Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life - Hardcover

Robbins, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006226740X ISBN 13: 9780062267405

Publisher: Ecco, 2014

Synopsis

Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins delivers the long awaited tale of his wild 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.

About this title

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 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)

“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)

“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))

From the Back Cover:

Internationally bestselling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins's long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globe

Tom Robbins's warm, wise, and wonderfully weird novels–including Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, and Jitterbug Perfume–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 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, weaving together stories of his unconventional life–from his Appalachian childhood to his globe-trotting adventures–told in his unique voice, which 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, a soldier, a meteorologist, a radio DJ, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counterculture 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 Robbins is known, Tibetan Peach Pie is an invitation into the private world of a literary legend.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 006226740X
• ISBN 13: 9780062267405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384