Jitterbug Perfume

Name: Jitterbug Perfume
ISBN: 9780553403831

by Tom Robbins · first published 1984

9mentions

7recommended by

9HN commenters

2017–2025first – last mentioned

78% recommend22% neutral

Why HN recommends it

Playful, comic novel with a fictional, logically odd world and vivid prose, including a famously striking opening line; readers call it a favorite and a good pick for magical realism with perfume at its center.

Summarised by Claude from recommending comments

Fiction & Literature

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.From the Trade Paperback edition.

BuyBookshop.org Amazon

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

View on Open Library ISBN 9780553403831

Mentions per year

What Hacker News says

floathub · Jul 15, 2019 · Recommends

Subjective it may be, but the greatest opening line in all of literature is surely: "The beet is the most intense of vegetables." From Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins.
on “The Lyttle Lytton Contest” ↗
jMyles · Mar 27, 2017 · Recommends

…advice for creativity in technical fields, and software in particular, but does it using a fictionalized world with comedic logical oddities. Another book I'll add, which has some of these properties, is "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins (although take note that this book is highly erotic and explicit).
on “Ask HN: Which non-technology book has influenced you the most and why?” ↗
samatman · Dec 21, 2018 · Recommends

May I suggest the excellent “Jitterbug Perfume” by the incomparable Tom Robbins? It’s an all-time favorite.
on “Facts about smell (2014)” ↗
_frkl · Feb 19, 2022 · Recommends

No idea how much I'd like it if I'd read it today, but 'Jitterbug perfume' by Tom Robbins is probably the one that I liked most (or strongest), of all the books that were favourites at different times in my life.
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗
tspike · Dec 16, 2022 · Recommends

Check out Tom Robbins if you haven't already! Here's the opening to Jitterbug Perfume: > THE BEET IS THE MOST INTENSE of vegetables. > The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough,…
on “Worst Opening Sentences of 2022” ↗
wallstprog · Jul 18, 2025 · Recommends

A great book that has perfume as a major plot point is "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins.
on “Perfume reviews” ↗
colechristensen · Jul 30, 2022 · Recommends

For some magical realism heavily featuring perfumes, read Jitterbug Perfume
on “A Master Perfumer's Reflections on Patchouli and Vetiver” ↗
rrrrrrrrrrrryan · Sep 14, 2020 · Mentions

…soft. “It mated once a year, barring headaches. So put off was the prudish dinosaur by the sexy smell of flowering plants that it starved to death and went extinct rather than eat them.” - Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
on “Ancient Earth Globe” ↗
teucris · Sep 11, 2021 · Mentions

Did anyone else think of Jitterbug Perfume[0] when they read this headline? 0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitterbug_Perfume
on “Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan” ↗