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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
Fun premise with lots of ensuing small town drama written with an interesting voice, but with some questionable points of view and an ending that went completely off the rails for no reason.
One flaw of this book is that characters continually monologue about their philosophy, as if the author wanted to fit in more life lessons than made sense in the story. This was grating even when I agreed with what was being preached, but for every good point there was also some nonsense. I’m not sure whether it’s due to the author or just the time the book was written, but the way some issues were handled was awkward at best. Some examples are that racism was addressed but not well and the black character seemed kind of tokeny (my opinion here isn’t super important since I’m white but it felt weird to me), and also this book pushed the ridiculous idea that everyone is really bisexual and being completely gay or straight (or also being monogamous) is wrong because it’s just limiting yourself. Possibly the worst and definitely the most baffling problem is a statement made very near the end of the book that said the purpose of gay people is to serve heterosexuals. Seriously. This is said by a character who is presented as good and wise and the statement is not challenged by any other characters when it is said - it is accepted as logical and true. I was absolutely dumbfounded and if this had occurred anywhere earlier than the last few pages of the book I wouldn’t have finished it.
I’m leaving two stars because I did find entertainment in this book but it had some glaring flaws throughout and then the last few chapters departed from the rest of the story and frankly were just stupid. This book had potential and got me excited but it didn’t live up to it.
One flaw of this book is that characters continually monologue about their philosophy, as if the author wanted to fit in more life lessons than made sense in the story. This was grating even when I agreed with what was being preached, but for every good point there was also some nonsense. I’m not sure whether it’s due to the author or just the time the book was written, but the way some issues were handled was awkward at best. Some examples are that racism was addressed but not well and the black character seemed kind of tokeny (my opinion here isn’t super important since I’m white but it felt weird to me), and also this book pushed the ridiculous idea that everyone is really bisexual and being completely gay or straight (or also being monogamous) is wrong because it’s just limiting yourself. Possibly the worst and definitely the most baffling problem is a statement made very near the end of the book that said the purpose of gay people is to serve heterosexuals. Seriously. This is said by a character who is presented as good and wise and the statement is not challenged by any other characters when it is said - it is accepted as logical and true. I was absolutely dumbfounded and if this had occurred anywhere earlier than the last few pages of the book I wouldn’t have finished it.
I’m leaving two stars because I did find entertainment in this book but it had some glaring flaws throughout and then the last few chapters departed from the rest of the story and frankly were just stupid. This book had potential and got me excited but it didn’t live up to it.
funny
I love Rita Mae Brown’s fiction and the way she approaches every subject with a totally realistic irreverence: her characters are as flawed, messy, mean, and hilarious as people are in real life and then some. Nothing in this book really makes sense and almost every bit of it made me laugh out loud. She’s not for everyone but she is for me!!!!
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
This may be one of the worst and weirdest books I’ve ever read??? I picked it up because Ruby Fruit Jungle is such a classic but now I’m so confused as to how Brown wrote that and then this monstrosity! 10/10
Do not recommend I think I am now cursed and want to wash my eyeballs out with soap after the last half….
Do not recommend I think I am now cursed and want to wash my eyeballs out with soap after the last half….
Loved most of this book (crazy family dynamics, small-town drama, etc.), but really wish Brown hadn’t bothered with that segue into Roman mythology. It was WAY too on the nose and kinda ruined the book for me.
This story is both advanced for its time (its bisexuality) and totally outdated (clumsy acknowledgment of racism). It would be unfair to give it 3 stars for my disagreeing with its cis-sexism, but holy cow did it need editing. Venus Envy reads like a first draft, complete with pages of dialogue, scenes that go forever long and repetition which interrupt the flow and make the ending lose its punch
Not bad overall but Rita Mae Brown is a better writer than this.
Not bad overall but Rita Mae Brown is a better writer than this.
Fascinating snapshot of the political and social climate of a Southern town in Virginia seen through the eyes of a bisexual woman in her mid thirties during the start of the 1990's. A time just before the debut of the World Wide Web, easy access to anonymous networking or information, before the world felt smaller and lesbian or bi women saw much representation anywhere on TV, movies, or through books and radio, of roll-models living out in the open.
Rita Mae Browne is a capable writer who bent reality playfully and humorously to spin this story complete with Olympian gods and goddesses poking their noses into modern human affairs.
This material in the hands of another writer today might be quite different, perhaps offering fewer monologues which read like speeches, or fewer defensive statements regarding human sexual behaviors, bi-racial relationships, or the politics of choosing to remain in the closet versus coming out.
Regardless, I enjoyed richly built characters with very human failings doing their best to cope with life as it is handed to them.
Rita Mae Browne is a capable writer who bent reality playfully and humorously to spin this story complete with Olympian gods and goddesses poking their noses into modern human affairs.
This material in the hands of another writer today might be quite different, perhaps offering fewer monologues which read like speeches, or fewer defensive statements regarding human sexual behaviors, bi-racial relationships, or the politics of choosing to remain in the closet versus coming out.
Regardless, I enjoyed richly built characters with very human failings doing their best to cope with life as it is handed to them.
Too simplistic in writing, too explicit in meaning, and too many cocks*.
*I mean, for a book about a woman coming out as "gay"..??
*I mean, for a book about a woman coming out as "gay"..??
Fascinating snapshot of the political and social climate of a Southern town in Virginia seen through the eyes of a bisexual woman in her mid thirties during the start of the 1990's. A time just before the debut of the World Wide Web, easy access to anonymous networking or information, before the world felt smaller and lesbian or bi women saw much representation anywhere on TV, movies, or through books and radio, of roll-models living out in the open.
Rita Mae Browne is a capable writer who bent reality playfully and humorously to spin this story complete with Olympian gods and goddesses poking their noses into modern human affairs.
This material in the hands of another writer today might be quite different, perhaps offering fewer monologues which read like speeches, or fewer defensive statements regarding human sexual behaviors, bi-racial relationships, or the politics of choosing to remain in the closet versus coming out.
Regardless, I enjoyed richly built characters with very human failings doing their best to cope with life as it is handed to them.
Rita Mae Browne is a capable writer who bent reality playfully and humorously to spin this story complete with Olympian gods and goddesses poking their noses into modern human affairs.
This material in the hands of another writer today might be quite different, perhaps offering fewer monologues which read like speeches, or fewer defensive statements regarding human sexual behaviors, bi-racial relationships, or the politics of choosing to remain in the closet versus coming out.
Regardless, I enjoyed richly built characters with very human failings doing their best to cope with life as it is handed to them.