víla PIVOňka :-)))) ( )

Review: B Is For Beer by Tom Robbins.

Tom’s creativity creates a book about beer for children and adults. When I started the book I thought he did a wonderful job using a pixie to describe how beer was made to a six-year-old girl named Gracie Perkel. The subject was an educational lesson about how beer was made. Even as an adult I was getting a lesson of history myself. I never knew that the making of beer started centuries ago in Egypt. Robbins also used humor throughout the story which made me chuckle a few times.

Grace’s inquisitive mind wanted to know why daddy and uncle Moe like to drink beer. She brought the subject up to her mother and her mother said, “Go ask your daddy”. Gracie decided to do one better then that, she asked daddy for a sip of beer while he and uncle Moe were watching a game on the television. Of course the answer was “NO”, beer is for adults. However, dear cunning uncle Moe lets her have a sip behind daddy’s back. “Yuck”, she said to uncle Moe, it had a nasty bitter taste to her. Then he started to explaining information about the history of beer, and the process in making beer. A lot of what he said was in one ear and out the other for Gracie, she was still thinking of the bitter taste. Gracie’s birthday was coming up so uncle Moe promised to bring her to a brewery so she could see the process and understand it better. Uncle Moe thought he would tell her parents they were going somewhere else. So Gracie had a secret and couldn’t wait to go with uncle Moe.

Gracie also wanted a pink cell phone and her mother was doing all she could to find one and wasn’t having any luck in that area…Plus, uncle Moe hurt his foot and had to tell Gracie that their secret trip was off. Then Gracie found out her daddy wouldn’t be around for her birthday because of a serious meeting out of town for his work….Oh yea! Gracie was not dumb…“Why was his secretary going with him”? She also had a party planned but now a bunch of kids in her class had the flu virus and now the party was squashed…Everything Gracie wanted wasn’t going to happen and she was very disappointed. She took a can of beer from the refrigerator and smashed it on top of her birthday cake….She returned to the refrigerator and took a beer out, opened it and guzzled it down so fast so she wouldn’t taste the bitterness.

It didn’t take long before Gracie got sick from the beer and vomited on her bedroom carpet. That’s when the room started spinning and she started slurring her words. Gracie made it to her bed and slowly she past out. However, Gracie thought she was fine because the Beer Fairy was with her and she took her on an educational tour through the process of making beer but also educating her what the pros and cons were when people drank….Up to this point in the book I thought it was a great book but after the adventure with the Beer Fairy Tom Robbins added other issues as, adult bickering, divorce, relationships, along with dysfunctional family problems. He was sending Gracie down a number of paths that I really didn’t care for. He should have stopped with the Beer Fairy. I don’t think it was the right time to introduce other unrelated messy subjects for a child without having the time to deal and explained those issues more in depth then twenty five pages. Tom Robbins should have stayed with Gracie’s Beer curiosity….. ( )

I have long been a fan of Tom Robbins (I frequently quote Still Life With Woodpecker), and I love beer…. but this little book left me underwhelmed. The story of 6 year-old Gracie’s visit from the beer fairy read like an informational brochure for the brewing industry. Robbins’s wacky and wonderful descriptions shone through a few times, but not nearly often enough to satisfy me. The only Robbins book I have not wanted to read again. Sorry Tom… we’ll always have Mu. ( )

Gracie is a very curious little girl. She asks a ton of questions like most little girls, but her questions revolve around the beer that her dad and Uncle Mo drink. Her questions are never answered until she is finally visited by the Beer Fairy.

I thought this was a very well written book and in many parts hilarious. I am actually looking forward to the next Robbins novel. I think this book would be for anyone that enjoys the occassional brew or nice adult beverage. ( )

quick read. funny at times. so-so ( )