Rating: 
Summary: I liked it, and that bothers me...
Review: This was my first Tom Robbins novel. I borrowed it from my 24-year old daughter who reads all of his books (she especially loves "Jitterbug Perfume").
I have to say I was bothered by the pedophilia, but not nearly as much as I was bothered by the main character trying to convince the reader why it's okay. And trying to convince again, and again, and...
But it was a fast moving story, fun insight on Catholicism, and just plain wacky situations, though it got a little wordy. Sometimes, I just wanted to shout, "Shut up!" Still, I would recommend this book, but not to the prude...
Rating: 
Summary: Why read the reviews ? Buy it already.
Review: Anyone who tries to put Robbins in a box will be disappointed because he is elusive yet tangible. Although, I have heard his style described as 'magical realism'....it doesn't mean it's Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have read every Robbins' book there is and I love them all. Stop horsing around and buy the book. If you haven't read ANY Tom Robbins you may want to start with an earlier book....perhaps Even Cowgirls Get the Blues or Jitterbug Perfume (his finest work IMO), or Still Life with Woodpecker. Robbins traditionally takes you from one place to another and, like a finely woven tapestry, brings it all together in the end. His work is beautiful, spiritual, and sensual. He seems to research things very well and so, if you're a stickler for facts, they're there.
Rating:
Summary: Some work...but an awful lot of fun!
Review: This is not so much a novel as a sprawling treatise on such diverse topics as innocence vs. purity, spiritualism, pedophilia, the nature of language, experimental literature, quantum mechanics, geopolitics, consumerism, and red-eye gravy -- with the ultimate message easy enough that it can be spoken posthumously by a parrot: "People of the world, relax."
The main character, Switters, ex-CIA spook struggles with a pyramid-headed witch doctor's curse, affections for his underage stepsister, and an unexpectedly growing love for a nun whose order is charged with protecting a long-held secret of the Catholic church.
This was my first Tom Robbins book, and although his writing can devolve into something similar to a 12-year-old popping repetitive wheelies on his new Schwinn Stingray in front of an increasingly bored audience, the consistent humor, snappy dialogue, and harebrained side-trips make it all an ultimately fun ride.
I'd recommend it to readers who have patience for stories that develop in the author's, not the reader's (or an editor's), time. There are a lot of cool things to learn and think about here, but don't expect a complicated, freewheeling - or marginally logical -- plot. Reminds me in tone of John Irving's "The Water-Method Man" or even Salinger's "Franny and Zooey."
Rating:
Summary: Robbins in the Amazon
Review: Robbins is right on form with this one! My only criticism is that his protagonist is an anarchist CIA agent with child-molesting tendencies. Which is, of course, ridiculous. Anarchists are far too moral to be CIA agents.
Rating:
Summary: Pulitzer Prize Winner
Review: Never having reviewed a book before on Amazon...I was appauled, yes, literally appauled, to see that readers have rated this a four star book. Fierce Invalids is without a doubt the best book written within my lifetime, and that's saying something, because I am getting up there, man! Mr. Robbins (Tom, to me) is a spectacular writer, a celebration of life on our planet. My opinion, since you asked, is that Tom is just way too much fun for America; busy folks, important folks, folks struggling to make all their payments resent the fact that he and his characters are having such a great time living and laughing at life.
Rating:
Summary: well worth it, glad i read it
Review: this was recommended by a friend and i felt embarrased i had not read it first. a cool adventure, it is just pure literature. a great story, well told, well written, funny, entertaining, enjoyable. i now reccomend it to others. tom robbins has some great turns of phrase, some i have commited to memory and used in conversation.
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