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Texas Quartet #4
Virgin of the Rodeo
"No one's ever invented a rodeo gal like this before." - Kirkus.
Sonja Getz would always be out of place in a town like Dorfburg, Texas -- the spot where her mother, minuscule Tinka Getz, washed ashore and shortly afterwards gave birth. Big-boned, book-addicted Sonja was left to grow up in utter solitude, comforting herself with fantasies of her absent father, whom she assumed from a publicity photo found in her mother's dresser to be a Navajo trick roper, stoically referring to herself as a woman of color, and operating a faltering pest-control business. When Tinka remarries and kicks 29-year-old Sonja out, the dour young woman marches off to the local rodeo, where she hires quarrelsome trick roper Prairie James to help her find her dad. The mismatched pair rumble across Texas and New Mexico in James's rusty van with his horse, Domino, riding in back, ducking into various rodeos along the way.
"A riot of a writer." - Cosmopolitan.
"A fearless madcap." - Los Angeles Times.
"Among the best of Texas writers." - Kirkus.
Sarah Bird can't write a dull page. -- Austin American Statesman.
Sonja Getz would always be out of place in a town like Dorfburg, Texas -- the spot where her mother, minuscule Tinka Getz, washed ashore and shortly afterwards gave birth. Big-boned, book-addicted Sonja was left to grow up in utter solitude, comforting herself with fantasies of her absent father, whom she assumed from a publicity photo found in her mother's dresser to be a Navajo trick roper, stoically referring to herself as a woman of color, and operating a faltering pest-control business. When Tinka remarries and kicks 29-year-old Sonja out, the dour young woman marches off to the local rodeo, where she hires quarrelsome trick roper Prairie James to help her find her dad. The mismatched pair rumble across Texas and New Mexico in James's rusty van with his horse, Domino, riding in back, ducking into various rodeos along the way.
"A riot of a writer." - Cosmopolitan.
"A fearless madcap." - Los Angeles Times.
"Among the best of Texas writers." - Kirkus.
Sarah Bird can't write a dull page. -- Austin American Statesman.
342 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Bird
24 books602 followersSarah Bird is a bestselling novelist, screenwriter, essayist, and journalist who has lived in Austin, Texas since long before the city became internationally cool. She has published ten novels and two books of essays. Her eleventh novel, LAST DANCE ON THE STARLITE PIER--a gripping tale set in the secret world of the dance marathons of the Great Depression--will be released on April 12th.
Her last novel, DAUGHTER OF A DAUGHTER OF A QUEEN--inspired by the true story of the only woman to serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers--was named an All-time Best Books about Texas by the Austin American-Statesman; Best Fiction of 2018, Christian Science Monitor; Favorite Books of 2018, Texas Observer; a One City, One Book choice of seven cities; and a Lit Lovers Book Club Favorites.
Sarah was a finalist for The Dublin International Literary Award; an ALEX award winner; Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a two-time winner of the TIL’s Best Novel award; a B&N’s Discover Great Writers selection; a New York Public Libraries Books to Remember; an honoree of theTexas Writers Hall of Fame; an Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship; and an Austin Libraries Illumine Award for Excellence in Fiction winner. In 2014 she was named Texas Writer of the Year by the Texas Book Festival and presented with a pair of custom-made boots on the floor of the Texas Senate Chamber.
Sarah is a nine-time winner of Austin Best Fiction Writer award. She was recently honored with the University of New Mexico’s 2020 Paul Ré Award for Cultural Advocacy. In 2015 Sarah was one of eight winners selected from 3,800 entries to attend the Meryl Streep Screenwriters’ Lab. Sarah was chosen in 2017 to represent the Austin Public Library as the hologram/greeter installed in the Austin Downtown Library. Sarah was a co-founder of The Writers League of Texas.
She has been an NPR Moth Radio Hour storyteller; a writer for Oprah’s Magazine, NY Times Sunday Magazine and Op Ed columns, Chicago Tribune, Real Simple, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Salon, Daily Beast, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, MS, Texas Observer; Alcalde and a columnist for years for Texas Monthly. As a screenwriter, she worked on projects for Warner Bros., Paramount, CBS, National Geographic, Hallmark, ABC, TNT, as well as several independent producers.
She and her husband enjoy open-water swimming and training their corgi puppy not to eat the furniture.
Her last novel, DAUGHTER OF A DAUGHTER OF A QUEEN--inspired by the true story of the only woman to serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers--was named an All-time Best Books about Texas by the Austin American-Statesman; Best Fiction of 2018, Christian Science Monitor; Favorite Books of 2018, Texas Observer; a One City, One Book choice of seven cities; and a Lit Lovers Book Club Favorites.
Sarah was a finalist for The Dublin International Literary Award; an ALEX award winner; Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a two-time winner of the TIL’s Best Novel award; a B&N’s Discover Great Writers selection; a New York Public Libraries Books to Remember; an honoree of theTexas Writers Hall of Fame; an Amazon Literature Best of the Year selection; a Dobie-Paisano Fellowship; and an Austin Libraries Illumine Award for Excellence in Fiction winner. In 2014 she was named Texas Writer of the Year by the Texas Book Festival and presented with a pair of custom-made boots on the floor of the Texas Senate Chamber.
Sarah is a nine-time winner of Austin Best Fiction Writer award. She was recently honored with the University of New Mexico’s 2020 Paul Ré Award for Cultural Advocacy. In 2015 Sarah was one of eight winners selected from 3,800 entries to attend the Meryl Streep Screenwriters’ Lab. Sarah was chosen in 2017 to represent the Austin Public Library as the hologram/greeter installed in the Austin Downtown Library. Sarah was a co-founder of The Writers League of Texas.
She has been an NPR Moth Radio Hour storyteller; a writer for Oprah’s Magazine, NY Times Sunday Magazine and Op Ed columns, Chicago Tribune, Real Simple, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Salon, Daily Beast, Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, MS, Texas Observer; Alcalde and a columnist for years for Texas Monthly. As a screenwriter, she worked on projects for Warner Bros., Paramount, CBS, National Geographic, Hallmark, ABC, TNT, as well as several independent producers.
She and her husband enjoy open-water swimming and training their corgi puppy not to eat the furniture.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 22, 2007
This is a book I wish I hadn't read so I could read it and enjoy it the way I did the first time.
October 10, 2013
A fun read, reminiscent of Tom Robbins.
July 25, 2012
This was recommended to me and I loved the Yakota Officer's Club. It was a fast read. It was pretty good but it didn't knock my socks off. The characters are all pretty unlikable until a few chapters in -- high expectations alone helped me hang on. The characters redeem themselves to be sure, and there are a few plot twists, but it felt pretty light and I didn't walk away a changed person. It's an entertaining, pretty honest (sometimes crass) tale of underdogs improving themselves.
January 17, 2009
Outlandish flawed characters, funny, well-written, twist in the plot and everything you wanted to know about rodeos.
29 yr old Sonja Gets sets off to find her father who her mother Tinka had a fing with in Frankfurt in 1964. She hooks up with Prairie James, a trick-roper and tours the rodeo circuit as an announcer. She ends up finding herself.
29 yr old Sonja Gets sets off to find her father who her mother Tinka had a fing with in Frankfurt in 1964. She hooks up with Prairie James, a trick-roper and tours the rodeo circuit as an announcer. She ends up finding herself.
May 8, 2009
must read for anyone from texas who felt like an outsider/went to the rodeo/identifies with texans at all.
December 9, 2015
Loved every page. Bird's characters are so much fun!
November 25, 2018
I met the author and she told me many of her readers have said this is their least favorite of her books. Well, I loved it. The larger than life characters make this fable perfection. Some you love to hate; others you can't help but love, flaws and all. It was fun, funny, and endearing.
April 23, 2021
Hilarious, especially as narrated by the fabulous Cynthia Darlow
April 3, 2022
Awesome , hysterical writing.
June 16, 2022
Great read and highly recommend
October 11, 2013
Sarah Bird has always had a sharp eye, but in this novel she goes right over the line into misanthropy, losing me. This is a minor, late entry in the freakshow genre of the 1980's and early 90's (Carolyn Chute, Geek Love, Harry Crews). Far from her best.
July 30, 2016
Not good enough to get me to finish it. I loved the boyfriend school so much but this one didn't grab me. Boyfriend School took place in Austin, Texas, and captured some garage apartment essence of Austin. Virgin of the Rodeo is silly but doesn't capture any Texas types I've known.
September 12, 2020
This was a very entertaining book. I loved the characters and since the "reading" I do for pleasure is audio books instantly aware that she had other books. She does, and I'll be getting better acquainted with those titles as well.
September 15, 2008
This book was a little funny, but not very engaging. An a-typical story of a girl looking for her father, but I couldn't relate to it, even though I live in Texas.
December 10, 2010
A really great book shows us how everything is great and worth to die for
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August 9, 2016I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't muster up an interest in the characters.
May 3, 2020
Hilarious, off beat and so like-able!
June 5, 2009
Got better as it went.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews