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Ellen Burns #1
The Revolution of Little Girls
No matter how hard she tries, Ellen Burns will never be Scarlett O'Hara. As a little girl in South Carolina, she prefers playing Tarzan to playing Jane. As a teenage beauty queen she spikes her Cokes with spirits of ammonia and baffles her elders with her Freedom Riding sympathies. As a young woman in the 1960s and '70s, she hypnotizes her way to Harvard, finds herself as a lesbian, then very nearly loses herself to booze and shamans. And though the wry, rebellious, and vision-haunted heroine of this exhilarating novel may sometimes seem to be living a magnolia-scented Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, Blanche McCrary Boyd's The Revolution Of Little Girls is a completely original arid captivating work.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
205 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1991
13 people are currently reading
486 people want to read
About the author
Blanche McCrary Boyd
10 books34 followersBlanche McCrary Boyd (born 1945) is an American author whose novels are known for their eccentric characters.
Among the awards Boyd has won are a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993–1994, a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Fellowship in 1988, a Creative Writing Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission in 1982–1983 and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing from Stanford University in 1967–1968. She was nominated for the Southern Book Award for The Revolution of Little Girls in 1991, and also won the Lambda Literary Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction that same year. She was nominated for the Lambda Award for Lesbian Fiction again in 1997.
(from Wikipedia)
Among the awards Boyd has won are a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1993–1994, a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Fellowship in 1988, a Creative Writing Fellowship from the South Carolina Arts Commission in 1982–1983 and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Creative Writing from Stanford University in 1967–1968. She was nominated for the Southern Book Award for The Revolution of Little Girls in 1991, and also won the Lambda Literary Award and the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction that same year. She was nominated for the Lambda Award for Lesbian Fiction again in 1997.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
September 28, 2024
A series of blurry vignettes of a life that could not possibly be mine, yet I feel as though I had lived each memory myself. Possibly the only coming of age story I've ever felt in my bones and my blood, through a connection bridged by words and somehow incommunicable all the same. I feel lost and loved and understood.
July 17, 2021
Do you ever skim a blurb then find yourself in something a little different than expected? I seem to do this a lot…
Now I try not to go into books with any preconceived ideas but apparently, it took me nearly 150 pages of this 200-page book before I realised this was not, in fact, an autobiography but a work of fiction. Maybe it was how closely it related to my own experiences growing up as a bit of a "tomboy". Of course, the book seems to be semi-autobiographical, once you take into account its author, but the characters that weave in and out of each other, through knowingly described settings sing with such life, such absurdity, they feel all too real. Some moments, of course, tipped me off to the fictitiousness of the book: . But these moments I overlooked, until the posse of terrifying pre-pubescent projections, because I was just so caught up in the pace.
The structure of the book is messy and not totally linear, it mingles together like someone's memories, woven and indistinguishable. It follows Ellen Burns who’s life take the path of a tomboy, to drugged-up teenage beauty queen, to lesbian, with all the complexities of a marriage and some deaths stuck in between. The writing is darkly funny, oddly kind and so damn easy to read.
Now I try not to go into books with any preconceived ideas but apparently, it took me nearly 150 pages of this 200-page book before I realised this was not, in fact, an autobiography but a work of fiction. Maybe it was how closely it related to my own experiences growing up as a bit of a "tomboy". Of course, the book seems to be semi-autobiographical, once you take into account its author, but the characters that weave in and out of each other, through knowingly described settings sing with such life, such absurdity, they feel all too real. Some moments, of course, tipped me off to the fictitiousness of the book: . But these moments I overlooked, until the posse of terrifying pre-pubescent projections, because I was just so caught up in the pace.
The structure of the book is messy and not totally linear, it mingles together like someone's memories, woven and indistinguishable. It follows Ellen Burns who’s life take the path of a tomboy, to drugged-up teenage beauty queen, to lesbian, with all the complexities of a marriage and some deaths stuck in between. The writing is darkly funny, oddly kind and so damn easy to read.
"Sex is a state, Ellen” Meg said quietly, “not an act. If you think it’s an act you’ll miss it.”
January 3, 2009
EArly on I was captivated by two sentences:
"At camp you had to wear shoes, and what was the point of summer if youhad to wear shoes?"
and then ... "Fall was a tingle in the skin, a coolness in the lungs, a football tossed around the front yard."
But as the book progressed, I just felt bad. I just had a hard time getting into this after the first reading session I had. I think I'm just not into feminist angst right now. :)
Here is what the publisher had to say about the book"
FROM THE PUBLISHER
No matter how hard she tries, Ellen Burns will never be Scarlett O'Hara. As a little girl in South Carolina, she prefers playing Tarzan to playing Jane. As a teenage beauty queen she spikes her Cokes with spirits of ammonia and baffles her elders with her Freedom Riding sympathies. As a young woman in the 1960s and '70s, she hypnotizes her way to Harvard, finds herself as a lesbian, then very nearly loses herself to booze and shamans. And though the wry, rebellious, and vision-haunted heroine of this exhilarating novel may sometimes seem to be living a magnolia-scented Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, Blanche McCrary Boyd's The Revolution Of Little Girls is a completely original arid captivating work.
"At camp you had to wear shoes, and what was the point of summer if youhad to wear shoes?"
and then ... "Fall was a tingle in the skin, a coolness in the lungs, a football tossed around the front yard."
But as the book progressed, I just felt bad. I just had a hard time getting into this after the first reading session I had. I think I'm just not into feminist angst right now. :)
Here is what the publisher had to say about the book"
FROM THE PUBLISHER
No matter how hard she tries, Ellen Burns will never be Scarlett O'Hara. As a little girl in South Carolina, she prefers playing Tarzan to playing Jane. As a teenage beauty queen she spikes her Cokes with spirits of ammonia and baffles her elders with her Freedom Riding sympathies. As a young woman in the 1960s and '70s, she hypnotizes her way to Harvard, finds herself as a lesbian, then very nearly loses herself to booze and shamans. And though the wry, rebellious, and vision-haunted heroine of this exhilarating novel may sometimes seem to be living a magnolia-scented Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman, Blanche McCrary Boyd's The Revolution Of Little Girls is a completely original arid captivating work.
June 27, 2014
My dear friend Jen McCreary gave me this book as a gift and it was particularly meaningful for her because Blanche McCrary Boyd was Jen's writing teacher. And I am so glad to have read it. A beautiful and disturbing tale of a girl growing up in South Carolina as old southern ideals crumble and a new more liberal world emerges and how a young girl/ woman finds her way among these two poles. A whimsical tale with deeply affecting familial darkness woven through. Thanks for the wonderful recommendation Jen!!
August 12, 2025
This took me quite a long time to read this compared to my other books, due to being busy and just not wanting to pick it up at all.
The blurb essentially tells you what the story will cover, but some of Ellen Burn’s life is just skipped over. The title and review on the front cover lead you to believe that this is an incredibly feminist and female-centred book, but this was not the case. This was vignettes of one woman’s life being told in a way that I didn’t find convincing or really relevant. The book tried to deal with race and segregation but was done so pretty poorly, despite claiming in the blurb that Ellen was a ‘radical’ fighting for rights and encouraging the Freedom Riders.
Very glad to have finally finished this book so I don’t have to think about it really. Some dry humour in the story made me laugh but other than that I would not recommend this book.
The blurb essentially tells you what the story will cover, but some of Ellen Burn’s life is just skipped over. The title and review on the front cover lead you to believe that this is an incredibly feminist and female-centred book, but this was not the case. This was vignettes of one woman’s life being told in a way that I didn’t find convincing or really relevant. The book tried to deal with race and segregation but was done so pretty poorly, despite claiming in the blurb that Ellen was a ‘radical’ fighting for rights and encouraging the Freedom Riders.
Very glad to have finally finished this book so I don’t have to think about it really. Some dry humour in the story made me laugh but other than that I would not recommend this book.
August 19, 2023
I enjoy the work of Boyd, all of her novels are essentially the same story, a different part of which is highlighted in each book. If you were around for 1960s and 70s lesbian feminist, this work will have resonate with you. That said, there are a lot of drugs and sex which I found wearing after a while (though I am not saying this was not true for the time). Much of this was laugh-out-loud funny, but I have to confess to skimming a bit toward the end.
June 29, 2019
I particularly enjoyed the non-linear timeline, as it’s what the illusion of a memoir. The dark familial conflicts were very interesting, and at times, I wanted more. I wasn’t entirely pleased with the ending, I overall enjoyed the book. It was an easy read, in terms of pacing. Boyd’s writing style is definitely a page turner!
March 11, 2020
What an interesting novel! I was gifted this book and was intrigued by the title. It was a bit of a slow burn for me though I did immediately like the author's voice...particularly her sarcasm. This book caused me to consider my own childhood impressions and experiences and how I interpreted my experiences from my child perspective. It is funny, sweet and heartbreaking.
September 11, 2017
I don't like how the novel is organized, but it has some interesting themes and storylines that I've enjoyed pondering.
June 9, 2018
World's worst lesbian.
September 4, 2018
The book was okay. I like coming of age novels however the jumping through timelines and glossing over events isn’t my style. It was interesting and boring at the same time.
January 16, 2019
I couldn’t mesh the three parts of this woman’s life together. The book has its moments but I didn’t care for it. I wonder how it got on my to read list.
December 6, 2019
The beginning of the book was hilarious and playful and then it just went into suffering that dragged me down and I couldn't finish it.
September 2, 2023
This book was well- written and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I wanted more of the story regarding Ellen’s hallucinations.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2024
mysterious skin for lesbians
"Sex is a state, Ellen” Meg said quietly, “not an act. If you think it’s an act you’ll miss it.”
"Sex is a state, Ellen” Meg said quietly, “not an act. If you think it’s an act you’ll miss it.”
January 25, 2025
I understand that this is the first book in a series about Ellen Burns. Would I read the rest of the books? Probably not. This one was OK.
November 22, 2022
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2022 Task #9: Read the book that’s been on your TBR the longest.
July 7, 2016
I hate not having The Next Book ready to go. And in the absence of a reading waitlist - damn you Cardinia-Casey library and your ridiculous queue (I am 207th for the Elena Ferrante book which I really wanted to read next).
Never without a back-up plan, I frequently trawl Brotherhood Books Online (they deliver to the door, free, for 3 or more books) to provide with me with back up reading, which I like to affectionately call The Lesbian Library. I like a good read, and having nothing against heterosexual people (I have two as children and a number as friends), but let's face it, it's always nice to read about your own community.
And it was here, in my back up library, that I found McCrary Boyd's book, published in 1992, and purchased by me about five years ago.
What a treat. What a lovely lyrical, unwinding story. Really lovely.
The intro talks about a childhood memory where she and a mate played Tarzan and no one wanted to be Jane.
The author bio says McCrary Boyd teaches writing. Well, it shows.
The writing and recollections never seemed forced. They are vague. Like memories are. There are questions, traumas and they all build naturally to the end.
The southern plantation house is gothic in its mystique and description. Even it's history appears to have a story to tell.
The relationships seem real, the connection with her partner naturally everyday and the strained relationship with her mother very believable. The struggles she has seem like a friend is telling you about a hard time and you don't really know what to say and the story goes on, anyway.
Just lovely.
Never without a back-up plan, I frequently trawl Brotherhood Books Online (they deliver to the door, free, for 3 or more books) to provide with me with back up reading, which I like to affectionately call The Lesbian Library. I like a good read, and having nothing against heterosexual people (I have two as children and a number as friends), but let's face it, it's always nice to read about your own community.
And it was here, in my back up library, that I found McCrary Boyd's book, published in 1992, and purchased by me about five years ago.
What a treat. What a lovely lyrical, unwinding story. Really lovely.
The intro talks about a childhood memory where she and a mate played Tarzan and no one wanted to be Jane.
The author bio says McCrary Boyd teaches writing. Well, it shows.
The writing and recollections never seemed forced. They are vague. Like memories are. There are questions, traumas and they all build naturally to the end.
The southern plantation house is gothic in its mystique and description. Even it's history appears to have a story to tell.
The relationships seem real, the connection with her partner naturally everyday and the strained relationship with her mother very believable. The struggles she has seem like a friend is telling you about a hard time and you don't really know what to say and the story goes on, anyway.
Just lovely.
April 28, 2016
As I started reading this novel, I ran across notes I had made no telling how long ago, indicating I had read it once before. Even now, having finished the book for the second time, I have no memory of an earlier reading--and I'm not surprised. Said to be laugh-out-loud funny, the book is an account of a series of momentous events in the life of an adolescent girl, then adult, events that clearly scar her into becoming an addict of various stripes. Yet every event is described with a complete lack of affect, which makes for an odd effect on the reader. Perhaps we are meant to read into the events, supplying the feelings that the author herself withholds. If so, in my estimation the author fails here, because instead of feeling sympathy for the main character, I feel practically nothing at all. No wonder I can't remember this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2009
I liked this book. It reminded me of a broader, less interesting "Bastard out of Carolina". I liked the way it was structured, in a non-linear but not confusing fashion.
Though I compared it unfavorably to "Bastard...", which is certainly better written, this book has a lighter tone. In that way, it's more well-rounded. The character's sexuality, her lover, her old friends, none are simple. Good and bad things are done and said by most of the characters and even the so-called bad guy in the book is not so easily explained as pure evil. The author lays out these people for us to look at and judge, she doesn't pronounce judgment on them.
An all-around good book. Definitely recommended.
Though I compared it unfavorably to "Bastard...", which is certainly better written, this book has a lighter tone. In that way, it's more well-rounded. The character's sexuality, her lover, her old friends, none are simple. Good and bad things are done and said by most of the characters and even the so-called bad guy in the book is not so easily explained as pure evil. The author lays out these people for us to look at and judge, she doesn't pronounce judgment on them.
An all-around good book. Definitely recommended.
February 24, 2013
What a wonderful book -- in the genre of literary memoirs, filled with quirky but interesting characters, plenty of humor, but a general tone of sadness throughout -- kept mostly implicit, some hard events occur for the protagonist but she doesn't reveal her emotions directly but only indirectly through her behaviors, with occasional little glimpses of the pain within -- very effectively done, and very effective use of moving around through time to tell the story ... I believe the author has a follow-up to this one which I will definitely check out ....
March 10, 2008
I was frustrated with this story line throughout the story. I wonder if it was more of a memior than a novel as the author seemed to use the book as a vehicle to justify her own thought processes.
I felt like such an outsider reading it as the main character seemed to make her every move good or bad based on the fact that she was Southern born. Maybe it is my Yankee self that would not let me get into this story.
Not my favorite book but an interesting enough read.
I felt like such an outsider reading it as the main character seemed to make her every move good or bad based on the fact that she was Southern born. Maybe it is my Yankee self that would not let me get into this story.
Not my favorite book but an interesting enough read.
December 27, 2008
I started reading this book and realized I've already read it back in Dec 2006! It grabbed me again and I'm about half way though it, loving it as I did the first time and trying to decide if I should finish it again or stop. It's a brilliant book that follows a girl through adulthood in a circuitous route, not a linear timeline book. I think I'll keep reading because I know there is a secret buried in the book and I can't remember what it is. Does anyone but me get readers amnesia?
January 25, 2012
loved this book. took me back to my days of reading primarily feminist coming of age novels, circa mid 1970s-early 90s almost exclusively. thought I read all the classics but i missed this one. Reminded me a little of Rubyfruit Jungle, just a fun and funny entertaining read, while also being relate-ably comically tragic.
February 22, 2016
Totally perplexed by this book, which felt like a schizophrenia of stories with times and places all jumbled together. I kept reading because I admire the reading habits and taste of the person who gave me the book. I gave up with only about 8 pages left to go - a true sign that I just didn't care.
February 22, 2009
An ok read. I wouldn't call it a Revolution, however, the character has some nice learning moments from analyzing her childhood. I do enjoying reading books though set in the South. It is just something that I am not as familiar with. Not necessarily a beach read, more of a 'spring read'.
February 19, 2017
Re-read after quite a few years...a little uneven at spots, but still some of the best & my favorite writing & certain chapters are among the best things I've ever read. Can't wait for the third one!
November 23, 2012
It was ok I really didn't sense much firm purpose in the story I had a lot of hope for it, but it never quite reaches a climax or high point. it simply reads like stories from her past and they don't have much connection to one another
March 12, 2013
The cover said it was a non-stop laugh. I chuckled on page 99 (of 205). It took me way too long to trudge through this book. The last 2 chapters finally summed everything up. I wouldn't recommend this book.
March 21, 2014
Oh man. Didn't start capturing serious interest until the home stretch, which was too long of a wait. I almost didn't finish reading, but needed a tool to kill time.
Uninterested in anything else from this author.
Uninterested in anything else from this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews