Jitterbug Perfume - by Tom Robbins (Paperback)

About the Book

Robbins calls Jitterbug Perfume "an epic". It is also a saga, and a saga must have a hero. The hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a great-horned god. Some people actually believe that the liquid in the bottle is--the secret essence of the universe?

Book Synopsis

"[A] wild comic rip through eternity and beyond."--The Detroit News

A genre-blending romp of a novel that "celebrates the joy of individual expression and self-reliance" (Saturday Review), from the New York Times bestselling author of Still Life with Woodpecker

Jitterbug Perfume is an epic. Which is to say, it begins in the forests of ancient Bohemia and doesn't conclude until nine o'clock tonight (Paris time). It is a saga, as well. A saga must have a hero, and the hero of this one is a janitor with a missing bottle. The bottle is blue, very, very old, and embossed with the image of a goat-horned god. If the liquid in the bottle actually is the secret essence of the universe, as some folks seem to think, it had better be discovered soon because it is leaking and there is only a drop or two left.

Review Quotes

"Jitterbug Perfume has a large and exotic cast of characters, all of whom are interested in immortality and/or perfume. . . . Go see for yourself; you'll have a good time."--The Washington Post

"Robbins again celebrates the joy of individual expression and self-reliance. He lays before us the time-honored warts and hairs of the world's philosophies--problems with religion, war, politics, family, marriage, and sex--and leaves no twist or turn unstoned."--Saturday Review

About the Author

Tom Robbins (1932-2025) was one of America's most original and beloved novelists, celebrated for his wildly inventive storytelling, philosophical wit, and exuberant use of language. Thomas Pynchon praised him as a writer who "has a grasp on things that dazzles the brain" and as "a world-class storyteller," while The New York Times Book Review called him "one of our best practitioners of high foolishness." His international bestselling novels include Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Still Life with Woodpecker, Jitterbug Perfume, Another Roadside Attraction, and Skinny Legs and All. Robbins' singular literary imagination inspired generations to delight in the wonders and absurdities of being alive. He made his home for many years in La Conner, Washington.