Average customer rating:
- "Disaster's always best when it's on a grand scale."
- Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs
- The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value
- Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius.
- Whither the Amphibians!
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Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Robbins, Tom
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ASIN: 0553076256
Release Date: 1994-08-01 |
Book Description
When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you — an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker — are
convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell. Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but
there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in your
life of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses. Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from
mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after
all, a Tom Robbins novel — and the author has never been in finer form.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Download Description
When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you -- an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker -- are convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell.
Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in yourlife of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses.
Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after all, a Tom Robbins novel -- and the author has never been in finer form.
"If reality is starting to feel a little too much like a Tom Robbins novel, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is a good source of inspiration to start making some sense of it."
THE HOUSTON POST
"A whirlwind of mad incidents . . . and an endless supply of great lines . . . a very funny book that might incite a bit of thinking as well as laughter."
LIBRARY JOURNAL
"Once again, Tom Robbins has proved he is the emperor of description, the master of metaphor, the sultan of simile -- the man is like Jackson Pollock with a word processor."
SAN ANTONIO CURRENT
"Turn off the television, unplug the telephone, curl up in bed (with or without pajamas), and consider this book an interactive experience that requires neither a CD-ROM nor a modem."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (RATING: A)
"For people who enjoyed the decade of greed, this is a quite subversive book."
THE SUNDAY ADVOCATE, BATON ROUGE
"It's hard not to fall under Robbins' seductive spell."
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
"Like good Psilocybin, Robbins shows us things that we would not otherwise see, and after the light of his particular vision has shone upon an object, we will never see it again in quite the same way."
THE PARK CITY (UTAH) RECORD
"More than mere entertainment . . . Frog hops over its bright and clever zaniness to plop us into a shadowy plot rippling with caution and prophecy."
THE OREGONIAN
"Frog Pajamas is . . . a ribbeting read."
FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
Customer Reviews:
"Disaster's always best when it's on a grand scale.".......2007-08-22
... and the scale certainly is grand in Tom Robbins' rollicking riot of a novel. It opens with the beginning of a disastrous three-day weekend for one Gwendolyn Mati, a lovingly unlikable stockbroker whose ambitions are sky high and whose perceptions seem hopelessly shallow. It is the night before Good Friday and there has been a disastrous plunge in the stock market that has the whole economy screaming disaster, and Gwen finds herself facing termination on Monday morning thanks to some shady ethics she exercised in her client's portfolios that have been brought to light by the crash. Her once-promising boyfriend, Belford, is annoying her to no end after developing an unhealthy dose of Christian guilt that is compelling him to leave his promising real estate career for (gasp!) social work. Gwen desperately needs to find a way to keep her job before Monday morning, but she can't seem to get a seemingly sleazy former stockbroker named Larry Diamond off her mind. And things only get worse the following day, when Belford's born-again pet monkey escapes and Gwen's best friend, a 300 pound psychic named Q-Jo, vanishes. All this happens in the first hundred pages of "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," and the Robbins roller coaster has only just begun. There's still a curious cancer treatment, a bunch of overly rich and rowdy teenagers, celestial interference, a sex offender, disappearing frogs, a transfixing Van Gogh sketch, aliens, and more to come.
"Half Asleep" is at its riotous best in its first half, when Robbins gives free reign to his limitless imagination, and the result is a philosophical-comedy mind-warp that could give Vonnegut's masterful Breakfast of Champions a run for its money ... until the second half of the novel devolves into a talky jumble of rambling philosophical dialogue that does more to annoy the reader than to enlighten him. I like what Robbins is saying underneath it all (that we need to chill out, think about how we define our lives, and focus on what really matters instead of allowing money and ambition steer us off course), but he weakens his argument by muddling it with random references to alien mushroom spores, enemas, et al. His specious asides confound more than anything else, and make you long for the carefree opening salvo that had said so much more without trying nearly as hard. The ending is also truly disappointing because it is all too sudden and leaves you with too many questions.
This was my first Robbins novel, and despite its flaws I did enjoy it. I am particularly impressed by his unique descriptive style: instead of telling us that someone has the chills he writes that "ice cubes clink against the swizzle stick of your spine." Nice touch, Mr. Robbins. I look forward to exploring the rest of his canon in the future. I just hope that there's more madcap glee than abstruse philosophy.
Grade: B-
Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs.......2007-05-27
This book is classic Tom Robbins in the sense that almost every page has some hilariously humorous play on words, or unreal observation about real events, including a lot of incisive commentary on the subject of Washington's allegedly wooden teeth. (I kept wondering if he got knot holes instead of cavities, and whether he used Terminix for dental services*)
That said, this is not one of his best books by a long shot. It starts slowly, works up to a purple passion and then lands flat on its squatty Buddha-esque rear end. The tortuous tale twists around a feckless female Filipino stock broker, facing the fall of the fickle stock market over the Good Friday weekend, frantically forming far-fetched formulae to foil her forthcoming firing. Her acquaintances include a traditionally built psychic, whose fall-back occupation is watching home movies of the lonely and attention-deficient, a philanthropic Lutheran real estate broker who desperately wants to marry her, and last of all, a born again Barbary ape with a yen for banana popsicles and larceny.
While living through the worst days of her lives, she meets a tattooed ex-broker recently back from Timbuktu, and tracks him to his den of decadence beneath a bowling alley. Through this earth shaking incident, not all of which could be blamed on the rise and fall of the bowling pins, she has an Alice in Wonderland experience involving a distant planet, a toothy Japanese doctor who is said to have found a cure for cancer, an inscrutable Indian and a whole lot of amphibians.
Highly pseudo-philosophic, with unlikeable characters and flimsy plot, the main thing this has going for it is the dry humor of the word play, and all the rain in Seattle can't wash that away.
Amanda Richards, May 26, 2007
*Not a Tom Robbins quote, but it might have been if I didn't write it first
The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value.......2006-01-18
I think the reason this book represents Tom Robbins' descent into mediocrity is twofold. The first reason being the initial 100 pages simply aren't that good. The second reason is that the following 300 pages, while easy and enjoyable to read, aren't nearly as dense and full of wisdom as his previous books. Those who randomly pick up this book will probably like it, provided that this is your type of material. Those expecting the same Robbins you get in ARA, Cowgirls, Jitterbug, Woodpecker, etc, will surely be disappointed.
Looking at page 119, specifically the end of the second full paragraph, here lies all you need to know to see how off the mark this book is for Robbins. The Poona Tang? High school caliber writing. This typifies what we get in the first 100 (and then some) pages. For me, it's obvious that Robbins was straining too hard to write "knowledgeably" about the economy, something he likely didn't research carefully and cares little about. It shows in his writing - not that you can fault him for this. But it's there, and it shows.
The first paragraph of page 126 shows where he starts to turn it on. If I were to guess, I would say that somewhere between 119 and 126 he took a hiatus, and when he came back he was ready to dive into the book. The narrative takes on the expected Robbins narrative. The absurdity and craft that Robbins readers have come to know and love peeks it's head out of the clouds built up in the beginning.
This isn't to say that the book stands as one of his all-time best, because it doesn't. The reader will get more out of taking it in as it comes, which is rapidly, as opposed to the normal Robbins book which is 5-10 pages at a time. This book can be read briefly, whereas the typical Robbins book is so thick with brilliance that you want to savor it.
This isn't to say it's a bad book, it's not. The last 100 pages cruised by, I couldn't put it down. Again, that's probably saying something considering Robbins books tend to be more dense than that. In the end, it's still a good book - just not what you expect. The philosophies less deeply frequent, the metaphors less imbibing.
The actual content overview can be gleaned from any number of other reviews here, so restating it is a waste of time for the reader. What I will say is that the book tends to go into the typical Robbins realm, but as mentioned above, not quite so deeply. This isn't to say your average Joe Bestselling Reader is going to like Robbins, because he's not. Larry Diamond's dialogs are sure to annoy your typical 9-5 worker.
Still, there's a lot to be gotten from the book. Those who shy away from the typical best seller and look for alternative material will find this an entertaining read. While not as good as most of his others, it still stands as a good example of excellent writing.
Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius........2005-09-23
I, like many others, have read most of Tom's books and while some of his main characters have been slightly annoying (Still Life with Woodpecker, anyone?), Matti takes the cake. Don't let her character dissuade you from reading the book. Her character is a money-grubbing stockbroker containing no true love or passion for life. She is intended (I believe) to represent the consumer in all of us, albeit the worst parts. She is not supposed to be likable. A likable Matti would have taken away this stories point: how even the most vile, egotistical, greedy person can transform, or should I say be pushed to transform when the stakes are raised high enough. The story begins at the start of a four-day weekend, just after a major stock crash. Matti is in jeopardy of losing her job, she can't even make the payments on her new Porsche, boo-ho! Moreover, the boyfriend that she's been dating because of his giant paycheck has decided to give it to charity. On top of everything, his monkey gets loose (did I mention that this monkey was trained to steal jewelry and that the aforementioned boyfriend has taken it upon himself to convert the monkey to Christianity?) and may be heisting peoples belongings. Craziness!
As always, Tom's writing is spectacular and you'll be learning arcane bits of knowledge on every page. Some of his ideas are crazy, but deep down are not all ideas crazy?
Whither the Amphibians!.......2005-08-12
A good quote at the beginning of this four day romp is from Isaac Bashevis Singer, "No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world." Sometimes, it is hard to know what is real and what is only a fanciful idea in your mind.
The stock market crashed on the Thursday before Easter, and its the 'worst day of Phil's life.' He drowns his sorrow with a double gin martini instead of his usual white wine. At a time like this, the stronger drink is needed just to sustain some kind of acceptance of your fate. From here on in, you're on your own, and tht's had to do in a crisis.
On April 5, he's 'just back from Timbuktu, when the ball drops out of the basket. The next day, he decides 'the dream ain't over till the White Dearf Sings' as he gets more soused and more into a fantasy world. But, by the 9th, it's 'just another day in the life of a fool' as he returns to Timbuktu.
I have a stubborn skin cancer on my forehead above the browline between the eyes caused by the sun, I am told, but nothing helps and it hurts and stays looking ugly. So a friend named Linda gave me a semi-hat to wear in my favorite color blue with the I LOVE FROGS in bright colors on the front and a baby frog on the back. I feel silly wearing hats, or carrying parasols, which is the reason I have the skin cancer in the first place. But I especially try not to wear something which will draw attention to that area of my face. The other day, I ventured out without makeup to Walgreen's to buy some Revlon with sunscreen in it for a special occasion; when I cross over Cumberland to Macdonald's, the girl working there said "You look precious." I was shocked to say the least. She loved the hat, and said that God had sent me there that day for her to witness his love for me, to touch that place every day and talk to God. Well, I haven't done that yet, but I have found a more competent dermatologist who can remove this blasted thing so that the scar won't show. God sent me another 'angel' who'd had the same problem and gave me the name of the doctor who worked miracles on her. Monday I go to see if he can do a minor one on me as well.
I think I'd rather be 'half asleep in frog pajamas' than still wearing the 'frogs' hat. The brothers Grimm's first published fairy tale was THE FROG PRINCE.
I'd rather it be a cat or a bird or even a rose. She made my day by her greeting and now I may get the help I need to look good again. I'll know on the 15th.
Average customer rating:
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Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas
Tom Robbins
Manufacturer: Bantam Books, NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 055340928X |
Product Description
Abby Miller leaves her successful quilt shop and patient fiance in Ohio to help her newly remarried and now pregnant mother in Lancaster County. While she's away, Abby's world is shattered in one fell swoop. How can God make anything good come out of this tragedy? With shaken faith, Abby is forced to look for answers away from friends and family. Will she find them in the ashes of the past, in her love of quilting, or in the heart of an overlooked Amish man? Can her faith withstand the flames of tragedy?
Customer Reviews:
great amish ficition........2007-09-02
when i bought the book,i didn't think i would like it.but it was well written and very hard to put down.she weaved so many smaller stories into the larger one,you feel for all the people,like you really know them.i loved this book.i can't wait to read more of her stuff.
The Quilter's Daughter (Daughters of Lancaster County #2).......2007-08-10
Once you've read Part 1, you must read Part 2. Wanda Brunstetter brings to life the Amish community as you've never heard it told before. She is detailed and fresh in her tales of everyday life in Amish country. When you finish one book, you have to have the next one available to continue with her saga. I recommend any of her books to anyone who wants to read a good, wholesome family story. You follow her characters from book to book and share in their plain Christian lifestyle leaving your "fancy" ways behind, at least for the moment. I cannot say enough good about Mrs. Brunstetter's books.
The Quilters Daughter.......2007-02-26
I found this book an interesting read. It is very imformative about the Amish people, occasionaly using some of their Pennslyvania-Dutch dialect in the text.
It is the story of a young Amish women that has to decide between going to help her pregnant 47 year old mother in Pennslyvania or staying in Ohio with her soon to be husband. Then, a double tragedy stikes and leaves Abby in ruins. It tells about how she copes with these events and about how she recovers.
For people who want an uplifting read full of action, I would not recommend this book. It has a lot of depressing moments, but that makes it a lot more real than having Abby's life go on with no troubles at all. The ending leaves you hanging a little bit, but it's a good book over all.
Quilted like a pro.......2007-01-19
She has once again written her book as a peice of the puzzle to all her others.Just as if she is quilting,which I love.PLease read this book.Don't miss this one. Nadia N.Rehmani-check out my book here also-Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword
Lousy,.......2007-01-06
the abrupt and overly contrived happy ending left much to be desired...but then so did the entire book....too much dull dialogue....the only interesting part of the story was just left dangling...Linda and Jim and little Jimmy were totally not addressed at the end of the book....
Book Description
Readers of Jennifer Chiaverini's popular and engaging Elm Creek Quilts series are treated in each successive volume to storytelling that expertly weaves the joys and intricacies of history, quilting, and family ties. In The Quilter's Legacy, a daughter's search for her mother's treasured heirlooms illuminates life in Manhattan and rural Pennsylvania at the turn of the last century.
When precious heirloom quilts hand-stitched by her mother turn up missing from the attic of Elm Creek Manor, Sylvia Bergstrom Compson resolves to find them. From scant resources -- journal entries, receipts, and her own fading memories -- she pieces together clues, then queries quilting friends from around the world. When dozens of leads arrive via the Internet, Sylvia and her fiancé, Andrew, embark on a nationwide investigation of antiques shops and quilt museums.
Sylvia's quest leads her to unexpected places, where offers of assistance are not always what they seem. As the search continues, revelations surface about her mother, Eleanor Lockwood, who died in 1930, when Sylvia was only a child. Burdened with poor health and distant parents, Eleanor Lockwood defied her family by marrying for love. Far from her Manhattan home, she embraced her new life among the Bergstroms -- but although warmth and affection surrounded Eleanor at last, the Bergstroms could not escape the tragedies of their times.
As Sylvia recovers some of the missing quilts and accepts others as lost forever, she reflects on the woman her mother was and mourns the woman she never knew. For every daughter who has yearned to know the untold story of her mother's life, and for every mother who has longed to be heard, The Quilter's Legacy will resonate with heartfelt honesty as it reveals what tenuous connections bind the generations and celebrates the love that sustains them.
Customer Reviews:
quilters legacy.......2007-06-17
I , as a quilter, do enjoy this series. Runaway quilt has been my favorite so far but love to follow the characters.
The Quilter's Legacy.......2006-11-06
This book was really good. Not only am I interested in quilts, but also genealogy and this had a touch of that too! Very good book.
OOPS!.......2006-11-03
Content of the book was good- however, some of the language of all this series could have been improved. It ISN'T necessary to have swearing in order to write a book! I enjoyed all except for that!
Elaine Willard
Riveting.......2006-09-01
I flew through this book just like the previous 4 in the series. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
Excellent.......2006-07-09
There are two plots to this story: Sylvia Compson's search for her mother's quilts, which Sylvia's sister had sold; and the story of Eleanor, Sylvia's mother.
It needs to be remembered that the audience gets to learn about Eleanor, but Sylvia is not reading a journal by her mother, or in any way learning what we as the readers now know about her mother's life. Some of it Sylvia is able to piece together in the book, but the majority of it, only we as the readers know.
It gives us insight and understanding that Sylvia does not have. It also gave me more understanding of the rift between Sylvia and her sister Claudia.
I think this was a very good writing device. One thing I've noticed about Chiaverini's writing is that she is not afraid to introduce new characters, or change our opinions, even slightly, about existing and continuing characters. She is not afraid to let some characters move on, as they would in real life. For me, that is what makes these books so interesting, so valid and so real. People move on. People change careers, divorce, marry, move away, try new things, and sometimes stay in the same job and the same area. It's life. I think Chiaverini's books mirror life.
The hunt for the quilts was painful in a way for me. My own family has been searching for family quilts that disappeared during the funeral of my great-grandmother. I think this is a very truthful portrayal of how disheartening it is, too, to work so hard on any needlework craft, including quilting, and those who don't appreciate or understand the enormous amount of time, patience, creativiity, and work that goes into it, just letting the dog lie on it, or giving it away, or selling it. Yep, I've seen all of those in real life happen and it breaks the heart. It also makes me decide nope, I am not giving that person any more of my needlework. Too bad for them.
The adult children of Andrew seemed like an accurate and possible portrayal to me. I'm sorry to say it, but weddings and funerals bring out the worst at times in a saint. I've seen people who are normally rational, kind-hearted, dear people go into anger and say and do things that are shocking. You realize that you didn't really know that person after all. For those who say the reaction of the adult children was not creditable, I can only say that for me, it sure was. I've seen really decent, kind people who go to church and do the right things in life and are law-abiding citizens do and say some really crazy, out-of-character, nutty things when it comes to marriage or funerals or more to the point, who is getting what in a will. If you haven't experienced it, my bet is that someday, unfortunately, you'll find that you will. "It'll never happen in MY family!" are famous last words.
And that's what this book is, and what all of Chiaverini's books are for me: honest. Honesty doesn't mean a perfectly happy ending. If it was perfectly happy, all of the quilts would never have been sold in the first place, or if they had been, all of them would have been found and in pristine condition.
I really enjoyed this book.
Product Description
3 NOVELS IN ONE BOOK THE STOREKEEPER'S DAUGHTERTHE QUILTER'S DAUGHTERTHE BISHOP'S DAUGHTER
Book Description
The riveting story of a kidnapped Amish child is told through three bestselling novels set in Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Amish country. From the beginning, Naomi Fisher blames herself for the family's tragedy and journeys away from home to find a purpose for living. Abby Miller leaves her successful Ohio quilt shop to help the Fisher family, but how long can she continue to put her dreams on hold? Leona Weaver is dedicated to her family and community, but when she falls in love with an outsider, could this friendship bring the haunting tale of a kidnapped boy full circle?
Product Description
The riveting story of a kidnapped Amish child is told through three bestselling novels set in Lancaster, Pennsylvania's Amish country. From the beginning, Naomi Fisher blames herself for the family's tragedy and journeys away from home to find a purpose for living. Abby Miller leaves her successful Ohio quilt shop to help the Fisher family, but how long can she continue to put her dreams on hold? Leona Weaver is dedicated to her family and community, but when she falls in love with an outsider, could this friendship bring the haunting tale of a kidnapped boy full circle? From the PublisherThis jumbo volume encases three bestselling and highly praised novels by Wanda E. Brunstetter. A three-part story unfolds in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a child's kidnapping affects the whole Amish community. In the midst of the tragic aftermath, three young Amish women struggle to find hope and love.
Product Description
3-book set of Daugters of Lancaster County Series by Wanda E. Brunstetter.
Books:
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Kentucky Sunrise
- Let the Church Say Amen
- Lord Brocktree: A Tale from Redwall (Redwall (Firebird Paperback))
- Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
- Michael Crichton: A New Collection of Three Complete Novels: Congo, Sphere, Eaters of the Dead
- Midnight Rainbow
- Milkrun
- Monkeewrench
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