Jitterbug Perfume

Jitterbug Perfume is an epic.

Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn’t conclude until nine o’clock tonight (Paris time).

It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle.

The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god.

If the liquid in the bottle actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.

Quotes and thoughts while reading:

When I really like a book, I find it hard to take down notes and quotes while I'm reading it. To pick out little pieces, and praise them as representatives of the whole just doesn't work for some books. And Jitterbug Perfume is one of those books.

It was wonderful, joyful, thought endearing, life/death provoking, and a really good read. The story leapt from the pages into my mind, and I wanted more than anything to be in the next paragraph, the next page, the next chapter. It was just magical.

And the span of the book, the element of time, and how each character interacted with it, namely Alobar and Kudra, lent another dimension I don't normally get to experience.

I'm always impressed/grateful for the capacity of a single author to create so many distinct characters, each with their own unique voice and story, and to weave them all together into a novel. The breadth, and depth of some(but not all), the characters was fun, the pacing of the story was really lively, and makes me want to read more Tom Robbins. I think it's funny how many people were excited for me to read this book. It was really nice to see how much enthusiasm Tom Robbins causes in people, and I know if I hear of someone reading Jitterbug Perfume I'll be excited for them as well.

I've never thought about smell as much as I have while reading this book. The idea that smell is the last to leave someone upon their death was really captivating. And I have to mention, written in 1984, the mention of the reptilian, to limbic, to neocortex evolution of the brain (on page 320) was very strange to read. I've recently delved into the topic, understanding how the human mind worked, but here we see Tom Robbins, and for that matter the scientific world, already in support of the idea. The theory is much older than I thought, it appears.

With all of that above, I won't quote the book really at all. It was magical, wonderful, eye-reddening, stay up too late reading, flip the pages to find out what happens next, engrossing in all the best ways writing.