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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Oh boy, where to start.
I can't even be bothered to go into any positives because ultimately this was such a wasted concept in favor of using the ranch and the cowgirls as the author's personal skeazy sexual fantasy.
First of all, this is not a story about an all-female ranch. Sure, it features in the story, but we spent BARELY any time with the actual cowgirls (minus the final showdown which was probably the most fun bit of the book, and it lasted mere pages). Instead it's just Sissy's biography, which frankly is kind of gross and often boring, and consists of her having various boring conversations with men while they explain to her the meaning of the universe, philosophy yada yada yada. It's also mostly cheesy platitudes like "everything has meaning, nothing has meaning." And it doesn't stop, it's constant.
Apart from being tedious and rambling this book's second biggest crime is how fucking sexist and gross it is. All the cowgirls are young, pretty and referred to as teenagers in skimpy outfits, Sissy is pretty much just a sexual object that's passed around among the weird characters so they can have sex with her, and the lesbian relationships are written off as place-holders for when the cowgirls can have 'real' and 'meaningful' relationships with men. Every single sex scene feels like cheap porn made for the pleasure of the male reader. The stuff with the Chink was especially gross and felt like some sort of ritualistic humiliation for the cowgirls.
I wanted a cool all-girl ranch, not whatever this was. There is NOTHING empowering or even real about any of the women in this book no matter how much Robbins tries to paint it as some sort of feminist revolution. I had to laugh at finally encountering an author in the wild who describes boobs as bouncing "like dinner rolls" and saying "her breasts vibrated", like be so fr. This is the author's sexual fantasy with the cowgirls being his young and hot captive audience for his incessant philosophical monologues.
I can't even be bothered to go into any positives because ultimately this was such a wasted concept in favor of using the ranch and the cowgirls as the author's personal skeazy sexual fantasy.
First of all, this is not a story about an all-female ranch. Sure, it features in the story, but we spent BARELY any time with the actual cowgirls (minus the final showdown which was probably the most fun bit of the book, and it lasted mere pages). Instead it's just Sissy's biography, which frankly is kind of gross and often boring, and consists of her having various boring conversations with men while they explain to her the meaning of the universe, philosophy yada yada yada. It's also mostly cheesy platitudes like "everything has meaning, nothing has meaning." And it doesn't stop, it's constant.
Apart from being tedious and rambling this book's second biggest crime is how fucking sexist and gross it is. All the cowgirls are young, pretty and referred to as teenagers in skimpy outfits, Sissy is pretty much just a sexual object that's passed around among the weird characters so they can have sex with her, and the lesbian relationships are written off as place-holders for when the cowgirls can have 'real' and 'meaningful' relationships with men. Every single sex scene feels like cheap porn made for the pleasure of the male reader. The stuff with the Chink was especially gross and felt like some sort of ritualistic humiliation for the cowgirls.
I wanted a cool all-girl ranch, not whatever this was. There is NOTHING empowering or even real about any of the women in this book no matter how much Robbins tries to paint it as some sort of feminist revolution. I had to laugh at finally encountering an author in the wild who describes boobs as bouncing "like dinner rolls" and saying "her breasts vibrated", like be so fr. This is the author's sexual fantasy with the cowgirls being his young and hot captive audience for his incessant philosophical monologues.
I like this goofy fourth wall breaking style of writing. But I know this was written in 1977 but I could not get over the lowkey racist things and dismissive opinions about lesbians that must have been a little more acceptable in the 1970s. It ruined the book for me. A good way to try and find similar authors I do like though
slow-paced
adventurous
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i have a soft spot for tom robbins but mostly i wanted him to stfu the whole time i was reading this
slow-paced
This is my second experience with Tom Robbins, who I quite enjoyed the first time around. However, this book struck me a different way. While there are some fun parts of this story and Robbins writing is brilliant, as always, the whole thing just left me with a really bad taste in my mouth. The conversations that people have in the book are completely absurd, both in length and content, which makes it difficult for the reader to suspend any sort of disbelief. Also Sissy and Jellybean's sexual relationship with the Chink was sleazy, repulsive and more importantly unnecessary. On another note I found the entire Clockworks thing annoying to follow. This is not a terrible book, but it just didn't make a great impression on me.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
I had forgotten how tragic much of this book is! Lots of joy but surprise badness as well. But it is classic Tom Robbins so what should I have expected, eh? A very good book and well worth the read.