Rating: 
Summary: A fun read
Review: This book is different from other Tom Robbins' books I've read, but it's still great. When I first began reading it, it took awhile for me to get into it, but after 50 pages or so I couldn't put it down. Hilarious, thought-provoking, intelligent, and bizarre. I recommend this book to anyone who likes unconventional writing and has a great sense of humor.
Rating: 
Summary: If you've never read Tom Robbins before...
Review: then might I suggest Jitterbug Perfume or Skinny Legs and All?In other words, don't start with this one. This is the latest book of his that I read and while it has its moments, metaphors and similes you never thought possible, strange characters and unique perspectives, it didn't quite grip my attention the way some of his other works have. When Robbins is at his best, he manages to tie together seemingly disparate elements be it perfume and immortality, the dance of the seven veils and missing household objects, Camel cigarettes and redheads... perhaps this connection between Timbuktu, frogs, the stock market and cures for cancer didn't quite intrigue me as much. I'll never tell anyone not to read a book, but I would advise you not to read this one first. Don't let your first impression of Tom Robbins be the wrong one.
Rating: 
Summary: a winding path, a great view
Review: so what about this book makes it memorable ? is it the latent sexual undercurrent ? the unpredictability of its plot ? the ability of tom robbins to twist a sentence around its own axis ? or yamaguchi's enemical cure ? this book puts a perspective on contemporary life and modern day stress though it was written before the nasdaq got onto the palmpilots of day traders. and , if you were to consider it a dish, it has the right salt and spice.
Rating: 
Summary: I hate to hate Tom Robbins
Review: With all apologies to Mr. Robbins, otherwise my favorite author, Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas is a snoozer. It was such a deplorable plow for me that I reshelved it after the second chapter. I believe that if you write a book in the second person that the central character (the You) should at least be likable. I didn't enjoy being a yuppie stock broker, not even for 10 pages, and after the second chapter when I was still stuck in the yuppie bar still wondering how the Nikei was going to fare still being likened to a person with whom I would never be friends, I determined I had better books in my collection that charged my imagination worlds beyond HAiFP ever could. It was very dry and I was waiting for those inspired "Holy Gasoline" passages like in Still Life with Woodpecker, or his wonderfully whimsical and dead-on similes. I suppose someday when I've finally read through everything else on this planet and don't really need an intellectual stir, I may give HAiFP a second chance. Or maybe I won't.
Rating:
Summary: You have insomnia
Review: You are reading a novel which describes everything in the second person, written by a fairly hip writer who is known for his brash style, and you wonder why. With each flip of the page you ponder what keeps your attention. It reads like a choose-your-own-adventure book but not nearly as fun. You develop a faint interest in Timbuktu, but you don't give a fig about any of the characters in the book and actualy start to get annoyed with several of them. You start to get sleepy, but you keep reading anyway. You want to finish this book, because you think there will be a point. Then you think about Timbuktu again and wish you had an issue of National Geographic that told you more about it.
Rating:
Summary: what a disappointment
Review: "~if this book is the latest in humanist fiction, we're all in deep doo-doo. go read anything by vonnegut instead. if it comes down to a choice between reading this book and the back of a cereal box, choose the latter."~ deserve it.
Rating:
Summary: What a Book
Review: I have never been so disappointed with a book in my life. A so called friend gave me this book and told me i just HAD to read this. I wasted one day of my life that I'll never get back. If you see this book take two steps back slowely, then go get a updike book or something else. Travels with Charley would even do. I'd rather read Little Women. But that's just my opinion!
Rating:
Summary: This book is a veritable gift from Robbins
Review: With sentences such as: - "As noiselessly as a paraplegic cricket..." - "Belford squeezes your hand and sort of coos and moos at you. He sounds like the background noise at a petting zoo." - "Diamond smiles. It's a raw stinging smile, like a cat scratch." How can you not like this book? Open the novel on any page and I can guarantee there's a sentence somewhere you would want to savour like a Belgium chocolate. Robbins handles second person POV like the maestro he is. His plot and characters are as convoluted as a can of worms. This is one of the funniest, most intelligently written books I have ever read. I would give it 10 stars if I could. Thanks for the book, Robbins.
Rating:
Summary: Bizarre, fascinating, wonderful!
Review: I loved this book. I've read all six books that Tom Robbins has published (so far! ) and I have to say, it's the only one that I liked as much the second . . . or third . . . or fourth time through. _Woodpecker_ came close . . . but no. The first time I read it I was confused out of my mind the first time through. It's in second person -- not first, or third, or both like _Roadside_ -- and it takes a while to get the info everyone likes to know about the main character -- name, what she looks like, etc. But the flaws so evident in _Skinny Legs and All_ -- to me anyways -- are absent in this book. An overly broad focus seemed to be his downfall in _SLAA_, and in _HAIFP_, the focus is so tight that . . . well, it's very tight. Let's just hope that the new one is as good (or better?).
Rating: 
Summary: Slow Going
Review: I thought this this book was very slow, and didn't do much to excite me. This was very surprising considering the imagination rollercoaster that Robbins usually brings you on. Some of his hidden points were interesting and all of the characters except the main one were somewhat entertaining. I thought it was repetative and had no real ending, and I would recommend one of his others instead.
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