Maybe I was just tired of Tom Robbin's writing pattern (see my review of Still Life with Woodpecker) but this book was so boring and predictable. Couldn't finish it, wish I hadn't started it. ( )

I first read this book at least 45 years ago and didn't remember anything about it. I'm not sure that it has aged well in that the whole hippie culture feels quaint to me rather than edgy as it probably was when first released in 1971. It is still quirky and thought-provoking, though. My biggest beef with the book has nothing to do with its treatment of Christianity, but rather the fact that Robbins goes on and on and on and on and on with his theories ad nauseum. Marx Marvelous will simply not shut up about his theories and the book becomes bogged down and very very tedious to read at times. Even Robbins knew that he went on too long with some of it as shown by his actually including the words blah blah blah into Marx's arguments which are falling on Amanda's deaf ears. Blah blah blah indeed. It put me in mind of the gab sessions in the dorm that were more fueled by too much weed than by good ideas. Very self-indulgent stuff. If some of this were edited out, I would give the book a much higher rating because Tom Robbins imagination creates a such a fantastical, fun world. ( )

The image of Amanda and her butterflies has stayed with me. I thought of it recently when reading The Satanic Verses when an erstwhile prophetess is clothed only in them. And Jesus, found in the Vatican in a secret room we all know exists -- this is just too good. My favorite of the Robbins books I tried. ( )

How come no one ever told me about Tom Robbins? I had to randomly discover him in my own, not sure quite how, but I've been looking for exactly this style for I don't know how long. A readable Pynchon, that's what he is. Loved it. ( )

Jesus, the Church, Western civilization and what it all means, with Pagan tinge already apparent