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Cowboy
A television producer, author, and single mother describes her intense love affair with a cowboy, who barely finished high school, lives in a trailer in the desert, and makes rawhide bridles for a living, discussing the various ways in which the affair transformed her life and relationships
270 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
10 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Sara Davidson
33 books23 followersSara was born in 1943 and grew up in California. She went to Berkeley in the Sixties, where the rite of passage was to "get stoned, get laid and get arrested."
After Berkeley she headed for New York to attend the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her first job was with the Boston Globe, where she became a national correspondent, covering everything from the election campaigns of Bobby Kennedy and Richard Nixon to the Woodstock Festival and the student strike at Columbia.
Returning to New York, she worked as a free-lance journalist for magazines ranging from Harpers, Esquire and the New York Times to Rolling Stone. She was one of the group who developed the craft of literary journalism, combining the techniques of fiction with rigorous reporting to bring real events and people to life. Her work is collected in the textbook,The Literary Journalists, by Norman Sims.
Sara moved back to California where for 25 years, she alternated between writing for television and writing books. The books tend to fall in the gray zone between memoir and fiction. She uses the voice of the intimate journalist, drawing on material from her life and that of others and shaping it into a narrative that reads like fiction.
In television, she created two drama series, Jack and Mike, and Heart Beat, which ran on A.B.C. She was later co-executive producer of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, wrote hundreds of hours of drama episodes, movies and miniseries, and in 1994 was nominated for a Golden Globe.
In the year 2000, her life began to unravel. She was divorced, her children were leaving for college and she couldn't find work in television. Following her intuition, knowing nobody, she drove to Boulder, Colorado for three months to be a visiting writer at the University of Colorado. She never drove back, and is piecing together a different life which she writes about in Leap
Her current passions are: singing with friends, the "Shady Angels," learning piano, skiing and hiking in the Rockies.
After Berkeley she headed for New York to attend the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her first job was with the Boston Globe, where she became a national correspondent, covering everything from the election campaigns of Bobby Kennedy and Richard Nixon to the Woodstock Festival and the student strike at Columbia.
Returning to New York, she worked as a free-lance journalist for magazines ranging from Harpers, Esquire and the New York Times to Rolling Stone. She was one of the group who developed the craft of literary journalism, combining the techniques of fiction with rigorous reporting to bring real events and people to life. Her work is collected in the textbook,The Literary Journalists, by Norman Sims.
Sara moved back to California where for 25 years, she alternated between writing for television and writing books. The books tend to fall in the gray zone between memoir and fiction. She uses the voice of the intimate journalist, drawing on material from her life and that of others and shaping it into a narrative that reads like fiction.
In television, she created two drama series, Jack and Mike, and Heart Beat, which ran on A.B.C. She was later co-executive producer of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, wrote hundreds of hours of drama episodes, movies and miniseries, and in 1994 was nominated for a Golden Globe.
In the year 2000, her life began to unravel. She was divorced, her children were leaving for college and she couldn't find work in television. Following her intuition, knowing nobody, she drove to Boulder, Colorado for three months to be a visiting writer at the University of Colorado. She never drove back, and is piecing together a different life which she writes about in Leap
Her current passions are: singing with friends, the "Shady Angels," learning piano, skiing and hiking in the Rockies.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 8, 2010
Although this book held my attention, it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I never could see an emotional connection between Davidson and her cowboy—the attraction seemed to be purely physical, and we all know that wears thin after a while.
December 18, 2007
A great memoir of an aging, well educated baby boomer woman and the "romance of a lifetime."
July 5, 2023
Interesting in parts
I will admit I would not have picked up this book if it wasn't for the Dr Quinn link. There was some interesting behind the scenes information on that , but it was mostly concerned with the relationship with "the cowboy" character who played the Sully role in the author's life. The author herself describes the book as a hybrid with some fictional and some non fictional characters and it felt a bit uneven. The relationship seemed to go from casual sex to love with no development or reflection - I appreciate that may be how it felt in real life, but when you're presenting it as a novel, you can build it up at a particular pace, which didn't happen here. It's difficult to say how much is fiction and how much fact with the main character's actions and choices, but I thought the woman made some really odd choices regarding her children - bringing the cowboy to get to know them and spent time with them when she barely knew him and wasn't sure if she wanted a serious relationship with him anyway, and ignoring their feelings about it. I appreciate as he was travelling a distance he had to stay at hers, but her children went to their dads at weekends so it would have been really easy to keep them apart until she knew whether the relationship was long term.
And the character of Zak was really so unappealing - sure, he was great in bed, I got that. But the woman seemed to hardly react to his disclosure that he had cheated in previous relationships and had physically choked his own children to discipline them. Sure, he was saying he shouldn't have done it, but his discipline of her children was excessively strict and one of the measures that it was working was the daughter opened the mother's car door for her and fastened her seatbelt?! A job usually done by cowboy? There is no explanation as to why she cannot do her own seatbelt and open the car door. But I digress. The cowboy also has anger management issues, says repeatedly that he wouldn't be comfortable with her paying for everything, except she actually does, goes away indefinitely without telling her (leaving a mess in his rented apartment, btw!) after telling her he would give her time, so she has to go after him and basically beg for his return. It just seemed she was manipulated the entire time, but had great sex, so that's ok. I can see glimpses of Silly but he was a much more decent character!
I will admit I would not have picked up this book if it wasn't for the Dr Quinn link. There was some interesting behind the scenes information on that , but it was mostly concerned with the relationship with "the cowboy" character who played the Sully role in the author's life. The author herself describes the book as a hybrid with some fictional and some non fictional characters and it felt a bit uneven. The relationship seemed to go from casual sex to love with no development or reflection - I appreciate that may be how it felt in real life, but when you're presenting it as a novel, you can build it up at a particular pace, which didn't happen here. It's difficult to say how much is fiction and how much fact with the main character's actions and choices, but I thought the woman made some really odd choices regarding her children - bringing the cowboy to get to know them and spent time with them when she barely knew him and wasn't sure if she wanted a serious relationship with him anyway, and ignoring their feelings about it. I appreciate as he was travelling a distance he had to stay at hers, but her children went to their dads at weekends so it would have been really easy to keep them apart until she knew whether the relationship was long term.
And the character of Zak was really so unappealing - sure, he was great in bed, I got that. But the woman seemed to hardly react to his disclosure that he had cheated in previous relationships and had physically choked his own children to discipline them. Sure, he was saying he shouldn't have done it, but his discipline of her children was excessively strict and one of the measures that it was working was the daughter opened the mother's car door for her and fastened her seatbelt?! A job usually done by cowboy? There is no explanation as to why she cannot do her own seatbelt and open the car door. But I digress. The cowboy also has anger management issues, says repeatedly that he wouldn't be comfortable with her paying for everything, except she actually does, goes away indefinitely without telling her (leaving a mess in his rented apartment, btw!) after telling her he would give her time, so she has to go after him and basically beg for his return. It just seemed she was manipulated the entire time, but had great sex, so that's ok. I can see glimpses of Silly but he was a much more decent character!
July 1, 2018
Ugh! Found the characters self absorbed and manipulative, suspect that the boy child went on the become an ax murderer (arson, death wishes for Mom!). A cowboy who uses spurs on every horse he meets and wears his pants tucked into his multi-colored selection of fancy boots? Poser! This book struck me as a human version of the "Marley and Me" story. The dysfunctional and damaged meet and cobble a "love" story out of it. Glad I bought this second hand and it is going right back as a recycle!
December 20, 2020
Probably not great literature but it spoke to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2016
Sara Davidson‘s memoir Cowboy chronicles her affair with a cowboy – yes, they are real – in the mid 90s. Davidson is a best-selling novelist (Loose Change), television writer (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) and biographer (Rock Hudson, Joan Didion).
Davidson meets Zack (not his real name) at a cowboy poetry and music festival in Elko, cowboy Nevada. Since Davidson was working on Dr. Quinn at the time, she convinced her co-worker to make the journey. Their first meeting, at a stall where Zack is selling his hand-crafted bridles and reins is prickly, to say the least. Later, though, despite her claims that Zack is “a yokel, an insolent yokel” Davidson remarks that he has “good hands” to which Zack responds that he has “magic hands.” Oh, Bessie.
Davidson and Zack have virtually nothing in common. He’s ten years younger, divorced with three kids. He’s mostly unemployed, making money where and when he can. Davidson, also divorced with a son, 10, and a daughter, 11, has a successful career. Zack isn’t remotely worldly; although he was – at one time – considering a career as an engineer, the ‘cowboy’ lifestyle grabbed him by the horns – so to speak – and never let him go. He can’t spell and doesn’t know who Anne Frank is, two details which drive wordsmith Davidson crazy. Nevertheless, there is a spark between them that Davidson can’t (or won’t – fine line) ignore.
Cowboy is, I suppose, that classic ‘fish out of water’ story. How are these two crazy kids (ahem) ever going to make it work? Should they even try? The thing is, once they get over the initial awkwardness they end up having crazy sex all the freakin’ time. I suppose as a woman of a certain age, it would be hard to say no – even if you have misgivings on a whole lot of other levels.
For one thing, after the initial blush has worn off, Davidson’s kids, Gabriel and Sophie, are hateful to Zack. They complain about his smoking (although he doesn’t do it in the house), they say he yells at them when their mom isn’t home. They are rude and disagreeable whenever he’s around.
Then there’s the money issue: Zack never has any. Davidson’s a modern woman, sure, but every once in a while you’d like your partner to at least pay his share.
In a weird way, though, Davidson and Zack make an odd kind of sense. He’s laid back, attentive and honest; she’s high strung and stressed out. They balance each other out – sort of. So I have to say that I was rooting for them by the end of Cowboy.
What once seemed ludicrous and impossible has become the norm, although, as Zack puts it, “normal’s a relative term.” At times, I ask myself, how did this happen? How did I steer so far from the conventional track?
Sadly, I don’t think they are still together.
I’d like to think, however, that as a divorced woman of a certain age whose children are on the precipice of leaving the nest – there’s a Zack out there for me. He doesn’t have to be a cowboy. Just a decent guy who is kind and thoughtful. Magic hands wouldn’t hurt, either.
Davidson meets Zack (not his real name) at a cowboy poetry and music festival in Elko, cowboy Nevada. Since Davidson was working on Dr. Quinn at the time, she convinced her co-worker to make the journey. Their first meeting, at a stall where Zack is selling his hand-crafted bridles and reins is prickly, to say the least. Later, though, despite her claims that Zack is “a yokel, an insolent yokel” Davidson remarks that he has “good hands” to which Zack responds that he has “magic hands.” Oh, Bessie.
Davidson and Zack have virtually nothing in common. He’s ten years younger, divorced with three kids. He’s mostly unemployed, making money where and when he can. Davidson, also divorced with a son, 10, and a daughter, 11, has a successful career. Zack isn’t remotely worldly; although he was – at one time – considering a career as an engineer, the ‘cowboy’ lifestyle grabbed him by the horns – so to speak – and never let him go. He can’t spell and doesn’t know who Anne Frank is, two details which drive wordsmith Davidson crazy. Nevertheless, there is a spark between them that Davidson can’t (or won’t – fine line) ignore.
Cowboy is, I suppose, that classic ‘fish out of water’ story. How are these two crazy kids (ahem) ever going to make it work? Should they even try? The thing is, once they get over the initial awkwardness they end up having crazy sex all the freakin’ time. I suppose as a woman of a certain age, it would be hard to say no – even if you have misgivings on a whole lot of other levels.
For one thing, after the initial blush has worn off, Davidson’s kids, Gabriel and Sophie, are hateful to Zack. They complain about his smoking (although he doesn’t do it in the house), they say he yells at them when their mom isn’t home. They are rude and disagreeable whenever he’s around.
Then there’s the money issue: Zack never has any. Davidson’s a modern woman, sure, but every once in a while you’d like your partner to at least pay his share.
In a weird way, though, Davidson and Zack make an odd kind of sense. He’s laid back, attentive and honest; she’s high strung and stressed out. They balance each other out – sort of. So I have to say that I was rooting for them by the end of Cowboy.
What once seemed ludicrous and impossible has become the norm, although, as Zack puts it, “normal’s a relative term.” At times, I ask myself, how did this happen? How did I steer so far from the conventional track?
Sadly, I don’t think they are still together.
I’d like to think, however, that as a divorced woman of a certain age whose children are on the precipice of leaving the nest – there’s a Zack out there for me. He doesn’t have to be a cowboy. Just a decent guy who is kind and thoughtful. Magic hands wouldn’t hurt, either.
October 14, 2015
Ehhh...I'm a little bummed. I was excited to find this used for a steal of a deal, $1 at the Used Book Sale at my library. I can identify with many others that find something attractive about a cowboy, so I set my expectations high. Instead, I just found it a little dull. It could be because it is somewhat of a memoir (I always have to remind myself that there really isn't a climax in a memoir, yet I always wait for one). At a point I accepted that the story was just being told as it happened. So here are my problems with that...
1. Dr. Quinn never interested me, so those details were....yawn.
2. If I want to hear about struggles with pre-teens/teens/ past relationships involving shared children I'll just stay tuned to my own life...this just made me feel blah and exhausted.
3. The sexual encounters (which I thought may be the redeeming point of this book just for a little excitement to give it a little pick-me-up) were just not doing it for me...boring, unless you have an obsession with feet and grooming.
I feel slightly bad because I feel that I could like Sara as a person and author and do plan on giving her other books a chance, but this was probably my least favorite book I read in 2015.
1. Dr. Quinn never interested me, so those details were....yawn.
2. If I want to hear about struggles with pre-teens/teens/ past relationships involving shared children I'll just stay tuned to my own life...this just made me feel blah and exhausted.
3. The sexual encounters (which I thought may be the redeeming point of this book just for a little excitement to give it a little pick-me-up) were just not doing it for me...boring, unless you have an obsession with feet and grooming.
I feel slightly bad because I feel that I could like Sara as a person and author and do plan on giving her other books a chance, but this was probably my least favorite book I read in 2015.
May 6, 2009
A friend heard I wanted to read a western for the BookCrossing Challenge that dared you to read out of your comfort zone. With a definite twinkle in her eye gave me this book. From the back cover: She's a fifty-year-old professional from L.A, an educated mother who writes books and screenplays. He's an unschooled cowboy from Arizona, a younger, free spirit who makes bridles out of rawhide. A chance meeting brings these two opporites together and soon evolves into an intensely erotic bond thaat defies every expectatiion and endures longer than they ever dreamed...
This was not the best book I have ever read. It's redeeming points are that it is based on a true story (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). Of interest were the real life known people that filter in occasionally.
This was not the best book I have ever read. It's redeeming points are that it is based on a true story (the names have been changed to protect the innocent). Of interest were the real life known people that filter in occasionally.
June 2, 2012
I take back the first update about this book. I didn't really care much for the woman portrayed here..other than the fact that she was really trying hard to be a good mom. The second half of the book told me a lot more about both the woman and her cowboy, the kids and the ex-husband and his girlfriend. I liked these people quite a bit, and was very interested in how the romance would turn out. Hopefully it really did end the same way in real life....I was afraid it was not going to turn out happily.
July 10, 2007
I had just read The Blind Assassin and really wanted to read a book with some sort of tragic love story. By some unfortunate turn of events, I ended up with this one. So uninteresting, another book on the "I can't believe I read the whole thing" list. Nothing really happened, and sometimes in a book that can be okay, but .. well, not here. I don't really know why this book was even written.
December 19, 2022
I realise that a memoir of a love affair has some sex in it I found the explicit details made me uncomfortable. It was like having a girlfriend tell me about her sex life with her husband in intimate detail which would put me off. I'm not a prude and quite enjoy the erotic romance genre but then the sex becomes abstract for me.
July 6, 2009
I read this book in a day. It is a story of the wrong man or so she thinks. Warning: if you don't like to read about sex in a book, ignore this one. And I won't give a clue as to whether it worked or did not work
July 22, 2010
I enjoyed this book years before Eat, Pray, love. There is an honesty here that really felt unusual.
January 29, 2019
Steamy, intense and very different..
I love this book, so much that I've read it several times. It's different from the normal romance novel. If you like hot sexy cowboys give it a try...
I love this book, so much that I've read it several times. It's different from the normal romance novel. If you like hot sexy cowboys give it a try...
August 1, 2007
Sweet, honest, well-written love story.
Want to read
January 24, 2008I found this book at the airport, got a couple chapters into it, then maddeningly left it on the plane. If I run across it again, I'll finish it.
November 16, 2010
Too many stereotypes. I would have liked to see her take the question, "can an educated wealthy woman date an good ole cowboy of less means" to a higher level of discussion. Been there, lived that.
November 14, 2011
True story of the author, an educated, successful woman who falls for an uneducated, barely-getting-by cowboy.
August 4, 2015
Modern romance. Two people from different worlds can sometimes be the partner that person needs at the time. Suprisingly, I enjoyed this book
September 9, 2016
Easier to read when I imagined it as a novel. Kind of pissed off with the way she told him exactly what was / was not working for her but then turned around and gave in after she said "no".
January 1, 2015
I don't know how I would judge this book if I weren't already a fan of the author's.
August 27, 2015
Held my interest all the way through, a fun read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews