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bluenicorn's review against another edition
I love TR but I had a really hard time getting into this. Some of the stories are good, but most felt rather rambly and not very cohesive. Maybe I just didn't get far enough into the drug-using years- that's probably where it picks up. :)
spidergirl502's review against another edition
5.0
Awesome! This was a really cool read! I loved reading about one of my favorite authors and learning more about the stories behind his books.
joshniesse's review against another edition
4.0
A fun read for the serious Tom Robbins fan (of which I am one), but probably a bit self-indulgent for the regular reader.
sbunyan's review against another edition
2.0
I was disappointed. I love his books but found his life stories underwhelming.
lizshine74's review against another edition
Robbins has been a literary idol of mine since I was 16. I looked forward to finally settling in to read this book all busy summer. While the stories were amusing and cleverly told, I felt disappointed that there didn't seem to be a meaning-thread that connected them worth following. A true account of an imaginative life? Yes. But, why? Robbins wrote on the back cover that he wrote the book "on the insistence" of the women in his life. I wanted a bigger purpose.
dmahanty's review against another edition
4.0
The autobiography of author Tom Robbins... what a colorful and intelligent life. Tibetan Peach Pie is a must read if you have read any of his novel.
norrin2's review against another edition
4.0
I don't often say this but I wish this book had been longer. Someone said you don't read Tom Robbins so much as you get drunk on his language and I could have used a few more shots.
nichpk's review against another edition
3.0
When a memoir is written by an 80+ year old white man, you can expect it to be problematic. And Tibetan Peach Pie, a memoir written by the then 82-year-old Tom Robbins, is no exception. There's more sexualization of women and exoticizing of cultures than there are French fried potato fritters in a fat man's fantasy meal (there are also enough colorful metaphors to fill a rainbow trout chum bucket). But, all things considered, Robbins is a progressive-minded product of 60's counterculture who's committed to peace and spiritual awakening, and his distasteful moments are relatively rare.
This memoir is a random collection of weird tales and musings, some of them much more entertaining than others. Robbins is at his best when he's teasing himself with self-aware and -deprecating asides (he says of his voice that it 'sounds as if it’s been strained through Davy Crockett’s underwear'). He also had pretty interesting things to say about drugs and altered states of consciousness ('From the perspective afforded by psilocybin’s psychoactive alkaloids, existence itself was so amusing it was a wonder anyone could take it seriously for half a minute.'). And I was charmed by his enduring love for reading ('It was almost as if some mad literary fairy, hatched perhaps in a poppy in Oscar Wilde’s garden, had tapped me with her wand as I lay in my cradle, because I fell totally in love with books as soon as I knew what books were, and I hadn’t been talking in complete sentences for many months before I announced to my parents that I intended to be a writer.').
Overall, though, the memoir was a bit plodding. I think it could've afforded to be about 100 pages shorter. He's definitely lived a fascinating life, and I think hardcore Robbins fans might eat up every story. For me, though--a Robbins lightweight--the charm started to wear off somewhere around the midway mark.
This memoir is a random collection of weird tales and musings, some of them much more entertaining than others. Robbins is at his best when he's teasing himself with self-aware and -deprecating asides (he says of his voice that it 'sounds as if it’s been strained through Davy Crockett’s underwear'). He also had pretty interesting things to say about drugs and altered states of consciousness ('From the perspective afforded by psilocybin’s psychoactive alkaloids, existence itself was so amusing it was a wonder anyone could take it seriously for half a minute.'). And I was charmed by his enduring love for reading ('It was almost as if some mad literary fairy, hatched perhaps in a poppy in Oscar Wilde’s garden, had tapped me with her wand as I lay in my cradle, because I fell totally in love with books as soon as I knew what books were, and I hadn’t been talking in complete sentences for many months before I announced to my parents that I intended to be a writer.').
Overall, though, the memoir was a bit plodding. I think it could've afforded to be about 100 pages shorter. He's definitely lived a fascinating life, and I think hardcore Robbins fans might eat up every story. For me, though--a Robbins lightweight--the charm started to wear off somewhere around the midway mark.
ajbrockm's review against another edition
5.0
Initially rated this four stars because this book is definitely not perfect and I have some issues with a few of the stories, but it made me smile almost the whole time I was reading it and laugh out loud numerous times. It was a true joy to read and is definitely one of my favorite books I’ve read this year, so I’m bumping the rating up. I’m so happy that my Tom Robbins fandom lives on when I thought it was lost after my recent, and very disappointing, reread of his first book. Now I’m feeling a bit more motivated, and less scared, to go back and reread others (I read all of his novels about a decade ago), but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Robbins will give us another novel or book like this with more stories of his life. I absolutely loved every second reading about his crazy memories.