Reviews

This was a weird one. I don't usually read adult fiction, but this was given to me by a friend of mine. It reminded me a bit of Andrew Smith's books like Grasshopper Jungle or 100 Sideways Miles... lots of random stuff that connects in random ways. It took me quite awhile to read which always happens when I don't like the main character. She annoyed me quite a lot. I think I would have liked Larry more back when I was younger and before I was familiar with all of his crazy ideas. The ending was interesting. Overall I don't regret reading this, but it wasn't quite my thing.

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4.0

Within a Tom Robbins book, one can always expect some sort of outrageous theory and Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas might be his best ‘Crazy Theory’ yet. The notion that us as humans are too simple for accepting that we are at our peak which had me setting the book down just to sit on this. How is it that we decided evolution has run its course and that we are the most successful product of a 4 billion year experiment, as he puts it. Webbed feet, half-land half-water destined or not, humans with a natural nature to commit murder, to rape, to sing ridiculous advertisement jingles seems like a rather disappointing result.

Gwendolyn has a great character development adventure, and whether or not you agreed with her action towards the end, she’s a prime example of a dynamic character who in the beginning represents a perverted version of the ‘American dream’. While I barely understood half the things Larry Diamond went on about, there’s no denying he had a grasp on the bigger picture and, once being what Gwendolyn was trying so hard to hold on to, he was the best thing that probably could’ve happened to her. But that depends I guess on what the reader values in life, and what they wanted for Gwendolyn. Either way, I thought her twist of the opportunity at end was worthy of a fools tarot card.