Maybe you've taken it already and if so, I am jealous of you. You know that road trip you're always planning, the one where you drive a beat-up, gorgeous, car full of books and old clothes, and mix tapes and takeout containers and random souveneirs of americana, through america, maybe by yourself or maybe with one or a few of the people you love most in the world?
And you take polaroids of yourself and your wear ripped up jeans and drive ba You know that road trip you've always wanted to take? And you take polaroids of yourself and your wear ripped up jeans and drive barefoot and wear big hunter s. And you stay up driving all night and pointing out stars through the windshield and sometimes you have long conversations where you get honest and earthy and grounded and dangerous in a way you can't get except in a car, on a road trip, somewhere halfway into America, and sometimes you have sex in the car, late at night in parking lots or in the afternoon with summer making the leather seats sticky and making car-smell and body-smell the same thing and afterwards you go the a dairy queen by the side of the road and buy milkshakes and drink them giggling like kids getting away with something?
And you drive over mountains that you think you maybe won't ever find your way out of and through states like Wyoming where there's nothing but the road and the sky and you feel so gloriously small that you completely forget what you look like? And you meet gorgeous, prophetic, fictive strangers and have incredibly intense experiences with them and feel like you're in a movie and novel and a rock song and love them perfectly because you know you won't ever see them again?
And get, finally, to the other side of the country, tired and sore and stained and achy and grouchy and just totally, totally transcendent, and feel that you understand yourself in a way you always wanted to understand yourself, but never knew how to get to before? This book is like that road trip. View all 10 comments. Jul 14, Robert Page rated it did not like it Recommends it for: Anyone who wants to get pages in and give up in despair.
Many people won't find this review helpful. I do care about that, but not enough to change my review, because I feel it encompasses my feelings for this book quite fully. Here it is: I had to choose between continuing to read ECGTB or staring at the back of the airplane seat in front of me.
I chose the back of the seat. I'd read a section, and think to myself "This is shit! Then I would think to myself "Come on. You're on a plan Bah. You're on a plane, and you have a book to read--a book by a renowned author. Just read the damn thing! So I would stare at the seatback for awhile, then pick up the book again and try to read it. It didn't work. So I would put the book down again and stare.
Rinse and repeat. I don't hate this book, but I found it to be self-indulgent drivel. I couldn't finish it, and I can't remember the last book I could say that about. View all 11 comments. I found the first two thirds of the book to be engaging, after that I felt like I was reading the term paper of an intro to philosophy student. Also, even if the first two thirds were engaging, I was often uncomfortable, and not uncomfortable in that "hey, I'm stretching my thoughts beyond their normal boundaries" kind of uncomfortable, just the regular kind of uncomfortable.
Take for example the legend of Sissy's earliest hitchhiking endeavors. Reading about a young girl being molested by strange I found the first two thirds of the book to be engaging, after that I felt like I was reading the term paper of an intro to philosophy student. Reading about a young girl being molested by strangers while hitchikining would probably make me uncomfortable to some extent any time, but, the subject matter could be explored in a worthwhile manner.
Here it was put forth as part of the girl's tittilating sexual awakening. Repeatedly reading this male fantasy of a woman's sexuality grossed me out. The women in this book are uber-objectified and fetishized. So, I was alternately grossed out and bored. I imagine I'll have to read something else of Tom Robbins' though to see if it's his style that I don't like, or if it was just this particular book. View all 5 comments. Apr 18, A.
Lost a star as one of the morals of the story is "Lesbians, deep down, need dicking. View all 3 comments. Apr 01, Deez rated it it was ok. Okay so overall I did like this book, but I am not giving it more then these two stars. You know why?
Because I have a problem with a man that writes about lesbians who then interjects himself sexually into the story at the end and has the lesbians hook up with men. Fuck you Tom Robbins! You took a giant shit in the middle of perfectly good and delicious pie.
You ruined it. Otherwise the story would have been awesome. I felt so cheated at the end. Another reason I don't like you is because back Okay so overall I did like this book, but I am not giving it more then these two stars. Another reason I don't like you is because back in the 70's you tried to pick up on my friends Mom in a bar and when she politely refused you told her you were looking for a woman with bigger tits anyway. A true story that really paints a picture of your true personality mysognist and sexist followed by asshole are the first few terms that come to mind when I think about that.
I am really happy I bought my copy of your book used and urge anyone who does want to read this to do the same. View 2 comments. Dec 27, Amber rated it it was ok Recommends it for: lecherous dweebs who live in their mothers' basements. Shelves: read-adult , adult-fiction.
Now listen, I loved "Jitterbug Perfume". I love Tom Robbins' twisted sense of humour, I love his philosophical meanderings and smatterings of bizarre facts, and I fully expected to love this book. However, "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" made me want to spit nails.
Because Mr. Robbins pretends he is writing a treatise on female rights, starring lesbians and cowgirls and a hitchhiking philosopheress with a strange but wonderful disfigurement who all resist s society's inclination to turn th Now listen, I loved "Jitterbug Perfume". Robbins pretends he is writing a treatise on female rights, starring lesbians and cowgirls and a hitchhiking philosopheress with a strange but wonderful disfigurement who all resist s society's inclination to turn them into homemakers.
But but BUT! All of these females are: stunningly pinup beautiful, young, small-waisted, voluptuously curvy, have no personality of their own they all seem to speak with Robbins' voice, not counting the occasional "howdy podner" , and he can't seem to keep himself from writing about their "cute little ankles", their "adorable turned up noses", their "incredibly short skirts", their puffy "sucker hose" mouths, and their delectable "Fredericks of Hollywood panties".
He delights in describing their mud wrestling, their pulling down their panties and going to the bathroom, their kissing and touching each other, their sexual concourse with every human creature they encounter. As the story unfolds, you begin to realise that his delight in Sissy's deformity is less heroic and more fetishistic. His appearance in the novel as the clever rebel psychiatrist is less Auster-ian genius and more sickening self-aggrandisement. The cowgirls of Rubber Rose Ranch are not feminist lesbians.
They are Tom Robbins' porno fantasy lesbians, and for all of his philosophical ramblings, he humiliates and debases them, and worst of all -- it's all in the name of "respect for women".
I did, however, like the twisted sense of humour, the philosophical meanderings, and the smattering of bizarre facts -- so two stars from me. Jan 19, Sarah rated it it was amazing. This book came into my life by chance and I am glad it did. A hilarious and engaging read that also questioned and affirmed pieces of my own life in powerful ways.
Apparently this book has been around for a generation, but I think it needs a rebirth - it is still relevant, maybe even moreso now that the "mainstream" has changed. Some specific points from the novel that I love: Why are white people always looking for spirituality in other cultures?
We have a full, real, historically grounded tradition that we actively have thrown away and ignored. Stop going to Buddhist temples and sweat lodges - just look back a few generations of grandmothers! Women living in community - oh how close to home some of this landed. All of the conflicts, controversies and dilemmas of what it means to be a woman, especially in the absence of men.
Is it a question we even want to answer? Meaning, to answer that question definitively would mean some separation, isolation, and denial that seems untruthful to me. Seriously though, there are some great kick-ass role model characters that put the options out there. Relationships on the move - the whole idea of wandering, creating real relationships, and also staying in the present and allowing life to flow as it comes.
Our parents "got it" but I think more young people could internalize this message. On the other hand, see my notes on "Into the Wild" and note the difference between staying in the moment with your relationships, and being so self-centered that you don't allow yourself to trust or care for others and thus HAVE to wander Anyways, classic Tom Robbins style keeps this an interesting read, with a fair amount of hilarious static to sort through before getting messages.
But also interesting and hilarious in a way that is ultimately affirming and inspiring no matter what crazy situation you find yourself in. I hated this book and would give it half a star if I could. Let me be clear- he is a good writer and knows his way around the words BUT the book reads like this: "I celebrate randomness Random, random, in your face moralizing, random Ah ha, you think I've taken it too far, well, sucks for you because I'm going to take it further.
In fact, if you don't enjoy this next tangent it's because you are not as enlightened and intelligent as I am! The book was also a huge disappointment for me since I saw the movie and loved it. The book is even less gay than Katy Perry. For all the lady-loving which the author clearly thinks is hot, he states definitively that women can't be complete without men in the moral wrap-up. And vice versa, but since he doesn't indulge in any man-on-man experimentation, the book specifically dismisses lesbianism.
I think the conservatives who are afraid of something they can't understand are doing us less of a disservice than people who trivialize same sex relationships in this way.
I realize this book was written in a different time wherein the author might have seen this as progressive rather than selfish and dismissive- but in real time, all I got out of this book was aggravation and disappointment which is why it took me over 2 years to finish it even though I finish pretty much every book I start View 1 comment.
I just wish the author had tried to be a little less clever and made the the story more interesting. This just seems to be a waste of a great title. Nov 23, Carol Storm rated it it was amazing. I loved every word. It was sexy, funny, and full of glamorous scenery and beautiful writing. But when I read the reviews on Goodreads, I cannot believe there are actually people who find it ugly and offensive.
Because it isn't a realistic look at the gay lifestyle as it's "supposed" to be lived? So like, why is that a problem? When you read a Regency romance, you don't get angry because dukes and duchesses were not having fabulous sex day and night in real life like they are in a good Regency romance.
No one expects a "romance author" to describe the "typical" experience of Regency rakes, or Vikings, or cowboys. So why is Tom Robbins being crucified because he gets a little harmless pleasure out of imagining sex between two beautiful young women?
It's interesting that the same political correctness types who want to lynch Robbins for not making his lesbians dull, sour, man-hating battle axes turn a blind eye some of the other characters in the book. Take, for example, "The Chink. And how comes lesbians want to lynch this guy, while Orientals don't even care? I'm not offended myself, just curious. And then again, look at "The Countess.
And we certainly don't get any explicit sex scenes celebrating the love between two men! The Countess is a gay stereotype in a lot of ways, a dreadful snob, a celebrity name dropper, supercilious and arrogant, yadda yadda yadda.
Yet you never hear of male homosexuals attacking this book. Bonanza Jellybean is such an adorable character. She's funny, playful, cheerful, tender towards both sexes, and a life-loving personality all around.
She made me laugh and cry, and I never do that. What sort of minority group is offended to have a person like this counted among their ranks? I don't want to pretend this book is flawless.
Sissy Hankshaw really is an unusually passive and timid heroine. The sentimentality about Native Americans is so over the top as to be some kind of joke. A lot of what Robbins has to say about the poor whites of South Richmond is the smug posturing of a patronizing liberal, mixed with the self-loathing of a cracker who rose too fast and has to keep assuring his Manhattan friends he's really one of them.
But you know what? I don't care. The prose is glorious, the characters are lovable, the humor is light and breezy, and the sex especially in Julian's apartment is hotter than anything this side of Blushing Books.
I think I'm supposed to like this but it just annoyed me. Good narrator though. Life's too short for annoying books. Moving on Feb 26, Shelley added it. Photos Top cast Edit. Ed Begley Jr. Rupert as Rupert. Carol Kane Carla as Carla. Buck Henry Dr. Dreyfus as Dr. Grace Zabriskie Mrs. Hankshaw as Mrs. Allen Arnold Lionel as Lionel. Gus Van Sant. More like this. Watch options. Storyline Edit. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean Rain Phoenix , one of the cowgirls at the beauty ranch.
The cowgirls take command of the ranch from the Countess and drug the cranes with peyote. The Police besiege the ranch. There have been many great drivers but only one great passenger. Comedy Drama Romance Western. Rated R for sexuality and some language. Did you know Edit. Trivia This movie was dedicated to River Phoenix , who is said to have a small nameless cameo in it. Quotes Sissy Hankshaw : They're drugged?
Crazy credits At the beginning, lot of stars rise in the sky. One, aside and slower than the others, writes the words "For River". Alternate versions After a disastrous limited distribution in , the film was recalled and heavily re-edited for a re-release.
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