Skinny Legs and All

by Tom Robbins

Book Overview

SKINNY LEGS AND ALL: An Arab and a Jew open a restaurant together across the street from the United Nations.... It sounds like the beginning of an ethnic joke, but it's the axis around which spins this gutsy, fun-loving, and alarmingly provocative novel, in which a bean can philosophizes, a dessert spoon mystifies, a young waitress takes on the New York art world, and a rowdy redneck welder discovers the lost god of Palestine--while the illusions...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553057758
• ISBN13: 9780553057751
• Release Date: April 1990
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 422 Pages
• Weight: 1.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 24.1" x 16.5" x 16.5"

Customer Reviews

1st edition

I just started this book today. I know TR is a small author but this seller gave me a 1st edition. It’s not listed in the ad, and it doesn’t matter to me, but that’s quite valuable and I’m very glad that the price was so low. Thanks

Skinny Legs and All - considers the nature of sentient beings

I have read all Tom Robbins' books. My favorite actually is Jitterbug Perfume but Skinny Legs and All has affected my outlook...every time I see a plastic bag blowing across the highway, I wonder...where is it planning to go? A rock may be a sentient being ...just on a very long time frame. Great book and very creative.

Robbins makes enlightenment painless, funny

Here's another Tom Robbins' novel that I really shouldn't read in public. I lose all awareness of my surroundings as my brain tries to wrap its slippery gray hands around this plot. I am lost somewhere deep in this outlandish and intricate, but somehow fully believable story. I would make a great purse-snatching target. And every time I burst into a fit of laughter, I can feel the stares of people who probably think I'm a Bellevue escapee. Then I think about the main character Ellen Cherry Charles and her struggle against artistic conformity. Right on! I cackle away in spite of my disapproving peers who probably only wish they were reading this book. The story begins with two newlyweds cruising west in a 20-foot Airstream turkey and ends with the reunion of a girl and her favorite spoon. It's easy to forget that some of the central themes of this novel are so serious, like the inevitable violence of contradicting but uncompromising beliefs, or the role of the artist in society, or the portrayal of women in the Bible to name a few. But through Robbins' characters- ranging from an overzealous Southern Baptist preacher, to a mysterious16-year-old belly dancer, to a philosophical can of beans- he exposes a government plot to set the ball rolling on the rapture, manages to explain with surprising clarity the violent history of the Middle East and vindicates Jezebel and Salome. Through these seemingly unrelated characters and their equally unrelated settings, Robbins sews a unifying thread that reminds readers that like it or not, we're all connected in some way. But for some reason I'm still laughing. Maybe it's because in this novel inanimate objects have consciousness and Ellen Cherry's vibrator speaks to the inhabitants of her panty drawer in a Japanese accent. Somehow Robbins' has convinced me that this could actually be true. After reading this book, I'll never look at my silverware or non-perishable goods with the same indifference. After all, they will outlive me and could possess ancient wisdom.

The skinny on when the last veil will fall

One of my biggest post-literate mistakes was choosing "Skinny Legs and All" as my first attempt at a Tom Robbins book. It was a big mistake because, for that first pass, I didn't make it past page fifty. And spent the next two years avoiding Tom's oeuvre, for fear of reliving that first awkward experience. Hindsight tells me that those two years could have been spent in an enlightened, blissful state if I'd started my Robbins journey elsewhere. When I tried "Skinny Legs" again, after 'getting' the Robbins of "Another Roadside Attraction" and "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" and "Jitterbug Perfume", I was astounded at the magnitude of its greatness. And more than a bit embarrassed that I passed off its hyper-creativity as just strangeness for strangeness' sake.The strangeness I speak of, which rears its ugly (nay, sublime) head before page fifty, concerns an Airstream welded to look like a giant roast turkey, and sentient dialogues between a spoon, a dirty sock, and a Can o' Beans (and later, a mystical Conch Shell and a magical Painted Stick; ancient objects with an enormous task ahead of them). Hmm. A first time Tommer can be expected to run screaming from images like that, skeptical that they can be made credible. But the seasoned pro knows that Tom has something exciting up his sleeve. And can't wait to find out what it is."Skinny Legs" follows the 'exciting' adventures of Ellen Cherry Charles, erstwhile artist and sometimes waitress, and her newlywed husband Boomer Petway, creator of said turkeymobile. Their plan is to drive from Virginia, which is too conservative to cultivate Ellen's artistic and sexual passions, to New York City. The goal is to find fame and fortune in the art community. Which they do, but not in the expected way.While in New York, Tom throws in many issues and ideas that are as relevant today as they were in 1990 when the book was published. More so, even. Talk of New York terrorism, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and Jerusalem as a hot button issue, all inform the story in one way or another (as do Tom's staples: art, love, passionate sex, philosophy, history, etc. etc. etc.). This can best be seen in one of Tom's most poignant creations: a restaurant named Isaac and Ishmael's, owned by a Jew and an Arab in an attempt to call attention to the brotherhood needed to end the conflict in the Middle East. "To a bird in the air, it's beanies versus dishcloths," notes the I & I's Arab owner, Roland Abu Hadee, before he summarize the foolishness of the situation. "To a bug on the street, both groups are the same." Tom's handling of the Israel conflict, and the way he weaves it into his story, is masterful. He takes his position on the conflict (through the I & I, which in an attempt at reconciliation is not-so-incidentally named after Sarah's sons: the bastard child who went on to become the father of the Arabs, and the legitimate child who went on to become the father of the Hebrews), allows his characters th

Absolutely Fabulous!

This is the first Tom Robbins novel I've read, and it was an incredible pleasure from cover to cover. Reviewing a Robbins novel is not so easy though. A simple plot summary surely doesn't suffice. Let me start by saying that it's a vastly entertaining book, and really quite profound. Robbins expounds--through his diverse and bizarre characters--on many topics, particularly organized religion and the middle east (inseparable, when you think about it). He's clearly no great fan of organized religion, and treats the middle east with the complexity and nuance it so surely deserves. It's also a very feminist novel (in my opinion), with multiple strong female characters, and a very purposeful attempt to show the patriarchal origins and underpinnings of the three major mono-theistic religions. Still, the greatest pleasure of this novel is the spectacular wordplay and turns-of-phrase. Robbins prose is wonderfully creative and elegant, and though some readers may find the constant similes and metaphors to be gratuitous, I did not. Every line seems so carefully crafted -- there is not a single throw-away word. On many occasions (too many to count), I found myself saying "I really should write this down." If that happens to me a half dozen times in a book, I would consider it a good read. But 25-30 times?? Remarkable.I don't want to give the impression that this is a preachy or obtrusively political book -- it isn't. It is laugh-out-loud funny and extremely entertaining. But there certainly are multiple layers, and I think it is bound to connect with a reader on at least one, if not many different levels. Overall, just a fantastic read. I highly recommend it!

Please don't call him wacky (you'd be missing the point)

Tom Robbins takes creative writing to the spiritual. He is themad shaman of the sentence. If you give a damn about color, love,touching, art, the creative process, if you are aware enough to feel the echoes from a time long past when the earth was sacred, when men knew more about female anatomy than harddrives and batting averages, when stars meant something, if you've ever faced the blank, virgin canvas and found out who you were or weren't, if you've ever felt like an alien on Superbowl Sunday then 'Skinny Legs & All' will profoundly move you. It might even change your life. At very least, Tom Robbins will ruin reading for you -- suddenly everything else seems like soggy iceburg lettuce. 'Skinny Legs & All' is the best novel I've ever read. It costs less than a stupid pizza, do yourself a favor. ps I also HIGHLY recommend 'Jitterbug Perfume' (I have to say this because it's the most beautiful book I've ever read and I noticed that someone here gave it a negative recommendation and I just can't keep my mouth shut when I hear someone proclaim the earth to be flat)