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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I know most people would go for Still Life with Woodpecker or Skinny Legs & All as their favourite Tom Robbins book, but Fierce Invalids is it for me because Switters is easily Robbins's most richly drawn character and a joy to read again and again.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Just read it. Brilliant book.
Content Warnings
The main character is as flawed as it gets and it touches on some taboos. But somehow your loving the guy.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is just David Foster Wallace if his antidepressants had worked.
Cynical. Wordy. Crass. Mind numbingly dull.
A frat boy aged and then wrote this book.
Perfect read for men who as convinced of their own intellectual brilliance despite having no actual results of said brilliance. Or who see themselves as misunderstood genius’s whose wit and critiques of the world go unrecognized because everyone around them in so Provençal.
If you have few/no meaningful relationships with people around you, specially women or found reading ‘Infinite Jest’ to be enjoyable, this book is for you.
Cynical. Wordy. Crass. Mind numbingly dull.
A frat boy aged and then wrote this book.
Perfect read for men who as convinced of their own intellectual brilliance despite having no actual results of said brilliance. Or who see themselves as misunderstood genius’s whose wit and critiques of the world go unrecognized because everyone around them in so Provençal.
If you have few/no meaningful relationships with people around you, specially women or found reading ‘Infinite Jest’ to be enjoyable, this book is for you.
My first Tom Robbins novel and not the type of book I typically enjoy, I have to admit I enjoyed most of this book. Yes, the plot and sex-obsessed characters are over the top. Somtimes I found myself savoring the language and other times thinking, "Enough already."
Not the best Tom Robbins I've read, but still funny and fun.
My favorite Tom Robbins novel. I wish I could come back in another life and BE Switters.
What a fucked up book. This novel seriously makes me so angry. The plot is so bizarre and it seems like such a fun idea at first - a curse that causes a man to live a significant portion of his life in a wheelchair and on stilts because he believes that if he touches the ground, he'll die? Crazy! A romance between an ex-CIA agent and a feminist French nun in Syria? Cool! A strange mix of love and resentment from a grandmother who demands her grandson release her pet parrot into the wilderness, but then instead Switters accidentally eats the parrot because a mystical tribal shaman serves it to him as stew? What even is happening? The writing style is superb, some of the big ideas discussed are actually insightful in a weird way, it's pretentious but in a way that's aware of its own pretentiousness, so you can almost give it a pass...
Oh yeah, and the protagonist is a pedophile and the whole book is an apologist for pedophilia. Like... why? It drives me nuts that this book was published with all of this poisonous garbage "romance" between the protagonist and his sixteen-year-old step-sister. It's not even necessary to the creative and off-the-wall plot in the rest of the story. But it's in there, and it's not a footnote. It's a deeply rooted part of Switters' character, and he has many discussions about it with other characters where the argument is basically about moral relativism and cultural differences. Barf. What the fuck. I'm never reading anything else Tom Robbins has ever written. He's a garbage person.
So... yeah. If not for this one HUGE, GLARING PROBLEM, I might give this book four whole stars. But come on, people. Can we not with the grossness here? It's completely unnecessary and harmful to boot.
Oh yeah, and the protagonist is a pedophile and the whole book is an apologist for pedophilia. Like... why? It drives me nuts that this book was published with all of this poisonous garbage "romance" between the protagonist and his sixteen-year-old step-sister. It's not even necessary to the creative and off-the-wall plot in the rest of the story. But it's in there, and it's not a footnote. It's a deeply rooted part of Switters' character, and he has many discussions about it with other characters where the argument is basically about moral relativism and cultural differences. Barf. What the fuck. I'm never reading anything else Tom Robbins has ever written. He's a garbage person.
So... yeah. If not for this one HUGE, GLARING PROBLEM, I might give this book four whole stars. But come on, people. Can we not with the grossness here? It's completely unnecessary and harmful to boot.
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not my favorite Tom Robbins book. A mix of lolita, other villa incognito and some Marquez. The end definitely left something to he desired.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia
Moderate: Violence
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes