After a brief romance in San Francisco, Esmerelda Van Twinkle gives birth to fraternal twins Robespierre and Marat on Bastille Day.
[4] His agent pitched the story to the major publishing houses, but they viewed it as a risky purchase and turned it down due to its raunchy language and fantastical plot.
"[9] Andrew Leland for the San Francisco Chronicle likened the novel to A Confederacy of Dunces, saying "Both are deeply satirical and affectionate portraits of a city in all its messy, multiethnic splendor, seen through queasy glimpses over the fleshy shoulders of its obese, big-mouthed protagonist.
[10] Anne Whitaker for The Boston Globe noted the allegorical similarities between the novel's characters and the real life figures during the actual French Revolution, saying "All of which points to a central problem in the book.
Club wrote, "Stewart adds plenty of memorable curlicues to his characters; the problem is, he doesn’t know when to stop adding and refine or pare back his creations.