JUNE 2014 - AudioFile
Lovers of Tom Robbins's writing will rejoice in Keith Szarabajka's strong performance of this hilarious work. Robbins's quirky novels are infused with a quixotic range of the infinitely wild, and Szarabajka’s narration fully captures that trait. This memoir—which is not really a memoir, but more of a series of narratives of Robbins's bohemian life—is well served by Szarabajka’s exuberance, hoarse drawl, and perceptive timing. From earliest infancy to adult wayfarer, Robbins pulls the listener along, with Szarabajka perfectly in tune—from the absurd to the abstruse. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
The New York Times - Dwight Garner
The story of how Tom Robbins became Tom Robbins is a pretty good one, and in relating it, he's written his best book in many years. Tibetan Peach Pie should be sold in one of those marijuana vending machines now extant in Colorado. Like them, it provides an afternoon's affordable buzz.
Publishers Weekly
★ 03/24/2014
Thomas Pynchon wrote that Tom Robbins’s Even Cowgirls Get the Blues “dazzled his brain,” calling it a “piece of working magic” and Robbins “a world-class storyteller.” Ever the raconteur, Robbins carries us along a magical wonder tour in this high-flying, Zen koan-like, and cinematic tour of some of the episodes in his journey through space and time. Loosely arranged chronologically, we travel with Tommy Rotten—his mother’s pet name for him—from his birth in Statesville, N.C., through his youth in Virginia—including a stint at Hargrave Military Academy—his meteorological training in the military, and his peripatetic pursuit of language and wonder. In San Francisco, three years before he starts his first novel, he “reaffirms his devotion to language, that magical honeycomb of words into which human reality is forever dissolving and from which it continually reemerges, having invented itself anew… a blue dolphin leaping from a sink of dirty dishes.” Along the way, Robbins offers flashes of enlightenment into the writing of each of his novels, from Another Roadside Attraction to Villa Incognito. He reveals that “all those pursuits of mine have been part and parcel of the same overriding compulsion: a lifelong quest to perpetually interface with the Great Mystery (which may or may not be God) or, at the very least, to further expose myself to wonder.” Master storyteller, indeed, Robbins calls us into his tales and with a wink and a nod, never lets us go until we’ve heard it all. (May)
Biographile Biographile
As in his many novels, [Tibetan Peach Pie] is buoyed by a palpable sense of the fun Robbins is having with language, in all of its rhythmic and poetic possibilities.
Bookish
…haphazardly ricocheting—but without exception entertaining.
Santa Fe Pasa Tiempo
Robbins writes beautifully… In works of pure imagination, like his novels, his style suits the material… A damned satisfying trip to the moon.
Bookish.com
Haphazardly ricocheting-but without exception entertaining.
USA Today (Online Review)
Wacky, wonder-filled… The fiction master of our times, Thomas Pynchon, once called Robbins a brain-dazzling ‘world-class storyteller.’ Now in his 80s, he still is, even in telling his own story.
BiographileBiographile
As in his many novels, [Tibetan Peach Pie] is buoyed by a palpable sense of the fun Robbins is having with language, in all of its rhythmic and poetic possibilities.
NPR Books (Online Review)
Beautiful... Robbins has never met a pun, a blissfully crooked analogy, a magician’s bit of verbal trickery that he didn’t love… He knows words the way a pool hustler knows chalk.
Tampa Bay Times
He’s never lost that voice, and it’s the star of this memoir.
Washington Independent Review of Books
Tibetan Peach Pie is vintage Robbins. It’s pyrotechnic in language, labyrinthine in logic, daunting in voice, threaded with his wonderfully esoteric wit… Authentically charming… profound.
Portland Book Review
Fans of Tom Robbins, the person, the novelist, the introspective jokester and the gifted storyteller, will love this book. It truly is a gem.
O magazine
The author of such off-kilter bestsellers as Still Life with Woodpecker has written a rollicking reminiscence of his Appalachian upbringing, his spiral through the psychedelic ‘60s, and his unconventional path to literary stardom.
San Francisco Book Review
For the lover of words and wordplay, humor, and creative and high flying imagination, there is no contemporary writer any better.
AARP Magazine
If you’ve read any of his quirky best-sellers, such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, you’ll scarf down this account of Robbins’ Appalachian childhood, his life on the wild, wonderful West Coast in the 1960’s and his world travels.
Daily Californian
Charmingly offbeat… unconventionally literary. [Robbins] excels at compositional oddity, brandishing the creative and the humorous… [Tibetan Peach Pie] is an amusement park of allusions and madcap stories.
Shelf Awareness
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 [...]earthy and conversational yet simultaneously intellectual. Fans and newcomers alike will guffaw and marvel at this most extraordinary life
Seattle Times
Tibetan Peach Pie is a gift to his fans, the story of a man who had the sense to follow where his imagination led… How lucky for his readers that we got to tag along for the ride.
Booklist (starred review)
Robbins continues to embody Zen coolness and bohemian charm.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in [Robbins’] adventuresome life, from his remarkably unsupervised childhood to his free and easy adulthood. Tibetan Peach Pie… is a welcome antidote to our current era of helicopter parenting and disciplined conformity and rules, rules, rules.
About.com
A perfect bookend to Tom Robbins’ oeuvre, an opportunity to finally catch a glimpse behind this magician’s curtain.
Washington Post
Tibetan Peach Pie is a late, welcome gift from a philosopher-novelist who continues to believe in the transformative qualities of ‘novelty, beauty, mischief and mirth’ - qualities apparent on every page of this lively, large-hearted book.
Slate
Hallucinatory and conversational… intertwined with many fun and interesting tales... This is what happens when you let Tom run.
Slate
Hallucinatory and conversational… intertwined with many fun and interesting tales... This is what happens when you let Tom run.
Seattle Weekly
Robbins is king of the sidewinder simile, the mixologist’s metaphor. No other popular writer of our time depends as he does on pure verbal dazzle, or delivers as reliably on the deal.
Houston Chronicle
At his best, Robbins writes prose that flows like he’s having a blast putting it all down as fast as he can think it.
Elle
[Tibetan Peach Pie] bursts with enough joie de vivre to bewitch even the most present-shock-imprisoned 28-year-old and to snag the rest of us with Robbins’ far-out, feel-good sensibility and trademark helical, world-happy prose.
Washington Post
Tibetan Peach Pie is a late, welcome gift from a philosopher-novelist who continues to believe in the transformative qualities of ‘novelty, beauty, mischief and mirth’ - qualities apparent on every page of this lively, large-hearted book.
From the Publisher
The story of how Tom Robbins became Tom Robbins is a pretty good one, and in relating it, he’s written his best book in many years.” — New York Times
“Tibetan Peach Pie is a late, welcome gift from a philosopher-novelist who continues to believe in the transformative qualities of ‘novelty, beauty, mischief and mirth’ - qualities apparent on every page of this lively, large-hearted book.” — Washington Post
“Beautiful... Robbins has never met a pun, a blissfully crooked analogy, a magician’s bit of verbal trickery that he didn’t love… He knows words the way a pool hustler knows chalk.” — NPR Books (Online Review)
“Robbins continues to embody Zen coolness and bohemian charm.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Robbins carries us along a magical wonder tour in this high-flying, Zen koan-like, and cinematic tour of some of the episodes in his journey through space and time. ” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[Readers] will enjoy this peek into the intelligently goofy and always fertile mind of this inventive writer... a fitting cap to a sui generis career, equally satisfying in short installments or read straight through.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Memoir or not, the form suits Robbins’s digressive style, philosophical musings, and self-deprecating humor. Each piece stands on its own, but when read side by side they develop into a powerful argument about magic and the necessity of imaginative, interior worlds.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“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 [...]earthy and conversational yet simultaneously intellectual. Fans and newcomers alike will guffaw and marvel at this most extraordinary life — Shelf Awareness
“[Tibetan Peach Pie] bursts with enough joie de vivre to bewitch even the most present-shock-imprisoned 28-year-old and to snag the rest of us with Robbins’ far-out, feel-good sensibility and trademark helical, world-happy prose.” — Elle
“Tibetan Peach Pie is a gift to his fans, the story of a man who had the sense to follow where his imagination led… How lucky for his readers that we got to tag along for the ride.” — Seattle Times
“The author of such off-kilter bestsellers as Still Life with Woodpecker has written a rollicking reminiscence of his Appalachian upbringing, his spiral through the psychedelic ‘60s, and his unconventional path to literary stardom.” — O magazine
“As in his many novels, [Tibetan Peach Pie] is buoyed by a palpable sense of the fun Robbins is having with language, in all of its rhythmic and poetic possibilities.” — Biographile Biographile
“Wacky, wonder-filled… The fiction master of our times, Thomas Pynchon, once called Robbins a brain-dazzling ‘world-class storyteller.’ Now in his 80s, he still is, even in telling his own story.” — USA Today (Online Review)
“Hallucinatory and conversational… intertwined with many fun and interesting tales... This is what happens when you let Tom run.” — Slate
“If you’ve read any of his quirky best-sellers, such as Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, you’ll scarf down this account of Robbins’ Appalachian childhood, his life on the wild, wonderful West Coast in the 1960’s and his world travels.” — AARP Magazine
“He’s never lost that voice, and it’s the star of this memoir.” — Tampa Bay Times
“Robbins is king of the sidewinder simile, the mixologist’s metaphor. No other popular writer of our time depends as he does on pure verbal dazzle, or delivers as reliably on the deal.” — Seattle Weekly
“Haphazardly ricocheting-but without exception entertaining.” — Bookish.com
“Robbins writes beautifully… In works of pure imagination, like his novels, his style suits the material… A damned satisfying trip to the moon.” — Santa Fe Pasa Tiempo
“Charmingly offbeat… unconventionally literary. [Robbins] excels at compositional oddity, brandishing the creative and the humorous… [Tibetan Peach Pie] is an amusement park of allusions and madcap stories.” — Daily Californian
“For the lover of words and wordplay, humor, and creative and high flying imagination, there is no contemporary writer any better.” — San Francisco Book Review
“A perfect bookend to Tom Robbins’ oeuvre, an opportunity to finally catch a glimpse behind this magician’s curtain.” — About.com
“At his best, Robbins writes prose that flows like he’s having a blast putting it all down as fast as he can think it.” — Houston Chronicle
“Tibetan Peach Pie is vintage Robbins. It’s pyrotechnic in language, labyrinthine in logic, daunting in voice, threaded with his wonderfully esoteric wit… Authentically charming… profound. ” — Washington Independent Review of Books
“Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in [Robbins’] adventuresome life, from his remarkably unsupervised childhood to his free and easy adulthood. Tibetan Peach Pie… is a welcome antidote to our current era of helicopter parenting and disciplined conformity and rules, rules, rules.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Fans of Tom Robbins, the person, the novelist, the introspective jokester and the gifted storyteller, will love this book. It truly is a gem.” — Portland Book Review
JUNE 2014 - AudioFile
Lovers of Tom Robbins's writing will rejoice in Keith Szarabajka's strong performance of this hilarious work. Robbins's quirky novels are infused with a quixotic range of the infinitely wild, and Szarabajka’s narration fully captures that trait. This memoir—which is not really a memoir, but more of a series of narratives of Robbins's bohemian life—is well served by Szarabajka’s exuberance, hoarse drawl, and perceptive timing. From earliest infancy to adult wayfarer, Robbins pulls the listener along, with Szarabajka perfectly in tune—from the absurd to the abstruse. A.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2014-03-30
The first memoir from the idiosyncratic novelist, who claims that if "it doesn't read like a normal memoir, that may be because I haven't exactly led what most normal people would consider a normal life." Indeed. The narrative—comprised of a series of vignettes from various points in the author's eventful life and appropriately spiked with deliciously mischievous language and philosophical musings—may be "somewhat subject to the effects of mnemonic erosion," but it is piquant and intriguing nonetheless. In roughly chronological order, Robbins (B Is for Beer, 2009, etc.) covers his childhood in Blowing Rock, N. C.; his move to and residence in Richmond, Va., in which he discovered and thrived in the one enclave in town not considered ultraconservative; his time at Hargrave Military Academy and two years at Washington and Lee; his experiences in the Air Force as a meteorologist in Korea and at Strategic Air Command in Nebraska; his post at the Richmond Times-Dispatch; his move to Seattle and eventual assumption of the position of arts critic at the Seattle Times; and his brush with the FBI, who thought he might have been the Unabomber. As can be expected from Robbins, each short section is subject to digressions and thoughtful pauses, only a few of which linger a bit too long. His chronicle of the writing and publication of Another Roadside Attraction (1971) does not occur until nearly halfway through the book, and the author glides through the rest of his oeuvre (Still Life with Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume et al.) with less reflection. Most readers, even die-hard Robbins fans, won't mind, however. They will enjoy this peek into the intelligently goofy and always fertile mind of this inventive writer, who riffs on everything from women and drugs to the publishing industry, conceptions of spirituality and the countless culinary wonders of kimchi. The author's detractors will likely find fault, but this is a fitting cap to a sui generis career, equally satisfying in short installments or read straight through.
