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Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
Sissy Hankshaw, the novel's protagonist, is a woman born with enormously large thumbs who considers her mutation a gift. The novel covers various topics, including free love, feminism, drug use, birds, political rebellion, animal rights, body odor, religion, and yams.
Sissy capitalizes on the size of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker and subsequently travels to New York. The character becomes a model for The Countess, a male homosexual tycoon of menstrual hygiene products. The tycoon introduces Sissy to a staid Mohawk named Julian Gitche, whom she later marries. In her later travels, she encounters, among many others, a sexually open cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean and an itinerant escapee from a Japanese internment camp happily mislabeled The Chink, who is presented as a hermetic mystic and, at one point writes on a cave wall, "I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred." and frequently says "Ha Ha Ho Ho and Hee Hee." A flock of whooping cranes also makes frequent appearances throughout the novel, which includes details of their physical characteristics and migratory patterns. Robbins also inserts himself into the novel (as a character).
Sissy capitalizes on the size of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker and subsequently travels to New York. The character becomes a model for The Countess, a male homosexual tycoon of menstrual hygiene products. The tycoon introduces Sissy to a staid Mohawk named Julian Gitche, whom she later marries. In her later travels, she encounters, among many others, a sexually open cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean and an itinerant escapee from a Japanese internment camp happily mislabeled The Chink, who is presented as a hermetic mystic and, at one point writes on a cave wall, "I believe in everything; nothing is sacred. I believe in nothing; everything is sacred." and frequently says "Ha Ha Ho Ho and Hee Hee." A flock of whooping cranes also makes frequent appearances throughout the novel, which includes details of their physical characteristics and migratory patterns. Robbins also inserts himself into the novel (as a character).
416 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1976
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26843 people want to read
About the author
Tom Robbins
81 books7,267 followersThomas Eugene Robbins was an American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy dramas"). Robbins lived in La Conner, Washington from 1970, where he wrote nine of his books. His 1976 novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was adapted into the 1993 film version by Gus Van Sant. His last work, published in 2014, was Tibetan Peach Pie, a self-declared "un-memoir".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,483 reviews
July 8, 2025
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins isn’t his best but it serves well to measure the peculiarity of the epoch it tells us about.
We gravitate to illusions and so often we get caught by them and become their captives for life.
A book no more contains reality than a clock contains time. A book may measure so-called reality as a clock measures so-called time; a book may create an illusion of reality as a clock creates an illusion of time; a book may be real, just as a clock is real…
We gravitate to illusions and so often we get caught by them and become their captives for life.
April 19, 2007
Tim Robbins is an ASS. He is a creative literary genius and he throws it in your face all throughout this book. You will walk away from this novel not only because it is gross, (or because you have pieces of Tim Robbin's genius on your face), but also because you wont be able to figure out why someone so apparently gifted would write about this trivial crap. It will stump you for days, and on the fifth day you will realize that TR is just what he appears to be...a gifted and obscenely talented ASS. The juxtaposition of graphic gross-yam pudding-while-balling with-old-chinese-men-sex and the brilliant and enlightened way in which TR philosophizes is maddening. Its worth reading- its entertaining at least. The basic plot is bullshit...buuuuut read between the lines. Snort between the lines if you need to. Its the only way to "get it." Of course, if you really love goats and metaphors about dirty greek deities and non-stop phallic references and explicit but pseudo-lesbianism, you will not need to preform the aformentioned snorting. Actually, all you need to do is read some Thoreau and then visit your local "adult" bookstore. You will get the same effect. If however, the book begins to bug you and you cant figure out why and yet you cannot put it down......snort.
April 9, 2007
You know that road trip you've always wanted to take? (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 barefoot and wear big hunter s. style shades and hang one foot out the window sometimes and sometimes when traffic is bad you park the car by the side of the road and turn the music up real loud and dance until the traffic dies down and find beautiful, hidden places that you can't get to by plane or bus or chartered tour, those places in america (you know they're there) accessible only by Really Awesome Roadtrip? 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.
[Significantly cheaper, too.]
This book is like that road trip.
[Significantly cheaper, too.]
April 2, 2008
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 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.
December 2, 2009
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 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.
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 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.
July 15, 2007
Bah. 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.
Repeatedly.
I'd read a section, and think to myself "This is shit!" and put it down to stare at the seat in front of me. Then I would think to myself "Come on. You're on a plane, and you have a book to read--a book by a renowned author. Just read the damn thing!"
But I couldn't!
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. Ugh!
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.
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.
Repeatedly.
I'd read a section, and think to myself "This is shit!" and put it down to stare at the seat in front of me. Then I would think to myself "Come on. You're on a plane, and you have a book to read--a book by a renowned author. Just read the damn thing!"
But I couldn't!
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. Ugh!
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.
May 2, 2016
Lost a star as one of the morals of the story is "Lesbians, deep down, need dicking." I'm not going to get mad at a lesbian-identified person who falls in love with or wants to have sex with cis men, but Robbins goes on to explain that this is literally what lesbians, lovely and sweet and cute as their affairs are, need. Boo.
October 29, 2009
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.
Why? 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 1970s society's inclination to turn them into homemakers. Cool.
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. AND THEN! HE WRITES HIMSELF AS A CHARACTER AND HAS SEX WITH THEM!!!!
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".
BOO TOM ROBBINS! SHAME ON YOU!!!
I did, however, like the twisted sense of humour, the philosophical meanderings, and the smattering of bizarre facts -- so two stars from me.
Why? 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 1970s society's inclination to turn them into homemakers. Cool.
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. AND THEN! HE WRITES HIMSELF AS A CHARACTER AND HAS SEX WITH THEM!!!!
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".
BOO TOM ROBBINS! SHAME ON YOU!!!
I did, however, like the twisted sense of humour, the philosophical meanderings, and the smattering of bizarre facts -- so two stars from me.
October 10, 2022
This is another book where I go, "Oh yeah, I read that." Back in the day our friends read it, then the wife read it, and finally after all that I finally read it. But by the time I finished it everyone had moved on to something else. (Probably a Rabbi David Small book.) I don't remember anything about Even Cowgirls Get The Blues except thinking it was a bit too weird. I gave it only two stars for not being memorable.
August 8, 2018
"Αν θες να αλλάξεις τον κόσμο, άλλαξε τον εαυτό σου. Αυτό το ξέρεις εσύ, Σίσσυ."
Και βέβαια η Σίσσυ το ήξερε. Αυτή δεν ήταν η αρχή που ακολουθούσε πάντα η μεγαλύτερη ωτοστόπερ του κόσμου; Μονάχα που είχε έναν εγκέφαλο, και οι εγκέφαλοι διασκεδάζουν πάντα βάζοντάς μας να μάθουμε ξανά και ξανά αυτά που ξέραμε από την αρχή. Μπορεί ο εγκέφαλος να έχει δεχτεί πολλές επικρίσεις σε αυτό το βιβλίο, αλλά θα πρέπει να το παραδεχτείτε, ο εγκέφαλος έχει μια παράξενη αίσθηση του χιούμορ.
Ο Τομ Ρόμπινς έχει γίνει πλέον η αγαπημένη ετήσια συνήθεια των διακοπών μου. Πραγματικά δεν ξέρω τι θα κάνω όταν θα έχω διαβάσει όλα τα βιβλία του.
Το συγκεκριμένο τώρα, είναι από τα πρώτα που έγραψε και αυτό φαίνεται. Είναι σε νεαρότερη ηλικία και οι γνωστές του απόψεις για την ελευθερία, την κατανάλωση, την ανάπτυξη του δυτικού πολιτισμού και την επαφή με τη φύση είναι λιγότερο διαμορφωμένες από τα μεταγενέστερα βιβλία του αλλά και περισσότερο "αυστηρές". Ο Ρόμπινς καταπιάνεται με το παράδοξο, το ιδιαίτερο, την εξαίρεση στον κανόνα και το ρόλο που έχει - ή που θα έπρεπε να έχει - στη ζωή μας. Σε κάποια σημεία είναι λίγο κουραστικό αν έχεις διαβάσει και άλλα δικά του βιβλία (γιατί επαναλαμβάνεται), αλλά και πάλι είναι αρκετά απολαυστικό.
Σε κάθε περίπτωση, ο τρελο-Τομ έχει μια ξεχωριστή θέση στην καρδιά μου γιατί ξέρει να μην παίρνει τον εαυτό του και πολύ στα σοβαρά και τι έχει πραγματική σημασία: η αγάπη και το γέλιο.
Έχω όμως και την εξής παρατήρηση: εκεί στον Αίολο πρέπει να δουν ξανά λίγο το θέμα επιμέλεια ή, εάν είναι μεμονωμένο περιστατικό του συγκεκριμένου βιβλίου, να το διορθώσουν. Έχει υπερβολικά πολλά τυπογραφικά και ορθογραφικά λάθη για το μέγεθός του.
Και βέβαια η Σίσσυ το ήξερε. Αυτή δεν ήταν η αρχή που ακολουθούσε πάντα η μεγαλύτερη ωτοστόπερ του κόσμου; Μονάχα που είχε έναν εγκέφαλο, και οι εγκέφαλοι διασκεδάζουν πάντα βάζοντάς μας να μάθουμε ξανά και ξανά αυτά που ξέραμε από την αρχή. Μπορεί ο εγκέφαλος να έχει δεχτεί πολλές επικρίσεις σε αυτό το βιβλίο, αλλά θα πρέπει να το παραδεχτείτε, ο εγκέφαλος έχει μια παράξενη αίσθηση του χιούμορ.
Ο Τομ Ρόμπινς έχει γίνει πλέον η αγαπημένη ετήσια συνήθεια των διακοπών μου. Πραγματικά δεν ξέρω τι θα κάνω όταν θα έχω διαβάσει όλα τα βιβλία του.
Το συγκεκριμένο τώρα, είναι από τα πρώτα που έγραψε και αυτό φαίνεται. Είναι σε νεαρότερη ηλικία και οι γνωστές του απόψεις για την ελευθερία, την κατανάλωση, την ανάπτυξη του δυτικού πολιτισμού και την επαφή με τη φύση είναι λιγότερο διαμορφωμένες από τα μεταγενέστερα βιβλία του αλλά και περισσότερο "αυστηρές". Ο Ρόμπινς καταπιάνεται με το παράδοξο, το ιδιαίτερο, την εξαίρεση στον κανόνα και το ρόλο που έχει - ή που θα έπρεπε να έχει - στη ζωή μας. Σε κάποια σημεία είναι λίγο κουραστικό αν έχεις διαβάσει και άλλα δικά του βιβλία (γιατί επαναλαμβάνεται), αλλά και πάλι είναι αρκετά απολαυστικό.
Σε κάθε περίπτωση, ο τρελο-Τομ έχει μια ξεχωριστή θέση στην καρδιά μου γιατί ξέρει να μην παίρνει τον εαυτό του και πολύ στα σοβαρά και τι έχει πραγματική σημασία: η αγάπη και το γέλιο.
Έχω όμως και την εξής παρατήρηση: εκεί στον Αίολο πρέπει να δουν ξανά λίγο το θέμα επιμέλεια ή, εάν είναι μεμονωμένο περιστατικό του συγκεκριμένου βιβλίου, να το διορθώσουν. Έχει υπερβολικά πολλά τυπογραφικά και ορθογραφικά λάθη για το μέγεθός του.
September 20, 2023
I read Tom Robbins' EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES as a teenager. 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. Why? Because it isn't a realistic look at the gay lifestyle as it's "supposed" to be lived? Anyone over 12 who reads the book will know it has NOTHING TO DO with "real" lesbians, any more than STAR WARS is a documentary about the daily lives of people working at NASA. The book was obviously -- and I do mean OBVIOUSLY -- written by a heterosexual male who loves the IDEA of lesbians (in the nude, all the time)but has never really met one.
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? If he were a woman writing M/M romance novels on a trendy website like Loose ID or Ellora's Cave (or Blushing Books) no-one would even question his right to express his fantasies.
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." I need hardly say how peculiar it is that Robbins seems to find it cute to call his Oriental character by this offensive slur. Why doesn't he call "The Countess" something similar, like "The Queer" or "The Faggot?" How come one kind of bigotry is cute and funny, while the other kind is objectionable and unthinkable? 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." Robbins shows him due deference in some ways, giving him a better nickname than "The Chink." Yet while Sissy Hankshaw can switch-hit with the best of them (as if that's normal for women) the countess is stuck with men only. 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. Why?
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. (Larry McMurtry's Blue Duck would make quick work of Julian Gitche.) 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.
But when I read the reviews on Goodreads, I cannot believe there are actually people who find it ugly and offensive. Why? Because it isn't a realistic look at the gay lifestyle as it's "supposed" to be lived? Anyone over 12 who reads the book will know it has NOTHING TO DO with "real" lesbians, any more than STAR WARS is a documentary about the daily lives of people working at NASA. The book was obviously -- and I do mean OBVIOUSLY -- written by a heterosexual male who loves the IDEA of lesbians (in the nude, all the time)but has never really met one.
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? If he were a woman writing M/M romance novels on a trendy website like Loose ID or Ellora's Cave (or Blushing Books) no-one would even question his right to express his fantasies.
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." I need hardly say how peculiar it is that Robbins seems to find it cute to call his Oriental character by this offensive slur. Why doesn't he call "The Countess" something similar, like "The Queer" or "The Faggot?" How come one kind of bigotry is cute and funny, while the other kind is objectionable and unthinkable? 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." Robbins shows him due deference in some ways, giving him a better nickname than "The Chink." Yet while Sissy Hankshaw can switch-hit with the best of them (as if that's normal for women) the countess is stuck with men only. 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. Why?
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. (Larry McMurtry's Blue Duck would make quick work of Julian Gitche.) 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.
February 14, 2011
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! Random, random, in your face moralizing, random...." Having well written words doesn't excuse these faults for me.
The book was also a huge disappointment for me since I saw the movie and loved it. The movie, as I remembered it, was mostly a sweet love story between Sissy & Jellybean. 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. Tthe female characters are encouraged to seek some hot action, intimidate conversation, and care-taking from each other as long as it doesn't interfere with some dirty, casual sex with a dick- an idea as "freeing" and "fair" as the straight man looking to outsource the cuddling & emotional part of his hetero relationship. 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)
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! Random, random, in your face moralizing, random...." Having well written words doesn't excuse these faults for me.
The book was also a huge disappointment for me since I saw the movie and loved it. The movie, as I remembered it, was mostly a sweet love story between Sissy & Jellybean. 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. Tthe female characters are encouraged to seek some hot action, intimidate conversation, and care-taking from each other as long as it doesn't interfere with some dirty, casual sex with a dick- an idea as "freeing" and "fair" as the straight man looking to outsource the cuddling & emotional part of his hetero relationship. 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)
February 11, 2025
RIP, Tom Robbins, 2/9/25. In 1976, everyone I knew was reading this book, passing it along, sharing jokes from it in our bars, our first but not last Robbins book. A countercultural spokesperson for a generation of boomer hippies. Funny, whimsical, stoner work I now associate with Richard Brautigan. A book from one time in my life, my early twenties.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976; filmed 1994) is the story of a female hitchhiker name Sissy Hanshaw with enormous thumbs who visits a woman's spa in South Dakota. She's very popular at the spa because of the thumbs. But the image of a hitchhiking women with large thumbs also references R. Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" image, too. There are (of course?) sexist elements of the book, as I recall. There's a cameo of Jack Kerouac, the hitching icon himself.
Oh, there's so much crazy, nonsensical stuff, including something about Clockworks, geological versus other kinds of time. Sissy’s gay make boss builds a fortune with Sissy as model for a time selling feminine hygiene products, though this leads to a women's revolution of sorts on his beauty ranch in the Dakotas, the Rubber Rose. And so on, as Kurt Vonnegut would write. I wouldn't guess the book was ever exactly a feminist icon, though I probably wasn't bothered by any of its problematics in my early twenties, mea culpa.
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976; filmed 1994) is the story of a female hitchhiker name Sissy Hanshaw with enormous thumbs who visits a woman's spa in South Dakota. She's very popular at the spa because of the thumbs. But the image of a hitchhiking women with large thumbs also references R. Crumb's "Keep on Truckin'" image, too. There are (of course?) sexist elements of the book, as I recall. There's a cameo of Jack Kerouac, the hitching icon himself.
Oh, there's so much crazy, nonsensical stuff, including something about Clockworks, geological versus other kinds of time. Sissy’s gay make boss builds a fortune with Sissy as model for a time selling feminine hygiene products, though this leads to a women's revolution of sorts on his beauty ranch in the Dakotas, the Rubber Rose. And so on, as Kurt Vonnegut would write. I wouldn't guess the book was ever exactly a feminist icon, though I probably wasn't bothered by any of its problematics in my early twenties, mea culpa.
January 25, 2018
Κατά κοινή ομολογία, ο Robbins είναι αντισυμβατικός συγγραφέας με αχαλίνωτη φαντασία. Γενικά δεν τον προτείνω εύκολα γιατί είναι weirdo και εγώ δεν είμαι τόσο weirdo (ελπίζω). Αnyhow, αυτό είναι το τέταρτο ανάγνωσμά του που πιάνω. Το πρώτο ήταν το Άρωμα του ονείρου (πολύ ιδιαίτερο βιβλίο με την καλή έννοια), το δεύτερο ο Τρυποκάρυδος (my favorite), το τρίτο η Θιβετιανή Ροδακινόπιτα (που να πω τη μαύρη αλήθεια δεν ικανοποίησε τον ‘’ουρανίσκο’’ μου). Μεσολάβησε αρκετό διάστημα για το νέο μυθιστόρημα. Ξεκίνησα τις πρώτες σελίδες με ενθουσιασμό γιατί αφενός ήταν δώρο κα ήθελα να το υπερλατρέψω , αφετέρου μου είχε φανεί πιασάρικο το στόρυ. BIG MISTAKE!
Το πρώτο μισό του βιβλίου είναι απολαυστικό με άφθονες χιουμοριστικές ριπές αλλά στο δεύτερο τα περισσότερα κεφάλαια δεν έχουν διηγηματικό ενδιαφέρον.
Ακατάσχετη φλυαρία χωρίς να εξυπηρετεί ουδεμία σκοπιμότητα. Πέρα από το να με πονοκεφαλιάσει. Ειλικρινά δεν κατακρίνω καν την αθυροστομία του, την δικαιολογώ ως απότοκο της αφοπλιστικής ειλικρίνειας του. Ειλικρινά απογοητεύτηκα γιατί μου άρεσαν οι κεντρικές ηρωίδες, ειδικά η τρου καουμπόισσα Μπονάτσα Τζελυ-Μπην. Δεν υπήρξε ποτέ καμία κλιμάκωση και μου άφησε μία πικρή επίγευση.
Ακόμη και ο Ρόμπινς απογοητεύει…
Το πρώτο μισό του βιβλίου είναι απολαυστικό με άφθονες χιουμοριστικές ριπές αλλά στο δεύτερο τα περισσότερα κεφάλαια δεν έχουν διηγηματικό ενδιαφέρον.
Ακατάσχετη φλυαρία χωρίς να εξυπηρετεί ουδεμία σκοπιμότητα. Πέρα από το να με πονοκεφαλιάσει. Ειλικρινά δεν κατακρίνω καν την αθυροστομία του, την δικαιολογώ ως απότοκο της αφοπλιστικής ειλικρίνειας του. Ειλικρινά απογοητεύτηκα γιατί μου άρεσαν οι κεντρικές ηρωίδες, ειδικά η τρου καουμπόισσα Μπονάτσα Τζελυ-Μπην. Δεν υπήρξε ποτέ καμία κλιμάκωση και μου άφησε μία πικρή επίγευση.
Ακόμη και ο Ρόμπινς απογοητεύει…
June 22, 2021
2 Stars for Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (audiobook) by Tom Robbins read by Michael Nouri.
I’m kind of disappointed in this story. 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.
I’m kind of disappointed in this story. 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.
January 19, 2008
"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. Read this to get/keep perspective on yourself and remember to laugh!
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. Read this to get/keep perspective on yourself and remember to laugh!
Read
February 26, 2009I hated this book. Hated it. HATED IT. I can't say that enough, sometimes it feels really good to hate something that deserves to be hated. I think Tom Robbins is a chump. I think it's pretty funny that he attempted to write a novel intended to be taken as liberating to women, but managed to come up with some of the weakest women characters I have ever read about. I hate his voice, and I hate his snarky little interjections. I felt like this was about listening to Tom Robbins' drone on and on about the "great" metaphysical observations he could make about the state of human relationships and the universe, and that got really old really fast. I thought maybe I was being hasty, because people really seem to love Tom Robbins, so I have him another chance with Villa Incognito. Fuck that, not happening, I can't stand him, and I feel like if I were to ever meet him in public it would take everything in my power not to punch him in his arrogant little face.
March 13, 2014
Awful. Just awful.
Though the author does sometimes have a charming way with words, more often than not that way is overshadowed by his by-now-extremely-dated New Age philosophy and "aren't-I-a-fantastic-writer?" ego.
Meanwhile, you're doing the difficult and mind-numbingly unappealing work of attempting to dredge up half a liking for a single one of his cardboard characters (who are presumably meant to be intriguing one-and-all due to some bizarre and randomly-assigned attribute, and who, weirdly, all sound *exactly like the narrator* when they speak, with the exception of an occasional half-assed catch-phrase such as "podner", or gesture such as mustache-stroking. Way to excel at dialogue and characterization, dude...) while trudging through the convoluted and incredibly uninteresting plot. Add in a disturbingly misogynistic 1970s concept of sexuality (women apparently only dabble in lesbianism if there doesn't happen to be a dick around... oh, and all women and young girls are seemingly down with uninvited sexual contact, even when it takes the form of molestation by creepy dudes in cars, 'cause that's not gross at all) and you have a novel it took me three freaking weeks to get through, when the typical amount of time I'd spend on a book of this length is closer to three hours. The time would have been far better spent reading some dry scientific tome about whooping cranes rather than filling my head with these characters, these storylines, this dreck. This... this is Ayn Rand for hippies.
Oh, and also, apparently fat women just plain lose all ability to focus at the mere mention of sweets. Why? Because Tom Robbins is a sexist ass and can't help proving it every other page or so, just in case you didn't believe him the first hundred or so times he tried to make that patently clear. And he'll keep right on proving it, again and again, until the very end of the book. Ugh.
Though the author does sometimes have a charming way with words, more often than not that way is overshadowed by his by-now-extremely-dated New Age philosophy and "aren't-I-a-fantastic-writer?" ego.
Meanwhile, you're doing the difficult and mind-numbingly unappealing work of attempting to dredge up half a liking for a single one of his cardboard characters (who are presumably meant to be intriguing one-and-all due to some bizarre and randomly-assigned attribute, and who, weirdly, all sound *exactly like the narrator* when they speak, with the exception of an occasional half-assed catch-phrase such as "podner", or gesture such as mustache-stroking. Way to excel at dialogue and characterization, dude...) while trudging through the convoluted and incredibly uninteresting plot. Add in a disturbingly misogynistic 1970s concept of sexuality (women apparently only dabble in lesbianism if there doesn't happen to be a dick around... oh, and all women and young girls are seemingly down with uninvited sexual contact, even when it takes the form of molestation by creepy dudes in cars, 'cause that's not gross at all) and you have a novel it took me three freaking weeks to get through, when the typical amount of time I'd spend on a book of this length is closer to three hours. The time would have been far better spent reading some dry scientific tome about whooping cranes rather than filling my head with these characters, these storylines, this dreck. This... this is Ayn Rand for hippies.
Oh, and also, apparently fat women just plain lose all ability to focus at the mere mention of sweets. Why? Because Tom Robbins is a sexist ass and can't help proving it every other page or so, just in case you didn't believe him the first hundred or so times he tried to make that patently clear. And he'll keep right on proving it, again and again, until the very end of the book. Ugh.
October 18, 2022
I read this when I was around 26. I was open to all kinds of books back then. I remember this book thrilling the hell out of me because it had a lot of lesbian sex. But that wasn't all. It had a beautiful passage about the migratory habits of cranes. This was a road novel with a lot of ingredients that I enjoyed. Every reader searches for themselves in the art they consume. Very rarely do I like a work of art which does not include me. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is one such novel. It had nothing about me. I still liked it. It was about activists and hippies. I do not like it when artists turn into activists. But Tom Robbins pulls it off. Robbins is a brilliant writer. I enjoyed the part where he says the only contribution of white people to sex was the French kiss. Hahaha! I wish I could lure this guy into the crime fiction genre. We all long for our favorite artist to make a work of art which we want to make/watch/read. Tom Robbins is one such guy. But every Robbins novel that I ever read, I felt myself going farther away from his writing. Some readers get too distracted. Some readers discover porn/IG Thots which does posses a raw truth. But most readers turn into total assholes and cannot enjoy a Tom Robbins novel when they enter their thirties.
Read
March 17, 2009I think I'm supposed to like this but it just annoyed me. Good narrator though. Life's too short for annoying books. Moving on...
February 3, 2018
Ah, now I remember why I loved Robbins and why I stopped. My first year of college ended in 1983, and one of my new roommates that summer introduced me to the writing of Tom Robbins (Thank you, Kendra!) Such daring, such freedom: you can do whatever you want and screw The Man. Here was this guy telling me how to do anything I wanted and have fun, have a laugh even. The Vonnegut -loving portion of my brain lit up in recognition. Heady stuff. Happy revolution. This is one of the things we go to college for, right?
Skinny Legs and All came out in 1990. By then I had read books on feminism by women. By then I had had more than fifteen years of being constantly judged for attractiveness and congeniality without having to actually enter a beauty pageant, although I never had a shot at a scholarship either. I'd had more than fifteen years of bosses, acquaintances, and random strangers sexually harassing me at school and at work. I would be 27 before I held a job that didn't include harassment from co-workers or customers. By 1990 I had very little interest in a man telling me how to be all free and sexy. By the time I met Robbins I was right over that shit. Not that I remember him in particular: I spent a year opening books for authors at book signings, and there were a number I never read again for being awful people to the help.
#MeToo
Skinny Legs and All came out in 1990. By then I had read books on feminism by women. By then I had had more than fifteen years of being constantly judged for attractiveness and congeniality without having to actually enter a beauty pageant, although I never had a shot at a scholarship either. I'd had more than fifteen years of bosses, acquaintances, and random strangers sexually harassing me at school and at work. I would be 27 before I held a job that didn't include harassment from co-workers or customers. By 1990 I had very little interest in a man telling me how to be all free and sexy. By the time I met Robbins I was right over that shit. Not that I remember him in particular: I spent a year opening books for authors at book signings, and there were a number I never read again for being awful people to the help.
#MeToo
March 1, 2010
Tom Robbins is a pure stylist. In Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, it’s almost guaranteed that every few pages there’ll be a description that’s incredibly unique and accurate. Robbins paints a slew of eccentric characters—the main girl, Sissy Hankshaw, who hitchhikes around with giant thumbs; the Countess, a gay tycoon who has his own line of feminine hygiene products; the happily misnomered Chink, who would rather throw rocks at people than give them the enlightenment they think he has to offer; a band of cowgirls; and even the author himself, appearing as a doctor who might just be crazier than the people he’s supposed to diagnose—interacting in oft-amusing situations.
Oh, right, I gave the book one star…
The problem is that these aspects just aren’t enough. There are maybe three minor plot points that occur within the first hundred pages. You can pull that off for part of a novel, maybe for an entire short story, but not for a whole novel. I need some story with the style. A hundred pages later and the trend hadn’t changed. If anything, it had worsened, with large sections of philosophy (on religion, politics, drug use,free love promiscuity, etc.), but still little plot. Throw in a large chunk of sexuality that seemed more like the author’s personal desires for lesbianism and the veneer of style kept peeling away to reveal little else.
I’m not the fastest reader in the world, but I’m certainly not the slowest, and after a month with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, I was only two-thirds of the way through. Regardless of what other criticism I can give, I never felt the urge to return for more than a half-dozen pages at a time. Apparently books are meant to be read, but I just wasn’t returning to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, so I just left it be. One star.
Oh, right, I gave the book one star…
The problem is that these aspects just aren’t enough. There are maybe three minor plot points that occur within the first hundred pages. You can pull that off for part of a novel, maybe for an entire short story, but not for a whole novel. I need some story with the style. A hundred pages later and the trend hadn’t changed. If anything, it had worsened, with large sections of philosophy (on religion, politics, drug use,
I’m not the fastest reader in the world, but I’m certainly not the slowest, and after a month with Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, I was only two-thirds of the way through. Regardless of what other criticism I can give, I never felt the urge to return for more than a half-dozen pages at a time. Apparently books are meant to be read, but I just wasn’t returning to Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, so I just left it be. One star.
February 15, 2025
Oh, Tom Robbins, I've adored you my entire reading life. How can you be gone?
It's been many, many years since I've reread your novels. I was a little worried about how they'd stand up. I'm in a very different place than I was in when I discovered you 40 years ago.
Well, I needn't be concerned. The sheer joy of reading your prose is undiminished. Yes, some of the philosophical musing feels a bit dated. But your creativity, and your humor are off-the-charts fantastic. Tom Robbins, you are among the greatest of all time. I thank you for the joy you've given me. May you rest in peace.
It's been many, many years since I've reread your novels. I was a little worried about how they'd stand up. I'm in a very different place than I was in when I discovered you 40 years ago.
Well, I needn't be concerned. The sheer joy of reading your prose is undiminished. Yes, some of the philosophical musing feels a bit dated. But your creativity, and your humor are off-the-charts fantastic. Tom Robbins, you are among the greatest of all time. I thank you for the joy you've given me. May you rest in peace.
July 24, 2007
I think this book can be best summarized by quickly scanning the list of reviews; people love it or they loathe it.
Me? I loved it.
I'll admit that I might be biased in favor of this book simply because I have a fairly unusual set of opposable digits myself. You see, first and foremost, this is a story about thumbs. Well, its is a story about thumbs, cowgirls, body odor, literary theory, feminism, epiphanies, dirty old men, the end of time, sex, psychoanalysis and liberation. But it's mostly about thumbs.
Tom Robbins is a damn good writer, and he knows it. At times, he seems to forget that he's telling a story at all, and instead delves into some other topic that has momentarily caught his interest. In a way, it's almost infuriating the way he can write about whatever he pleases without the slightest worry that you'll put the book down. Then again, you *won't* put the book down. If you have an open mind and are patient with his beautiful but sometimes nonsensical ramblings, there's a good chance you'll love this book as much as I do.
Me? I loved it.
I'll admit that I might be biased in favor of this book simply because I have a fairly unusual set of opposable digits myself. You see, first and foremost, this is a story about thumbs. Well, its is a story about thumbs, cowgirls, body odor, literary theory, feminism, epiphanies, dirty old men, the end of time, sex, psychoanalysis and liberation. But it's mostly about thumbs.
Tom Robbins is a damn good writer, and he knows it. At times, he seems to forget that he's telling a story at all, and instead delves into some other topic that has momentarily caught his interest. In a way, it's almost infuriating the way he can write about whatever he pleases without the slightest worry that you'll put the book down. Then again, you *won't* put the book down. If you have an open mind and are patient with his beautiful but sometimes nonsensical ramblings, there's a good chance you'll love this book as much as I do.
July 2, 2016
Μια ιστορία για μια κοπέλα η οποία έχει μια δυσμορφία-δύο μεγάλους αντίχειρες-που,όμως, μαθαίνει να τη "χρησιμοποιεί" για να κάνει ωτοστόπ!
Ένα (ακόμα) σουρεάλ, μαγικό, αλλά και "λογικό μέσα στην τρέλα του" βιβλίο από τον Robbins. Ένα βιβλίο που μιλά για αυτούς τους "διαφορετικούς" ανθρώπους, για όλους όσους προσπαθούν να μάθουν ποιοι πραγματικά είναι (ή να ξεχάσουν ποιοι είναι), για την ελευθερία, για τον έρωτα (σε διάφορες μορφές).
Ο Robbins μας θυμίζει ότι μπορούμε να γελάσουμε με ο,τιδήποτε και πως η σοφία κρύβεται ακόμα και σε "ανάλαφρα", μικρά πράγματα.
Απολαυστικότατο.
Ένα (ακόμα) σουρεάλ, μαγικό, αλλά και "λογικό μέσα στην τρέλα του" βιβλίο από τον Robbins. Ένα βιβλίο που μιλά για αυτούς τους "διαφορετικούς" ανθρώπους, για όλους όσους προσπαθούν να μάθουν ποιοι πραγματικά είναι (ή να ξεχάσουν ποιοι είναι), για την ελευθερία, για τον έρωτα (σε διάφορες μορφές).
Ο Robbins μας θυμίζει ότι μπορούμε να γελάσουμε με ο,τιδήποτε και πως η σοφία κρύβεται ακόμα και σε "ανάλαφρα", μικρά πράγματα.
Απολαυστικότατο.
July 16, 2007
Gosh, but I hated this book. It felt smarmy. And mind you, I love people like Pynchon et al, but this felt like it thought it was smart but wasn't very, and it hasn't aged well. Made myself finish it because I'd been told I'd love Robbins, but this was my introduction and I never looked back.
February 14, 2009
So embarrassing.
February 6, 2017
“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” was an interesting reading experience for me. I was not drawn into the novel for the first 100 pages or so, my feelings on the book were ambivalent, but by the time I finished it I really enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong, the text is not ever really bad, but the vulgarity was more irritating to me than Robbins usually is, and the book does not employ as much unique figurative language as one can expect from Tom Robbins, although there is a ton compared to other writers. The use of language is still unique and clever but it was not as standout a facet of the text to me as in other Robbins novels.
The first chapter, called “Single Cell Preface” is just fun and clever and starts you off smiling in expectation.
Other highlights include a chapter that is a conversation between the brain and a thumb. It is worth a reread. And lines like, ��Cursing the chemical Calvinism that causes alcohol to make us suffer for the good time it gives us” are one of the main joys of reading Tom Robbins. Who can’t enjoy the brilliant juxtaposition of language and the clever (and totally apropos) use of allusions? Mr. Robbins always rewards readers who know stuff, and I adore that about him.
Others joys of the text are the occasional lines that pop out that encompass wisdom and human truth, and usually in service of the story. An example you ask…”We only pollute our own waters when we try to extend our true affection to those who don’t know how to accept love or to give it.” Wow! And like most of Robbins novels there are more than a few moments like that in this text.
Overall, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” is a good novel, and I don’t find myself agreeing with those who charge it as sexist, and too philosophical. I think they projected some things on the text that the writer does not intend, but hey such is the reader’s’ prerogative.
The first chapter, called “Single Cell Preface” is just fun and clever and starts you off smiling in expectation.
Other highlights include a chapter that is a conversation between the brain and a thumb. It is worth a reread. And lines like, ��Cursing the chemical Calvinism that causes alcohol to make us suffer for the good time it gives us” are one of the main joys of reading Tom Robbins. Who can’t enjoy the brilliant juxtaposition of language and the clever (and totally apropos) use of allusions? Mr. Robbins always rewards readers who know stuff, and I adore that about him.
Others joys of the text are the occasional lines that pop out that encompass wisdom and human truth, and usually in service of the story. An example you ask…”We only pollute our own waters when we try to extend our true affection to those who don’t know how to accept love or to give it.” Wow! And like most of Robbins novels there are more than a few moments like that in this text.
Overall, “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” is a good novel, and I don’t find myself agreeing with those who charge it as sexist, and too philosophical. I think they projected some things on the text that the writer does not intend, but hey such is the reader’s’ prerogative.
October 22, 2007
Passage From Book:
This sentence is made of lead ( and a sentence of lead gives a reader an entirely different sensation from one made of magnesium). This sentence is made of yak wool. This sentence is made of sunlight and plums. This sentence is made of ice. This sentence is made from the blood of the poet. This sentence was made in Japan. This sentence glows in the dark. This sentence was born with a caul. This sentence has a crush on Norman Mailer. This sentence is a wino and doesn't care who knows it. Like many italic sentences, this one has Mafia connections. This sentence is a double Cancer with a Pisces rising. This sentence lost its mind searching for the perfect paragraph. This sentence refuese to be diagrammed. This sentence ran off with an adverb clause. This sentence is 100 percent organic: it will not retain a facsimile of freshness like thoses sentences of Homer, Shakespeare, Goethe et al., which are loaded with perservatives. This sentence leaks. This sentence doesn't look Jewish ...This sentence has accepted Jesus Christ as its personal savior. This sentence once spit in a book reviewer's eye. This sentence can do the funky chicken. This sentence has seen too much and forgotten too little. This sentence is called "Speedoo" but its real name is Mr. Earl. This sentence may be pregnant This sentnece suffered a split infinitive - and survivied. If this sentence has been a snake you'd have bitten it. This sentence went to jail with Clifford Irving. This sentence went to Woodstock. And this little sentence went wee wee wee all the way home. This sentence is proud to be a part of the team here at Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. This sentence is rather confounded by the whole damn thing.
This sentence is made of lead ( and a sentence of lead gives a reader an entirely different sensation from one made of magnesium). This sentence is made of yak wool. This sentence is made of sunlight and plums. This sentence is made of ice. This sentence is made from the blood of the poet. This sentence was made in Japan. This sentence glows in the dark. This sentence was born with a caul. This sentence has a crush on Norman Mailer. This sentence is a wino and doesn't care who knows it. Like many italic sentences, this one has Mafia connections. This sentence is a double Cancer with a Pisces rising. This sentence lost its mind searching for the perfect paragraph. This sentence refuese to be diagrammed. This sentence ran off with an adverb clause. This sentence is 100 percent organic: it will not retain a facsimile of freshness like thoses sentences of Homer, Shakespeare, Goethe et al., which are loaded with perservatives. This sentence leaks. This sentence doesn't look Jewish ...This sentence has accepted Jesus Christ as its personal savior. This sentence once spit in a book reviewer's eye. This sentence can do the funky chicken. This sentence has seen too much and forgotten too little. This sentence is called "Speedoo" but its real name is Mr. Earl. This sentence may be pregnant This sentnece suffered a split infinitive - and survivied. If this sentence has been a snake you'd have bitten it. This sentence went to jail with Clifford Irving. This sentence went to Woodstock. And this little sentence went wee wee wee all the way home. This sentence is proud to be a part of the team here at Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. This sentence is rather confounded by the whole damn thing.
June 23, 2011
This is some of the best writing I've read on the sentence/paragraph level. I wasn't particularly concerned with where things were going plotwise at first because it was such a pleasure to read Robbins's prose, but I eventually found myself drawn into the story too.
This book is silly, clever, thoughtful, endearing, sweet, dirty, poignant, thought-provoking, funny, pithy, punny and charming, etc. The feminism made me proud to be a woman without turning me against men. Robbins is critical and philosophical without being unkind or cynical. [spoiler alert, sort of] I thought he was proselytizing a bit much in the middle, but by the time I got to the end I realized he was just chewing on a lot of ideas, and that his ultimate conclusion was that each of us will have to decide for ourselves how to deal with the many truths and belief systems out there, and that we probably won't ever get it quite right, but the point is to keep chewing.
Super enjoyable read, as long as you can tolerate none of it making any sense. ;-)
This book is silly, clever, thoughtful, endearing, sweet, dirty, poignant, thought-provoking, funny, pithy, punny and charming, etc. The feminism made me proud to be a woman without turning me against men. Robbins is critical and philosophical without being unkind or cynical. [spoiler alert, sort of] I thought he was proselytizing a bit much in the middle, but by the time I got to the end I realized he was just chewing on a lot of ideas, and that his ultimate conclusion was that each of us will have to decide for ourselves how to deal with the many truths and belief systems out there, and that we probably won't ever get it quite right, but the point is to keep chewing.
Super enjoyable read, as long as you can tolerate none of it making any sense. ;-)
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