Though their scrotums are sizable, it is safe to say that the average Tanuki is not capable of such a feat. “It has been reported that Tanuki fell from the sky using his scrotum as a parachute.”įor those of you unfamiliar with Japanese mythology or Japanese canids, a Tanuki ( Nyctereutes procyonoides) is a raccoon-like species of wild dog indigenous to East Asia. The novel starts off strong and strange with the sentence: Villa Incognito is somehow able to incorporate Japanese folklore, MIAs turned opium lords, and Eastern-tinged philosophy all into one rollercoaster of a story. Though the plot isn’t as tight as it could be, Robbins’ metaphysical musings on the mundane and the fantastic maintained my interest throughout. Such colorful descriptions and musings abound in Villa Incognito. Fried oysters, leftover roast, peanut butter: rare are the rations that fail to become instantly more scintillating from contact with this inanimate seductress, this goopy glory-monger, this alchemist in a jar…Who but the French could have wrought this gastronomic miracle? Mayonnaise is France’s gift to the New World’s muddled palate, a boon that combines humanity’s ancient instinctive craving for the cellular warmth of pure fat with the modern, romantic fondness for complex flavors…Cholesterol aside, it projects the luster that we astro-orphans have identified with well-being ever since we fell from the stars.” (97–98) Yellow as a summer sunlight, soft as young thighs, smooth as a Baptist preacher’s rant, falsely innocent as a magician’s handkerchief, mayonnaise will cloak a lettuce leaf, some shreds of cabbage, a few hunks of cold potato in the simplest splendor, restyling their dull character, making them lively and attractive again, granting them the capacity to delight the gullet if not the heart. Mayonnaise comforts them, causes the vowels to slide more musically along their slow tongues, appeasing their grease-conditioned taste buds while transporting those buds to a plane higher than lard could ever hope to fly.

“All Carolina folk are crazy for mayonnaise, mayonnaise is as ambrosia to them, the food of their tarheeled gods.

My favorite example of his prose might be this paean for mayonnaise: In spite of this, Robbins is an excellent writer and this comes through most often in his narrative prose. This collision results in a lot of cool ideas but not much character development. Its weakness in form results from the collision of its complex plot with its short length. In a few words, Villa Incognito is an exciting, philosophical, rushed mess. The purpose of this response is not to summarize the plot, but to bring to light interesting themes and information gleaned from the novel. Though Robbins is a well known and well respected author, this is my first time reading one of his works. V illa Incognito (2003) is Tom Robbins’ most recent novel.

Villa incognito by tom robbins