Villa Incognito

Rating:
Summary: Should have stayed Incognito
Review: Tom, if you are reading this, you should go to that Villa and begin your next book. You owe your fans better than this and I have a feeling you know it. The spoon and the monkey and the satyr are shaking their heads sadly.

If you are a true fan buy this book, if you are new to the author you would be better off with Still Life or Skinny Legs.

Patiently awaiting your next book.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Robbins is Redeemed
Review: I was nearly crestfallen when I saw that "Villa Incognito" was only about 240 pages long; however, any reservations I might have had were mitigated by the end of the first paragraph. I could not stop reading, smiling nearly the whole time. Robbins has been redeemed for the sins of "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates!" Villa Incognita has everything that I and other Robbins fans love about him: interesting and engaging characters (including his ever present exotic, alluring female who, of course, pulls everything together) interesting plot twists, his signature word play, mythology, and philosophical rants about consumerisism, capatilism, and religion, and some of that great uniquely Robbins abusrdity. If you are not already a Robbins fan, beware, you might become a big one.
The story begins with the antics of a Tanuki, a kind of wild dog, which resembles a racoon or badger. In Japanese mythology tanukis are playful, thieving shape shifters with a taste for women, fun and sake; they are also known for having enormous scrotum. We later meet Lisa Ko, also known as Madame Ko, a circus trainer of tanukis, who is alleged to have Tanuki blood. Her fiance is one of three US MIAs who decided to remain in Laos after the war's end. All of their lives are turned upside down when Dern Foley, one of the MIAs, is caught with drugs in Guam, despite the fact that he was well disguised as a French priest. We also meet Foley's two unusual sisters, and the two military intelligence officers assigned to sort out the situation. Although other rewiewers have complained about the resolution: I liked it. Most things were wrapped up nicely, and the two characters left with mysterious endings, should have been that way. My biggest regret was that "Villa Incognito" was over too soon.
If you have liked earlier Robbins books, particularly "Jitterbug Perfume (my favorite) and "Skinny legs and All" you are destined to like "Villa Incognito."

Rating:
Summary: Classic Robbins Style, Unfulfilled Potential
Review: I looked forward to this novel the way any true fan would, and was immediately suprised and mildly disheartened by its slim figure. I dove in with abandon and read it from cover to cover. The book did not disappoint--the passages on Tanuki, Himself are reminiscent of those in Jitterbug Perfume involving Pan, and the prose is wacky poetic, as usual--however, I was left wanting more, feeling as if Mr. Robbins might have been distracted by a quivering chrysanthemum or some savory sake.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy the novel--I most certainly did, and will treasure it as I treasure his other seven wonders of the literary world, but I was left with the sinking feeling that maybe in a effort to meet a deadline, self imposed or otherwise, Mr. Robbins ended where he might have furthered the intensity of the novel and its resolution with another few chapters. Still, a fan, ever and always.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but little substance
Review: This book was a bit of a disappointment. About two thirds of the way through I realized that, although I was enjoying the read and the trademark Robbins prose, I couldn't have cared less what happened next to any of the characters.

I wanted to fall in love with Lisa Ko. I wanted to admire Stubblefield. I wanted to empathize with Goldwire. I wanted to feel SOMETHING for any character but it just didn't happen. Neither the characters nor their stories were developed enough to get me involved.

I think there's a good book here somewhere - it just needs to be about 150 pages longer and with something that resembles a climax and a resolution.

Rating:
Summary: late for a deadline?
Review: ...I had barely caught the wave before it crashed. No long ride on the oblivion of the plateau in this one. Oh, it was a good read-- Tom Robbins, after all, so the skewed descriptives alone make it better than most other books. But what happened to the rest of the book? Was this the result of late-on-your-deadline death threats from the publisher? Give us the damn book NOW or we'll sue?!? I'll have to console myself by re-re-re-re-reading Skinny Legs.

Rating:
Summary: Meet me in Cognito, baby.
Review: Robbins doesn't quite live up to his usual high standards with Villa Incognito, but its still better than Michener. Funny, irreverent, inspiring and mind-blowing, Villa Incognito is a must-read for free-thinkers everywhere.

Rating:
Summary: 5 for Wordplay, 4 for Plot, 3 for Resolution
Review: Tom Robbins is a great American treasure. His novels have entertained (and confounded) his ardent fan base for nearly 30 years, and his style of writing is as original as it gets.
"Villa Incognito", his 8th (and, along with the classic "Still Life", one of his shortest) novels opens in typical Robbins fashion - parallel stories seperated by generations, farcical characters and an alluring female whom you somehow know is going to tie the entire story together. The action in "VI" is primarily set in Asia (which gives Robbins a chance to focus on herion as the drug of reference in this novel), where 3 Vietnam (thought to be) MIA's have established their own Walden. Meanwhile, the possible offspring of a Tanuki (don't ask, just trust me that only Robbins could make such a mythical character work SO WELL) and her circus comrades worms her way into the story, creating the mischief that Robbins works so well with his female creations (think Amanda from "Another Roadside Attraction", or the exotic dancer from "Skinny Legs and All" ).
As always, Robbins words simply sparkle. His ability to fashion similes remains unchallenged in modern writing. And the "modern time" sections of the story allow Tom (and his fans) the pleasure of Bush-bashing, 9/11 ruminating, and general "religion-government-organized society is failing us" rambling.
Unfortunately, the story runs into serious trouble after about 150 pages. You see where he wants to go, but lately Robbins has had a bad habit of letting his strong talents get in the way of a solid finish. It's not as bad as "Fierce Invalids" (which crumbled under its own weight), but then again, at only 230 or so pages, there isn't as much room to fail here.
One really has small reason to complain whenever there is some fresh TR on the market - no other wirter makes a reader simply giggle quite like Tom. And he isn't afraid to poke fun at sacred icons. This book reinforces everything I love about Robbin's writings - and reminds me why critics seem to dislike him so much.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe Robbins' weakest effort?
Review: I've read every Tom Robbins book (some multiple times), and I was thrilled to see this book released so quickly after "Fierce Invalids", but unfortunatley, I was kind of disappointed.

The first 100 pages or so, are just great - but the second half of the book kind of lays an egg in my opinion. I believe the reason this happens is because when one of the major characters - Mars Albert Stubblefied - is introduced, my energy and enthusiasm left this story. This character is just not up to par with the many great characters of wisdom and charm as in his other books, and I feel the overall story suffers a bit for this reason. He is just not a very likeable character and is portrayed to be a smart/ground breaking thinker, but most of his views make little sense, and have even less relevance to the world - even in their defiance of normal society - and this is very 'odd' for Robbins, as most of his stories thrive off of argumentive energy - that is difficult to debate. Stubblefied's theories didn't even lead me to attentive thought to be honest - which is always my favorite part of Robbins' work.

That being said, it is still worth the read, because one always learns great things when reading Robbins, and the worlds that he creates conjure journeys that all people should take once in a while in their life to escape this world for a brief moment. I still consider him the best writer of our time.

Rating:
Summary: Rather Disappointing
Review: Well, I'd just read "Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates" after many years spent with no Tom Robbins books at all. I suppose I had basicallly forgotten about the man, although when I consider it now "Still Life" and "Skinny Legs & All" were mightily enjoyable reads. Anyway, I moved to Seattle and that, for obvious reasons, fueled a reinterest/rediscovery of Robbins. "Fierce Invalids" is certainly one of the best books I've read this year. On the other hand, soon after (perhaps too soon after) "Invalids", my curiousity piqued, I purchased "Villa Incognito". Yesterday, I finished the book. Today, I feel compelled to review it. I did like reading of the tanukis, and the first half or so of the novel was quite engaging. There were two main problems, I felt. A tiny smattering of the characters held some level of interest for me (namely, Madame Ko), but, all in all, I found the book to lack character development or even character definition. The other problem was the ending, which happened about 300 pages immature. I have a theory about this. It seems that Robbins was in the process of writing "Villa Incognito" when the 9/11 attacks happened. I think this affected his writing, because on September 11th (in the book) everything basically falls apart. We lose the plot, and the characters get lost too. Some die, some run away, but very little is actually brought to a point of closure. So I believe that on 9/11 he simply gave up on this book. That he just needed to wrap it up and go on to something else, a post-9/11 novel, at "Villa Incognito"'s (and the reader's) expense. Unfortunate timing, as well, because I do think the novel had great potential. And so I say: Rather Disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Tom Robbins hits the spot
Review: You know you've stumbled onto something special when the first sentence of a book concerns the scrotal parachuting of fictive Japanese animal ancestors. Recommended to me by my librarian friend who claimed Robbins put the 'fun in anti-fundamentalism', I was delightfully surprised at how thoroughly enjoyable an experience it was to read this novel. Robbins' writing style is sublimely engaging and rather than attempt to narrate the aspects of the book I found so captivating, how about some strung-together adjectives: Irreverent. Absurd. Lyrical. Mythical. Artfully crafted. Insightful. Hilarious. And practically, though not totally, perfect in many ways. Tom Robbins is a total rockstar! I was shocked when I was checking out reviews of VI on the web and found that many people considered this to be their least favorite of his novels. I can't imagine that, but being the first book I've read by Robbins, what do I know? All I do know is that if this is anyone's least favorite, then I am certainly in for a treat when I get to the other ones.