Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
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Narrated by:
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Keith Szarabajka
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Written by:
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Tom Robbins
About this listen
"Tom Robbins has a grasp on things that dazzles the brain and he's also a world-class storyteller." (Thomas Pynchon)
In Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, his seventh and biggest novel, the wise, witty, always gutsy Tom Robbins brings onstage the most complex and compelling character he has ever created.
Switters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government, a pacifist who carries a gun, a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy, a cyberwhiz who hates computers, a robust bon vivant who can be as squeamish as any fop, a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior).
Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol.
And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, Robbins explores, challenges, mocks, and celebrates virtually every major aspect of our mercurial era.As many readers well know, to describe a Tom Robbins plot does not begin to describe a Tom Robbins novel. Moreover, the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author, with his love of language, nuance, and surprise, is as opposed to story summations as J.D. Salinger.
It is revealing, however, to learn what things Robbins lists as having influenced the writing of Fierce Invalids:
"This book was inspired by an entry from Bruce Chatwin's journal, by a CIA agent I met in Southeast Asia, by the mystery surrounding the lost prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, by the increasing evidence that the interplay of opposites is the engine that runs the universe, and by embroidered memories of old Terry and the Pirates comic books.
"Robbins also has said that throughout the writing of Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates he was guided by the advice of Julia Child: "Learn to handle hot things. Keep your knives sharp. Above all, have a good time."
Perhaps that is why he has managed to write a provocative, rascally novel that takes no prisoners - and yet is upbeat, romantic, meaningful, adventurous, edifying, and fun.
©2000 Tom Robbins (P)2000 Random House, Inc.You may also enjoy...
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- A True Account of an Imaginative Life
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Internationally best-selling novelist and American icon Tom Robbins delivers the long-awaited tale of his wild life and times, both at home and around the globe. The grandchild of Baptist preachers, Robbins would become over the course of half a century a poet-interruptus, an air force weatherman, a radio DJ, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counter-culture hero, leading a life as unlikely, magical, and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters.
-
-
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Written by: Tom Robbins
-
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
- Written by: Tom Robbins
- Narrated by: Michael Nouri
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
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Story
Sissy Hankshaw, an almost flawlessly beautiful small-town girl with big-time dreams, hitchhikes her way into your heart, your hopes, and your sleeping bag in Tom Robbins's magical, funny, and most famous novel. Follow Sissy's amazing odyssey from Virginia to chic Manhattan to the Dakota Badlands, where FBI agents, cowgirls, and ecstatic whooping cranes explode in a deliciously drawn-out climax.
-
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Great Story, Questionable Audio Quality
- By Dustin on 2020-09-01
Written by: Tom Robbins
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The Sirens of Titan
- Written by: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: Jay Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The richest, most depraved man on Earth, Malachi Constant, is offered a chance to take a space journey to distant worlds with a beautiful woman at his side. Of course, there's a catch to the invitation....
-
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Great book. Fantastic narration.
- By Lucas Jalonen on 2018-03-06
Written by: Kurt Vonnegut
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Villa Incognito
- Written by: Tom Robbins
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine that there are American MIAs who chose to remain missing after the Vietnam War. Imagine that there is a family in which four generations of strong, alluring women have shared a mysterious connection to an outlandish figure from Japanese folklore. Imagine just those things (don’t even try to imagine the love story) and you’ll have a foretaste of Tom Robbins’s eighth and perhaps most beautifully crafted novel--a work as timeless as myth yet as topical as the latest international threat.
Written by: Tom Robbins
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Catch-22
- Written by: Joseph Heller
- Narrated by: Jay O. Sanders
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22.
-
-
Great book, tough as audiobook
- By Andrew S on 2018-02-15
Written by: Joseph Heller
-
Breakfast of Champions
- Written by: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: John Malkovich
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Breakfast of Champions (1973) provides frantic, scattershot satire and a collage of Vonnegut's obsessions. His recurring cast of characters and American landscape was perhaps the most controversial of his canon; it was felt by many at the time to be a disappointing successor to Slaughterhouse-Five, which had made Vonnegut's literary reputation.
-
-
NOT for me
- By C. J. Mccoy on 2018-04-09
Written by: Kurt Vonnegut
What the critics say
2001, Audie Awards, Winner
"In his seventh, and perhaps most complex novel to date, Robbins shines as brilliantly as he has in the past...superb current social commentary." --New York Post
What listeners say about Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jessie
- 2021-02-25
Too Far
I think Tom Robbins is brilliant and the narrator did an awesome job reading the book. My big concern was the sexual acts with girls under the age of concent. I don't want to see this book removed from audible but some of the pedophilia this book describes as "Just Taboo" is not right. Other than Swithers paying for child prostitutes in Thailand. I found this book very interesting. All and all I consider this book something special. This book will leave you at a lose for words. It's very imaginative and weirdly descriptive. I feel it hits on some fundamental truths of the nature of reality in a twisted comical way. This book was made for male feminism and other far left people, not for me. I don't regret listening, I just find it interesting.
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- Monique
- 2023-08-20
An Odyssey!
A fantastical journey. A main character that is absurd but you can’t help being wildly entertained by. Yes, there are cringeworthy moments of obsessive predatory sexual behaviour, so be aware. You hate this character at times, but the story is wonderfully told and the audio well done.
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- Caleb Laban
- 2021-11-14
So good!
This might be the best book I’ve ever read. It’s a weird vivid place inside Tom Robins mind.
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- Anon
- 2018-07-31
Couldn’t wait for it to end
Pretty much the only redeeming quality of this book was the beautiful prose. The story was interesting for approximately 5 minutes out of the (it seemed) thousand hours. All the elements of a good story are there—potential for a surprising or dangerous situation several times, interesting side characters, etc—and sat idle while the main character waxed poetic about effing everything. He’s the guy at the party who has probably led an interesting life but prefers spouting his self-professed profound thoughts and talking down to everyone.
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