ISBN: 0553803328
Bantam 2003
Let me say off the bat that this is the first time I have read anything by Tom Robbins. This may shock and disgust many an avid subway and after-dinner-when-nothing-good-is-on-TV-reader, but I have never read anything by one of the preeminent cult humorist of modern times. That being said, this review will be from virgin eyes, as if this eighth Robbins novel is that of an upstart's first attempt. And after that being said, I really enjoyed Villa Incognito, and expect big things from Mr. Robbins in future ventures and I can only hope the rest of the world will find a place for him, and perhaps, in time, one or perhaps more kind webmaster will even dedicate a fan page to him.
Villa Incognito is the name of a fictional (though not totally out of the realm of possibility) home of three American Vietnam "MIA"s in Fan Nan Nan, Laos who have decided to divorce themselves from American mediocrity and corruption. The trio support themselves by growing and refining heroin to sell to hospices throughout the East, cavort with numerous local concubines, and wax philosophically on America's shortcomings and the benefits of Eastern animism over Western monotheism.
Bantam 2003
Let me say off the bat that this is the first time I have read anything by Tom Robbins. This may shock and disgust many an avid subway and after-dinner-when-nothing-good-is-on-TV-reader, but I have never read anything by one of the preeminent cult humorist of modern times. That being said, this review will be from virgin eyes, as if this eighth Robbins novel is that of an upstart's first attempt. And after that being said, I really enjoyed Villa Incognito, and expect big things from Mr. Robbins in future ventures and I can only hope the rest of the world will find a place for him, and perhaps, in time, one or perhaps more kind webmaster will even dedicate a fan page to him.
Villa Incognito is the name of a fictional (though not totally out of the realm of possibility) home of three American Vietnam "MIA"s in Fan Nan Nan, Laos who have decided to divorce themselves from American mediocrity and corruption. The trio support themselves by growing and refining heroin to sell to hospices throughout the East, cavort with numerous local concubines, and wax philosophically on America's shortcomings and the benefits of Eastern animism over Western monotheism.
With a description like this, one should expect a book oozing subversive anti-patriot juices from every alphabet pore--and one would be correct. And so, without further ado, a paragraph of socio-economic context:
Most in my generation are fairly bored by old-fogey-type Baby Boomer liberalism. It aimed to tear down established traditional American values, but left little of substance to replace them. I think most would conclude that our republic's system of properly checked-and-balanced Capitalism works fairly well--we don't have seas of ethnic violence flooding the streets of our diversified cities, and even our homeless are fat. Communism truly doesn't work, and we don't need Orwellian or Limbaughian propaganda to realize this, just CNN. And granted, Socialism keeps the crime rate down, but I ain't seen no Frenchman on the moon. My generation would love to take part in a revolution for something new and better, but we'd just like to make sure the alternative is truly new and indeed better. This rant being ranted, Mr. Robbins old-school dissent actually came off being kind of refreshing.
Most in my generation are fairly bored by old-fogey-type Baby Boomer liberalism. It aimed to tear down established traditional American values, but left little of substance to replace them. I think most would conclude that our republic's system of properly checked-and-balanced Capitalism works fairly well--we don't have seas of ethnic violence flooding the streets of our diversified cities, and even our homeless are fat. Communism truly doesn't work, and we don't need Orwellian or Limbaughian propaganda to realize this, just CNN. And granted, Socialism keeps the crime rate down, but I ain't seen no Frenchman on the moon. My generation would love to take part in a revolution for something new and better, but we'd just like to make sure the alternative is truly new and indeed better. This rant being ranted, Mr. Robbins old-school dissent actually came off being kind of refreshing.
Since September of 2001 when uber-Patriotism became all the rave, I've been kind of bored (and perhaps a bit scared) by the lack of diversity in the public discourse. Villa Incognito certainly won't send an earthquake through the landscape of the American psyche (as dense as it may be--certainly that soil under the midwest has proven to be quite impenetrable), but it was invigorating to read something that will make Sean Hannity's blood pressure rise instead of always mine for once. Thank you for taking the time to read my paragraph of socio-economic context for Tom Robbins' Villa Incognito.
I'm sure that feminists will be appalled by much of the surreal White guy mentality of Villa Incognito. The secondary female characters, mostly Asian, are often given little more character than being impressed with the massive genitals of male characters and then fucking them. The women of the east are portrayed as little girls gone ga-ga over the three main White male characters, who apparently have very impressive genitals. As a White dude myself, I wasn't so much offended by this, as much as I was glad no Asian girls on the subway knew what kind of self-grandizing stuff I was reading.
I'm sure that feminists will be appalled by much of the surreal White guy mentality of Villa Incognito. The secondary female characters, mostly Asian, are often given little more character than being impressed with the massive genitals of male characters and then fucking them. The women of the east are portrayed as little girls gone ga-ga over the three main White male characters, who apparently have very impressive genitals. As a White dude myself, I wasn't so much offended by this, as much as I was glad no Asian girls on the subway knew what kind of self-grandizing stuff I was reading.
The characters of Villa Incognito weren't so interesting to me, many seemed recycled and tired. And I got the feeling that Robbins was a bit too in love with his Commander Stubblefield, the philosopher king of the MIAs. He is given whole paragraphs to pontificate and speculate on life, politics, and reality, and the other characters are kept wrapped on each word. Much of Stubblefield's commentary seemed to be directly from an author-god who was really wanting to show his audience how advanced and unique his thoughts are. No need Tom, really. The true star attraction of the book are the sentences, the beautifully constructed lines that get us from A to B. The sound of a toilet flushing is described as "the familiar sound of water being strangled by a jealous lover." See, that's neat. And here's the narrator riffing off an ode to mayonnaise:
