly recommend it to Tom Robbins' fans. If you have never read a book by him before, start from the beginning (Another Roadside Attraction) and work your way up.
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Summary: Better and better!
Review: Robbins gets better with every new book. I couldn't stand not knowing what would happen next. This book had my full attention to the very last word. This is by far Robbins' best read!
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Summary: Philosophy as kitsch entertainment.
Review: It is written in the Koran -- you will come to know if you read this book -- that, "The gates of paradise open wide for he who can make his companions laugh." And wide will the gates of paradise open for Tom Robbins when he takes his celestial walk. This is a hilariously funny trip inspired by the author's vivid imagination. Fans of Tom Robbins, of which I am one, have come to realize (as he told us in Still Life With Woodpecker) that just when you think you are settling into a good story, you discover philosophy is what you're getting. This latest work is long on story and short on philosophy (as compared to Woodpecker), but what uplifting philosophy it is.One could describe the plot, but it just would not matter. Plots for Robbins are just a vehicle for the author's vibrantly witty iconoclastic social commentary. The protagonist of this story, a re-called CIA agent named Switters, has been accused by many reviewers as being unsympathetic. Personally I think this aversion has to do with a collective uncomfortableness over his being confined to a wheelchair for most of the plot. Switters is cursed by a medicine man in a Peruvian jungle and his death is foretold in the event his feet ever again touch the ground. Based upon what happened to his previously cursed companion, Switters takes the curse to heart and secures himself in a wheelchair for prophylactic purposes. Shed your fears and let your feet touch the ground: is the overly embellished variation of the "smell the roses" theme which is a common thread to all of this authors work. The author's mission, in the guise of story-telling, is to rescue the human race from its tragic flaw: prideful narcissism. "Isn't that where all this `seriousness' comes from? A dilated ego?'" We must set ourselves free, Robins urges, and purge ourselves of societal taboos ("superstitions with fangs on them, [which] if not transcended, puncture the brain and drain the spirit"). Robins coaxes us to behave like the Ancient Greeks and Hindus. "As a path to liberation, these golden Greeks and holy Hindus would deliberately break any and all of their culture's prevailing taboos in order to loosen their hold, destroy their power. It was an active, somewhat radical method of triumphing over fear by confronting that which frightened embracing it, dancing with it, absorbing it, and moving past it. It was a casting out of demons." Along with philosophy, you get some anthropology as well. Tom Robbins, like Thomas Pynchon (who gives Robbins high praise on the inside dust-cover --- need one say more!?!), is somewhat a recluse. He does not partake of the promotional hype by which other authors hawk their books, and even the About-the-Author- descriptions that append his books provide very little information. He is an under-appreciated literary treasure. The body of his work (this is his seventh novel) is Jungian philosophy as kitsch entertainment, and yes: "Everything is connected. But the links can sometimes be hard to uncover." p. 286.
Rating:
Summary: Still a fan
Review: I never wait for the cheaper paperback version of a new novel by Tom Robbins. When the book comes out, I buy it. So far it has been money well-spent. Although Skinny Legs and All is my favorite one, this book has the same lyrical language. I read Tom Robbins novels slowly, savoring every metaphor, simile, and analogy. He is truly a poetic novelist.
Rating:
Summary: I've recommended this to EVERYONE I know!
Review: I have read Tom Robbins before, and been impressed with his wit and creativity. His train of thought finds it's way through the terrain of one's imagination like no other author. I have recommended this book to all the fascinating and remarkable people in my life. Those that have taken my recommendation and read it have thanked me over and over again! After I finished it, I went directly to the beginning and started again, and I have NEVER done that before! Many laughs, many great ideas, many witticisms!
Rating:
Summary: Beauty to the Beholder
Review: So some die-hard T.R. fans find this book pedestrian, maybe they should get out more. It's definitely worth a read. Sure, the books "insights" and "parables" don't cause the reader to pause and wonder..."hmmm, could that really be true?"...like some other T.R. works. But, the clever reparté, witty metaphor, nearly 3-dimensional characters, and tightly-packed narrative are worth the ticket price into Mr. Robbin's Neighborhood.
Rating:
Summary: wonderfully insightful...as always.
Review: robbins has done it again. fierce invalids continues to inspire and surprise at every page. his outlook on religion is refreshing. the characters in this book are people i've known my whole life and yet never met. if you start to read this book, you must finish it...it's lovely
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