Wild Ducks Flying Backward by Tom Robbins

Wild Ducks Flying Backward Reviews

• 
  Brian

  “No kiss is ever wasted, not even on the lottery ticket kissed for luck.”
  
  Having read most of Tom Robbins fiction, I was excited to pick up this short nonfiction collection. How does Robbins insanely original use of figurative language work with short nonfiction? Well, after reading “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards’ I can say that it (mostly) works.
  The text is broken into a highly original introduction and five sections. The first section, a collection of travel essays is enjoyable. Robbins’ gymnastic figures of speech used to describe nature is a good mix.
  I also enjoyed a quirky essay on Ray Kroc (McDonald’s founder) and a thoughtful piece on Joseph Campbell (the monomyth and archetypes).
  I loved the section, “Stories, Poems & Lyrics”. Unique and original stuff there. In his poem “Dream of the Language Wheel”, we get quintessential Robbins, as demonstrated by this-“Come slide beside me naked into the world’s steamy honeycomb of words.” The adjective “steamy” makes all the difference there. For a variety of reasons. Also awesome, the lyrics to his country song, “My Heart is not a Poodle”.
  Another highlight is the essay In Defiance of Gravity” in which Robbins explores the missing playfulness in modern literature. It is a thought provoking read.
  The text contains some misses, most notably 3 pieces that are art critiques and appreciations. I am an art lover and collector, but these pieces bored me silly. There is also an essay on the 1960s with which I simply cannot be in agreement.
  However, "Wild Ducks Flying Backwards” ends with a bang with the final section, simply called “Responses”. And it is literally just that, responses that Robbins wrote to questions posed by various entities.
  I enjoyed my time with this collection. I have almost read all of Robbins output; this text has not dissuaded me from continuing that course of action.
• 
  Roula

  "Ο σκοπός μας είναι να εξελισσομαστε συνειδητά και σκόπιμα προς μια πιο σοφή, πιο απελευθερωμενη και πιο φωτεινή κατάσταση υπαρξης. Να επιστρέψουμε στην Εδέμ, να συμφιλιωθουμε με το φίδι και να στήσουμε τους υπολογιστές μας ανάμεσα σε άγριες μηλιές. "
  
  Αυτό είναι ένα από τα πολλά αποφθέγματα που περιλαμβάνονται μέσα στο βιβλίο αυτό από αυτον τον τρελό τύπο που δυσκολεύεσαι να τον καταλάβεις, αλλά δε μπορείς να σταματήσεις να τον διαβάζεις.
  Νομιζω πως αυτό το βιβλίο είναι η καλύτερη δυνατή εισαγωγή για κάποιον που δεν έχει ξαναδιαβάσει Ρόμπινς. Περιέχει μέσα άρθρα του που δημοσιεύτηκαν σε εφημερίδες και περιοδικά, σχετικά με τις άπειρες και εξαιρετικά απίθανες ταξιδιωτικές του εμπειρίες, τα αγαπημένα του καλλιτεχνικά και όχι μόνο πρόσωπα που τον επηρέασαν, ανέκδοτα ποιήματα, ακόμη και μια ιδέα για σενάριο ταινίας!!
  Είναι με λίγα λόγια ο, τι πρέπει για να μπει κανείς στην περίεργη ιδιοσυγκρασια του Ρόμπινς και να πάρει μια γεύση από το τι σημαίνει να ζεις στο μυαλό του. Απολαυστικό. 3.5 ⭐
• 
  Cynthia

  whoever gave this book less than 4 stars is a totally unsalvageable idiot. this book of short writings, mostly nonfiction with some fiction, was brilliant. i just went up the mountain for a four day solitary retreat with no running water, electricity and only wood heat in an insulated hut, and lemme tell you this book saved my ass. sitting in the cold with only the sounds of my own thoughts for four days threw me into an abyss. tom pulled me out. as always. in fact, i now rank this in my top five robbins books: even cowgirls and roadside attraction tied in the first two spots, jitterbug perfume and this one tied in the second two, and still life with a woodpecker coming in a solid five....if you're a hard hearted bore...or boar, for that matter, or an unremitting moron with no sense of intellectual adventure....don't bother. (officially the only review ive ever written where i insulted the audience instead of the the author -- curious)
  love,
  cynthia
• 
  Joanna Jelly

  Tom Robbins is a genius!
• 
  Moonkiszt

  This was a book I tripped over, put it back on the shelf, saw the name, and claimed it.
  
  Haven't read any of his other writings, but I'm going to give it a go. I was entertained, amused, and because of the smorgasbook format had no problems moving quickly through the material. Being a PNWer myself, reading about the things that celebrate home is always a joy. His piece on rain won me over completely, one of the best I've ever read.
  
  Plus, who can pass up a book that starts with a chapter called the Canyon of Vaginas??
  
  A book that can make you laugh out loud, or break your heart in just a few words is the work of someone who deserves followers. I believe, so say I.
• 
  Rob

  Tom Robbins' books are so unfailingly fun, so spectacularly gymnastic in their use of language, that I've often found myself wondering how much of him can be found in his work. Is Robbins the man, in other words, as playful as his writing? Wild Ducks Flying Backward is an answer in the affirmative. There's not much of substance here – it's a slim collection of previously published essays and musings (on art, food, and celebrity, mainly) – but the linguistic somersaults and rhetorical backflips are on full display, and for the first time I could see how Robbins' personality becomes refracted through his words. It's not the ideal introduction to his work (start with any of his novels instead), but for people who already know (and love) his stuff, it provides a fun glimpse of a different side of the man.
• 
  Macropsalis

  Αν και μ'αρέσει ο ανάλαφρος τρόπος με τον οποίο γράφει ο Tom, αυτό το βιβλίο δεν το βρήκα τόσο ενδιαφέρον, μάλλον επειδή είναι μια σειρά από σύντομα κείμενα τα οποία έχει κατά καιρούς δημοσιεύσει και όχι μια ολοκληρωμένη ιστορία.
• 
  trina

  disagree with his mystical tendencies or his sweet horndogginess if you must, but no one can dispute that tom robbins loves language and language loves him right back. whether he is writing about the weather, redheads/waitresses, the state of modern art, vaginas, or what-have-you, he does it with aplomb, running his sentences on joyfully, drawing absurd-yet-spot-on comparisons, redefining words in such a way that one forgets they were never used that way before, and generally turning the world (which, according to terrence mckenna, is apparently made of language, after all) upside down in the best, best way possible. through the prism of his perspective, the world is again an amazing place full of possibility and hilarity and lightness. his take on life is 'joy in spite of everything', and unlike the rest of us, this attitude actually informs his comportment and thought (whereas i, and most people, probably, hold these ideas and attitudes to be true yet can't quite hold on to them even 10% of the time), and therefore his writing as well. to read robbins is to be forced to reconsider your ideas about the world while giggling like a fool, and if that doesn't make a book worth reading, well, nothing does.
• 
  scl.ashx

  I couldn't help but quote the entire thing because it was beautiful :-
  
  "Perfume is a disguise. Since the middle ages, we have worn masks of fruit and flowers in order to conceal from ourselves the meaty essence of our humanity.....
  I want to travel on a train that smells like snowflakes. I want to sip in cafes that smell like comets. Under the pressure of my step, I want the streets to emit the precise odor of a diamond necklace.
  I want the newspapers I read to smell like the violins left in pawnshops by weeping hobos on Christmas Eve.
  I want to carry luggage that reeks of the neurons in Einstein's brain.
  I want a city's gases to smell like the golden belly hairs of the gods.
  And when I gaze at a televised picture of the moon, I want to detect, from a distance of 239,000 miles, the aroma of fresh mozzarella."
• 
  Ellen

  I think I'll give this book to people who ask me for an introduction to my favorite author. Easily digestible short pieces that still sparkle with Robbins' unparalleled linguistic talents.
• 
  Alexander Theofanidis

  Tom Robbins is the god and guru of the "alternative semi-illiterate readers".
  His books always have a hint of arrogance and a sense that they should be placed on a separate shelf. Not that sometimes I wouldn't deserve it, but space is generally limited.
  In this book, we read Robbins's super duper clever lines once again with a hints of his deconstructive philosophy on life and we indeed have a good time scratching our scrotum (if posessing one) and drinking coffee that has either s lot of sugar in it or not a single grain, and definitely ice cubes. We may even smoke, which inevitably leads us to the toilet to shit, but unlike we do with other books, we take this with us.
  Enjoy.
  
  Amazon wrote: "An entertaining anthology of writings features both nonfiction essays and short stories that cover such topics as art critiques, poetry, country song lyrics, odes to redheads, kissing, Diane Keaton, tomato sandwiches, the Doors, and more. 100,000 first printing."
• 
  John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly

  I've known about Robbins since the 80s, but never could bring myself to try one of his books – he was marketed in the 80s as a sort of hip new Vonnegut, or Hunter Thompson without the drugs, which I didn't quite trust (being a big fan of both Vonnegut and Thompson). I found this at a charity sale and thought that it might be a good way to try him out.
  
  My instincts were right. Reading Robbins' prose feels like sitting in a bar listening to a slightly drunk guy monologuing for no reason other than that he loves to hear himself talk. Which is great for him, but it's not necessarily a good time for me. I won't rate it since I didn't get past the first couple of pieces, but my curiosity has been satisfied, and we shall not speak of this again.
• 
  Paige Fletcher

  well the essay on rajneesh didn’t age well huh
• 
  Alexander Gradecki

  As always, Tom Robbins exhibits his enduring passion for language whilst taking the opportunity to spruce up his material since their original publish date
  
  Intimate, enlightening, and always spicy, Robbins delivers a quick slap and a juicy kiss.
  
  Favorite sections:
  Stories, Poems & Lyrics
  Musings & Critiques
• 
  Kathy Pedersen

  Tom Robbins might be the very best writer in modern times. I wanted to memorize every sentence and regurgitate them here so that you could be as impressed as I was listening to him read his own short works. This is the one phrase I can remember that is from a short article praising the letter Z: "alphabetical ants' nest". That phrase rolled around my head for a while, and although the words themselves are not brilliant, it is the combination of the words and the context in which he used them. One great standout of this (although it's like picking a favorite child) is the article about why he lives in the Pacific Northwest. Seriously, if you live in the PNW, read it for the sheer beauty of language that encapsulates our beautiful area.
  Excuse me... I would write more but I have to go devour everything Tom Robbins has written now.
• 
  Krista

  One of the reasons I adore Tom Robbins' books is that I can never tell where he is going with something, but I'm sure it will intertwine in a way that makes me feel like I should have known all along. He is pulling the wool over my eyes, and I'm blissfully blind and savoring every paragraph until the conclusion.
  
  This book doesn't take that journey as it's a collection of his short writings. The travel writing is short and doesn't invoke the images of the places like it does with images of the characters he develops. The country songs are cute and the profiles are witty. It lacks the charm that his novels evoke, but just like his fiction, you have to pay attention to each sentence and often reread them for fear that you've missed a metaphor or quotable line. My personal favorite was "In Defiance of Gravity." I'd be curious what would strike you.
• 
  Veronika Sebechlebská

  Neviazaná obrazotvornosť koketujúca s gýčom. Bujaré metafory obcujúce s humorom a bezostyšne plodiace meta-fóry. Rozkokošené vety, ktorým ide len o slovné eskamotérstvo. Prosto typické robbinsovské defilé jazykovej zhýralosti.
  
  Veľmi rôznorodá zbierka textov, od cestopisov, cez priemerné básne a príspevky uverejnené v americkej obdobe Záhradkára až po recenzie na televízne hviezdičky, ktoré sa medzičasom stihli prepadnúť tak hlboko do zabudnutia, že ich už nenájde ani Google. Mne osobne v takejto krátkej žurnalistickej podobe Robbins možno sedí viac ako v románoch, ale ako gentlemansky upozorňuje Argo, je to kniha určená pre ľudí, čo majú od neho už čo-to načítané a radi sa k nemu vracajú po svoju dávku bezuzdnej metaforičnosti.
• 
  Jeanette (Ms. Feisty)

  I've been a big fan of some of Robbins's older fiction, so it was interesting to see his nonfiction pieces. As with any collection, some are great and some are so-so, but he always has a fresh perspective and says what he really thinks. I like that!
  
  "Personally, I define politics as the ambition to preside over property and make other people's decisions for them. Politics, in other words, is an organized, publicly sanctioned amplification of the infantile itch to always have one's own way." (from page 201)
• 
  J.M.

  I thought this was a novel or, at most, a book of short stories. It is neither. Instead, it is a collection of the author's various published nonfiction works, from travel articles to celebrity tributes to who knows what else. While I might enjoy these short pieces if they appeared in a magazine somewhere (where I'd be pleasantly surprised to find the name Tom Robbins on the masthead), a whole book of them made me weary.
  
  If nothing else, at least it cured me of the notion of publishing my own short nonfiction pieces, which will probably bore my readers to tears as much as this book bored me.
• 
  David

  I do prefer the fiction of Robbins, but it was interesting to see these works. Most were pretty engaging and it was cool to see the range of his intellect outside of his fiction, as well as how his playfulness and insight come to bear on other topics. It shows Robbins to have more complexity than his fiction suggests, and that already suggests a great deal.
• 
  Sean

  Like many short writing anthologies, it's totally hit or miss. The best stuff is in the travel section. There is one excellent poem. There a few good insights in the essays. But a lot of the stuff is totally disposable. And try as you might Tom, you will never get me to like mayo.
• 
  Meredith

  Loved the Travel tales, thought the responses and most of the tributes were very well done, quirky and subtly profound.
• 
  Anthony Clair

  Bite-size Tom Robbins. These fascinating stories vary and vary and vary—just like the man himself, and his books. A fun way to dig in to some shorter TR fiction.
• 
  Barbara Sibbald

  I recall being astounded by the creativity of Robbins' "Even cowgirls get the blues" and "Another Roadside Attraction," which I read in my American Lit course at Carleton U. Fiction could be this? How did he so skillfully suspend disbelief?
  What I failed to appreciate, and has been brought home so fully in this collection of his writings, is his mastery as a stylist. The metaphor sings, offers a symphony of meaning. He also brings a new cadence to philosophical musings: from Aristotle to Robbins.
  Some of these articles were published in popular media; others seemingly just for his amusement. They vary: travel articles (Canyon of the Vaginas), Tributes (The genius Waitress); Stories, poems and lyrics; musings and critiques (The Desire of his object) and Responses. There is some marvelous writing here! Dip in and enjoy the water!
  
  Some particular bon mots:
  "The Doors. The musical equivalent of a ritual sacrifice, and amplified sex throb, a wounded yet somehow elegant yowl for the lost soul of America, histrionic tricksters making hard cider from the apples of Eden while petting the head of the snake" p 56
  
  Homage to Joseph Campbell: "If 'the proper study of man is man,' then mythology is the lens through which man is properly examined. Yet most of us, including the ostensibly well-educated wouldn't know a myth from a Pentagon press release. We've been taught to equate 'myth' with 'lie.'
  "In actuality, myths are neither fiction not history. Nor are most myths—and this will surprise people—an amalgamation of fiction and history. Rather , a myth is something that never happened but it always happening. Myths are the plots of the psyche. They are ongoing, symbolic dramatizations of the inner life of the species, external metaphors for internal events.
  "As Campbell used to say, myths come from the same place dreams come from. But because they're more coherent than dreams, more linear and refine, they are even more instructive. A myth is the song of the universe, a song that, if accurately perceived, explains the universe and our often confusing place in it." p 63
  
  "the Genius Waitress": "She reads men like a menu and always knows when she's being offered leftovers or an artificially inflated souffle." p 69
  
  On Ray Kroc "the franchise Frankenstein" McDonalds: with McDonald's, they're secure. That's the fly in the Egg McMuffin. Rather, the fly is that there never is a fly in an Egg McMuffin. The human spirit requires surprise, variety, and risk in order to enlarge itself. Imagination feeds on novelty. As imagination emaciates, options diminish; the fewer our options, the more bleak our prospects and the greater our susceptibility to controls. The wedding of high technology and food service has produced a robot cuisine, a totalitarian burger, the standardized sustenance of a Brave New World.
  ..."so wha if democracy tends to sanctify mediocity and McDonald's represents mediocrity at its most sublime.... Here they are at the heart of the matter, reductive kitchens for a classless culture that hasn't time to dally on its way to the next rainbow's end." p 72-3
  
  On Leonard Cohen: "there is evidence that [Cohen] might be privy to the secret of the universe, which, in case, you're wondering, is simply this: everything is connected. Everything. Many, if not most, of the links are difficult to determine. The instrument, the apparatus, the focused ray that can uncover and illuminate those connections is language. And just as a sudden infatuation often will light up a person's biochemical sky more pyrotechnically than any deep abiding attachment, so an unlikely, unexpected burst of linguistic imagination will usually reveal greater truths than the most exacting scholarship. In fact, the poetic image may be the only device remotely capable of dissecting romantic desire, let alone disclosing the hidden mystical essence of the material world."
  "It is a voice raked by the claws of Cupid, a voice rubbed raw by the philosopher's stone. A voice marinated in kirschwasser, sulfur, deer musk, and snow; bandaged with sackcloth form a ruined monastery; warmed by the embers left down near the river after the gypsies have gone."
  ... "Nobody can say the word 'naked' as nakedly as Cohen. He makes us see the markings where the pantyhose have been." p 79
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  J

  It pains me more than you can imagine to write these next few words.
  
  Listening to Tom Robbins’ latest offering,
  Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, as an audiobook, is an excruciating experience. No, not because it is read by the author, who, by his own admission, has a voice that sounds like it was wrung out of a mop. Robbins is actually not at all a bad reader for this collection of mostly non-fiction pieces, many of them travel essays, tributes, and even the odd review or two. Non-fiction sketches don’t really require much of a reader; no sustained mellifluosity, no delving into characters or acting is required.
  
  It isn’t terrible because any of the writing is bad either. With the exception of a very young Robbins’ review of a Doors’ concert (an ode so nakedly fan-ish that when he read it, the article was prefaced and followed up with small almost embarrassed remarks most likely not included in the print version), most of the pieces stand alone as either typical Robbins or just a little below that. The short stories here are too short to really be of much note, and anyway, they aren’t particularly good or representative samples of his fiction.
  
  And what a long pleasure a Tom Robbins novel is, like a good slow bout of lovemaking with every position, every conjunction, tried on for size, always tender, sometimes energetic. What a thrill is a short bit of Tom Robbins article, turning up in some unexpected place, like a sweet piercingly cold flute of champagne in the middle of a workday.
  
  But what a wearying, exhausting, tiresome endurance test this collection is to read (or to listen to) straight through in long stretches. It’s rather like a long, long, loooooonnnnng dinner with a clever, sometimes witty, host who never expounds at length for any time on one subject. He may make you laugh or even think, but only in two minute bouts. If you really must own this work, do yourself a favor: Buy it in print, put it on the back of your toilet, read one item a day (or once every time you have a seat), and stretch the thing out over a month or so.
  
  What’s nice about these writings, even better than the paper collection, is that Robbins (as in the Doors’ piece) presents this as though it were just a recorded reading out in public and not merely a literal verbalization of the text. Nearly every article has a little intro wherein he gives us just a touch of background. That’s kind of endearing throughout.
  
  Yet this collection has no real sense of necessity or cohesion. There are Esquire portraits, reviews of concerts, the liner notes to a Leonard Cohen tribute album, a defense of the sixties, and the most surprising and shocking thing of all, commercial whoring. It seems strange that such an idiosyncratic American original like Robbins’ would stoop to advertisements, which is what his short article on drinking out of a shoe ends up being (Bergdorf Goodman being the patron in question).
  
  The best stuff in the book appears at the very beginning and it’s Robbins’ travel writing. A curious observer of this anthropological curiosity homo homo sapiens, the author takes us out west to the Canyon of the Vaginas as well as to Tanzania and a Botswanan swamp. These are typical Robbins, wacky, wonky, funky, and deeper than he is given credit for by any number of high falutin’ critics. His recognition of the western canyon as one of that last few holy places left in America is an observation the Frommer’s crowd just won’t get.
  
  There are times when he lapses into a kind of naive sentimentality about the African savanna as though it were Eden, the kind of rosy tinted recollection that would irk me no matter who did it and always begs the question, so why did you come back? But for the most part, Robbins lives one of my particular dreams, which is to go all over the world, print up my thoughts about the experience, then convince someone to pay me for it (and as a bonus pick up my expenses to boot).
  
  When he turns to tributes Robbins pens a scorcher to Jennifer Jason Leigh, one of my favorite actresses, though the article is short, probably not more than three hundred words tops. It’s almost hard to believe Robbins managed to get paid for this one, which demonstrates the power of a celebrity status. That bit of reverence fits neatly with a little smooch of worship for Robbins’ obvious crush, Diane Keaton.
  
  The other highlights include his Joseph Campbell appreciation, a scholar whose width of vision and breadth of knowledge serve as strong undergirdings for his ease of accessibility. Robbins often treads some of the same motifs and themes in his novels, and the two writers are well paired. He likewise gives Ray Kroc his due for his skill and ingenuity (if not completely for his culinary accomplishments), then comments at the end, paraphrased, well that was written twenty years ago before the dark revelations of SuperSize Me, another one of Robbins’ asides unlikely to have made it into print. His Leonard Cohen tribute album liner notes are much longer, but lack any actual quotes to back up his statements about how great Cohen’s writing is, a weakness his other critical judgments share.
  
  Much of the rest of the book is almost instantly forgettable. A turn of phrase stands out, a jolting metaphor, a sly bit of erudition slipped in. Robbins’ poetry is rather awful, the kind of doggerel verse well meaning dilettantes throw out on occasions that seem momentous (or to draw our poor beclouded eyes to a hitherto unsung bit of minutiae). If I had to pick a sample of writing to save from this whole mish-mash it would be Robbins’ lovely little theme on kissing which is nearly as delicious as being about to kiss. It’s no surprise that one ended up in Playboy.
  
  Ultimately, Robbins is one of those curious writers whose novels are not too divorced from his personality and that shows in these various writings. Stephen King may not spend his afternoons killing small children (I will pretend to believe that), but Robbins spends his days thinking in just the same fashion that his novels unfold, quirkily, offbeat, amusingly. There are strong pieces herein and others which will do their author no credit and would have just as well remained hidden in the back pages of the magazines where they first appeared.
  
  I’ll just quietly await his next novel.
• 
  Molly

  Tom Robbins is my oddball muse. I LOVED Jitterbug Perfume, and I'm looking for some reading to shake up my traditional ruts and so I came back to Robbins.
  
  I really enjoyed this book. I love Robbins' prose, his sharp wit and cutting-edge literary devices. This is the kind of book I want to take to a college class and pick apart line by line. Instead, I settled for reading various passages aloud to my family who rolled their eyes at me when I yelled, "Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!"
  
  This is non traditional in the sense that it's not a series of short STORIES. It's more a collection of a assorted short writings: some stories, some poems, some songs, a couple magazine articles, an op-ed piece or six. It was very different. I had a hard time understanding some sections simply because I am young and didn't understand the allusions of the 70s/80s/90s phenomenon. I think this would be five stars were I a few generations older. As it stands, it doesn't age well. Well, some of it doesn't age well.
  
  Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this to many. It's very odd, which I greatly appreciated, but I doubt many others would. Good for the literary type, who are more interested in language than in story.
  
  Warnings:
  Drugs: Implied, not explicit.
  Sex: The first story is titled, "Canyon of the Vaginas." So. Yeah.
  Violence: None.
  Language: Occasional.
• 
  Tom Kenis

  I'm reminded with every Tom Robbins I read as to why I write, and travel, and write, having picked up this particular gem from Crow Bookshop in Burlington, Vermont. Robbins sums it up best:
  "What Tom Wolfe and the other champions of naturalistic writing would have us accept as realistic content is actually the behavior patterns of a swarm of fruit flies on one bursting peach in an orchard with a thousand varieties of strange fruit stretching beyond every visible horizon. Granted, those fruit flies are pretty damn interesting, but from a standpoint of 'reality' they are hardly the only game in town."
  ...notwithstanding, I hasten to add, my utter admiration of realistic champions Tom Wolfe and Don Delillo, say. The best perch from which to spy all that is, is perhaps not a perch at all. Or should I say peach? Rather it could consist of a perennial zooming in and out, pulmonary, halfway between arterial and etherial. Our being here is a miracle, no less. To attempt to describe it is to touch a divinity's morning breath. Hello you!
• 
  V

  The problem with a collection of short pieces is that each was intended to be read on its own, to be cogitated by itself, not as one in a series consumed during a literary binge... which is how most people are conditioned to go about reading a book. At least a novel. And the people reading this book are novel-readers, fanboys and fangirls hungrily lapping up every last scrap of Robbins's writing that they can find... having exhausted the novels and the memoir, this is the last scrap they shall find.
  
  I admit, this book has mostly been a binge for me, and the good stuff I appreciate less as a result. Some of the celebrity stuff and the art criticism were not to my taste (the very idea of serious art criticism is abhorrent to me--it's all pompous bullshit. weaving a tapestry out of farts is the phrase that comes to me. I probably inadvertently stole it from Tom Robbins) and I've never been more than half on board with Robbins's philosophical views so some of the essay material was tedious. But in a collection of such disparate works, one can't expect to love every single item. All in all, the good-to-not-good ratio was... not bad.
• 
  Jay French

  Having read all of Tom Robbins other books (except for "B is for Beer"!), mostly quite a few years ago, I was hoping to get a reminder of why I liked his writing. And this provides that -- the literary gymnastics he applies to his writing make it as fresh and awe-inspiring as always. I found, though, that this book of short pieces really was more like a scratch-and-sniff version of his writing - you get the essence but you don't get anywhere near a complete story. This made me realize that although I enjoy the writing style, I enjoyed it best with a complete story. Given that, the writings in this book I found most interesting were the longer travel stories as well as the script treatment. The book has short bits from many magazines, such as Playboy and Esquire, which I expected. What I didn't expect were the writings from art catalogs. These were quite interesting as well, and put his ability to turn a phrase to good use.