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llauterj's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
like. didn’t love. hated some of his slur usage. fantastic sub script as usual.
kaleereads's review
4.0
it’s been over a month since I finished even cowgirls get the blues and i’m still looking for the right words to describe this reading experience. this book ended up on my radar because i’m currently on a “film girlie” journey, consuming tons of movies and feeling my way through directors and styles and subgenres. this novel was made into a little-seen and widely-hated film in the early 90s by gus van sant, a filmmaker i enjoy. it starred a young uma thurman and keanu reeves as well as john hurt and summer phoenix. when i found out the movie was based on a book, i set out to read it first. and i’m so glad i did. this novel is insane, hilarious, dirty, controversial yet progressive in many ways, and overall a surreal romp. the author has such a distinct voice, such a specific flair that i fell in love with. The novel is definitely dated, perhaps the best highlight of this being one character’s actual name. but I think if you can set your 2023 liberalism aside, and just kind of take this novel for the irreverent insanity that it is, you might come away really really appreciating it. Now all of that is to say that the movie is definitely bad!
moshikami's review
2.0
Tom Robbins is a talented author with a strong grasp of the English language, however, he often uses his skill set to follow tangents describing bumble bee rectal temperatures and philosophical ramblings throughout a book about a hitchhiking, white trash girl with long thumbs who just wants to be free, man, and copulates with the various, self-named "cowgirls" of the Rubber Rose Ranch, a women's retreat owned by a flamboyant douche magnate called "The Countess"............ yeah.............
Though Robbins is arrogant AF, he is an intelligent author, so I gave this book an extra star. The majority of the book I found to be a slog to get through. I didn't care about the characters or the story, and was constantly annoyed by the author's asides. I don't totally regret reading this book, but I probably would only recommend it to someone well-versed in the American hippie movement.
There were a few nuggets of wisdom amidst his scrawling, and the book is refreshingly self-aware at times. For example, after interrupting the story by going on a hippy-dippy tangent about magic, Robbins interrupts himself by stating:
Hmm. The author can sense that Chapter 100 displeases you. Not only does it interrupt the story, it says too much and says it too didactically. Well, a book about a woman with sugar-sack thumbs is bound to be a bit heavy-handed.
Though Robbins is arrogant AF, he is an intelligent author, so I gave this book an extra star. The majority of the book I found to be a slog to get through. I didn't care about the characters or the story, and was constantly annoyed by the author's asides. I don't totally regret reading this book, but I probably would only recommend it to someone well-versed in the American hippie movement.
certifiedmalpal's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
mikewardevrybdy's review
4.0
This book was a struggle to read at various points and glad I finally finished it. It was all over the place, when it was good it was brilliant and when it wasn’t so good it made you keep reading hoping for more greatness to show up soon.
cyrkenstein's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Ha ha ho ho and hee hee.
caitie711's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
book_concierge's review
2.0
Book on CD read by Michael Nouri
From the book jacket: The whooping crane rustlers are girls. Young girls. Cowgirls, as a matter of fact, all “bursting with dimples and hormones”—and the FBI has never seen anything quite like them. Yet their rebellion at the Rubber Rose Ranch is almost overshadowed by the arrival of the legendary Sissy Hankshaw, a white-trash goddess literally born to hitchhike, and the freest female of them all.
My Reactions
The last time (which was also the first time) I read anything by Tom Robbins was in 2002. It was for my F2F book club, or I don’t think I would have picked it up on my own. I vaguely remembered it was a strange plot but I enjoyed the writing style. My reactions to his writing haven’t changed.
Robbins writes ridiculously absurd storylines, interspersed with long discourses on philosophy, religion, history, etc. His characters are bigger than life and virtually all of them have some unique quirk – physical or philosophical. The “stars” of this novel are Sissy (born with extraordinarily large thumbs, perfect for hitchhiking), the Countess (a man whose business empire is built on feminine hygiene products), Bonanza Jellybean (a teenage cowgirl on the Rubber Rose Ranch), and the Chink (a Japanese American who has befriended the Native American clock people and become a sort of guru to a variety of hippie pilgrims). Oh, and let’s not forget the whooping cranes who stop at Siwash Lake on the Rubber Rose Ranch on their way to and from their traditional winter and summer nesting grounds.
If you’re having trouble figuring out how such a diverse cast could come together in a coherent plot, well, stop trying. You’ll just give yourself a headache. Robbins is nothing if not inventive in his plotting. Where his writing shines, though is in his wild descriptions / similes. A few examples:
The breeze in the grasses made a sound like a silk-lined opera coat falling to the floor of a carriage.
The sky was as tattered as a Gypsy’s pajamas. Through knife holes in the flannel overcast, July sunlight spilled…
[T]he Countess complained, his dentures working over his ivory cigarette holder like a chiropractor realigning the spine of a Chihuahua.
Entertained as I was by the occasional wild description and laugh-out-loud moment, however, in general I was bored by the book. All those interludes to wax poetic about this or that philosophy seemed nothing but an attempt to distract the reader from the lack of a story. Clearly, Robbins is not the writer for me.
Michael Nouri’s performance on the audio is wonderful. He has great pacing, and the way he interprets certain characters brings them to life.
From the book jacket: The whooping crane rustlers are girls. Young girls. Cowgirls, as a matter of fact, all “bursting with dimples and hormones”—and the FBI has never seen anything quite like them. Yet their rebellion at the Rubber Rose Ranch is almost overshadowed by the arrival of the legendary Sissy Hankshaw, a white-trash goddess literally born to hitchhike, and the freest female of them all.
My Reactions
The last time (which was also the first time) I read anything by Tom Robbins was in 2002. It was for my F2F book club, or I don’t think I would have picked it up on my own. I vaguely remembered it was a strange plot but I enjoyed the writing style. My reactions to his writing haven’t changed.
Robbins writes ridiculously absurd storylines, interspersed with long discourses on philosophy, religion, history, etc. His characters are bigger than life and virtually all of them have some unique quirk – physical or philosophical. The “stars” of this novel are Sissy (born with extraordinarily large thumbs, perfect for hitchhiking), the Countess (a man whose business empire is built on feminine hygiene products), Bonanza Jellybean (a teenage cowgirl on the Rubber Rose Ranch), and the Chink (a Japanese American who has befriended the Native American clock people and become a sort of guru to a variety of hippie pilgrims). Oh, and let’s not forget the whooping cranes who stop at Siwash Lake on the Rubber Rose Ranch on their way to and from their traditional winter and summer nesting grounds.
If you’re having trouble figuring out how such a diverse cast could come together in a coherent plot, well, stop trying. You’ll just give yourself a headache. Robbins is nothing if not inventive in his plotting. Where his writing shines, though is in his wild descriptions / similes. A few examples:
The breeze in the grasses made a sound like a silk-lined opera coat falling to the floor of a carriage.
The sky was as tattered as a Gypsy’s pajamas. Through knife holes in the flannel overcast, July sunlight spilled…
[T]he Countess complained, his dentures working over his ivory cigarette holder like a chiropractor realigning the spine of a Chihuahua.
Entertained as I was by the occasional wild description and laugh-out-loud moment, however, in general I was bored by the book. All those interludes to wax poetic about this or that philosophy seemed nothing but an attempt to distract the reader from the lack of a story. Clearly, Robbins is not the writer for me.
Michael Nouri’s performance on the audio is wonderful. He has great pacing, and the way he interprets certain characters brings them to life.
rgallo's review
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault