Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life
Written by Tom Robbins
Narrated by Keith Szarabajka
4/5
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About this audiobook
Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins' legendary memoir--wild tales of his life and times, both at home and around the globe.
Tom Robbins’ warm, wise, and wonderfully weird novels—including Still Life With Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume, and Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates—provide an entryway into the frontier of his singular imagination. Madcap but sincere, pulsating with strong social and philosophical undercurrents, his irreverent classics have introduced countless readers to natural born hitchhiking cowgirls, born-again monkeys, a philosophizing can of beans, exiled royalty, and problematic redheads.
In Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins turns that unparalleled literary sensibility inward, stitching together stories of his unconventional life, from his Appalachian childhood to his globetrotting adventures —told in his unique voice that combines the sweet and sly, the spiritual and earthy. The grandchild of Baptist preachers, Robbins would become over the course of half a century a poet-interruptus, an air force weatherman, a radio dj, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counter-culture hero, leading a life as unlikely, magical, and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters.
Robbins offers intimate snapshots of Appalachia during the Great Depression, the West Coast during the Sixties psychedelic revolution, international roving before homeland security monitored our travels, and New York publishing when it still relied on trees. Written with the big-hearted comedy and mesmerizing linguistic invention for which he is known, Tibetan Peach Pie is an invitation into the private world of a literary legend.
Editor's Note
Wonderfully weird...
Best known for his wonderfully weird novels, it turns out Robbins has also led a wonderfully weird life. His memoir is written with the same ecstatic creativity he wields in fiction.
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Reviews for Tibetan Peach Pie
99 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Marvelously funny anti-autobiography from one of my favorite authors. If you like Robbins' writing, you'll love this book in which he recounts some extraordinarily funny episodes in his life.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5If you love Tom Robbins' rambling literary style, then you will most likely enjoy this very true to self memoir.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I always wanted to know about the man behind the outlandish novels. To me, Mr. Robbins seemed down-to-earth and as brazen as his characters. In fact, the stories he tells are as incredible as the situations he created in his books. Mr. Robbins has a way with metaphors and he was able to show this talent without his narrative suffering.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Now that Dos Equis is retiring Jonathan Goldsmith as the most interesting man in the world...I would like to nominate Tom Robbins. Yeah, yeah, I am a diehard fan of his books...but what a long strange trip his life has been.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I don't believe I have mentioned it on this blog yet, but I love Tom Robbins almost as much as I love Jane Austen. Actually, they are about equal on the list. This is why I immediately bought this book when I saw it on the shelves at Powell's. Very rarely will I buy brand new hardback editions of books. I will either borrow from the library or wait until it hits paperback, but I wanted this book, nay, needed this book. That is how much I love this author.
As to the book itself, I really enjoyed it. It was the good old Tom Robbins that I know and love, and there were times when it was nearly impossible for me to put this book down. Robbins is known for his strange plots and interesting (albeit strange) characters, and reading about his life put his quirky writing into some perspective.
Reading this book actually made me love him more. I admired his outlook on life and how he has walked through it with his eyes wide open and an up-to-try-anything attitude. This philosophy has taken him to many exotic places and has been the source of some hilarious tales of mischief and learning. As we watch Robbins grow into the man he is today, we get to grow with him, often being introduced to new ways of viewing our lives and also living them.
The only aspect of the book that confused me at first was the fact that he tends to get a little sidetracked. He would be discussing one thing and then suddenly we are somewhere else. However, after a while I began to enjoy this since I didn't actually notice that it veered off the original topic until we were back on it, and there was always some connection as to why the digression happened in the first place. It actually began to feel like I was having a conversation with Robbins. Like I was listening to him tell his story rather than reading it, which I found enthralling and rather addicting. So, even this little bump in the road became a positive experience.
In the end, I would recommend this to any and all Tom Robbins fans. It was insightful, hilarious, and thought-provoking all at the same time--just like his novels--and was a true joy to read.
Memorable Quotes
Love is the only game in which we win even when we lose. - Tom Robbins
After making an extreme effort, after pulling out all the stops, one is still unable to score Tibetan peach pie, take it as a signal to relax, grin, pick up a fork, and go for a slice of the apple. - Tom Robbins - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was a university student when I read the book 'Another Roadside Attraction'. Tom Robbins showed me how to think about things in technocolour and I appreciate him for it. As I read Tibetan Peach Pie I had the feeling we were trading stories over coffee.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I always wanted to know about the man behind the outlandish novels. To me, Mr. Robbins seemed down-to-earth and as brazen as his characters. In fact, the stories he tells are as incredible as the situations he created in his books. Mr. Robbins has a way with metaphors and he was able to show this talent without his narrative suffering.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I listened to the audio version of this book, and despite the excellent reader, I found myself yawning through the first half, which was comprised mostly of rather pedestrian anecdotes that my elderly grandfather might tell. About half way through I became aware that this elderly writer is a very, very hip grandfather indeed who has some fascinating tales to tell. The book is at its best when talking about the author's experience with hallucinogenic drugs, world travels, people that he met (or didn't meet) and, of course, his novels. A must read for all Tom Robbins fans.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robbins says his biography isn’t a memoir or an autobiography, but rather a collection of true events. Whatever it is, Washington State author Robbins shows his strength in creating memorable sentences and his love of rhythm in sentences in a variety of stories that take the reader from his childhood in Virginia, his Korean War soldier stories, and his various jobs as well as his love live. As I read them, I wished I could hear the audio version of this book, because I felt like I was sitting in his living room listening to his storytelling. It’s an intellectual humorous story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Robbins' books have had a big influence on my life, and I'm glad to get to know the author better. This isn't a standard autobiography, but rather vignettes of the author's amazing, adventurous and unexpected life. If you love his work, you'll love this book and you'll love him all the more after reading it.