Still Life with Woodpecker: A Novel

Tom Robbins

Jun 2003 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

“Robbins’s comic philosophical musings reveal a flamboyant genius.”—People

Still Life with Woodpecker is a sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that includes powerful Arabs, exiled royalty, and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.

Ratings and reviews

This novel is simply putrid. The book's description is misleading, as none of the topics it mentions are actually "explained" or even seriously explored. Robbins merely mentions them, but does not go into any meaningful detail. The book is interrupted several times to gloat about an expensive typewriter, but it does not factor into the story at all. Sex in this novel is frequent, pointless, and often described in a very nauseating way, leaving me to wonder why it was in the book at all. The characters are mindlessly shallow, but they are at least presented in an interesting light. The prose is sugary, verging on being diabetic, so the text lost its charm very early on. In my opinion, all the positive aspects of the novel are outweighed 10:1 by the overwhelming negative aspects. It's not enough to simply write "pretty-sounding" sentences: a lesson which Tom Robbins has yet to learn apparently, because this novel is all fluff, no substance.

I started reading this book in high school and never finished it. I saw Drew Berry Moore's character in 50 First Dates reading it and she said it was her favorite. I found the book at a local bookstore, but it was rather expensive at $20, so I decided to check it out here, it's still a little expensive but better than $20. One of my favorite aunts read this one too and said she loved it. I have read it too and also love it. Recommend it!

This is an easy, amusing read, with some brief insights into the wrongs of polite society, but that merely serves to cleverly disguise the constant patronizing objectifying tone of the author. The main character is over sexualized to the point of absurdity, even while Robbins supposedly tries to make a point about the imbalance of responsibility for birth control on to women. She's a principled person with ethics who is seduced by a narcissistic dirtbag who fancies himself a rebel without a cause.

About the author

Tom Robbins has been called “a vital natural resource” by The Oregonian, “one of the wildest and most entertaining novelists in the world” by the Financial Times of London, and “the most dangerous writer in the world today” by Fernanda Pivano of Italy’s Corriere della Sera. A Southerner by birth, Robbins has lived in and around Seattle since 1962.