Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates cover art

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

By: Tom Robbins
Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.61

Buy Now for £13.61

About this listen

 "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. Action & Adventure Classics Education Genre Fiction Higher & Continuing Education Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction

Critic reviews

"In his seventh, and perhaps most complex novel to date, Robbins shines as brilliantly as he has in the past...superb current social commentary."
--New York Post
All stars
Most relevant
As good no even better than expected if not slightly look over your shoulder ish!

Wahoo

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent as always from Robbins. Narrator is great, but would recommend listening at 90% speed

Great audiobook

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
what more can I say ?
The most dangerous author in the world. Bring on the Clowns .

tom robbins

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great story read aloud ! Accents weren’t great but I think they was part of it . Deviant and funny till the end

As I remembered it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.