I finished the last half of "Villa Incognito" at 4 AM last night while on suicide watch for a patient at the hospital. Maybe that affected my mind's digestion of what appears to be this half-assed attempt by Tom Robbins to satisfy his followers. I don't count myself a follower because I haven't read everything the guy has written, but I appreciate him for who he is in contemporary American literature. Even though I think I appreciated him considerably more several years ago.
Anyway, when you are sitting in the dark with a handheld booklight in the corner of a tiny hospital room next to a stranger whose life you can't even begin to comprehend, sweating through the bed with delirium tremens, mumbling incoherently in his sleep, his desensitized GABA receptor complexes totally indifferent and sympathetic nervous system working harder than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, your reading experience is bound to be affected.
A few times while reading this book, I actually thought about all the other better books I could be reading instead. Obviously a bad sign. This just fell totally flat for me. My sole motivation for finishing it was so that I could move on. The story had so many potentially mesmerizing elements, but never once was I captivated. Sure Robbins is funny and some of his ramblings cause the lightbulb to go off in your head, and sure he can put a smile on my face at times with some genius similes, but this was just a trainwreck and pointless. Definitely not recommended for someone's first Robbins book.
1.14.2008
3rd book of 08
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2 comments:
I could never really get into Robbins. I tried a couple of books and always felt like I was plodding through them to be done and say that I had read it. Never a good sign.
I can't believe you spent a night with that patient - do you do that often? I can't imagine actually being responsible for someone else's life. I'm in awe of you right now.
No, I do not often sit with patients like this. They were in a bind and I was getting paid overtime, so I signed up. Glad to hear I'm not the only one not ga ga over Robbins.
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