Tom Robbins dazzled millions of readers with the whimsy and imagination in his bestselling novels, such as 's Jitterbug Perfume , Skinny Legs and All, from , and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a book adapted by director Gus Van Sant into a film.
Robbins died at his home in La Conner, Washington, according to a statement from friend Craig Popelars. He was Tom Robbins lived in Washington state for most of his adult life, but he was born in Blowing Rock, N. His family moved around the South, settling in Warsaw, Va. As a boy, he would tell stories aloud to himself, outside, with a stick in his hand. We would leave houses behind where one section of the yard was completely bare from where I destroyed the grass.
But I realized much later in life that what I was doing was drumming. I was building a rhythm. Along with the rhythm and humor in his novels, Robbins authored essays on subjects ranging from the life of an amoeba to Eastern philosophy.
He said he often got ideas from periodicals. And it is as if your mind is a Geiger counter. Every now and then, something makes a loud ping. Certainly, the eccentric characters and bizarre situations in his novels reflect a hallucinatory vision. In his debut novel, Another Roadside Attraction from , the mummified body of Jesus Christ turns up at a roadside hot dog stand.
As a result, critics tended to pigeonhole him as a trippy hippy. Longtime University of St. Joseph professor Catherine E. Hoyser, now a professor emeritus, authored a guide to Robbins' novels for students.
