Mosman Readers

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REVIEW: Tibetan Peach Pie - Tom Robbins

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life

- Tom Robbins.

This book, being an auto-biography, and therefore a new genre for Tom Robbins, interestingly stays true to his unique style of writing so identifiable in his fiction. The fantasy and intricate importance placed on small details, along with his poetic impressions, and specific collecting of seemingly unrelated things do carry on into his writing of events he has experienced throughout his life. On more than one occasion in this book he seems to feel he must write explicitly that what he has written is actually true and not made up. Maybe because he is used to writing fiction he feels a need to defend this new territory of recounting true events from his life to be sure that people know this is not a fiction. Or maybe it is because he is used to writing an almost surreal and fantastical genre of fiction that is so natural and true to his form that he cannot sever it in his writing of his biography. In any way it is a refreshing biography and a great starting point for someone who has not read any Tom Robbins novels before to get an idea of his writing style.

I also want to point attention to the fact that this is a very readable book because of its short chapters. Perhaps because I have grown with this change in technology from long to short commercials, and even shorter still editing of clips in most recent video media. The short chapters appeal to my conditioned sense of consuming a theme or argument quickly and to the point. So in saying that, I believe that Tom Robbins does say a lot and combine many different life experiences and complex ideas into one chapter, but he does so eloquently and always ties things together with a prominent theme within each small chunk that makes up this book.

Tibetan Peach Pie may also be valuable to the reader, not only to understand more about Tom Robbins, and his life and fiction and to others in the genre, but as it is an autobiography it is linked to the cultural and historical events that Tom Robbins grew within. It is therefore in some ways a history book as well. Going in this direction I would say it is equally a book about language, for Tom Robbins is quite wordy, often taking words mostly used in one field and applying them to another. I learned a few specific and handy new words, along with a sense of newfound creative leeway to search for words in specific fields and apply them to others from reading this book. Both of these qualities are good for any reader, as you can apply them to any aspect of your life outside of this book which may potentially give the reader a nice benefit apart from the intended benefit from the writer to know more about their life.

I hope this review inspires some readers who may otherwise overlook this book and genre to consider it for a moment, and maybe give it a read. Or to read a book from another genre or one at random to gain a new perspective and insights.

Adrienne Knott