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Still life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins
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Still life with Woodpecker (original 1980; edition 1980)

by Tom Robbins

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5,770751,730 (3.89)195
Fiction. Literature. HTML:â??Robbinsâ??s comic philosophical musings reveal a flamboyant genius.â?ťâ??People

Still Life with Woodpecker is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem… (more)
Member:jlina
Title:Still life with Woodpecker
Authors:Tom Robbins
Info:New York: Bantam Books, 1980.
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins (1980)

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» See also 195 mentions

English (72)  French (1)  Swedish (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (75)
Showing 1-5 of 72 (next | show all)
I've had a few conversations that remind me of this book: always with a fast-talker armed with cheesy jokes, half-baked notions, and conspiracy theories, salted with tasteless stereotypes, but interesting and weird enough that I want to hear just a little more. But I do always feel relief when it's over... ( )
  mmparker | Oct 24, 2023 |
Tom Robbins books all fit into a pattern: beautiful woman needs direction/help, and an eccentric man uses sex to unlock her mind and give her wisdom. Robbins will also focus on a particular thing - in this book it is redheads - and philosophize upon it at length. So basically if you've read one of his books you've read them all, and this is by far the best of the bunch. ( )
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
The beginning of this book was a bit of a struggle to get into. Tom Robbins is an absurd writer, with nonsensical descriptions, and overly sexual tones, it can be random and cringy at times. For this, I really struggled with the first 50 pages.

That being said, his writing can also be genius, and incredible insightful about society and human nature. I flew through the next 150 pages. The Woodpecker character is fascinating, and Leigh-Cheri's self imprisonment was incredible. Some of the random thought tangents characters would go through are incredible original, interesting, and occasionally insightful.

The last 50 pages were a slog again though, similar to the beginning. I lost interest in the plot and characters. The writing felt closer to the cringe side of the spectrum vs the genius side a lot more often. I had to force myself to finish, but the very end was pretty decent.

I'm interested in trying more Robbins, and the peaks of this book were very high. But the valleys have me apprehensive. Robbins strikes me as a very manic writer, who needs a better editor. ( )
  Andjhostet | Jul 4, 2023 |
Tom is my new hero; I loved this story and is outrageous humor. I mean seriously.. when an exiled Queen's favorite response to just about any incident is "Oh, Oh, spaghetti-o's" you gotta love it! Tom obviously lives in a world far different from most of us and that's why he's so great. And no Seattle isn't that odd though it IS different, LOL. I'm hooked on his wacky mind and will read everything he's written. I've give this 5 stars and maybe some of his others will merit it. ( )
  Jonathan5 | Feb 20, 2023 |
Once I got through the first chapter and Tom Robbins tangential, wordy voice, I had a blast. It's a very fun, weird book. I must admit I skipped all the direct, typewritter referencing chapters. ( )
  eliseGregory | Jan 1, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 72 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (20 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Tom Robbinsprimary authorall editionscalculated
Franconeri, FrancescoTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
LePere, LeslieIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Lindquist, ThomasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
You don't need to leave your room.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Don't even listen, simply wait.
Don't even wait.
Be quite still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you.
To be unmasked, it has no choice.
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
—Franz Kafka
Here should be a picture of my favorite apple.
It is also a nude & bottle.
It is also a landscape.
There are no such things as still lifes.
—Erica Jong
Dedication
To the memory of
Keith Wyman and Betty Bowen:
if there is a place where people
go after death, its proprietors have
got their hands full with those two.

To everybody whose letters
I haven’t answered.
and to G. R., special delivery.
First words
In the last quarter of the twentieth century, at a time when Western civilization was declining too rapidly for comfort and yet too slowly to be very exciting, much of the world sat on the edge of an increasingly expensive theater seat, waiting—with various combinations of dread, hope, and ennui—for something momentous to occur.
PROLOGUE
If this typewriter can't do it, then fuck it, it can’t be done.
This is the all-new Remington SL3, the machine that answers the question, “Which is harder, trying to read The Brothers Karamazov while listening to Stevie Wonder records or hunting for Easter eggs on a typewriter keyboard?” This is the cherry on top of the cowgirl. The burger served by the genius waitress. The Empress card.
Quotations
"One must agree that the last quarter of the twentieth century was a severe period for lovers. It was a time when women openly resented men, a time when men felt betrayed by women, a time when romantic relationships took on the character of ice in spring stranding many little children on jagged and inhospitable floes."
"Regardless of what else the press might have contributed to our culture, regardless of whether it is our first defense against totalitarianism or a wimpy force that undermines authentic experiences by categorizing them according to faddish popular interest, the press has give us big fat Sunday papers to ease our weekly mental menstrual bloat."
"If beneath the great issues and all-encompassing questions (as underplayed as they were in the last quarter of the twentieth century) a more intimate struggle rages, a struggle whose real goal was romantic fulfillment, maybe it was courageous and honorable to attempt to transcend that struggle, to insist on something more than that.
Maybe."
"What is more likely is that technology will bypass artists, that a day is coming when our novels will be written by computers, the same devices that will paint our murals and compose our tunes."
"Who does have a love life anymore? These days people have sex lives, not love lives... I don't have a love life because I've never met a man who knew how to have a love life. Maybe I don't know how, either."
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Fiction. Literature. HTML:â??Robbinsâ??s comic philosophical musings reveal a flamboyant genius.â?ťâ??People

Still Life with Woodpecker is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem

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Book description
Haiku summary
Red-headed outlaw,
armed with lots of dynamite,
blows stuff up for love.

(Carnophile)

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