Conversations with Tom Robbins [Paperback]

I have read, love and admire every novel by Tom Robbins (many times over). This collection of intimate interviews from the 70s to 2009 gives one a before (for me anyway) unseen insight into who Tom Robbins really is and what makes him tick. His flexibility concerning life in general is nothing short of amazing. He is able to navigate with ease, between all boundaries of time, space, and societal dogmas and rigidness (political, religious, institutional guidelines etc.) with seemingly little or no wasted (negative) energy. He emphasizes HUMOR with intellect and spirituality (Zen,Taoism with Far Eastern "crazy wisdom") for his inner peace and extraordinary balance of mind, body and soul in this escalating insane world in which we are all participants...His wisdom comes from a simple path few dare to take, much less view or even consider (or for that matter,are even aware this option exists)...If we could all clear our minds and hearts of the fog that clouds our tainted judgement, as Robbins has obviously accomplished, we could live in a world of peace and understanding through conversation and dialogue, instead of our present approach of using intentional misunderstanding to justify a world full of WAR, violence and hatred!!!...

In this compilation he is often asked of his writing style and process. His response is, basically, that he despises orhtadoxy and his writing process is extremely unorthadox and doesn't really recommend it to aspiring young writers or anyone for that matter...He begins a novel with no outline, no rough draft and NO PLOT. He works on one sentence at a time, using pen and paper, and somtimes spending hours on a single sentence. He then edits the sentence and moves to the next one, never to rework it again. When a novel is complete (usually 4-5 years) he gives the handwritten manuscript to his editor and he's done. Tom Robbins has never read a one of his finished novels, which I find very cool!!!...Hey, what else can you expect? He is TOM ROBBINS!!!...A true American Hero and the greatest source of my own inspiration...VIVA TOM ROBBINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have read all of Robbins' books and hope for more to come. He opens my mind and brightens my day. I do not often re-read a book, but Tom Robbins is an exception. Each re-reading brings wonderful surprises.

have really been enjoying this book. I have read all of Robbin's works. Gives great perspective into his life and how it has shaped his literary career.