In Jitterbug Perfume, he reduces the world to its basic essences - sex, smells, selfishness - and does so through characters who are caricatures of ourselves: caricatures because they will say what our hormone-saturated body parts long to say and ask what our higher-order neurons long to ask. His cockamamie imagery will make you simultaneously chuckle and cringe with nervous excitement as you realize life is actually as upside-down as he portrays it in fiction. If you’re interested in purchasing the book, you can click on the cover image to follow an Amazon affiliate link to the book and thanks for supporting my blog!Įnter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.Tom Robbins has a talent for witty prose that borders on the obscenely poetic. Reading challenges fulfilled: 13/100 in my 100 Book Challenge, and an R in the Alphabet Soup Author Challenge The K23 perfume was also a major plot point. Title comes from: The Bandaloop jitterbug was a dance developed towards the end of the story to promote longevity. It’s definitely an adult book, though, because sex is another element of longevity. It was significant that Pan had a rather nasty smell. The perfume theme throughout the story added a unique element to the story, and became an important driver to the plot and the extension of life. The story reads like a literary fiction book, but the nearly eternal life of Alobar turns it into science fiction, and the mystical journey of Kudra turns it into fantasy. Eventually, Alobar shares the secret of the perfume and his extended life with a select group of people.įinal thoughts: An interesting story with a fascinating premise behind death – it’s just a habit that can be broken by an individual who’s able to combine wisdom and joy. It is found hundreds of years later by a perfumier who tries to recreate the perfume. They create K23, but the bottle is lost off the boat in the New Orleans harbor. Alobar and Kudra devise a plan to take Pan to America to revive him with wilderness, but they need a perfume to mask his earthy stench. They meet the god Pan, who’s slowly wasting away as the world is civilized. On the way, he’s joined by Kudra, who becomes his wife. Alobar objects to death and he sets off on a journey to extend his life as long as possible.
Alobar is a Germanic King in a tribe that kills the King when he shows signs of age. Summary: There are two separate stories that intersect at the end. Interest: It was recommended by a friend.
Setting: various times and places on Earth
Genre: fiction with a hint of science fiction/fantasy
0 kommentar(er)
