Tibet Şeftali Turtası

by Tom Robbins, Gül Korkmaz (Translator)

Bu bir otobiyografi değil. Tanrı korusun! Otobiyografi gıdasını egodan alır ve ben, kendiminkinden önce göbek deliklerini anlatmak isteyeceğim insanların uzun bir listesini yapabilirim. Her neyse, (bence) yalnızca ünlü yazarlar otobiyografi yazmalılar... Romanlarımda bile otobiyografik izler bırakmaktan kaçınmak için çaba sarf ettim. Bundan sonra da hayal gücümü aldatmak veya edebiyatta kendi hayatımı kullanmak niyetinde değilim. Tibet Şeftali Turtası, her ne kadar duruşu ve sesiyle epeyce andırıyor olsa ve zayıf ışıkta öyle gibi görünse de bir anı kitabı da değil. Daha kesin bir tanım yapacak olursak bu kitap, yıllardır hayatımdaki kadınlara -karım, asistanım, spor hocam, yoga öğretmenim, kız kardeşlerim, temsilcim ve diğerleri- anlatmakta olduğum doğruluğundan kuşku duyulmayacak gerçek hikâyelerin, yine onların ısrarları üzerine nihayet kaleme aldığım uzatmalı öyküsüdür. Edebiyatın formül bozan, tüm dünyada çok satanlar listelerine giren, romanlarıyla gerçeklik ve hayali bir kılan, hikâye çılgınlığıyla meşhur yazarı Tom Robbins Tibet Şeftali Turtası'nda kendi hayatının dalgalı ve durgun zamanlarını, çalkantılı ve muzip anlarını; çocukluğundan, gazetecilik yıllarından, dünya gezilerinden, yazarlığa başlayışından, askerlik anılarından, evliliklerinden, ilişkilerinden seçtiği eğlenceli hikâyeleri anlatıyor.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Audiobook, Humor, Biography Memoir, Autobiography

416 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 2014

About the author

Thomas Eugene Robbins was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). Robbins lived in La Conner, Washington from 1970, where he wrote nine of his books. His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His last work, published in 2014, was Tibetan Peach Pie, a self-declared "un-memoir".

Reviews

[Kirk Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can have your Richard Farinas, Brautigans, Ken Keseys, your Keroucs or Ginsbergs, I'll take mine as a Tom Robbins. If I were to pick a Shaman, a literary Guru guy--- he's my man. - While those guys were sticking daisies on school buses drinking watermelon sugar Tom was bopping back and forth between coasts writing Art Reviews for various newspapers and honing his skills, developing into the cosmic comic genius and philosopher that brought us eight brilliant novels. - It begins with Another Roadside Attraction and concludes at Villa Incognito, a vast collection maybe the equivalent of a psychedelic World Tour. - -This book though presenting itself as a collection of short stories, is better described as memoir. I would expect most readers to enjoy, but I apply the one rule I have for memoirs: either love and respect the person or ditch the memoir.-- To readers that know Tom Robbins from his novels, this reveals a great deal about the man and his experiences. Tales of what makes Tom tick. --He reveals his formula for elements in his novels. In his words: "Transformation, liberation, and celebration; exotica and erotica; novelty, beauty, mischief, and mirth". Imagery in his novels can flash from hallucinatory comic strip scenes to the semi-normal characters on realistic pursuits. He has perfected the art of misplacing sanity better than any other.--- Fans of Robbins should love it as an essential piece to complement their collection of novels. My opinion-OR NOT.

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 4 out of 5]

To truly imagine our lives, Tom Robbins says, we must drop our imagining - as Samuel Beckett confirms - with all ‘Imagination Dead Imagine,’ and only then, to Re-Imagine them as being of no account in the big picture.

Precisely my little way of living!

So Tom PURPOSELY lives his life again, Warts and All. And here we all thought he was some kinda zany literary superstar!

Not.

No, Tom’s just one of us ole boys… thank heaven.

Now, we may not like it, but Tom now sees his life as a series of Goofs. It was all his fault (but without the typical guilt, de rigeur for the Catholics among us). It’s a crooked life straight up without a chaser.

But crooked purged of the seamy stuff. Like mine.

I, too, have made big mistakes. Like Tom, to compensate, I thought small. So the Woke merely dismissed me.
.
No great problem, Tibetan Peach Pie seems to rejoinder. Erring in Gnostic terms is dumb. Who cares?

We have love in our lives. Our love is no longer for us, though.

It's to share!

Get it? There's no real purpose in ife -

But to Love.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could listen to Tom Robbins’ stories all day, he’s just gifted with words and humour and unlike any other writer I’ve come across. A master wizard of words magical and wonderful with plenty of the bizarre. I’d love to have an inch of his talent. Part memoir part imaginative recollections I loved being inside his wonderful mind. I’ve only ever read one Tom Robbins book before which I read as a teenager and I just know I’d appreciate it today way more than I did back then. Also top props to the narrator who nailed the audio on this! A match made in heaven.

[Arthur Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.I.P. Tom Robbins, 7/22/32-2/9/25

From the beginning, imagination has been my wild card, my skeleton key, my servant, my master, my bat cave, my home entertainment center, my flotation device, my syrup of wahoo; and I plan to stick with it until the very end.

Say whatever else you want about the guy, but even Robbins' harshest critics will have to admit that he's plugged into something beyond most writers creatively. Whether playing with language and thematic elements, exploring the inner worlds of and interconnections between his unique characters, or simply relating the ordeals faced by a conch shell, a can of beans, and a painted stick on their pilgrimage to the holy land, Robbins is perhaps at his best when he's at his most unbridled and unabashedly imaginative. In this book (which he stubbornly refuses to call an autobiography), we're offered a glimpse into his aggregate experience with a focus on those periods/encounters that either directly or indirectly influenced his life's trajectory, his philosophy and outlook, and the works he was able to produce as result.

Told through a series of tangentially related, nonlinear episodes, Tibetan Peach Pie is sure to interest those of us who've stuck by Robbins and his special brand of whimsy, wit, and wisdom throughout all of our disillusioned, embittering grown-up years, so I'm giving it four stars, if only because I liked it better than the next closest thing he's published. While it may at times suffer from the same unevenness of quality and focus that made Wild Ducks Flying Backward such a mixed bag, it's definitely worth a read for devotees and initiates alike.

[Eirini Proikaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μου άρεσε παρα,μα πάρα πολύ!Ενα βιβλίο γεμάτο με το ιδιαίτερο χιουμορ και τα έξυπνα λογοπαίγνια του Ρόμπινς και μια πολύ ενδιαφέρουσα πορεία ζωής.Είναι διασκεδαστικό αλλα σου αφήνει και κάτι παραπάνω.Το βιβλίο είναι απολαυστικό και αυτός ο τύπος μου αρέσει πολύ!

[Aggeliki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Με τον Tom Robbins ξεκίνησα ανάποδα. Μην έχοντας διαβάσει κάποιο άλλο βιβλίο του, επέλεξα να γνωριστούμε με την δική του ιστορία. Κι αν η Θιβετιανή ροδακινόπιτα είναι η αυτοβιογραφία του, τότε σίγουρα δεν μοιάζει με καμία άλλη από τις ελάχιστες που έχω διαβάσει ως σήμερα.
Όσο τον διαβάζεις, διαπιστώνεις ότι είναι ο παλαβιάρης, καυστικός, κουλ, πανέξυπνος τύπος που σαρκάζει και αυτοσαρκάζεται, μοιράζεται μαζί σου μνήμες από τα ορθώς καμωμένα και μη της ίδιας του της ζωής, λέγοντας ιστορίες με ένα ιδιαίτερο χιούμορ που προσωπικά πολύ εκτιμώ. Ίσως μπορούμε να πούμε ότι είναι ο ξάδερφος, θείος, πατέρας, παππούς που πολλοί από μας θα θέλαμε να είχαμε που θα σε καθίσει κάτω κάποιο βράδυ με ένα ποτό στο τραπέζι να σου πει ιστορίες από πρότερες εποχές. ΟΚ, ίσως χρειαστούν πολλά ποτά και πολλά βράδια, αλλά πιάνεις το νόημα.
Γρήγορος στις αφηγήσεις του, ίσως όπως είναι και στη ζωή του, δεν σου επιτρέπει να γυρίσεις αλλού το κεφάλι. Αν χάσεις κάτι, θα προχωρήσει στην επόμενη ιστορία κουνώντας σου το χέρι ή επιλέγοντας άλλου είδους χειρονομία.
Ο τύπος είναι απολαυστικότατος, όπως και τούτο εδώ το βιβλίο. Και σίγουρα θα με κάνει να επισκεφθώ το βιβλιοπωλείο για προμήθειες.

[Nikolas Banos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν ξέρω πως τα κατάφερα και ξεκίνησα και τους δυό τους από το τέλος. Αντί να διαβάσω πρώτα τα έργα τους και μετά τις ζωές τους, εγώ διάβασα πρώτα τις ζωές τους και μετά τα έργα τους. Ομιλώ για τον Καζαντζάκη και τον Ρόμπινς. Ναι. Είμαι ιερόσυλος. Τους έβαλα στην ίδια πρόταση. Προς υπεράσπιση του εαυτού μου, όμως, δεν πιστεύω σε ιερά τέρατα της τέχνης – και δη της λογοτεχνίας – οπότε θα κοιμηθώ ήσυχος το βράδυ. Άλλωστε για το ο, τι ξεκίνησα τον Ρόμπινς από το τέλος δεν έφταιγα εγώ. Έφταιγε η βιβλιοπώλης της «Βιβλιοβάρδιας» που δεν είχε την «Αμάντα, το κορίτσι της γης» του ιδίου. Ως γνήσιος γευσιγνώστης, λοιπόν, αποφάσισα να δοκιμάσω την πίτα που σέρβιρε ο Ρόμπινς.
Τι είναι, λοιπόν, η Θιβετιανή Ροδακινόπιτα; Ο Ρόμπινς δεν ταυτίζει την ζωή του με έναν δρόμο, με μια γραμμική αργόσυρτη πορεία ή, ακόμη χειρότερα, με μια λούπα, όπως οι περισσότεροι εκεί έξω. Ο Ρόμπινς χωρίζει σε ζουμερά κομμάτια ροδακινόπιτας την ζωή του, και σε κάθε κεφάλαιο της σπονδυλωτής αυτής αφήγησης, με προκαλεί να πάρω μια γεύση από την ζωή του. Ευτυχώς για μένα, δεν έφαγα μια μπουκιά, ούτε αρκέστηκα σε ένα κομμάτι. Αντιθέτως έφαγα όλο το θιβετιανό ταψί. [...]

- Read More Here: https://nikolasinbookland.wordpress.c...

[Marilena ⚓ · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5-3*Μου άρεσε το βιβλίο,γέλασα πολύ,ίσως σε ορισμένα κεφάλαια μου φάνηκε λίγο υπερβολικός, αλλα δεν μου χάλασε την συνολική εικόνα του βιβλίου.
Η γραφή του Ρόμπινς ειναι μοναδική,με τόσο χιούμορ που δύσκολα βρίσκεις σε βιβλίο!

[Nick Iuppa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tibetan Peach Pie

Now in his 80s, Tom Robbins’s reminiscences about his creative life are just as caustic, irreverent, funny, and generous as anything he’s ever written. In Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins reflects on his life, art criticism, the benefits of marijuana (but no other drugs), the golden age of publishing (long gone), his world travels (including some really scary and dangerous experiences in Timbuktu), being investigated by sexy FBI agents (who didn’t return his Christmas cards), his love for his wife and women in general including Linda Ronstadt (before Weiner schnitzel and enchiladas had their way with her). In the end Robbins tells us that he’s most grateful for the gift of being able to live in the rational world and the world of imagination at the same time. And then he adds that like the French feeling about an affair (the best part is going up the stairs), it may be better to “imagine heaven than to actually go there.” Amen, maybe, Tom. One other thing comes through these pages loud and clear: this guy knows how to have a really good time... and HE has the literary skills to make his good times real for the rest of us.

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Το τελείωσα μέσα στο αεροπλάνο για Βουδαπέστη. Ήταν μια υπέροχη συντροφιά! Εκτός από μια ενδιαφέρουσα ζωή που μου έδωσε μια εικόνα του πως είναι ο Τομ απόλαυσα τις ιστορίες του και την ροή τους. Αυτό το πάνω κάτω πέρα δώθε ανάμεσα στα χρόνια ήταν σαν να τον έχεις μπροστά σου και να σου μιλάει.
Πως είσαι σε μια κουβέντα και ξεκινάς από κάπου, πας παρακάτω, γυρνάς στα πιο παλιά και ξανά πάλι; Έτσι ήταν αυτό το βιβλίο για μένα! Μια ευχάριστη συζήτηση με έναν άνθρωπο που έχει ζήσει πολλά και έχει κάνει πολλά! Και απόλαυσα κάθε στιγμή! (καιρός να διαβάσω κι άλλα του!)

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Έχοντας διαβάσει τόσες θετικές κριτικές, το ξεκίνησα με μεγάλες φιλοδοξίες και έκανα προσπάθεια να το φτάσω μέχρι το τέλος αλλά δεν....Με κούρασε αφόρητα και τελικά, επειδή περιμένουν άλλα τόσα ενδιαφέροντα βιβλία εκεί έξω, το παράτησα πριν από τη μέση. Κλαίω ακόμα τα χρήματα που έδωσα για να το πάρω...

[Dimitris Ligoxigakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Σε ότι αφορά το "κουλ" ,δεν υπάρχει τίποτα που να έχει επινοήσει η ανθρώπινη φυλή και να είναι πιο κουλ από ενα βιβλίο).....αν ισχυει κάτι τετοιο ,αυτο το βιβλίο ειναι.... κουλ.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those unfamiliar with this author, his 'claim to fame' is Even Cowgirls Get the Blues which was optioned in a film that starred Debra Winger. I came across Tom when I saw Still Life with Woodpecker at the library and found it hilarious to say the least.

Filled with short, poignant and often laugh out loud stories, Tom reflects on his illustrious life and having been born in 1932, his recall of memories is astounding! Married twice, well traveled his encounters are borderline Twilight Zone especially those with Tim Leary, movie stars and elephants!

I decided to zoom through the childhood stories which are a bit repetitious though anecdotes from his jobs in journalism, dealing with literary agents and Hollywood had me laughing hysterically at times. Whether you've read his books or not, Tom's had one of the most colorful lives imaginable and he does a terrific job engaging the reader. If you don't add this one to your list, make sure to read "Still Life with Woodpecker"!

[Lena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered Tom Robbins via Jitterbug Perfume in high school, and spent the next several years as an avid fan. Aside from tracking down the exotically named Alexa D'Avalon, rumored to be the author's girlfriend, to have my tarot cards read, I never gave a great deal of thought to the man himself. I assumed he had sprung, fully formed like Venus, into the pantheon of psychedelic authors and never dared imagine the path that could have created such a mind.

In Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins gives some well-framed glimpses into the life that led him to his unlikely career. There was a great deal I was surprised to learn about him, including that he was born in the South during the depression, served in the Korean War, and began his writing career as an art critic for the Seattle Times.

Robbins is a languid and amiable storyteller as he recounts choice moments from his past, including everything from shenanigans in his military academy to his discover of Bohemia upon his return from the war.

Robbins is open about the fact that the book is not intended to be an exhaustive chronicle of his life. While he goes into a bit of detail about his first LSD and mushroom trips, he spends less time on such matters as readers might expect. He also dispenses with more emotional matters like his first wife's infidelity in a couple of sentences.

Those stories he chooses to tell, however, are more than worth hearing, and I found the book quite enjoyable to read. Of particular interest to me was his discussion of finding his authorial way into the pages of Another Roadside Attraction. It was thus equally disappointing that he he spent only a paragraph on Jitterbug and Skinny Legs, and was a little more circumspect than I would have liked regarding the film adaptation of Cowgirls.

Instead, Robbins focused the end of the book on some of the more exotic travels his writing wealth allowed him and his current wife, the aforementioned Ms. D'Avalon. While I closed this book not knowing everything I wanted to about Tom Robbins, I at least know now for certain that he was the "sweetie" Alexa referred to back in that tarot reading in 1988.

[Allen Murphey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Robbins's (what -- memoir?) fun and insightful, very enjoyable. Robbins fans should enjoy his stories of growing up, traveling the world, and maturing (correct word choice?) into the writer he is. I grew up with the counter culture, drugs, and hippies; twenty years my senior, Robbins's unique style shares with me vivid, in-depth glimpses into himself and into the country as it was evolving through the 1960s and 1970s, changing into the society I encountered.

For readers unfamiliar with Tom Robbins, this book is an attractive introduction; for fans, it's close conversation with an old friend; for students wondering how society and the world influence writers (and vice versa), Tibetan Peach Pie is textbook.

I'm biased: With which three people would I love to sit down to dinner? Scott Simon (NPR), Bob Costas (NBC Sports), and Tom Robbins. As long as Robbins has no say in the menu.

[Jenny Ko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Απολαυστική αυτοβιογραφία του Τιμ Ρομπινς! Ο τύπος ειναι θεότρελος, έχει ζήσει μια υπέροχη ζωη, υπερβολική σαν τα βιβλία του και με πολύ χιούμορ, σαρκασμό και καθόλου προσπάθεια εντυπωσιασμού μας διηγείται τις τρελές περιπέτειές του στην Αμερική αλλά και σε πολλά μέρη του κόσμου που πεθαίνουμε να ταξιδέψουμε. Νομίζω οτι θα μπορούσε άνετα να συνεχίζει να μιλάει και να εντυπωσιάζει για ακόμα 400 σελίδες! Αργησα βέβαια να το τελειώσω καθώς διάβαζα παράλληλα και άλλα βιβλία αλλά κάθε φορά που το άνοιγα βυθιζόμουν στην αφηγηση του σαν να εκτυλισσόταν μπροστά μου όλες οι ιστορίες του!

[Veronica Zaleha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me knows that Tom Robbins is my favorite author. That is a bold statement from an English major turned librarian who reads widely and admires many writers. Since discovering Robbins in my early twenties and reading everything he had published up to that point, I have rushed out to buy his most recently published novels while still in hardback as soon as they hit the bookstore shelves. I did the same with his recently published, Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life, and have relished every taste of every slice. Having just closed the cover after reading the final chapter, Swan Song, I now begin my review, which I must confess is as much love letter as it is literary critique. A love letter and a note of thanks in gratitude for what Tom Robbins has given me for three decades of my life so far.

It is not too much of a stretch to say that Tom Robbins saved my life. During those turbulent years of my 20s while I was already divorced and single parenting my only son, I suffered depression and angst as I tried to envision a life for myself that might allow for me to continue my creative journey, in spite of the detour I’d taken while so young that I did not yet even know the rules of the road. A boyfriend at the time loaned me his copy of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and I lost myself, along with Sissy Hankshaw, within The Chink’s caverns where time became an abstract concept. When I would close the pages of that fictional world to respond to life’s demands, said boyfriend told me he could tell I’d been reading Robbins “by the way I walked.” I am like the fan who wrote to Robbins in her memoir worthy letter, “Your books make me laugh, they make me think, they make me horny, and they make me aware of all the wonder in the world.”

I next read Robbins’ first novel, Another Roadside Attraction, and began to see myself and my son as Amanda and her infant son Thor. (I’ve always over identified with characters in the novels I read. If you could ask my mother, she'd tell you about the week she had to serve me nothing but bread and cheese for dinner while I read Heidi). Amanda has continued to serve as my role model of a woman free of convention while nurturing and caring for her child, the world, and all of its inhabitants. Her observation that “human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself,” has remained my favorite antidote for anthropocentrism. During those years I was juggling my life as a parent and a poet and a full-time English major at the local university. For my senior thesis, “Digging Up the Underground Novel,” I focused my attention on novels that gained mass appeal slowly, sometime after original their publication, usually as a paperback, via word-of-mouth promotion, often on college campuses. Another Roadside Attraction figured prominently among the titles. It was gratifying to see my pre-Internet research into the publication statistics from the Library of Congress validated by Robbins’ own description of his first novel's sales in his chapter, “The Book.”

Until another of his books was published, at which time I would abandon anything else to pick it up and read: Villa Incognito, Wild Ducks Flying Backward, B is for Beer, and now, Tibetan Peach Pie, I have gone about the business of rereading each of Robbins’ novels, this time in chronological order of its publishing, noting Robbins’ own evolution as a writer, thinker, and theologian. (Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, by the way, demonstrating the apex of all his learning, in my opinion). Robbins taught me the gift of “wabi-sabi.” Amidst my own imperfect life, his novels reminded me, as he articulates so beautifully in his recent account, “This program is subject to change – often unexpectedly, sometimes in the batting of an eye. It’s the best argument I know against suicide.” His novels illustrated the magic of possibility in ways that gave me hope. Since rereading Still Life with Woodpecker in the advent of computer technology, “Unwilling to wait for mankind to improve, the outlaw lives as if that day were here, and I love that most of all,” has remained my email signature quote. How very grateful I am that Robbins “possess[es] the lightness of spirit and the freedom of mind to live as if such developments [manifestion] would pale in comparison to those one regularly experiences at the piano, the easel, the writing pad, or upon viewing the pattern of fallen leaves in the gutter; to live – against all evidence – as if advances in fortune were already here.”

Five years ago, I decided to visit a therapist while trying to decide about making a major life change. It involved, as choices often do, the decision to leave behind something familiar, safe, and secure to try something new, different and without promise of safety or security. The rational, practical side that had needed to rule me all those years I’d been the provider for myself and my child argued that I should remain in my conservative hometown, with my family, in a good job I had been invested in for years. Another part of me wanted to join my soul mate on the adventure that had taken him to a California beach town renowned for embracing bohemians and hippies, young and old alike. My brilliant therapist, aware of my love for Tom Robbins, asked me astutely, “What would a character in one of Robbins’ novels do?” Of course, the answer was easy.

Now in my 50’s, middle-aged, overweight, mild-mannered, school-librarian on the outside, I am still living life as if I were one of my many female heroines in Robbins’ novels. What a gift for the creator of these characters to share his own honest, earnest, very human telling of Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life. Going back to his earliest shamanistic impulses as a boy with is talking stick, we learn the stories that took “little Tommy Rotten” from down South to the Pacific Northwest. Robbins’ shows us “how writing can be simultaneously ironic and heartfelt,” and how he followed that impulse, uncommon in the publishing world, to “awaken the reader’s sense of wonder.” Now in his 80’s, Robbins’ final chapter, “Swan Song,” reminds me that there will come a day when I can no longer rush out to buy his latest book still in hardback. Tibetan Peach Pie could be the last, and this realization breaks my heart. Throughout his account, Robbins seems to point out that, in spite of reasoning to the contrary, there does seem to be some “juju” in the world. I’d like to hope that, like his characters in Jitterbug Perfume, Robbins will live forever. As long as his novels do, he will live in our collective imagination.

[Roula · Rating 3 out of 5]

δεν με ενθουσιασε οπως τα υπολοιπα βιβλια του που εχω διαβασει, αλλα καποια κεφαλαια ηταν πολυ διασκεδαστικα και ειδικα ο επιλογος του βιβλιου.... <3

[Spiral · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ή εγώ έχω παραμεγαλώσει, ή ο θείος Τομ έχει αρχίσει να το χάνει. Βέβαια το ένα δεν αποκλείει το άλλο, ενώ, αν θέλω να είμαι απολύτως ειλικρινής, το τελευταίο βιβλίο του Τομ Ρόμπινς που πραγματικά ευχαριστήθηκα ήταν οι Αγριεμένοι Ανάπηροι, κι έχουν περάσει 15 χρόνια από τότε. Το βασικό πρόβλημά μου με τη Θιβετιανή Ροδακινόπιτα είναι ότι για πρώτη φορά ο αγαπημένος συγγραφέας της μετεφηβείας μου, μου φαίνεται όχι απλά αδιάφορος αλλά αντιπαθής, κι αυτό με στενοχωρεί βαθιά. Εγωκεντρικός, νάρκισσος, φαύλος, αδαής (ειδικά τα κεφάλαια με τη θητεία του στην Κορέα και το ταξίδι στην Ιαπωνία μου γύρισαν τα έντερα από την βλαχοαμερικανίλα), γενικά ένας τύπος που δεν θα τον ήθελα με τίποτα στην παρέα μου. Από την άλλη, είναι μια μικρή συνειδητοποίηση του πόση δύναμη είχε η φαντασία και η ικανότητά του με τη γλώσσα, αφού μ' αυτά κατάφερνε τόσα χρόνια να μασκαρεύει το υπόλοιπο πακέτο. Το δεύτερο αστεράκι μπαίνει λόγω πρότερου λογοτεχνικού έρωτα, εξαιρετικής δουλειάς στην ελληνική έκδοση (το εξώφυλλο είναι ένα μικρό έργο τέχνης) αλλά κι εκείνης της τελευταίας παραγράφου στη σελίδα 440-441 που μου θύμησε γιατί αγάπησα τόσο πολύ τα προηγούμενα βιβλία του.

[Mary Goul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ένα μυθιστόρημα που δεν είναι μυθιστόρημα, είναι ιστορίες από την ίδια του την ζωή,μια αυτοβιογραφία που διαβάζοντας την καταλαβαίνουμε το πώς γράφτηκαν αυτά τα τρελιάρικα μυθιστορήματα του ,με τέτοια ζωή,τόση ζωηράδα και τρέλα που είχε,δεν θα μπορούσε να γράψει κάτι διαφορετικό. Αστείες προσωπικές περιπέτειες , αλλόκοτες ιστορίες και ακόμη πιο αλλόκοτες μεταφορές , για παράδειγμα : -"όταν ακούω τον εαυτό μου σε κασέτα, συνειδητοποιώ ότι στην πραγματικότητα έχω τη φωνή μιας κονσέρβας με φτηνή σκύλοτροφή" - "μια φωνή που θα μπορούσε να οπτικοποιηθεί,σαν να ξύνει ένας σπυριάρης έφηβος λαντζέρης το δάπεδο της κουζίνας ενός φαστ φουντ". -"όταν ήμουν έξι χρονών, ξύπνησα ένα πρωί και ήταν άνοιξη.Το βράδυ που κοιμήθηκα ήταν ακόμη χειμώνας, αλλά κάποια στιγμή μέσα στη νύχτα είχε γυρίσει η άνοιξη στο Μπλόουινγκ Ροκ σαν μεθυσμένη ντεμπιντάντ που μπαίνει κρυφά στο σπίτι της αργά μετά το χορό..". Όχι πείτε μου εσείς θα σκεφτόσασταν ποτέ την άνοιξη σαν μεθυσμένη ντεμπιντάντ; Επίσης το βιβλίο αυτό είναι γεμάτο από αποστάγματα σοφίας του τύπου "η ωριμότητα είναι μια υπερτιμημένη ιδιότητα με εξαίρεση στα κρασιά" Φαίνεται ότι ο μικρός ζωηρούλης Τόμι δεν μεγάλωσε ποτέ, όσο ζωηρός ήταν μικρός ήταν και στο πανεπιστήμιο από όπου τον διώξανε στα δύο χρόνια και το ίδιο ζωηρός έμεινε και μετά όπου έγινε υποσμηνίας και κατέληξε να πουλά λαθρέα τσιγάρα και κολγκέιτ στον πόλεμο της Κορέας το 1955 ! Σχεδόν σε όλο το βιβλίο υπάρχει μια εύθυμη διάθεση αποδοχής της αναπόφευκτης παροδικότητας μας και καταλαβαίνουμε ότι ο τύπος είναι πιο παλαβός και από ποντίκι υπονόμου!

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was looking for an audiobook online at my library to listen to for my commute. Not one of the books I have been waiting for were yet available. I saw Tibetan Peach Pie by Tom Robbins. I've heard of him but never read any of his novels. I thought I'd listen to it and send it back if I didn't like it.

Tom Robbins is now in his 80's, more than 3 decades older than myself. What could he possibly say to keep my interest. Boy was I mistaken. Tom Robbins is a wonderfully talented, intellectual, word smith. He writes about frogs and its entertaining. Each sentences is a masterpiece and must really be scrutinized to see just how talented and creative he is.

I'm going to look up his three best selling novels and add them to my repertoire.

[Landon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read. Quirky stories and quirkier sentences. I wish he’d spent as much time fleshing out his stories as he spent getting his prose to flow like a psychedelic chicken stampede.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING...

"The sixties, you see, were characterized not by manners but by fantasy."—page 249

'Tommy Rotten' is an octogenarian. Where's the fairness in that?

In my personal pantheon of heroes Tom Robbins, arguably the greatest wordsmith of the twentieth century, has long ranked above the Norse Gods and Goddesses. I have read, and vastly enjoyed, all ten of the books listed on the 'also by tom robbins' page.

Thus it was to my chagrin and dismay that I found portions of his 'quasi-memoir,' TIBETAN PEACH PIE: A True Account of an Imaginative Life, rather dull and lacking, somewhat, of that inimitable imagination. Perhaps the years have blunted our mental cutlery—his, and mine.

Recommendation: It's by, and about, Tom Robbins—of course you should read it.

"From the beginning, imagination has been my wild card, my skeleton key, my servant, my master, my bat cave, my home entertainment center, my floatation device, my syrup of wahoo; and I plan to stick with it to the end, whenever and however that end might come, and whether or not there is another act to follow."—page 366

Adobe Digital (ePub) edition, 366 Pages

[William Koon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Robbins and I were on the staff of the Ring Tum Phi at Washington and Lee University. At vastly different times. I taught his work Skinny Legs and All with great joy and enthusiasm. At one time little girls would "gift" me with copies of Another Road Side Attraction. Michael sent me a copy of Fierce Invalids which he had Robbins sign to me. I treasure it.

As I treasure this memoir. I know much more about Robbins than I did before. He grew up about nine miles from the place I call home. He spent many years as an art critic. I figured he knew a passel about Eastern mysticism, and he does. I figured him for a head and he was (is).

The fault with the work is that he spends far too much time on his youth and not enough time with his mature self. He brushes aside his five last books while dwelling far too much on his first two. Reading about the first blush of fame is wonderful, but how about the gin blossoms of the well trod author?

Along the way he writes cogently about the creative writing endeavor and approaches women, romance, and sex as a rank amateur. He drops a few names and with-holds others. We also have a fair picture of life in the 'fifties and 'sixties. I kept thinking as I read the work the quote from the late Jerome Garcia: "What a long strange trip it has been." By the way, his editor at the Ring Tum Phi was Tom Wolfe. Mine wasn't.

[Yanper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μία από τις ωραιότερες βιογραφίες που έχω διαβάσει! Ο Ρόμπινς με πολύ και καλό χιούμορ μας δίνει στοιχεία της ζωής του, μιλάει για τα βιβλία που έγραψε και πολλές φορές αναφέρεται σε διάσημα πρόσωπα των γραμμάτων και των τεχνών που γνώρισε, χωρίς να κουράζει με ανούσιες λεπτομέρειες αλλά πάντα με χιούμορ.

[philosophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished this book I was left with a big smile on my face!
Having read nothing by Tom Robbins, I only picked up this novel because of a recommendation, I didn't know what to expect. However, I soon became obsessed with his effortless writing style, which made TPP feel like a game.

[Kevin Brennan · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an adorer of Robbins lo these last forty years, I looked forward to reading this "memoir." As you might expect, TR does not attack his autobiography like every other celeb writer would; instead he bounces around in his history and recalls stand-out moments as if the two of you are drinking at some La Conner bar and he's pulling scenes out of his memory pouch to entertain you.

Many of his reminiscences are delightful. We see that he was the mercurial imp from an early age and that a variety of popular hallucinogens only enhanced his uncagable imagination. But somewhere in there -- after his success with Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and Still Life With Woodpecker -- his persona became (to my mind) that of a coddled celebrity writer. He jets around the world to exotic locations (including, of course, Timbuktu) and, though he's anchored in small-town Washington state it feels like he's the kind of guy who can't sit still for long without getting bored. Maybe the world inside his head is more appealing.

In a few of his recollections, Robbins made me wish I hadn't picked up the book at all. Sometimes it's best not to know much about your popular heroes, and I'll have to plunk him now in the same category where I keep John Lennon these days: Better to let the work represent the artist rather than his life and opinions.

I saw Robbins at one of those "Conversations With..." events back in the '90s. He was funny and opinionated and didn't mind offending some people with his slant on things. It was a nice glimpse of the man -- not TMI and not too little either. Now I'm saddled with more than I ever wanted to know.

I give the book three stars, though, because: Hey, it's Tom Robbins. And he's 82, for godssakes.

Could be Tibetan Peach Pie disturbed me because these last forty years feel like they've flown by...

[Moonkiszt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only my second TRobbins read, I continue to trend toward him being one of those "love 'em or hate 'em" sort of authors. He writes from years and places with which I am familiar, which give me if not a "home" feel, something quite akin to the crazy neighbors next door - and that's a kind of "home" feel - part of the environment, right?

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life is a land of Big Opinions and Little-to-No-Limitations. I lost track of how many times I laughed out loud, shook my head and said to the room at large, "I love this guy!" He's funny, he's real, he's outside the lines and the kind you want to spend a little time with. . . I suspect he's the kind that would be hard to stay up with, or maybe just stay with. But - that's not the point of a book - right? It is, even in a memoir, a kind of photo album of a certain time, or certain collection of time, of "snapshots" of a person's memories on display, presented to give the highlights. Whimsical and wise, practical and farfetched, and spot-on wordplay.

Was a great summer read. Perfect for the world's hottest August. Will continue to hunt down TRobbins oeuvre.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robbins was my favorite author for a while during high school, so it was great to read the first book that I’ve enjoyed by him in over a decade (I wasn’t a fan of B Is for Beer). It starts out with stories from his childhood. I initially had trouble getting into it and only read it little by little on the toilet, but it hit its stride for me around the time he started writing about himself when he was in his twenties. That’s when it stopped seeming less like a book of extremely short stories about quirky things that happened to him and more like a memoir. The writing isn’t as smooth as it used to be (as far as what I recall) and it seems like he no longer uses the technique to rewrite his sentences again and again until they’re perfect. Despite this, it’s still very Robbins-esque, although the sentences are occasionally overwrought.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make sure sure you’ve read everything you’ve ever had on your bucket list before starting this book. Trying to read anything afterwards, is like eating a tomato sandwich with salad dressing rather than the nectar that is real mayonnaise or like living in a monochromatic world after unlimited rides on a rainbow.