Another Roadside Attraction (1971) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Characters/People edit see section history

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• Amanda: Female protagonist. Has an extremely close relationship with electricity. Incredibly spiritual and open.
• John Paul Ziller: Amanda's husband. If Tarzan had lived in San Francisco in the 1960's this would be him.
• Plucky Purcell: Friend of Ziller (and Amanda). Skilled at karate.
• Marx Marvelous: eccentric yet scientific.
• Nearly Normal Jimmy: Add a description of this character.
• Baby Thor: Amanda's infant son.
• Madame Goody
• Roland Kirk

Quotes edit see section history

• “The indescretions itemized by Purcell were, so it seemed to Marvelous, indications of increasing Christian entropy. To wit: Christianity has gradually lost spiritual energy over the centuries, only to replace it with political and economic energy. That imbalance has warped the religious structure and although it has heightened its physical force it has pushed its spiritual potential toward zero. Political and/or economic power create frictional resistance to the natural flow of love. In the case of the Church, such friction has resulted in an engine that has considerable momentum but fails to generate salvation.”

• “The principal difference between the husbandryman and the historian is that the former breeds sheep or cows or such and the latter breeds (assumed) facts. The husbandryman uses his skills to enrich the future, the historian uses his to enrich the past. Both are usually up to their ankles in bullshit.”

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• “There is no such thing as a weird human being. It’s just that some people require more understanding than others.”

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• “Happiness is a learned condition. And since it is learned and self-generating, it does not depend upon external circumstances for its perpetuation.

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• “Logic only gives man what he needs,” he stammered. “Magic gives him what he wants.”

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• “The function of the artist,” the Navajo answered, “is to provide what life does not.”

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• Real courage is risking something you have to keep on living with, real courage is risking something that might force you to rethink your thoughts and suffer change and stretch consciousness. Real courage is risking one’s clichés.”

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• “Amnesia is not knowing who one is and wanting desperately to find out. Euphoria is not knowing who one is and not caring. Ecstasy is knowing exactly who one is—and still not caring.”

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• “The most important thing in life is style. That is, the style of one’s existence—the characteristic mode of one’s actions—is basically, ultimately what matters. For if man defines himself by doing, then style is doubly definitive because style describes the doing.”

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• Somewhere in the archives of crudest instinct is recorded the truth that it is better to be endangered and free than captive and comfortable.

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• When she was a small girl, Amanda hid a ticking clock in an old rotten tree trunk. It drove woodpeckers crazy. Ignoring tasty bugs all around them, they just about beat their brains out trying to get at the clock. Years later, Amanda used the woodpecker experiment as a model for understanding capitalism, Communism, Christianity and all other systems that traffic in future rewards rather than in present realities.

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• This did not annoy Amanda for it had long been her theory that human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Mount Vernon
• Seattle
• Humptulips
• Sacramento
• Vatican City
• Tibet
• Skagit Valley
• New York
• India
• Washington
• San Francisco
• Rome
• California
• Florida
• Heaven
• Pacific Northwest
• Bow Wow Mountain
• Wildcat Creek
• Arizona

First Sentence edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by The Metamorphosis, and followed by White Noise.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Tom Robbins (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Leslie W. LePere (Artist)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Many references to sex, drugs and Rock'n'Roll.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( R ) › Robbins, Tom
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Women's Fiction › Single Women
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary