Tom Robbins, best known for writing flamboyantly imaginative novels with half-hilarious, half-metaphysical leanings, dishes out a juicy-parts version of his full and unusual life in this clever, funny and subversive collection of autobiographical essays. In the preface, Robbins remarks, "My editor claims some of this stuff is so nuts even I couldn't have made it up," and readers will agree as they join Robbins for a stroll down a version of Memory Lane populated by circus performers, bohemians, the occasional celebrity and a variety of interesting women.
Robbins begins with his childhood in Appalachian North Carolina during the Great Depression. His precocious knack for trouble earned him the nickname Tommy Rotten. As an adult, Robbins has maintained his habit of telling convention to go do rude things to itself. He defies tradition yet again by throwing the usual linear autobiography format out the window, jumping instead from story to story. Perhaps the only aspect more impressive than Robbins's ability to imbue a lifetime of interesting anecdotes with an additional layer of introspection is his trademark style, as much in evidence here as in any of his fiction--earthy and conversational yet simultaneously intellectual. Fans and newcomers alike will guffaw and marvel at this most extraordinary life. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads