Stellar book
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An artist shouldn't be confused with their creation. Frequently the artist at work soars above their mundane self, the emerging creation transcending its creator. Nevertheless, it is tempting to ponder the author of this grand oeuvre as person too... Forget about the poor party poopers who have left their nonsense about no-sense among these reviews. They are the cousins of the agents who turned up at the roadside attraction, their souls wrapped in the worst stripe of the union flag. This book incorporates paradox, 'both-and' replaces 'either-or'; it adopts the non-linear view, the multi-dimensional take on everything. So in a sense heaven forefend that I should proceed with a dichotomy, but hey, even duality is encompassed in total unity. This book is, pace Steppenwolf's magic theatre, not for everyone. It's for the adventurous bohemian mind, with inbuilt crap detector and functioning right hemisphere, not for the straight one, inhabiting just a fraction of itself. Whatever TR-friendly type readers might seek in a novel, is here in abundance - imagination, beauty, wisdom, laughter and craft. This was my third TR read and my favourite. (Funny that, being his first write - but maybe artists peak in their first essays more often than is owned - and the rest is noodling on the initial revelation.) There are 4 main and archetypal characters (not counting Mon Cul), (pardon my French), and maybe the synthesised agglomeration of all 4 is the personality that is the author? This is partly why it's my fave. That is to say, partly because it manifests the 5 novel-attributes cited above to a fine degree, but partly because for me the marriage of magic (Z), poetry (A), robustness (P) and lucid cerebration (M) would be a delight in any one human being, and an aspirational balancing act for the rest of us. (And an acronym for TR's aim? Zap 'em!) TR is said to have spoken highly of something as banal as punctuality, and simultaneously to broadcast the maxim 'joy in spite of everything'. He is said to labour painstakingly over his words, producing a page every 3 days or so, and simultaneously advertises inspiration and spontaneity. Holy goofery.
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One of my favourite books
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I first read this book over 20 years ago,when in my early twenties. It turned me into a lifelong Tom Robbins fan, even though some of his later work in my opinion doesn't match up to this little gem of a first novel. I gave my first copy away many years ago and haven't been able to find it again since, I won't make that same mistake once I have a copy of this reprint. To this day, some of the lines in the book are still having a positive effect.
The characters you'll meet within the pages will stay with you long after you finish the story. I fell in love with Amanda, and JP Ziller inspired me to get out in the world and do my own thing. The main joy of T R's writing is brilliant, varied and many metaphors that drip from each page like lovesick tears from a young girls eye, like honey from a psychedelic beehive ( mine not TR's).
So if you want a mad cap story with brilliant characters, some radical philosophy mixed up with sharp and incisive humour, then I strongly suggest that you buy this book and don't give it away.
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One of the best novels to come out of America in 20 years
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Despite a slow start owing to its unusual style, Another Roadside Attraction rapidly shapes up to be one of the most relevant and fascinating novels by an American author in the last twenty years. Not much can be said about the story without giving the whole plot away, but it centres around the eventual establishment and short-lived history of a roadside zoo-cum-weenie-stand run by a couple of New Age Travellers who live there with their baby son, their business manager, Marx Marvellous, and a baboon named Mon Cul. It all sounds pretty ridiculous, but great literature has always required a temporary suspension of disbelief since the days of Shakespeare and it's not difficult to comply in this case. Mysticism and sensuality entwine alluringly throughout the intriguing story, which simultaneously slams organised religion - in particular, the Catholic Church - and instead affirms the simple value of living in harmony and peace. Robbins has managed to capture what many "hippies" probably believed in without (of course) trying to write a definitive ideological text, which would be fruitless and dull - the exact antithesis of Another Roadside Attraction. The book has so much to say on matters of spirituality, religion and society that it should probably be on every English literature syllabus going; the only reason it won't appear there is because we remain far too prudish about what our children should be reading, and, it must be said, Robbins isn't (his use of occasional strong language and occasionally graphic sex scenes are a stylistic tendency). This might offend some readers' sensibilities, but I would encourage them to try this great modern masterpiece anyway, and set some of their puritanism aside for the duration of the novel. There are few novels out there that really expand your mind, but this is undisputably one of them. Read it.. and think.
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American Zen on Acid.
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This was the first Tom Robbins novel I read, and having since ploughed through the rest of his novels, still love the best. Robbins manages to blend deep philosophical insights and slap-stick comedy and produces an epic adventure through America's (the world's) materialistic and shallow absurdities. Robbins destroys the beliefs many people cling to as certainties, in an uncertain world. AN EXCELLENT (AND POSSIBLY LIFE CHANGING) NOVEL!!!
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This is bigger than Carlos Casteneda!
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I went to the States recently and met an amazing guy who introduced me to Tom Robbins. ARTA was my first TR book, and is by no means my last. I have never before come across an author who has captured my attention as dramatically as TR. He has all the answers, and he makes me laugh. If you have any questions about life and what to do with it, read this book. It will send you on a fabulous journey. Thanks Matt, I owe you big time....
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