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Another Roadside Attraction
by Tom Robbins
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Ballantine Books (1981-02-12)
ISBN: 0345294696
EAN: 9780345294692
Paperback
Release Date: 1981-02-12
SKU: 20292
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Paperback. Small stain on top of pages. Pages clean, crisp and free of markings.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
It's clear that when Robbins sits down to write, he has one thing on his mind: having himself some fun. I read Another Roadside Attraction, years ago, then immediately went back to the beginning of the book and read it again. Robbins holds nothing back in this, his first novel. It's a perfect introduction to the Robbins oeuvre of oddness.
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Product Description
What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if "the Corpse" on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is--what does that portent for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind.
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Download Description
What if the Second Coming didn't quite come off as advertised? What if "the Corpse" on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is -- what does that portent for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tells us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hotdog and eroding the borders of the mind.
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Customer Reviews
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Brilliant
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-07-25
I love this book, the character's are very unique, writting style is beautiful, very kooky and light-hearted yet thought-provoking at times.
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My first and last attempt at Tom Robbins
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-05-18
4 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book came highly recommended to me by several friends, so I decided to give it a try. I suffered through about forty pages before I finally had to quit. I was on a road trip at the time, spending two months camping with no TV, no computer, and nothing to do but read, and even in that situation I couldn't make myself continue. The writing is hippy gibberish of the most trite variety. Having done a fair share of drugs myself, I know genuine nonsense when I hear it, and the drug-induced nonsense in this book was decidedly of the forced, artificial variety. Also, the characters had no depth at all. All of them seemed to be good at everything - John Paul Ziller is great with women AND he's a drumming prodigy AND he's an influential artist AND he's travelled to exotic parts of the world AND he had the potential to be a great athlete. Amanda is a beautiful love queen AND she has psychic powers AND she's a confident, independant woman AND she's the leader of a gypsy caravan AND she's sensitive enough to love butterflies. Real people have flaws... there is nothing interesting to me about characters who are the best at everything they do. I have hitchhiked across the country, faced off against riot cops, lived in a truck, and done psychadelic drugs while camping in the woods so NOBODY can tell me that I don't like this book because I'm too square... it's just bad writing with shallow characters.
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items not received
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-05-05
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Never did receive this item, or other book in order, and my efforts to notify you were not responded to.
although postal service tracking claims to have delivered items, post office says they never received them.
will think twice before using amazon in the future
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The girl, Amanda
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-03-13
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Robbin's style in full authenticity even though it's his first book. The plot at first might seem confusing to follow since it may appear even more surreal than usual. Only after half the book, the reader will start realizing how to connect all the parts together, or at least this is how it worked for me.
Still, I enjoyed this book right from the first page letting it guide me through images and feelings much like the way one enjoys a complicated music track. I would suggest that this may be the best way to enjoy this book, letting it sink in and not trying to discover the whole scenario from the beginning, because it might seem that there is no logical straight scenario to follow, at least not until the author decides to let the reader understand.
Amanda, the main character of this book, appears to be the personification
of the female, earthen free spirit, described by Robbin's unique writing style. And the book's <"central focus, the enormity of public events notwithstanding, the girl: the girl, Amanda">.
Of course there is a lot of mainstream thinking and beliefs that fully collapse under the weight of Robbin's prose, but this always happens in his books.. right?
As a major Robbin's fan, and having read all his books I'm saying that this is my single favorite book, and I doubt if any book, will ever replace it. Five stars for it.
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God Bless You, Mr. Robbins
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-06-12
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
If you can picture the scene of sitting in a high chair (I'm not saying you have to remember this, mind you) and you can go so far as to imagine an adult is scooping orange mush from a small jar, only to stuff it in your face despite your bitter resentment, then you may empathize with me when I say I've read altogether too many books without substance. My point about this novel is that it is intellectually satisfying, not necessarily that the substance allows one to derive life lessons. This book was written in some sense for more liberal thinkers who enjoy literary allusions, social and cultural allusions, political history, among references to a host of information you never thought you'd pick up (a far-reaching reference to the religion of Bokonon...perhaps a shout-out to Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut).
You know, it's hard for me to describe Tom's writing style at all. Many people find it inaccessible. In fact, long ago as an undergraduate I wandered into an independent bookstore in Spokane, Washington looking for something that was, "Like 100 Years of Solitude, something magical and unreal, but significant..." The bookseller smiled and handed me Skinny Legs and All, along with the information that the story included a tin can, a painted stick, and a conch shell for a start. I was utterly defeated by the first 40 pages because I didn't know what I was in for. Vague references can be overlooked and discarded because Robbins makes so many that you're probably not going to 'understand' everything. But those you do understand are incredible.
The writing is wonderful because it combines a decent story and amazing knowledge of the world. I guess this is one of those books that, overall, really isn't 'too hard' to read but, that being said, one should remember that perseverance through seemingly unrelated information will be necessary. But don't despair! Robbins will not let you down, tying everything up nicely by the time you finish.
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