Rating: 
Summary: Highly amusing but not for everyone.
Review: This is easily one of my favorite books I have ever had the good fortune to "borrow" at random from a family member. Tom Robbins has such an interesting sense of humor which is evinced by the first paragraph of the book, and he has a remarkable talent for making absurd turns of phrase completely believable.If you are expecting an action-packed book which moves at a fast clip, you'd best turn away now. Skinny Legs and All is more of a meandering trip along a lazy river, in which Robbins pontificates about many aspects of the human condition. His views are hardly mainstream, but, even if you don't necessarily agree with them, it does give you plenty of food for thought. In all honesty, I think this book has some of the best insights about society since 1984.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book to be seen on your bookshelf
Review: Controversial is an understatement of this book. A person that finds perversion of society's diversity humorous will enjoy this book. I found some of the character connections hard to agree with. I keep it on my shelf to balance out my library.
Rating: 
Summary: Bloated and offensive?
Review: This is a bloated 479-page horizontal novel about the end of the world in which the world does not actually end. The closest we get to the Apocalypse is when New York wins the Super Bowl (whether it's the Jets or the Giants is unspecified).
Skinny Legs would be better if it were shorter and more concise. There are a number of interesting characters, like Turn Around Norman, the performance artist who only turns around imperceptibly slowly; Raul, the doorman/budding pop singer (sample lyric: My heart is a Third World Country/And your love is a tourist from Switzerland); and Salome, the belly dancer, who get shorter shrift than they deserve. The conflict is aimless and lacking in suspense and some of the characters we do spend more time with (including 5 inanimate objects trying to "locomote" their way to Jerusalem in time for the establishment of the Third Temple in Jerusalem) are less compelling.
There's a good deal of thought on aesthetics and theology here. Robbins presents a view of Biblical times is in line with the feminist Gaia hypothesis that people worshipped a number of pagan gods and goddesses and life was dandy "before" "patriarchal monotheism" took over. (I'm not quoting but being ironic.) Some of this theology, along with the depictions of religious fanatics and the rampant sexual content in this book, may be offensive, especially to Christians or other monotheists, although the idea in itself of a Jew and an Arab opening a restaurant together to advance the cause of world peace is a nice one.
Robbin's writing is chock full of figurative language. His style has its humorous and poetic moments, but it seems largely superfluous and helped to drag out the length of the book .
Skinny Legs has a seven-part structure revolving around seven veils falling away, revealing the truth behind seven of mankind's illusions. The first six (concerning such things as sex, politics, and nature) are revealed one at a time in exposition and later all seven are revealed by an inner voice one after another to the protagonist. This is perhaps a deus ex machina, not because it comes out of nowhere, but because there's not a very plausible explanation for it.
The other main theme of this novel concerns "the room of the wolfmother wallpaper." Somewhat poetic, but I never figured out what it meant or what exactly it had to do with the rest of the book.
Overall, it's not worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: You can tell why it's called a
Review: The gimmicks Tom Robbins uses as what are probably supposed to be entertaining devices don't sit well with me, in this book. It's a shame, because you can tell he's a very talented writer, and he has wonderful ideas. But. He resorts to not just a few, but a *lot* of cheap tricks which I'm guessing are supposed to make his work more accessible to the average reader.
Often, novelists will introduce toward the beginning of a book an assortment of trivial facts, concepts, or cross-cultural traditions that they will bring up again here and there throughout the book to produce a sense of even-ness, of being mentally at home within the work. In Skinny Legs and All, this is done a little bit too much, and a little too obviously. You begin to anticipate, during one of Robbins' philosophical digressions or history tangents, that he's going to bring the reader back home again by making a cheap reference to middle-eastern food, pop culture, or the sex life of one of the characters. It happens without fail, every time, and it gets old fast. And as for the pop-culture references, I was six years old when this book was originally published in 1990; I don't know what's being referred to much of the time. That wasn't all that long ago, so Robbins must be harping on some pretty insignificant things. It would have been easy to make the book more slightly timeless with fewer what's-on-t.v.-these-days references, which is important because the points the novel tries to get across are just as interesting and valid as I'm sure they were thirteen years ago. Not that any writer should try to write as if he weren't in his particular time and place, but it is possible not to be so easily dated. After all, Vonnegut makes perfect sense to me. Robbins makes too much use of the type of current-events humor that ceases to be funny just a few years after it's written.
There's too much alliteration & other 'knowing' verbal sleight-of-hand in descriptions that would otherwise have been very enjoyable.
As far as plot goes, the middle three-fifths get boring. The story kind of stagnates and the characters don't really go anywhere right up until the end. I suppose the story is about creative stagnation. That's certainly the state of the main character for a lot of the book. But, anyway, new and interesting things don't happen for quite a while, after the novel's major catalyst for movement gets trundled off to Jerusalem, rarely to be heard from again. Even the author's tangents in the middle of the book aren't as thought-provoking as the ones at the beginning. And, the ending is what causes me to give this book three stars instead of two. The ending is interesting, if a little too compact after all the building up and building up. I think perhaps Tom Robbins' writing style lends itself better to being spoken than being read (the gimmicks magically become funny, maybe?). The only other Robbins book I've experienced, on audio, is Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, and I enjoyed it much, much more. So (and I wouldn't normally say this), you may want to think about getting a Robbins audiobook instead. Of course, Fierce Invalids could have simply been a better book. Maybe he learned a few things in ten years...or the generational in-jokes made more sense, since it was written closer to the present.
Rating: 
Summary: Not my Favorite
Review: I am a huge Tom Robbins fan. Accidentally introduced to his works on a plane ride between Seattle and Chicago, I have been hooked on him for over a year. Determined to read the books in some semblence of order, I now find myself on this book, "Skinny Legs and All." It has been, by far, my least favorite book of Mr. Robbins. The thing I love most about his books is the way the story comes out and wraps itself around you with loving arms, pulling you in and not letting you go until the last word. However, with this book, I feel an arm's length away the entire way through. I can't connect to the characters, the humour is only present among the inanimate objects (and even then is pretty stiff), and the story is so saturated with political and religious views and ideals, that it's hard to get into. I feel like I'm being blatantly beaten over the head with a "Tom Robbins' political/religious Stance" manual. I definitely like his more subtle books better. I agree with a few other reviewers who've said this is not the book for readers new to Tom Robbins. See to "Still Life with Woodpecker" or "Jitterbug Perfume" for that. Also, and this may be a bit nit-picky, but one final thing that makes this book hard for me to get through, is the constant references to baba ghannouj being made from chickpeas, when it is in fact made from roasted eggplant. This book should definitely be a part of any Tom Robbins fan's collection, but it is not the one you'll be flipping through on a rainy day, wishing you could escape into the sunny desert oasis of a Camel pack.
Rating: 
Summary: Philosophy from a Stick
Review: A phenomenal story of clever phrases, mythology, religion, philosophy, and anything else you can think of. This was my first Tom Robbins book (obviouly, not my last), and it was refreshing to be treated as if I were an intelligent reader while still leaving nothing for me to puzzle about later saying, "Now where did THAT happen?" An entertaining story that gave me new ideas and let me be smart all on my own. Ellen Cherry is an artist who loses confidence in her work when her new husband, Boomer, unexpectedly becomes semi-famous in the NY art scene. They split soon after their honeymoon; Boomer soon leaves for Jerusalem to work on a commision for a plaza sculpture, and Ellen Cherry gets a job as a waitress at a restaurant called Isaac & Ishmael's (you know the story), run by an Arab and a Jew who happen to be pals. The restaurant is threatened and attacked several times by Ellen's fundamentalist uncle, Rev. Buddy Winkler, who is trying to bring about the end times with a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to make room for the Third Temple. These plots are interrupted by a cast of philosophizing inanimate objects who are NOT! They intersperse the story with biblical, political, and social history (although I didn't check most of it out), as well as theology and philosophy that G.B. Shaw would applaud (shades of "Man and Superman"). The book is a serious story about religion and its flaws, as well as revelations of why we need it (perhaps not in the way we're used to), while having some terific humour thrown in and many quotable quotes.
Rating:
Summary: Robbins gets it
Review: Robbins' take on life and the meaning of it is really something in this book. It asks you to take a leap of faith or two near the beginning, but if you can accept what he offers, he takes you on a wonderful ride across the country with some lessons in both life and theology thrown in. Tom Robbins is someone who looks at life and gets it. The point, the punchline, and the idea that there is no one meaning of life.
Rating:
Summary: Robbins makes enlightenment painless, funny
Review: Here's another Tom Robbins' novel that I really shouldn't read in public. I lose all awareness of my surroundings as my brain tries to wrap its slippery gray hands around this plot. I am lost somewhere deep in this outlandish and intricate, but somehow fully believable story. I would make a great purse-snatching target. And every time I burst into a fit of laughter, I can feel the stares of people who probably think I'm a Bellevue escapee. Then I think about the main character Ellen Cherry Charles and her struggle against artistic conformity. Right on! I cackle away in spite of my disapproving peers who probably only wish they were reading this book. The story begins with two newlyweds cruising west in a 20-foot Airstream turkey and ends with the reunion of a girl and her favorite spoon. It's easy to forget that some of the central themes of this novel are so serious, like the inevitable violence of contradicting but uncompromising beliefs, or the role of the artist in society, or the portrayal of women in the Bible to name a few. But through Robbins' characters- ranging from an overzealous Southern Baptist preacher, to a mysterious16-year-old belly dancer, to a philosophical can of beans- he exposes a government plot to set the ball rolling on the rapture, manages to explain with surprising clarity the violent history of the Middle East and vindicates Jezebel and Salome. Through these seemingly unrelated characters and their equally unrelated settings, Robbins sews a unifying thread that reminds readers that like it or not, we're all connected in some way. But for some reason I'm still laughing. Maybe it's because in this novel inanimate objects have consciousness and Ellen Cherry's vibrator speaks to the inhabitants of her panty drawer in a Japanese accent. Somehow Robbins' has convinced me that this could actually be true. After reading this book, I'll never look at my silverware or non-perishable goods with the same indifference. After all, they will outlive me and could possess ancient wisdom.
Rating:
Summary: Great read..
Review: Not many books can make you laugh out loud while reading them, but Tom Robbins has that certain knack. I finally picked up "Skinny Legs and All" after hearing how much I had to read one of his books. It does not disappoint. The story and characters are so absurdly comedic that it's impossible not to fall in love with them. Following Ellen Cherry and Boomer's romance across the country was a delight. How does a waitress working in a resurant owned by an Arab and Jew manage to find true love with a guy who is an unrealized artist? What does a sentient sock, can of beans, conch shell, and silver spoon's journey to Jerusalem have to do with it all? You'll have to read and find out. I'm currently reading Robbins's "Still Life With Woodpecker" and it is as witty and stylish as Skinny Legs..in fact, read 'em both. Every page will be savored.
Rating:
Summary: Skinny Legs and More
Review: This is my first Tom Robbins book, and it is probably one of the most unusual and unpredictable books I have ever read. Here we have a story about a woman who goes to New York to follow her dream of becoming an artist and ends up working in a Middle Eastern restaurant owned by a Jew and an Arab. Through an interesting series of events, including watching the dance of the young girl with "skinny legs", she finds meaning in many aspects of life. Robbins also includes another associated plot of the journey of inanimate objects (a spoon, a can of beans, a purple sock, a conch shell, and a painted stick). Robbins has a fascinating way of describing things (e.g. plants as constipated elves) and of exploring complex ideas which makes the reading very pleasurable. Robbins' style deviates from any sort of norm, but he allows readers to live and explore through his characters. An excellent book!
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