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Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
| Title | Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates |
| Writer | |
| Date | 2024-10-12 15:12:00 |
| Type | |
| Link | Listen Read |
Desciption
"Tom Robbins has a grasp on things that dazzles the brain and he's also a world-class storyteller." (Thomas Pynchon)In Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, his seventh and biggest novel, the wise, witty, always gutsy Tom Robbins brings onstage the most complex and compelling character he has ever created.Switters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government, a pacifist who carries a gun, a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy, a cyberwhiz who hates computers, a robust bon vivant who can be as squeamish as any fop, a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior).Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol.And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, Robbins explores, challenges, mocks, and celebrates virtually every major aspect of our mercurial era.As many readers well know, to describe a Tom Robbins plot does not begin to describe a Tom Robbins novel. Moreover, the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author, with his love of language, nuance, and surprise, is as opposed to story summations as J.D. Salinger.It is revealing, however, to learn what things Robbins lists as having influenced the writing of Fierce Invalids:"This book was inspired by an entry from Bruce Chatwin's journal, by a CIA agent I met in Southeast Asia, by the mystery surrounding the lost prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, by the increasing evidence that the interplay of opposites is the engine that runs the universe, and by embroidered memories of old Terry and the Pirates comic books."Robbins also has said that throughout the writing of Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates he was guided by the advice of Julia Child: "Learn to handle hot things. Keep your knives sharp. Above all, have a good time."Perhaps that is why he has managed to write a provocative, rascally novel that takes no prisoners - and yet is upbeat, romantic, meaningful, adventurous, edifying, and fun. Read more
Review
This is one of the funniest and most entertaining books I've ever read.And it has the most quotable quotes. Here's a sample:"The two things they all had in common were a cynical suspicion of politico-economic systems and a disdain for what passed for "patriotism" in the numbed noodles of the manipulated masses.""The old 'for reasons of national security' alibi. Heh! I'm a loyal American of long standing, but that doesn't mean I'm so flag-addled I can't recognize our favorite euphemism for 'governmental hanky-panky swept under the rug.'""It had to be good because all around it, in every direction, as far as his eyes could see, the world was as empty and dry as a dummy's condom.""And what is your faith, exactly, Mr. Switters? What do you believe in?""Umm. Well. I try not to""You try not to believe?""That's right. I'm on the run for the Killer B's.""Pardon? What have killer bees to do with?...""B for Belief. B for Belonging. The B's that lead to most of the killing in the world. If you don't Belong among us, then you're our inferior, or our enemy, or both; and you can't Belong with us unless you Believe what we Believe. Maybe not even then, but it certainly helps. Our religion, our party, our tribe, our town, our school, our race, our nation. Believe. Belong. Behave. Or Be damned.""Man," said Switters, "that's a nasty-looking crowd of clouds over there, all rough and raggedy-assed and milling about, like a herd of white-trash shoppers just crawled out of shacks and sheds and trailer homes for the end-of-winter sale at Wal-Mart.""Switters, are you ever, on you own, inclined toward prayer?"He barely hesitated. "When I feel I'm in need of shark repellent, I try to pray. When I feel I'm in need of smelling salts, I try to meditate. I'm not saying that one's necessarily superior to the other -- both are capable of being reduced to a kind of metaphysical panhandling -- but if more people smelled the salts and woke the hell up, they'd find they wouldn't need to be fretting about sharks all the time.""Although he seemed highly intelligent, Switters could detect that his was an intellect of the shrewd variety, the kind that grasped facts and figures and understood virtually nothing of genuine importance; a well-oiled brain dedicated to the defense, perpetuation, and exploitation of every cliché and superstition in the saddlebags of institutionalized reality."
