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Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas
A paperback original, which describes a bizarre weekend through the eyes of a young broker who has just experienced a stockmarket crash. From the author of EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES.
389 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
460 people are currently reading
6,264 people want to read
About the author
Tom Robbins
56books7,027followersThomas 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".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 878 reviews
August 12, 2009
Separate from my myriad secret addictions was my very public addiction to Tom Robbins books. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 1996, I called my mother. I said, "I have cancer." She paused briefly and then said, "I know what you need. You need a new Tom Robbins' novel."
I cannot claim conclusively that Tom Robbins' writing can cure cancer, but here I am free since 1997.
That's all I'm saying.
And I got that book signed, too.
I cannot claim conclusively that Tom Robbins' writing can cure cancer, but here I am free since 1997.
That's all I'm saying.
And I got that book signed, too.
May 9, 2008
This was my final attempt to enjoy a Tom Robbins book. I failed.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same from Robbins. Ham-fisted philosophizing, lurid sex, and purple prose. I guess if you were a teenager this would seem very literate and high-minded. Sadly, once you have read actual literature, you realize that this is garbage.
Although Tom tries to be esoteric and witty, it just isn't very good. Yeah, we get it, you know big words. Now try using them constructively instead of peppering your novels with hundreds of idiotic similes and analogies.
I think Robbins is trying to write in a humorous style, but frankly the only laugh I got was when I found the original sales receipt tucked into the used copy I bought and realized that someone had paid full hardback price for this turd of a novel.
Unfortunately, it was more of the same from Robbins. Ham-fisted philosophizing, lurid sex, and purple prose. I guess if you were a teenager this would seem very literate and high-minded. Sadly, once you have read actual literature, you realize that this is garbage.
Although Tom tries to be esoteric and witty, it just isn't very good. Yeah, we get it, you know big words. Now try using them constructively instead of peppering your novels with hundreds of idiotic similes and analogies.
I think Robbins is trying to write in a humorous style, but frankly the only laugh I got was when I found the original sales receipt tucked into the used copy I bought and realized that someone had paid full hardback price for this turd of a novel.
July 17, 2008
Reading Tom Robbins is like reading Hunter S. Thompson. Almost everyone seems to go through that phase at some point, and then eventually that phase ends.
I read every Tom Robbins book up to this one; I've yet to read his latest two (or three, or however many there are). Each of them is fantastic in its own way, although there are some consistencies in his style that are fantastic throughout his books -- his completely mind-blowing use of language in the service of crazy descriptions, analogies, and similes, and his Crazy Theory, that point of each book that would in a more traditional author be the denouement, but in the Robbins oeuvre is where he unveils whatever crackpot (and compelling, if you're predisposed to such thoughts, as I am) theory he's holding on to at the time.
Of the books I've read, Another Roadside Attraction stands out for its audacity; Jitterbug Perfume for the incredible story and writing (I still remember this line from the intro, something that is nearly unprecedented for yours truly, Mr. Swiss Cheese head: "[They] say a story that begins with a beet will end with the devil; that is a risk we will have to take."
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, however, is remarkable for two reasons: the "Tom Robbins' Crazy Theory" of the book is both the broadest and craziest of them all, and his use of the second person is a challenging, compelling and ultimately rewarding technique. Who writes in the second person anymore, and of those who do, how many of them choose such an unlikable character to make "you" identify with? Tom Robbins does, and he does it effortlessly well.
I read every Tom Robbins book up to this one; I've yet to read his latest two (or three, or however many there are). Each of them is fantastic in its own way, although there are some consistencies in his style that are fantastic throughout his books -- his completely mind-blowing use of language in the service of crazy descriptions, analogies, and similes, and his Crazy Theory, that point of each book that would in a more traditional author be the denouement, but in the Robbins oeuvre is where he unveils whatever crackpot (and compelling, if you're predisposed to such thoughts, as I am) theory he's holding on to at the time.
Of the books I've read, Another Roadside Attraction stands out for its audacity; Jitterbug Perfume for the incredible story and writing (I still remember this line from the intro, something that is nearly unprecedented for yours truly, Mr. Swiss Cheese head: "[They] say a story that begins with a beet will end with the devil; that is a risk we will have to take."
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, however, is remarkable for two reasons: the "Tom Robbins' Crazy Theory" of the book is both the broadest and craziest of them all, and his use of the second person is a challenging, compelling and ultimately rewarding technique. Who writes in the second person anymore, and of those who do, how many of them choose such an unlikable character to make "you" identify with? Tom Robbins does, and he does it effortlessly well.
September 14, 2018
Το να γραψεις μια κριτικη για βιβλιο του Ρομπινς ειναι πολυ δυσκολο.να περιγραψεις την πλοκη? Τους χαρακτηρες? Τον τροπο γραφης? Ειναι σαν αυτες τις epic fail στιγμες που λες ενα αστείο με το οποιο κανεις δε γελα και προσπαθεις να διασωσεις την αξιοπρεπεια σου λεγοντας "επρεπε να ησουν εκει να το δεις για να γελασεις". Αυτο συμβαινει με τα βιβλια του Ρομπινς.αν δεν τα εχεις διαβασει, ο,τι και να σου πουν ειναι λιγο ή ακομη χειροτερα μπορει και να σε αποτρεψει..οποτε το μονο που μπορω να πω ειναι οτι αυτο το βιβλιο με ταξιδεψε στο περιεργο αλλα και μαγικο συμπαν του τρελο-Ρομπινς και το απηλαυσα παρα πολυ.μπαινει στα αγαπημενα μου του συγγραφεα.
August 15, 2017
Μια αθεράπευτα φιλόδοξη χρηματομεσίτρια στο Σιάτλ, μια κλέφτρα μαϊμού που αναγεννήθηκε χάρη στην αγάπη του Χριστού, η θεραπεία του καρκίνου από τα βάθη της ανατολής ως κλυσμα, εξωγήινα αμφίβια που μεταλαμπαδεύουν τον πολιτισμό στις αφρικανικές φυλές του πλανήτη μας, γέλιο, ανέμελη σοβαρότητα και μια αίσθηση ότι διάβασες κάτι πολύ τρελό και ταυτόχρονα πολύ σοβαρό. Δεν ξέρω πώς το κάνει ο Τομ Ρόμπινς και πραγματικά αδιαφορώ πλήρως για τα αστέρια, αν θα βάλω ένα παραπάνω σε εκείνο ή στο άλλο του βιβλίο, αν κάποιο ήταν καλύτερο ή χειρότερο, αν και ποιο μου άρεσε περισσότερο. Εξακολουθεί να παραμένει ως αγαπημένο μου "ο χορός των εφτά πεπλων", άλλα πέντε αστέρια θα βάλω και σε αυτό. Για την καταπληκτική παρεα που μου κράτησε στις διακοπές μου. Για τις φορές που γέλασα δυνατά, για τις σκέψεις που έκανα. Γιατί έτσι.
April 22, 2008
In case you didn't pick up on it, my "Full Disclosure" shelf is reserved for those books I find embarrassing to post about - for one reason or another. However, if I'm going to make the jump to share what I've read over the past years, I figure I may as well be honest.
This was actually my favorite of the "Tom Robbins" phase. Now, I hate him. It's always the same fucking story with this guy: down-and-out lady meets mystery man who imparts wisdom, solves problems, and then does her - in very explicit love scenes. Detailed sex and mystical universe shit boggles the mind when you're fifteen - but at this point? Come on; let's get serious.
This was actually my favorite of the "Tom Robbins" phase. Now, I hate him. It's always the same fucking story with this guy: down-and-out lady meets mystery man who imparts wisdom, solves problems, and then does her - in very explicit love scenes. Detailed sex and mystical universe shit boggles the mind when you're fifteen - but at this point? Come on; let's get serious.
April 24, 2008
“Disaster’s always best when it’s on a grand scale.�
� 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-
� 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-
June 29, 2013
I couldn't even tell you what this book is about. It rambles endlessly about things which fail to make sense and more importantly completely fails to come to a conclusion.
The main character is a horrible person. She is impossible to sympathize with because she is just so awful. The book is written in second person which I simultaneously admire and despise. I admire that the author FORCED me to relate with the main character by writing in second person-clever-but it was also annoying to read a book which is telling me things like "you are annoyed by everything" (not a direct quote but pretty much sums up the entire beginning of the book) when I know that I am very much unlike this character.
I usually try to avoid spoilers when writing reviews but there are some specific things in the book I would like to address so there will be spoilers. Throughout the book, there is endless chit-chat about money, economy, aliens, frogs, physics, and Sirius B. No of which actually seems to mean anything. The main character, Gwen, starts out by being a money-obsessed and somewhat incompetent broker who everyone dislikes. She is in a committed relationship with Belford. They have been together around 3 years and he is dedicated to her and wishes to marry her. She can't decide how she feels about him so waits until he out of town to sleep with another man who is basically a stranger. This is Larry who is charming in a somewhat revolting way. He constantly talks bs and refers to her with disgusting pet-names such as "Pussy fondue" and "Pussy Girl" in fact ALL of his pet-names for her start with the word pussy. How endearing....
So the book is leading up to a possible alien encounter, a economic crash and even a possible love story. All those options, all those things to conclude and what the author gives me is this:
In the last pages of the book: Gwen instead of revealing to Belford that she has cheated attempts to use sex to get money from him, steals from her dad, tempts Belford's monkey back into a life of crime, abandons Belford far from home with no transportation or phone, steals from a doctor, tries to steal from her lover's roommate and the book ends. This is hardly a conclusion but that's where the book ends.
I sat through all this ramble about frogs and stars and the Bozo all for what? The only character development is that the main character goes from a money-crazed broker to a person who committed the list of events stated above. For a book which talks a lot about 'transformation' you'd think it's plot would revolve around character development. I suppose what happened was development but it was negative development. Tom Robbins took a mildly unlikable character and transformed her into a completely unlikable character. I suppose she became "enlightened" with her new found "knowledge" of aliens and orgasms....
Asides from the non-existent plot, I must also note the writing. It was written like it was trying really, really, really, really hard to be intelligent while saying nothing at all. While I do appreciate the varied vocabulary, the language is pompous and the metaphors are ill thought out. For a book which was suggested to me as a comedy, it wasn't the least bit funny. I guess i was supposed to find it funny because it had a monkey and 300 lb woman in it but I'm sorry that just doesn't register with me as humor.
After hearing such praise of this author this book was really a disappointment.
The main character is a horrible person. She is impossible to sympathize with because she is just so awful. The book is written in second person which I simultaneously admire and despise. I admire that the author FORCED me to relate with the main character by writing in second person-clever-but it was also annoying to read a book which is telling me things like "you are annoyed by everything" (not a direct quote but pretty much sums up the entire beginning of the book) when I know that I am very much unlike this character.
I usually try to avoid spoilers when writing reviews but there are some specific things in the book I would like to address so there will be spoilers. Throughout the book, there is endless chit-chat about money, economy, aliens, frogs, physics, and Sirius B. No of which actually seems to mean anything. The main character, Gwen, starts out by being a money-obsessed and somewhat incompetent broker who everyone dislikes. She is in a committed relationship with Belford. They have been together around 3 years and he is dedicated to her and wishes to marry her. She can't decide how she feels about him so waits until he out of town to sleep with another man who is basically a stranger. This is Larry who is charming in a somewhat revolting way. He constantly talks bs and refers to her with disgusting pet-names such as "Pussy fondue" and "Pussy Girl" in fact ALL of his pet-names for her start with the word pussy. How endearing....
So the book is leading up to a possible alien encounter, a economic crash and even a possible love story. All those options, all those things to conclude and what the author gives me is this:
In the last pages of the book: Gwen instead of revealing to Belford that she has cheated attempts to use sex to get money from him, steals from her dad, tempts Belford's monkey back into a life of crime, abandons Belford far from home with no transportation or phone, steals from a doctor, tries to steal from her lover's roommate and the book ends. This is hardly a conclusion but that's where the book ends.
I sat through all this ramble about frogs and stars and the Bozo all for what? The only character development is that the main character goes from a money-crazed broker to a person who committed the list of events stated above. For a book which talks a lot about 'transformation' you'd think it's plot would revolve around character development. I suppose what happened was development but it was negative development. Tom Robbins took a mildly unlikable character and transformed her into a completely unlikable character. I suppose she became "enlightened" with her new found "knowledge" of aliens and orgasms....
Asides from the non-existent plot, I must also note the writing. It was written like it was trying really, really, really, really hard to be intelligent while saying nothing at all. While I do appreciate the varied vocabulary, the language is pompous and the metaphors are ill thought out. For a book which was suggested to me as a comedy, it wasn't the least bit funny. I guess i was supposed to find it funny because it had a monkey and 300 lb woman in it but I'm sorry that just doesn't register with me as humor.
After hearing such praise of this author this book was really a disappointment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2010
[Originally appeared on New Reads and Old Standbys in May 2009:]
I initially bought this book at the urging of a friend of mine who swore up and down that it was the best book he’d read “in forever, it’s sick, seriously, go out and read this now.� Before I go any further, let me point out that he uses the word “sick� as a synonym for “awesome,� and the word pops up in conversation with him rather frequently. For a moment I honestly believed the book was disgusting, depraved or just plain rude, before I realized what he actually meant.
As it turns out, the first time I attempted to read this novel my initial fears weren’t too far off. While not actually rendering me physically nauseous, there was something about this book that got on my nerves so much that, after fifty pages, I put it down and forgot about it for a few years. It could have been any number of things, really.
It could have been the fact that the book is narrated in second person perspective, like a Choose Your Own Adventure, which for some people is so highly distracting and dizzying that they avoid the particular format like the plague. You will really like this book if you are a narcissist, or like to fantasize about being someone else. In fact, if this is the case, you can feel yourself looking the book up on Amazon and purchasing it this very moment, paying for it with your own credit card. See? See how irritating that could become?
It could have been that the book deals in mid-90s stock exchange drama, a subject I could honestly care less about. I have somewhat of a distaste for hardcore white-collar dealings and this book is full of characters and terminology that, while I didn’t have difficulty understanding, I certainly wasn’t all that fascinated by.
It could also be the fact that the main character is a woman I would consider to be the perfect photo negative of myself. She’s career-driven, obsessed to be more accurate, concerned only with money and the stock index and the current going price of Fortune 500 shares. She’s a cultureless bitch in a Porche she hasn’t paid off yet, in clothes she hasn’t yet reimbursed her credit card for, living in an apartment she deems too small and low class for her that she’s desperate to move out of, banking her entire existence on getting into a place with a doorman and and a few hundred extra yards of space inside.
Oh, she’s just a treat, this prudish, squeaky voiced woman with her older, too sincere, rich-as-hell-but-unconcerned-with-money Christian boyfriend that she keeps around for no reason at all. Did I mention the boyfriend lives with Andre, a born-again macaque that was once one of the boldest jewel thieves in France? No?
I spent fifty pages inside the head of this woman, thanks to Robbins� choice of narrative, and the whole time I was screaming to get out. She hates sex, everything is gross to the point where she blushes at the drop of a hat, she hates her Filipina background and her hippie parents, she hates not having money and the world laid at her feet and she hates the common people of Seattle. In addition to an overly nice but boring boyfriend and his pet monkey, her best friend is a 300 pound tarot reader named Q-Jo, and she hates being seen with Q-Jo in public because, oh yeah, the world hates fat people, especially fat people in purple turbans and other garish attire, so she keeps her best friend swept up under the proverbial rug in order to maintain her professional veneer.
I was rather amazed I got to page fifty, seeing as the whole time I just wanted to slap her. Or myself, seeing as I was supposed to be her this entire time. I felt pretty disgusted as I put it back on my shelf, relieved to find something a bit more enjoyable to spend my time on. And there that book sat, for two more years at least, until I picked it up again a few weeks ago.
I blame my recently-acquired interest in late twentieth and early twenty-first century humor fiction for sending me back to Half Asleep. Having read Barry and Coupland and Nielan over the last six months to a year, my attention turned towards Robbins again, a writer that numerous people have gushed to me over. Rather than buying another one of his books, or trying to find copies in the library (I love libraries but get a bit antsy over their rigid time restraints, due to my short attention span and habit of flitting back and forth between books) I decided to pick up and read Half Asleep. The whole way through. No more putting it off and leaving it shelved, telling myself I’d get around to actually completing it at a later date. Nope. Going to read it now.
And read it I did. I have to say that the second time is a charm for this one. It was so much easier this time around.
I found myself again rolling my eyes and feeling disgusted by Gwendolyn Mati and her obsession with emerging from the long Easter weekend triumphant over all of Wall Street and earning millions during an impending crash. That’s what this book is about at its core, a market on the brink of annihilation and a young, incompetent stock broker furiously trying to cover her possibly illegal (and most definitely amoral) investment strategies from both boss and client.
It’s also about philosophy, capitalism, African tribalism, sex, disease, space aliens, telepathy, hallucinogens and the arcane. It could also, if you stretch your imagination a tiny bit, be about love.
I started off wanting to beat the holy hell out of Gwen, just as I did last time, but pushing through this novel, page by page, I was able to witness her transformation from a completely self-obsessed, arrogant bitch to a woman who might have her heart in the right place even if she’s a bit on the narcissistic side. It was an amazing albeit snail-paced transformation, made all the better and worth waiting for by numerous encounters along the way that leave her humiliated and knocked down more than a few pegs. There are a few places where I had to hold my giggles in.
Is it possible to experience Schadenfreude against yourself? In this instance, I think so. And at the end, after I was flushed of all available derision, I actually felt a bit good for her.
I initially bought this book at the urging of a friend of mine who swore up and down that it was the best book he’d read “in forever, it’s sick, seriously, go out and read this now.� Before I go any further, let me point out that he uses the word “sick� as a synonym for “awesome,� and the word pops up in conversation with him rather frequently. For a moment I honestly believed the book was disgusting, depraved or just plain rude, before I realized what he actually meant.
As it turns out, the first time I attempted to read this novel my initial fears weren’t too far off. While not actually rendering me physically nauseous, there was something about this book that got on my nerves so much that, after fifty pages, I put it down and forgot about it for a few years. It could have been any number of things, really.
It could have been the fact that the book is narrated in second person perspective, like a Choose Your Own Adventure, which for some people is so highly distracting and dizzying that they avoid the particular format like the plague. You will really like this book if you are a narcissist, or like to fantasize about being someone else. In fact, if this is the case, you can feel yourself looking the book up on Amazon and purchasing it this very moment, paying for it with your own credit card. See? See how irritating that could become?
It could have been that the book deals in mid-90s stock exchange drama, a subject I could honestly care less about. I have somewhat of a distaste for hardcore white-collar dealings and this book is full of characters and terminology that, while I didn’t have difficulty understanding, I certainly wasn’t all that fascinated by.
It could also be the fact that the main character is a woman I would consider to be the perfect photo negative of myself. She’s career-driven, obsessed to be more accurate, concerned only with money and the stock index and the current going price of Fortune 500 shares. She’s a cultureless bitch in a Porche she hasn’t paid off yet, in clothes she hasn’t yet reimbursed her credit card for, living in an apartment she deems too small and low class for her that she’s desperate to move out of, banking her entire existence on getting into a place with a doorman and and a few hundred extra yards of space inside.
Oh, she’s just a treat, this prudish, squeaky voiced woman with her older, too sincere, rich-as-hell-but-unconcerned-with-money Christian boyfriend that she keeps around for no reason at all. Did I mention the boyfriend lives with Andre, a born-again macaque that was once one of the boldest jewel thieves in France? No?
I spent fifty pages inside the head of this woman, thanks to Robbins� choice of narrative, and the whole time I was screaming to get out. She hates sex, everything is gross to the point where she blushes at the drop of a hat, she hates her Filipina background and her hippie parents, she hates not having money and the world laid at her feet and she hates the common people of Seattle. In addition to an overly nice but boring boyfriend and his pet monkey, her best friend is a 300 pound tarot reader named Q-Jo, and she hates being seen with Q-Jo in public because, oh yeah, the world hates fat people, especially fat people in purple turbans and other garish attire, so she keeps her best friend swept up under the proverbial rug in order to maintain her professional veneer.
I was rather amazed I got to page fifty, seeing as the whole time I just wanted to slap her. Or myself, seeing as I was supposed to be her this entire time. I felt pretty disgusted as I put it back on my shelf, relieved to find something a bit more enjoyable to spend my time on. And there that book sat, for two more years at least, until I picked it up again a few weeks ago.
I blame my recently-acquired interest in late twentieth and early twenty-first century humor fiction for sending me back to Half Asleep. Having read Barry and Coupland and Nielan over the last six months to a year, my attention turned towards Robbins again, a writer that numerous people have gushed to me over. Rather than buying another one of his books, or trying to find copies in the library (I love libraries but get a bit antsy over their rigid time restraints, due to my short attention span and habit of flitting back and forth between books) I decided to pick up and read Half Asleep. The whole way through. No more putting it off and leaving it shelved, telling myself I’d get around to actually completing it at a later date. Nope. Going to read it now.
And read it I did. I have to say that the second time is a charm for this one. It was so much easier this time around.
I found myself again rolling my eyes and feeling disgusted by Gwendolyn Mati and her obsession with emerging from the long Easter weekend triumphant over all of Wall Street and earning millions during an impending crash. That’s what this book is about at its core, a market on the brink of annihilation and a young, incompetent stock broker furiously trying to cover her possibly illegal (and most definitely amoral) investment strategies from both boss and client.
It’s also about philosophy, capitalism, African tribalism, sex, disease, space aliens, telepathy, hallucinogens and the arcane. It could also, if you stretch your imagination a tiny bit, be about love.
I started off wanting to beat the holy hell out of Gwen, just as I did last time, but pushing through this novel, page by page, I was able to witness her transformation from a completely self-obsessed, arrogant bitch to a woman who might have her heart in the right place even if she’s a bit on the narcissistic side. It was an amazing albeit snail-paced transformation, made all the better and worth waiting for by numerous encounters along the way that leave her humiliated and knocked down more than a few pegs. There are a few places where I had to hold my giggles in.
Is it possible to experience Schadenfreude against yourself? In this instance, I think so. And at the end, after I was flushed of all available derision, I actually felt a bit good for her.
April 20, 2020
"ΜΙΣΟΚΟΙΜΙΣΜΕΝΟΙ ΣΤΙΣ ΒΡΑΤΡΑΧΟΠΙΤΖΑΜΕΣ ΜΑΣ"
ΤΑ ΕΧΩ ΠΕΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ!
ΠΟΣΕΣ ΦΟΡΕΣ ΝΑ ΤΑ ΠΩ;
Ο ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΟΝΑΔΙΚΟΣ!
ΜΕΤΡ ΤΟΥ ΕΙΔΟΥΣ ΤΟΥ.
ΑΣΤΕΙΡΕΥΤΟ ΤΑΛΕΝΤΟ!
ΕΧΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΚΑΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΝΑ ΣΥΝΔΥΑΖΕΙ
ΠΡΟΣΩΠΑ, ΙΔΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ Κ ΠΛΑΣΜΑΤΑ ΠΟΥ ΔΕΝ ΤΑΙΡΙΑΖΟΥΝ ΜΕΤΑΞΥ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΕΧΟΥ
ΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΣΧΕΣΗ.
Η ΣΥΣΧΕΤΙΣΗ ΤΟΥΣ ΦΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΑΛΛΟΚΟΤΗ.
ΟΜΩΣ, ΔΙΑ ΜΑΓΕΙΑΣ Ή ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΑ
ΧΑΡΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΕΝΑ Κ ΤΗΝ ΕΥΦΥΪΑ
ΤΟΥ ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ ΟΛΑ ΑΥΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΛΗΓΟΥΝ,
ΜΕΣΩ Κ ΤΗΣ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ, ΣΕ ΜΙΑ ΦΥΣΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΜΕ ΑΡΧΗ- ΜΕΣΗ- ΤΕΛΟΣ ΣΥΝΘΕΤΟΝΤΑΣ ΕΝΑ ΟΜΟΡΦΟ ΤΑΞΙΔΙ!
ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ, ΕΙΣΑΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΣ ΜΑΣΤΟΡΑΣ!
ΤΑ ΕΧΩ ΠΕΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΝ ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ!
ΠΟΣΕΣ ΦΟΡΕΣ ΝΑ ΤΑ ΠΩ;
Ο ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΜΟΝΑΔΙΚΟΣ!
ΜΕΤΡ ΤΟΥ ΕΙΔΟΥΣ ΤΟΥ.
ΑΣΤΕΙΡΕΥΤΟ ΤΑΛΕΝΤΟ!
ΕΧΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΚΑΝΟΤΗΤΑ ΝΑ ΣΥΝΔΥΑΖΕΙ
ΠΡΟΣΩΠΑ, ΙΔΙΟΤΗΤΕΣ Κ ΠΛΑΣΜΑΤΑ ΠΟΥ ΔΕΝ ΤΑΙΡΙΑΖΟΥΝ ΜΕΤΑΞΥ ΤΟΥΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΕΝ ΕΧΟΥ
ΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΣΧΕΣΗ.
Η ΣΥΣΧΕΤΙΣΗ ΤΟΥΣ ΦΑΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΑΛΛΟΚΟΤΗ.
ΟΜΩΣ, ΔΙΑ ΜΑΓΕΙΑΣ Ή ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΑ
ΧΑΡΗ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΕΝΑ Κ ΤΗΝ ΕΥΦΥΪΑ
ΤΟΥ ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ ΟΛΑ ΑΥΤΑ ΚΑΤΑΛΗΓΟΥΝ,
ΜΕΣΩ Κ ΤΗΣ ΕΡΕΥΝΑΣ, ΣΕ ΜΙΑ ΦΥΣΙΟΛΟΓΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΜΕ ΑΡΧΗ- ΜΕΣΗ- ΤΕΛΟΣ ΣΥΝΘΕΤΟΝΤΑΣ ΕΝΑ ΟΜΟΡΦΟ ΤΑΞΙΔΙ!
ΡΟΜΠΙΝΣ, ΕΙΣΑΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΣ ΜΑΣΤΟΡΑΣ!
June 14, 2017
There is an electrical problem in the women's room. It is as black as outer space in there, and the light switch flips up and down uselessly, like the lips of the President.
August 16, 2016
There has always been a little debate about the best "person" to use when writing a novel. Some authors swear by the first person (I) some by the third person (she/he). Tom Robbins sidesteps the whole issue but using the second person (you). And it isn't the universal "you" you find in this sentence or in HOW TO manuals (first you grab each end of the shoelaces.) This YOU is someone else entirely. Fortunately, you find out soon enough that the YOU Robbins is talking to in his novel, is a very pretty, twenty-nine-year-old stock broker from Settle, who has a hell of a libido and some extremely strange friends. She's of Filipino/Welsh descent and has the kind of breathy voice that prevents anyone from taking her seriously. ("If a box of Hostess Twinkies could talk, they'd have your voice.")
So, YOU, Gwendolyn Mattie, on the Easter Weekend following the worst day of your life, have lured many of your clients into some very bad investments just before the terrible market crash. That nice, big-money career you planned for yourself, which already includes a new Porsche, lots of expensive clothes, and a pending lease on an exclusive apartment, is in danger of slipping away. So too is your relationship with your handsome though boringly Lutheran boyfriend. He is obsessed with Andre, a pet monkey he has saved from execution in France where the monkey has been arrested for grand theft. After all, a master theft trained and used Andre to steal expensive jewelry. Yikes!
In the middle of this Easter Weekend disaster, you Gwendolyn run into Larry Diamond, an ex-stockbroker who has left the biz to find "The Truth" in Timbuktu. He's trying hard to seduce you, and when he finally does, you experience an orgasm that the author describes almost as uniquely and spectacularly as he does the Seattle rain.
Can you leverage your good looks, your growing relationship with Diamond, the talents of Andre, a strange deck of tarot cards, and even the mysteries of Timbuktu to save your career? That's a great big maybe, Gwen.
Bottom line: this essay on spirituality, the stock market, and the weather in the Pacific Northwest is damn funny, full of wisdom and metaphors that are as fast moving and entertaining as a series of exceptional card tricks. Gwendolyn is enticing and intriguing, Andre is a kick, Diamond, though (when he isn't putting it to Gwen) can be quite boring as he drones on and on about the Dog Star, interstellar intelligence, the BOZO, and Timbuktu. Four Stars, in spite of its brilliance, for all those pages of over-ripe philosophy
So, YOU, Gwendolyn Mattie, on the Easter Weekend following the worst day of your life, have lured many of your clients into some very bad investments just before the terrible market crash. That nice, big-money career you planned for yourself, which already includes a new Porsche, lots of expensive clothes, and a pending lease on an exclusive apartment, is in danger of slipping away. So too is your relationship with your handsome though boringly Lutheran boyfriend. He is obsessed with Andre, a pet monkey he has saved from execution in France where the monkey has been arrested for grand theft. After all, a master theft trained and used Andre to steal expensive jewelry. Yikes!
In the middle of this Easter Weekend disaster, you Gwendolyn run into Larry Diamond, an ex-stockbroker who has left the biz to find "The Truth" in Timbuktu. He's trying hard to seduce you, and when he finally does, you experience an orgasm that the author describes almost as uniquely and spectacularly as he does the Seattle rain.
Can you leverage your good looks, your growing relationship with Diamond, the talents of Andre, a strange deck of tarot cards, and even the mysteries of Timbuktu to save your career? That's a great big maybe, Gwen.
Bottom line: this essay on spirituality, the stock market, and the weather in the Pacific Northwest is damn funny, full of wisdom and metaphors that are as fast moving and entertaining as a series of exceptional card tricks. Gwendolyn is enticing and intriguing, Andre is a kick, Diamond, though (when he isn't putting it to Gwen) can be quite boring as he drones on and on about the Dog Star, interstellar intelligence, the BOZO, and Timbuktu. Four Stars, in spite of its brilliance, for all those pages of over-ripe philosophy
May 24, 2010
I'm really not a fan of books where it is clear that the author is trying really hard to be clever. Unlike many of those authors, I think Tom Robbins actually succeeds in being clever, but it doesn't motivate me too much. My main problem with this book is the use of the second person. I think it would work if it were a murder mystery or some book where you were swept away by plot and the main character didn't have dominant personality traits. But the main character in this book, you/Gwen, has every detail of her life/character/history spelled out, and to keep referencing her as "you," on top of the extreme cleverness of every sentence prevented me from being able to get into this book. Not terrible, and I'd understand if someone really liked it, but it didn't do it for me.
January 6, 2023
I don’t know what to think about Robbins, I loved his books dearly, they made me laugh but every time I read a new one I dislike him a bit more. Is it the radical feminist in me that whispers “He’s overusing the female sexuality� or is that you can have enough of Robbins. To my experience with his works, plotwise, they’re not repetitive, but there is his writing style which is just not something you want to overdo.
The reading experience was fun until I started realising why he’s using cute, petit sized woman with a high pitched voice as the main character, and it’s not because of his feminist ideals. Her personality is a) being a female b) being sexual.
I might be overthinking or I might be on to something. Who knows? That was my reading of Half asleep in frog pajamas.
The reading experience was fun until I started realising why he’s using cute, petit sized woman with a high pitched voice as the main character, and it’s not because of his feminist ideals. Her personality is a) being a female b) being sexual.
I might be overthinking or I might be on to something. Who knows? That was my reading of Half asleep in frog pajamas.
July 24, 2020
simply horrendous.
July 14, 2015
I kinda remember Robbins from the late 1970s and there seemed to be a couple books that were elevated to new classics ( and ) or perhaps they were on the 1001 books to read before you die list. This cannot be on that list.
The story was fine, but near the end Robbins spends at least 50 pages discussing the theory that aliens in the form of amphibians landed on earth in the past and we are descended from fish. This is in the form of a conversation, not a story. If he had made it a story, fine...but one person just talking for pages and pages, no. Skim, skim, skim.
There was a great character, Q-Jo, a medium, who disappears 1/3 of the way through the book and she was the one holding my interest. Combine that with one character referring to his hookup girl as "pussyxx" in conversation "pussy dumpling" "pussy sugar" "pussy prosciutto" "pussy pudding" UGH!
The story was fine, but near the end Robbins spends at least 50 pages discussing the theory that aliens in the form of amphibians landed on earth in the past and we are descended from fish. This is in the form of a conversation, not a story. If he had made it a story, fine...but one person just talking for pages and pages, no. Skim, skim, skim.
There was a great character, Q-Jo, a medium, who disappears 1/3 of the way through the book and she was the one holding my interest. Combine that with one character referring to his hookup girl as "pussyxx" in conversation "pussy dumpling" "pussy sugar" "pussy prosciutto" "pussy pudding" UGH!
October 31, 2008
I just re-read this book after like 10 years and I loved it so much more. The characters were as I remembered them, but I noticed so many things that I didn't remember were in this book.. like the whole subject of biodiversity and ecological stuff that I probably didn't really notice before..
And I noticed this time around that most of it seems like Terrence McKenna was in the room when it was written.. I really needed a good dose of all that don't fall for the bullshit and it's not what it seems to be goodness that this book delivers..
It took me 10 years to really grok that title. But I've believed it all along, that we need to wake up to our roots, find the elemental connections.. that in our core somewhere we know.. and that reality that isn't at all material or measurable.. but, Tom and Terrence and many others describe it better so I'll leave it to them!
And I noticed this time around that most of it seems like Terrence McKenna was in the room when it was written.. I really needed a good dose of all that don't fall for the bullshit and it's not what it seems to be goodness that this book delivers..
It took me 10 years to really grok that title. But I've believed it all along, that we need to wake up to our roots, find the elemental connections.. that in our core somewhere we know.. and that reality that isn't at all material or measurable.. but, Tom and Terrence and many others describe it better so I'll leave it to them!
December 27, 2010
The book was interesting in the way it was organized. I like how it was organized almost like a journal of Gwen's weekend of hell. Robbin's use of sarcasm was humorous and enjoyable.
As for the story-line, reading about Q-Jo and Andre were the more interesting parts. I didn't much care about the stock-broker talk though, even though it was such a major part of the book. Much of the talk about astrology and symbolism became lost on me as well. Although it is probably my own fault for not getting it, I felt like I could have skipped over it and not miss much.
The only real downside to the book was the amount of description he would use. It wasn't even just setting up the atmosphere, but paragraphs and paragraphs of sarcastic metaphors and similes. They were interesting to a point, and then after a while I caught myself just thinking "okay, get on with the rest of the story.
As for the story-line, reading about Q-Jo and Andre were the more interesting parts. I didn't much care about the stock-broker talk though, even though it was such a major part of the book. Much of the talk about astrology and symbolism became lost on me as well. Although it is probably my own fault for not getting it, I felt like I could have skipped over it and not miss much.
The only real downside to the book was the amount of description he would use. It wasn't even just setting up the atmosphere, but paragraphs and paragraphs of sarcastic metaphors and similes. They were interesting to a point, and then after a while I caught myself just thinking "okay, get on with the rest of the story.
October 30, 2012
It was interesting and entertaining overall, but 2 things made me rate it as 'it was ok' versus 'I liked it':
1. I've read his Still Life with Woodpecker, which was about an uptight self-involved girl from Seattle who meets a quirky guy who opens her eyes to the possibility of mystical/unexplainable things while falling in love (complete with quirky descriptions of their physical encounters). This description exactly fits Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas as well.
2. I like oddball stories. But Robbins's descriptions are a bit too screwball and random for me at times. For screwball writing I prefer Vonnegut.
It had a monkey in it and that is always great!
1. I've read his Still Life with Woodpecker, which was about an uptight self-involved girl from Seattle who meets a quirky guy who opens her eyes to the possibility of mystical/unexplainable things while falling in love (complete with quirky descriptions of their physical encounters). This description exactly fits Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas as well.
2. I like oddball stories. But Robbins's descriptions are a bit too screwball and random for me at times. For screwball writing I prefer Vonnegut.
It had a monkey in it and that is always great!
February 23, 2015
A terse review.
First book I've read by Tom Robbins.
Thumbs up, but a bit over-written. Main character, not that likeable. Monkey characters fix a lot of problems in fiction. Like the plot. Haven't actually finished the book, but wanted to get the review out of the way. 15 more pages to go. Somehow, I think I know the ending.
Cheers to the coworker who let me borrow this book. Must remember to thank him. Written in 1994 -- reminds me of the 90s. For some reason, this book makes me want to read Nick Hornby.
Hulk smash! Don't know where that came from!
End terse review now?
Okay!
First book I've read by Tom Robbins.
Thumbs up, but a bit over-written. Main character, not that likeable. Monkey characters fix a lot of problems in fiction. Like the plot. Haven't actually finished the book, but wanted to get the review out of the way. 15 more pages to go. Somehow, I think I know the ending.
Cheers to the coworker who let me borrow this book. Must remember to thank him. Written in 1994 -- reminds me of the 90s. For some reason, this book makes me want to read Nick Hornby.
Hulk smash! Don't know where that came from!
End terse review now?
Okay!
December 26, 2015
I think I liked this book. I really have no idea. I would want someone else to read it and tell me what they thought. Right now I am bewildered, annoyed, and smiley all at the same time. The perspective Robbins uses is really unique to any book I've ever read and so is the rest of the book. weird, but not in a gross or filthy way, unless you're really prudish, funny, and an ending that'll leave you wondering if this book was any good. 5 stars..... maybe.
April 23, 2020
Αγαπάμε και λατρεύουμε τον Θεό Τομ, αλλά εδώ βρισκόμαστε σε μια μάλλον αδύναμη στιγμή του, με πράγματα που εχουν ειπωθει ξανά στο παρελθόν κι ίσως με ενα τρόπο, μάλλον καλύτερο. Παρ ολα αυτά υπάρχει μια διάχυτη εντύπωση πως ο Ρομπινς είναι ελαφρύς κι οτι δεν ότι δεν κάνει λογοτεχνία και τα ρέστα. Δεν είναι αλήθεια αυτό, η αλήθεια είναι οτι είμαστε επιπόλαιοι και βιαστικοί, κι ακόμα και σ αυτό, το αδύναμο του βιβλίο, μπορείς να βρεις πολύ μεγάλες χαρές, και δεν θα απογοητευτείς(πολύ).
June 20, 2007
Okay, can T.R. please pick some new freaking characters? I am betting sick of the "macho" bad boy, soo deep and misunderstood, who is attracted to the skinny hot but not so smart woman. Get a new fucking plot. and I sure could do with out the pages and pages of rants from the macho man!
September 7, 2017
Credo di non essere più in grado di dare un giudizio obiettivo su quest'uomo. Il fatto è che...adoro il suo stile, non c'è niente da fare. Potrebbe scrivere pure la lista delle cose da portare in lavanderia, e troverei straordinaria pure quella. La trama (per quanto meno arzigogolata che in altri suoi libri e abbastanza seguibile, anche se sempre assurda e piena di colpi di tacco - e di genio) passa quasi in secondo piano, perché le parole si susseguono con un gusto talmente piacevole che è quasi come gustarsi una tazza di cioccolata calda speziata. L'uso che sa fare delle parole e delle figure retoriche è tanto affascinante da coprire quasi il contenuto, che pure c'è, ed è sempre interessante. Mitico Robbins!
August 5, 2015
Tom Robbins' sixth novel is a departure for the brilliant yet confounding author. Unlike his previous five books, this one stays the course with one main story, focused exclusively on one main character. Making matters more different than his previous work, the entire novel takes place over one weekend, and almost performs as a traditional romantic comedy. With this unusually intense focus, and the limited, claustrophobic time structure, one would think that Tom Robbins could turn out a whammy of a story that utilizes his highly intelligent, highly original, and highly off-the-wall style to transform the medium and the message. Instead, after reading "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas," one is left with an entertaining yet hardly engrossing narrative that teases the reader with a promise that is never fulfilled, and a set-up that never pays off.
As much as I did enjoy experiencing the storied weekend journey of one money-minded, materialistic Gwendolyn Mati, and her search for her boyfriend Belford's money, as her search for her lost obese friend Q-Jo, and Gwendolyn's strange yet not so surprising romance with one post-autistic genius named Larry Diamond, I felt more frustrated than enraptured by the twists and turns of the tale. There were times when I felt encouraged to read on, however too much of the time I felt inspired to place the book down.
The reasons are many, as to why a story fails to take hold of one's attention. I believe with the case of "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas," I felt myself drowning in Larry Diamond's never-ending speeches, theories, facts, philosophies and the like regarding amphibians, aliens, alien-amphibians, and all things Timbuktu. Usually Robbins scatters his off-the-wall tangents throughout the story, via narrative or through any number of characters. In "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas," Robbins puts it ALL on Larry Diamond alone, and thus the message takes on an unpleasant sheen of pretension, nonsense, and just plain boredom.
....and what of Q-Jo? What happened to her? Did she just...beam over to Timbuktu? The author never bothers to resolve what happened to Gwendolyn's fine, fat tarot-reading friend.. Sure, Tom Robbins give us a hint, and indication, yet a reader deserves more. And what of the "Safe-Sex-Rapist"? Was that ever resolved? No, it was not. One does not need things spelled-out per say, yet why the author introduces mystery to the story only to have the reader left twisting in the wind, with no closure at all, is anybody's guess. Another frustration.
Though, what REALLY bothered me was Gwendolyn Mati, the novel's main character. Throughout the book, I never really was sure whether I liked her or not, nor whether I cared about her...or not. There were times I rooted for her, and times where I felt she was foolish, and just plain dumb. The clincher for me, was the last quarter in the book. After going through 3/4 of a novel with this one ant-heroine, Robbins turns the screws and makes it plain as day that Gwendolyn learned nothing from her humbling weekend experience. In fact, not only has she learned nothing, Robbins' turns Gwendolyn into an evil, contemptuous, manipulative criminal.
So let me get this straight. After taking a bath with the stock market, after surviving an assault, after failing to find her missing best friend, after having her mind and her body blown by Larry Diamond, after given an opportunity to redeem and expand her soul with a free trip to Timbuktu, Gwendolyn decides to sexually manipulate her soon-to-be-dumped boyfriend in order to use his monkey to steal a doctor's special enema device, in order to save Larry Diamond's life. Okay. I can accept that. But then, Robbins' has Gwendolyn go insane by following her selfless, well-intentioned act of criminality with a
completely evil of supreme selfishness! Why? So, Gwendolyn's plan was to steal Larry's housemate's two million dollar Van Gough painting, fly to New York, then Amsterdam so Gwen could sell the painting for a million dollars. THEN, Gwen would fly to the Philippines to be hide and be with her grandmother. WHAT??? Where the f*%k did THAT come from? The Gwendolyn Mati that Tom Robbins created, the one who was made star of the show for 3/4 of the novel, simply would not do that! Or would she? I don't know anymore. All I do know is that I now dislike her, and lament the fact that I spent so much time on her story.
No Tom Robbins book is a waste of time. No matter whether I like the novel or not, I always get something good out of it, despite the confusion and frustration. I just wish that "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas" paid off what it promised, what it held in its grasp, what it did to my hopes and expectations. Oh well. Robbins only has himself to blame, or more to the point: I have only myself to blame. Being a fan of the author's work, I expect the quality of his prose and his storytelling to be always up there with his masterworks "Jitterbug Perfume" and "Still Life With Woodpecker." That said, even if I had never read a Tom Robbins novel, "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas" would still be a disappointment.
As much as I did enjoy experiencing the storied weekend journey of one money-minded, materialistic Gwendolyn Mati, and her search for her boyfriend Belford's money, as her search for her lost obese friend Q-Jo, and Gwendolyn's strange yet not so surprising romance with one post-autistic genius named Larry Diamond, I felt more frustrated than enraptured by the twists and turns of the tale. There were times when I felt encouraged to read on, however too much of the time I felt inspired to place the book down.
The reasons are many, as to why a story fails to take hold of one's attention. I believe with the case of "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas," I felt myself drowning in Larry Diamond's never-ending speeches, theories, facts, philosophies and the like regarding amphibians, aliens, alien-amphibians, and all things Timbuktu. Usually Robbins scatters his off-the-wall tangents throughout the story, via narrative or through any number of characters. In "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas," Robbins puts it ALL on Larry Diamond alone, and thus the message takes on an unpleasant sheen of pretension, nonsense, and just plain boredom.
....and what of Q-Jo? What happened to her? Did she just...beam over to Timbuktu? The author never bothers to resolve what happened to Gwendolyn's fine, fat tarot-reading friend.. Sure, Tom Robbins give us a hint, and indication, yet a reader deserves more. And what of the "Safe-Sex-Rapist"? Was that ever resolved? No, it was not. One does not need things spelled-out per say, yet why the author introduces mystery to the story only to have the reader left twisting in the wind, with no closure at all, is anybody's guess. Another frustration.
Though, what REALLY bothered me was Gwendolyn Mati, the novel's main character. Throughout the book, I never really was sure whether I liked her or not, nor whether I cared about her...or not. There were times I rooted for her, and times where I felt she was foolish, and just plain dumb. The clincher for me, was the last quarter in the book. After going through 3/4 of a novel with this one ant-heroine, Robbins turns the screws and makes it plain as day that Gwendolyn learned nothing from her humbling weekend experience. In fact, not only has she learned nothing, Robbins' turns Gwendolyn into an evil, contemptuous, manipulative criminal.
So let me get this straight. After taking a bath with the stock market, after surviving an assault, after failing to find her missing best friend, after having her mind and her body blown by Larry Diamond, after given an opportunity to redeem and expand her soul with a free trip to Timbuktu, Gwendolyn decides to sexually manipulate her soon-to-be-dumped boyfriend in order to use his monkey to steal a doctor's special enema device, in order to save Larry Diamond's life. Okay. I can accept that. But then, Robbins' has Gwendolyn go insane by following her selfless, well-intentioned act of criminality with a
completely evil of supreme selfishness! Why? So, Gwendolyn's plan was to steal Larry's housemate's two million dollar Van Gough painting, fly to New York, then Amsterdam so Gwen could sell the painting for a million dollars. THEN, Gwen would fly to the Philippines to be hide and be with her grandmother. WHAT??? Where the f*%k did THAT come from? The Gwendolyn Mati that Tom Robbins created, the one who was made star of the show for 3/4 of the novel, simply would not do that! Or would she? I don't know anymore. All I do know is that I now dislike her, and lament the fact that I spent so much time on her story.
No Tom Robbins book is a waste of time. No matter whether I like the novel or not, I always get something good out of it, despite the confusion and frustration. I just wish that "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas" paid off what it promised, what it held in its grasp, what it did to my hopes and expectations. Oh well. Robbins only has himself to blame, or more to the point: I have only myself to blame. Being a fan of the author's work, I expect the quality of his prose and his storytelling to be always up there with his masterworks "Jitterbug Perfume" and "Still Life With Woodpecker." That said, even if I had never read a Tom Robbins novel, "Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas" would still be a disappointment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 16, 2023
It's disappointing when you revisit a favorite author and realize they're no longer a favorite. In my teens and twenties, Cowgirls, Still Life and Jitterbug were some of my all-time favorites. However, decades later, his formula of young woman with brains but a lot of problems is taken under wing of older geezer who mansplains life and the universe, and sexes her up, has lost it's luster. It's unclear exactly how old the character Larry Diamond is meant to be, but he is suffering from rectal cancer, and could easily be the same age as Robbins was when this was published, about 62, while the ambitious, morally suspect stockbroker Gwendolyn Mati portrayed in present tense second person, is barely in her mid-twenties. When they connect, the physical details, and Diamond's stomach-turning, misogynist, patronizing pet names for her, are just freakin' gross.
30 years ago I probably would have found Diamond's b.s. fascinating, his psilocybin-based crackpot alien conspiracies rooted very much in Robbins' friend Terence McKenna's b.s. But now it's just boring, making much of the book a slog. And wasn't Robbins funnier than this before? I'm afraid to re-read his earlier books to find out. I had planned to also read Fierce Invalids and Villa Incognito, but now I'm not so sure.
30 years ago I probably would have found Diamond's b.s. fascinating, his psilocybin-based crackpot alien conspiracies rooted very much in Robbins' friend Terence McKenna's b.s. But now it's just boring, making much of the book a slog. And wasn't Robbins funnier than this before? I'm afraid to re-read his earlier books to find out. I had planned to also read Fierce Invalids and Villa Incognito, but now I'm not so sure.
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September 7, 2007Who the hell writes in the 2nd person?
April 9, 2021
An entertaining, engaging, humorous, zany, absurd, original novel. The author’s imaginatively descriptive prose made me smile so many times. If you are a Robbins fan you should find this book a very satisfying reading experience. However some readers will be put off by the unlikeable characters, crazy plot and over the top sex scenes.
Gwen Mati is a young stock broker who loves money and on Friday night finds herself in financially dire straits due to a stock market crash. Her boyfriend Belford, a successful real estate agent is thinking about giving his money away and becoming a social worker. Belford rescued a monkey, Andre, who had been trained to be a thief. Gwen bumps into sleazy old Larry Diamond, a former stock broker. Gwen doesn’t like Larry but things change over the course of the weekend. Larry meets Gwen lots over the weekend, imparting his stock broking wisdom and how he will beat the cancer he has. Andre, the monkey, escapes from Belford and a fair amount of time over the weekend is spent looking for Andre.
Here are some quotes from the book:
‘Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It’s no coincidence we call them deadlines.�
‘There’s no such thing as security in this life sweetheart, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better off you’ll be. The person who strives for security will never be free. The person who believes she’s found security will never reach paradise. What she mistakes for security is purgatory. You know what purgatory is, Gwendolyn? It’s the waiting room, it’s the lobby. Not only does she have the wrong libretto, she’s stuck in the lobby where she can’t see the show.�
‘In the beginning was the thing. And one thing led to another.�
This book was first published in 1994.
Gwen Mati is a young stock broker who loves money and on Friday night finds herself in financially dire straits due to a stock market crash. Her boyfriend Belford, a successful real estate agent is thinking about giving his money away and becoming a social worker. Belford rescued a monkey, Andre, who had been trained to be a thief. Gwen bumps into sleazy old Larry Diamond, a former stock broker. Gwen doesn’t like Larry but things change over the course of the weekend. Larry meets Gwen lots over the weekend, imparting his stock broking wisdom and how he will beat the cancer he has. Andre, the monkey, escapes from Belford and a fair amount of time over the weekend is spent looking for Andre.
Here are some quotes from the book:
‘Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It’s no coincidence we call them deadlines.�
‘There’s no such thing as security in this life sweetheart, and the sooner you accept that fact, the better off you’ll be. The person who strives for security will never be free. The person who believes she’s found security will never reach paradise. What she mistakes for security is purgatory. You know what purgatory is, Gwendolyn? It’s the waiting room, it’s the lobby. Not only does she have the wrong libretto, she’s stuck in the lobby where she can’t see the show.�
‘In the beginning was the thing. And one thing led to another.�
This book was first published in 1994.
September 27, 2022
You got frogs, you got stars, you got some of the most descriptive recounts of fluid exchange that I’ve ever read. Hooo!
Set in Seattle and published in 1994 but no mention of Nirvana? Damn Tom, okay!
Can an author with a goatee write in second person (that’s right, second person � Tom’s driving from the passenger seat like the ghost that made me crunch mum’s car while I parked) with enough skill to make me feel that I am the protagonist? I’m not sure. I sort of feel like ol� Tom is somehow flirting with the reader. It’s a slightly grubby technique especially when we’re asked to inhibit the form of Filipino woman. I don’t know man.
However, that aside and acknowledged � this book still ripsssss, even more so if your desk drawer is equal parts Mad Magazine, incense and crude drawings of coupling. Squares and people with moral compasses shouldn’t read this and should stick to eating chicken breast.
Set in Seattle and published in 1994 but no mention of Nirvana? Damn Tom, okay!
Can an author with a goatee write in second person (that’s right, second person � Tom’s driving from the passenger seat like the ghost that made me crunch mum’s car while I parked) with enough skill to make me feel that I am the protagonist? I’m not sure. I sort of feel like ol� Tom is somehow flirting with the reader. It’s a slightly grubby technique especially when we’re asked to inhibit the form of Filipino woman. I don’t know man.
However, that aside and acknowledged � this book still ripsssss, even more so if your desk drawer is equal parts Mad Magazine, incense and crude drawings of coupling. Squares and people with moral compasses shouldn’t read this and should stick to eating chicken breast.
February 27, 2020
I'm a big fan of Tom Robbins novels, I’m surprised it took me this long to get around to reading this one. It has a very interesting “information seeking� theme. At first the main character just needs access to financial data, such as a Bloomberg terminal, or perhaps some other commercial electronic resources. In the time of the novel Bloomberg didn’t have mobile subscriptions.
I like the setting of Seattle, it’s wet and rainy for most of the book, opposite of my local climate.
I enjoyed the outer space themes and the Timbuktu history, now I’m curious to visit there.... I wonder if seeds really can travel from stars and other planets through outer space and land in our environment? I'd like to know what my peers think of the main character.... She's hard to like.
I like the setting of Seattle, it’s wet and rainy for most of the book, opposite of my local climate.
I enjoyed the outer space themes and the Timbuktu history, now I’m curious to visit there.... I wonder if seeds really can travel from stars and other planets through outer space and land in our environment? I'd like to know what my peers think of the main character.... She's hard to like.
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