Still Life with Woodpecker

Rating:
Summary: The romantic spanking you deserve
Review: I read "Still Life" almost 20 years ago and have successfully woven its vocabulary into the fabric that is my life. No degree of success can be measured like when your corporate V.P. looks around the boardroom table and articulates the phrase you taugh him just last week, "I don't think we're sucking the same orange." For those of us who see the drool upon the pie, it was a deviously satisfying moment.Yum.

Rating:
Summary: Always puts me back on track
Review: I have enjoyed every one of Tom Robbins' books, not once, but several times each over a period of 20 years. They are always refreshing, and they always shake me into maximum creativity and awareness. Tom Robbins is a sleeping genius for now, waiting for his muse to come back from the mall. I just hope his mind isn't giving in to gravity, time, and the entropy that follows too many cream of moon-filled nights. He definitely takes the frost off the dog dish of life, and puts it on the fire hydrant where it belongs!

Rating:
Summary: Hysterically astute regarding the concept of choice
Review: Tom Robbins' novel highlights the often amusing interaction between the choices we make and the effect of these choices on our lives. His distinction between an outlaw and a criminal forces the reader to consider their own interaction with the world. Try reading this after Paradise Lost; it's a world-altering experience.

Rating:
Summary: didn't work for me
Review: While the story is semi-engaging, I found Mr. Robbins' writing style very self-conscious (i.e. he comes across as though he thinks a great deal of himself and how clever a writer he is). A lot of his "humor" falls flat (and he seems so doggedly determined to squeeze a joke out of absolutely everything!). In both of the novels I have read from Tom Robbins, the characters remained two-dimensional. In my mind, the great pleasure in reading novels is the feelings you develop for the individuals, their personalities, foibles, etc. But I don't get that from these people.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: Tom Robbins knows more about the female anatomy and psyche than any male author I have ever read. His main character, the princess, exhibits some unfortunately naive opinions which almost led my feminist viewpoint to frustration, but it is actually (i think) a testimony on overprotective parents and a nosy, self-centered society and the effects they have on stunting their childrens' strength. I have read this book three times and am eagerly awaiting my 4th read of it. Emotional, dynamic, mesmerizing. Thank you Tom!!!

Rating:
Summary: Love stays through the mystery of the connection!
Review: "Still Life" was great. I've only read two of Robbins' books, and I'm completely enveloped by each page. I read "Still Life" in three days, and this was during final exams at college. It's true that love stays from the "mystery of the connection." Robbins'is a genius. The novel is sexy, intriguing, and if you've ever loved someone like Leigh-Cheri, it's a muse to fall in love again. You develop a friendship with Robbins. The interludes between moon phases really cracked me up. A guaranteed pleaser to the reader who wants to have fun! Tom makes meta-fiction work.

Rating:
Summary: So funny...yet so weird
Review: This has go to be the weirdest story... a perfect read for anyone looking to ecscape the usual plot.

Rating:
Summary: Still the last quarter of the 20th century...
Review: If you're ready for a book that challenges both conservative notions and liberal politics and draws up endearing characters with neurotic tendencies...go for it. Wonderfully crafted story and none too innocent. It'll make you love love again.

Rating:
Summary: What was that????
Review: Tom Robbins has many good thoughts, but does not know how to tell a story. On the one hand, I was very interested in what was happening to the Princess, her family, and Woodpecker. On the other hand, I was trying to wade through all his "chatter". I enjoyed a little of the "chatter" but I think he could have told the story in about half the pages. And in those few pages, he still could have addressed what makes love stay, the camel pack and much more. I would recommend an abridged version of this book.

Rating:
Summary: a hilariously cunning love story!
Review: this hilarious novel depicts the essence of true love. i think i could read it again and again, each time retrieving something new from it (just like the princess studying her unopened pack of cigarettes!)