Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 1,010 ratings

Price: 15.72

Last update: 02-12-2025


About this item

"Tom Robbins has a grasp on things that dazzles the brain and he's also a world-class storyteller." (Thomas Pynchon)

In Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates, his seventh and biggest novel, the wise, witty, always gutsy Tom Robbins brings onstage the most complex and compelling character he has ever created.

Switters is a contradiction for all seasons: an anarchist who works for the government, a pacifist who carries a gun, a vegetarian who sops up ham gravy, a cyberwhiz who hates computers, a robust bon vivant who can be as squeamish as any fop, a man who, though obsessed with the preservation of innocence, is aching to deflower his high-school-age stepsister (only to become equally enamored of a nun ten years his senior).

Yet there is nothing remotely wishy-washy about Switters. He doesn't merely pack a pistol. He is a pistol.

And as we dog Switters's strangely elevated heels across four continents, in and out of love and danger, Robbins explores, challenges, mocks, and celebrates virtually every major aspect of our mercurial era.As many readers well know, to describe a Tom Robbins plot does not begin to describe a Tom Robbins novel. Moreover, the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author, with his love of language, nuance, and surprise, is as opposed to story summations as J.D. Salinger.

It is revealing, however, to learn what things Robbins lists as having influenced the writing of Fierce Invalids:

"This book was inspired by an entry from Bruce Chatwin's journal, by a CIA agent I met in Southeast Asia, by the mystery surrounding the lost prophecy of the Virgin of Fatima, by the increasing evidence that the interplay of opposites is the engine that runs the universe, and by embroidered memories of old Terry and the Pirates comic books.

"Robbins also has said that throughout the writing of Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates he was guided by the advice of Julia Child: "Learn to handle hot things. Keep your knives sharp. Above all, have a good time."

Perhaps that is why he has managed to write a provocative, rascally novel that takes no prisoners - and yet is upbeat, romantic, meaningful, adventurous, edifying, and fun.


Top reviews from the United States

  • C. Hilton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoy this book
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2013
    This is one of the funniest and most entertaining books I've ever read.

    And it has the most quotable quotes. Here's a sample:

    "The two things they all had in common were a cynical suspicion of politico-economic systems and a disdain for what passed for "patriotism" in the numbed noodles of the manipulated masses."

    "The old 'for reasons of national security' alibi. Heh! I'm a loyal American of long standing, but that doesn't mean I'm so flag-addled I can't recognize our favorite euphemism for 'governmental hanky-panky swept under the rug.'"

    "It had to be good because all around it, in every direction, as far as his eyes could see, the world was as empty and dry as a dummy's condom."

    "And what is your faith, exactly, Mr. Switters? What do you believe in?"
    "Umm. Well. I try not to"
    "You try not to believe?"
    "That's right. I'm on the run for the Killer B's."
    "Pardon? What have killer bees to do with?..."
    "B for Belief. B for Belonging. The B's that lead to most of the killing in the world. If you don't Belong among us, then you're our inferior, or our enemy, or both; and you can't Belong with us unless you Believe what we Believe. Maybe not even then, but it certainly helps. Our religion, our party, our tribe, our town, our school, our race, our nation. Believe. Belong. Behave. Or Be damned."

    "Man," said Switters, "that's a nasty-looking crowd of clouds over there, all rough and raggedy-assed and milling about, like a herd of white-trash shoppers just crawled out of shacks and sheds and trailer homes for the end-of-winter sale at Wal-Mart."

    "Switters, are you ever, on you own, inclined toward prayer?"
    He barely hesitated. "When I feel I'm in need of shark repellent, I try to pray. When I feel I'm in need of smelling salts, I try to meditate. I'm not saying that one's necessarily superior to the other -- both are capable of being reduced to a kind of metaphysical panhandling -- but if more people smelled the salts and woke the hell up, they'd find they wouldn't need to be fretting about sharks all the time."

    "Although he seemed highly intelligent, Switters could detect that his was an intellect of the shrewd variety, the kind that grasped facts and figures and understood virtually nothing of genuine importance; a well-oiled brain dedicated to the defense, perpetuation, and exploitation of every cliché and superstition in the saddlebags of institutionalized reality."
  • One Guy's Opinion
    4.0 out of 5 stars Plot - 4, Characters - 4, Theme - 4, Voice - 4, Setting - 4, Overall - 4
    Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2013
    1) Plot (4 stars) - An ex-CIA agent is sent by his grandma to release a parrot in South America only to become infected by a strange illness whose cure can only be found in an oasis in the Middle East. It's a typical Robbins wacky ride, so don't expect an especially linear plot. That said, it still definitely has structure, mystery, and builds toward a resolution.

    2) Characters (4 stars) - Switters is the cocksure adventurer. Intellectual, bold, spontaneous. He's a great guy to ride along with on a fun journey. However, there didn't seem to be much room for his inner growth. What did he want to become? Or was he already perfect when the novel began?

    3) Theme (4 stars) - The central theme seems to be about the power of mindful playfulness ... that joy is wisdom. In addition, there were dozens of other little ideas to keep you pondering--from what makes someone human (humor, imagination, eroticism, spirituality, rebelliousness, and aesthetics, in case you were wondering), to what our inner awareness can show us vs. the awareness brought by ingesting certain plants, to the boundaries and powers of language. Robbins likes his theories, and he sprinkles them liberally in this work.

    4) Voice (4 stars) - Robbins likes to enjoy himself, and it comes through in his prose. He doesn't just have a proclivity for metaphor, he turns those metaphors into little anthropomorphized stories that have a life of their own. When not supporting whimsical metaphor, his sentences are jaunty and smooth. A fine fine writer, but sometimes it felt like he might be nervous to convey any of life's sadder side--depression, loss, hopelessness. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I want books filled with the sad stuff, just that it exists and perhaps it should get some page time to make things seem more real.

    5) Setting (4 stars) - Robbins' descriptions of the various locales were always vivid and entertaining. However, the observational distance of his writing sometimes left me feeling a little distant from these places.

    6) Overall (4 stars) - All 4s equals a 4. I'd recommend it. It was a lively, thought-provoking, zany ride.
  • Teri Barnett
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great story! Not a new book
    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2024
    Great Story, and Author.
    I paid a new book price, and received a used book.
    Customer image
    Teri Barnett
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Great story! Not a new book

    Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2024
    Great Story, and Author.
    I paid a new book price, and received a used book.
    Images in this review
  • Veronica Maven
    5.0 out of 5 stars Shocked
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2021
    I have been reading Tom Robbins since he first was published in the 1970's. He is a brilliant wordsmith, who can take a completely improbable plot, populate it with curious strangers, throw in some stunning and unexpected descriptors, wrap the whole thing in a tissue of absurdity, and make the whole seemingly disconnected mess gel into an enormously entertaining read.

    I hadn't read anything by him in many years and discovered "Villa Incognito" on my Kindle. I whipped through that one and am about a third through this novel, but I realized something very troubling. In both of these novels he is building an uncomfortable case in support of pedophilia. In both novels his middle aged male characters spend time in Thailand in the company of teenage prostitutes, and Robbins has made every possible attempt to normalize it. In fact he's painted being a teenage hooker with a pastel, watercolor brush that would have us believe that underage girls having sex with old men for money is a normal, healthy thing that is simply good fun for everyone involved. That, of course, is absolute BS. The kind of BS you hear from every pervert who is trying to get others to buy a ticket on their twisted train to justify their own behavior. It's sick, it's wrong, and it makes me wonder about Robbins' personal life. As in maybe someone with authority should be looking at him real hard.

    If you wonder why I gave him any stars at all it is because he is a fine writer. Nonetheless, he is possibly a reprehensible human being.

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