Rating: 
Summary: Read it by the light of the moon...
Review: Tom Robbins, in his own quirky, psychedelic style attempts to share with his readers his purpose for the moon, as well as how (if it is possible at all) to make love stay. The book tells an interesting tale, but bogs down a bit in overanalyzing itself. A deposed royal family takes up residence in the Seattle-area under the watchful eye of the CIA. The young daughter, a princess mind you, takes up with an "outlaw" bomber. I'm the first to admit it's a very interesting premise for a story. And interesting it is, until we get bogged down in an extremely long drawn out page after page analysis of pyramids and whether or not redheads are actually descendants from an alien race. Even still, I can appreciate Robbins writing style and story-telling capabilities. Robbins isn't for everyone, and if you have not read him before, I would not suggest starting with this one. However, the book does overcome itself to turn into a fun read by the end.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but not excellent.
Review: Although the plot is very unique, and Tom Robbins has some interesting things to say, I found the characters often times horribly shallow. _Still Life with Woodpecker_ has a story-telling quality to it, and a story unlike any other. Our main character, the confused and concupiscent Leigh-Cheri leads us through her mind and life, (her life: weird and entertaining; her mind: simple). The plot is different ... very different. Bizarre, sexy, and unique, it provides sufficient interest to the reader. I loved Tom Robbins's expressions and rant about the pyramids; he has a very different way of thinking about things. His writing style is different, which is something incredibly commendable. (This is your incentive to read this book!) Unfortunately, the characters bore me. Leigh-Cheri and her never-ending fascination with her "peachfish" and Bernard and his lack of depth left me unsatisfied ... Robbins looks like he's capable of so much more. But this book's differences and rants and "theories" make this a ponderous read. It'll make you look at things in different ways, and in that respect it is worth your time. But he could have developed the characters more and he could have had a more meaningful plot.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely quick read
Review: Buy it used, read it quick, pass it on!! It is very philosophic and makes me appreciate Camel cigarrettes a whole lot more. The conflict between responsibility and freedom is omnipresent so is the sense of a greater force. The themes of this book (like any Tim Robbins book) stay with you and affect you for a long time.
Rating:
Summary: Not-quite-classic Robbins
Review: Robbins fans are usually very fond of Still Life With Woodpecker, as am I. With its basis in the coke spoons and pyramid power of the early 80's I just can't bring myself to think of it as being on par with Even Cowgirls Get The Blues or Another Roadside Attraction, though. The story of the Princess, the Outlaw, and the pack of Camels is certainly a sharp-witted and fast-paced modern fairy tale. Like other Robbins novels the focus is firmly placed on wordplay and lessons of the...um, free-spirited. Unlike other Robbins novels, the characters are not quite as well drawn. Don't get me wrong. It's still a masterpiece by almost anyone's standards. The ongoing arguments between the author and his stubborn Remington SL3 are classic. Not a page goes by without at least a few Robbins-isms that you just wish you could remember to use in conversation. Just start with Even Cowgirls... if you're new to Robbins. Any of them will hook you, but this one isn't the best there is.
Rating: 
Summary: My Favorite Book - Ever!
Review: Still Life with Woodpecker changed my life the first time I read it. Always one to believe in the power of the moon and the ancient mysteries of the pyramids, I fell in love with this book. Princesses and Outlaws being my favorite heros, and red headed to boot, who could ask for more?
Appoach with your best sense of humor and a copious amount of metaphoric magnanimousness.(snicker...)
Peace, Love and Moonbeams
Rating:
Summary: truly brilliant...
Review: the way Robbins manages to capture each and every moment in this novel and turn it into a stimulating 5 page discussion on the purpose of the moon, a race of red-beards and a severly enchanting love story between an outlaw and a princess, is truly fabulous. i wasn't able to put this is book down, and after reading it, was baffled by the passion he has for writing. this story is incredible, and i would reccomend it to anyone with a fond appriciation of detail in the most unlikely places.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmmm
Review: Looking through most of the reviews written about "still life" it appears there are just two opinions, the greatest book ever or complete garbage. I found myself caught between the camps and unusually confused about what I thought about Mr Robinson's book. I roared with laughter at parts, thought other sections mere juvenille bathroom humor and found other pieces thought provoking. Woodpecker is a tale of the red headed romance between outlaw and sex crazed do gooding exiled princess, nothing strange about that you may say, if you do Woodpecker is right up your street. The characters are weird but interesting, the story is mad but compelling in a non intellectual way. Despite what others say I didn't find the meaning of life between it's covers, but does every novel have to explore the human condition. Maybe read heads deserve having their own condition explored just once. Personally I enjoyed all the men hating, tree hugging, caring groups at the festival being ridiculed, but that's just my own bias shining through. The bottom line is that it was great fun to read, what more can you ask, should you ask more?
Rating:
Summary: Someday, I will Write like Tom Robbins
Review: But until I can I will just make if my duty to tell everyone on the planet how beautiful he is. My high school english teacher recommended this to me years ago, and since then I've read it over and over and over and over... Tom Robbins does some of the most sublime writing I have ever read, and Still Life is truly one of his best. Read it! Just do it, you honestly cannot skip this book, it is wonderfully wonderful. He picks the most delicious words, it's so nice! Fun and entrancing reading. like I said, Read it! And Love it! (and then read the rest of this guy's stuff) ps if there is anyone out there who knows how to make love stay, they can drop me a note... ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Very Worth Reading
Review: Just like everything else I've read by Tom Robbins, Still Life with Woodpecker is a great read. However, I just wanted to say to anyone who read the book description above: the novel does not take place within a pack of camel cigarettes. So though you will almost certainly enjoy the book, don't expect to find out how an author could possibly fill 250 odd pages from within the depths of a pack of cigarettes like I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Thin stuff...
Review: It would appear that Robbins set out to create an instant cult classic when he released Still Life with Woodpecker. Thumbing through some of the customer reviews on this page it would appear that he's had some degree of success in achieving this goal, and when I bought the book the red-headed girl at the cash register positively beamed when she saw me carrying it to the counter (proclaiming it the *best* novel ever!) Woodpecker does have its funny moments, and Robbins manages to make a few insightful observations (one that pops to mind is his discussion on the ideas of visionaries being reduced to dogma when embraced by unimaginative zealots). Unfortunately, Robbins buries these nuggets of insight in so much drivel that you have to sort through a lot of nonsense in order to get to them. As literature Woodpecker is a very thin offering. The characters are one-dimensional outlines that speak and think in clever but unrealistic riddles. A list of the novel's characters reads like a casting call of a bad B-movie: the naïve idealistic red headed princess; the brooding, narcissistic terrorist (also idealistic and red headed); the cuckolded rich Arab; the exiled King and Queen and their wacky servant; the bumbling CIA agent... It seems that Robbins' goal was to weave these characters into an irreverent, quirky fable. Unfortunately what emerges are a bunch of hollow caricatures that are never given anything interesting to say or do. Robbins flirts with a number of themes that might have been interesting: creating a lasting love, societal pressure to conform, responsibility to self vs. responsibility to others. He raises these themes by inserting them sporadically into the characters' various diatribes and hair brained conspiracy theories, but unfortunately fails to develop them into any sort of idea or concept. He, for instance, goes on ad infinitum about "making love stay" but says nothing interesting on the subject and reaches no conclusion. As a novel, Woodpecker is all sizzle and no steak. Readers who manage to look beyond the flash and complexity will realize that there is nothing here but a bunch of dreamy confusion. Robbins' clever wordplay caught my attention through the first 50 pages or so, but in the end it makes for a pretty hollow diet once you realize there's no substance underlying. Yes, it is possible to write a funny novel which also has both weight and intelligence. Try Tristan Egolf's Lord of the Barnyard, Paul Beatty's Tuff, John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces, or Joseph Heller's Catch 22.
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