Skinny Legs and All

A complete departure from The Jungle… Skinny Legs and All by Tom Robbins tells the wacky tale of newlyweds, Ellen Cherry Charles and Boomer Petway, a seemingly mismatched couple – she's an artist and Boomer's a redneck from the Midwest.  They are driving across the country, much to the chagrin of Ellen’s parents who despise the match of the two, and land in NYC!  Love the stories that give perspectives of NYC landscapes like 1^st Avenue near the UN (where much of the action takes place) and the Lower East Side.  The two go off on a picnic and in the midst of sexual activity of some sort (use your imagination) they leave behind a dirty sock, can of beans, spoon, conch shell, and other assorted items which serves as a subplot in that the items are trying to get to Israel!  Petway and Ellen split soon after their sexual exploits gets to be too much as Ellen feels she wants to be an artist with limited support from Boomer (who later becomes a world class artist in Israel), you getting the idea how wacky this all is?  Oh yeah, how about fundamentalist preacher Buddy Winkler who tries and get his own claim to fame, which causes his demise at the end of this thriller!  Ellen, after her split from Boomer, is employed at a Middle Eastern restaurant across from the UN, owned by Spike Cohen and Roland Abu Hadee (a Jew and an Arab), underlying the current happenings with the Middle East conflict.  And lastly the conflicted couple comes together after the belly-dancer Salome loses her last of seven veils!  This is a funny, non-linear, and at times, unconnected series of moments with a group of characters brought together through Ellen and Boomer’s travels.  I have never read a Robbins story before but if this is any indication of his writing, I imagine the other reads are pretty light-hearted and nonsensical.   If you are looking for something like a Seinfeld’esque tale, this book is it.  Light reading, which was good for a plane ride!