by Tom Robbins
First published 2000
Switters works as a rogue CIA operative who calls himself an "angel" fighting against the agency's "cowboys." He travels to Peru on a mission and agrees to return his grandmother's parrot to the Amazon rainforest. There he meets a pyramid-headed shaman named End of Time who believes laughter drives the universe. During one hallucinatory night, Switters eats the parrot and takes a drug trip through cosmic mysteries. The revelation comes with a deadly price. A curse forbids him from ever touching solid ground again or he will die. Now Switters must navigate the world on stilts and in wheelchairs. His strange journey takes him from Peru to Seattle to Syria to Vatican City. He pursues his sixteen-year-old stepsister Suzy and a cloistered nun named Domino Thiry. He encounters miracles, meets the model from a famous Matisse nude, and uncovers a lost prophecy from Fatima. Through it all, Switters searches for love, adventure, and spiritual meaning while learning to live with his magically altered existence.
Genres: adventure, fantasy, contemporary, magical-realism
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, magical-realism
Setting: Peru, Seattle, Syria, Vatican City
Period: Contemporary
415 pages · Hardcover · Bantam
Content warnings: drug-use