book data
1805 ratings, 3.67 average rating, 168 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
1980
by Bantam
binding
Paperback
setting
Unknown
isbn
0553146963
(isbn13: 9780553146967)
description
Rubyfruit Jungle is the first milestone novel in the extraordinary career of one of this country's most distinctive writers. Bawdy and moving, ...more
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2161)
All ratings
|
5 stars (404)
|
4 stars (631)
|
3 stars (563)
|
2 stars (170)
|
1 star (40)
|
avg 3.67
recommended to Tatiana by:
jess
i swear i already wrote a review of this book but maybe not.
okay, so you're young, you've suddenly realized you're a lesbian. one out of every two people you talk to in the next year are going to recommend rubyfruit jungle. it is THE coming out book. i wonder if gay men have an equivalent. anyway. personally, i think this book is overhyped. let's remember that this is the same lady who writes murder mysteries with her CAT. that's right, not about her cat, but with her cat. co-author...more
okay, so you're young, you've suddenly realized you're a lesbian. one out of every two people you talk to in the next year are going to recommend rubyfruit jungle. it is THE coming out book. i wonder if gay men have an equivalent. anyway. personally, i think this book is overhyped. let's remember that this is the same lady who writes murder mysteries with her CAT. that's right, not about her cat, but with her cat. co-author...more
Like this review?
yes
(3 people liked it)
1 comment
I've read this book about 8 times in the last 18 years. In it, she mentions bagels & lox. I only JUST, at age 31, figured out what LOX was, though... Thankfully I understood everything else in the book, so we're good. I was just late on the lox stuff.
Like this review?
yes
(2 people liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
lesbians, women's historians, horndogs
This is a coming-of-age novel about Molly, a tough, smart, adopted lesbian (her mom tells her she's a "bastard") who also happens to have sex with a bunch of dudes (she thinks it's boring) throughout her life. She grows up in Pennsylvania and moves to Florida, then hitchhikes to New York City.
The writing is, at times, too simplistic, and the dialogue forced, but Molly is a funny and likable character. Brown portrays heterosexuals as perpetually unhappy, dishonest with themselve...more
The writing is, at times, too simplistic, and the dialogue forced, but Molly is a funny and likable character. Brown portrays heterosexuals as perpetually unhappy, dishonest with themselve...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Definitely an interesting historical look at some concepts (lesbianism, feminine gender roles in society). I did think it was a little heavy-handed and presumptuous at times (the fact that every woman the protagonist is interested in wants to sleep with her as well, the idea that anyone who can throw off the shackles of societal standards would prefer to be a lesbian because the sex is objectively better, etc.) Also her talent for her chosen career is portrayed in very show-don't-tell manner (...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
recommends it for:
students of GLBT history
One of the few books regarded as a "classic" of lesbian literature, Ruby Fruit Jungle bothered me. What begins as a not-too-bad lesbian coming of age story evolves into an anti-heterosexual, anti-motherhood manefesto. The plot and the writing suffer as a result, and my own disagreement with the message prevents me from enjoying the book.
I was able to find solace in regarding the book as something of a historical relac - a museum piece of sorts that illustrates well a particula...more
I was able to find solace in regarding the book as something of a historical relac - a museum piece of sorts that illustrates well a particula...more
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in January, 1992
recommended to The Cute Little Brown-haired girl by:
Kim recommends it for: anyone who likes erotica or novels about coming of age/sexual discovery
I remember how much this book opened my eyes to a whole new world of sexuality I didn't know existed. All I can say is that I thank my friend Kim for mentioning this book with an intensity in her eyes that I had never seen before. I bought it that day, I think, and read it in two days. It still sits on my shelf as a reminder of how a good book can seriously change your life. Warning: not for the sexually "sober"
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in April, 2007
it's a coming of age tale about lesbianism in a time where lesbianism was forbidden. it's also a highly feminist text.
it has hypnotic qualities. and you're either sucked in at the beginning or you're not. there's not much much of an in-between.
it has hypnotic qualities. and you're either sucked in at the beginning or you're not. there's not much much of an in-between.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in April, 2007
This book is a classic lesbian coming of age story and maybe it is my lack of lesbianism but I just don't get why. The main character is a jerk as are most of the people in her life. The book kept my attention but I was not emotionally invested.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
1 comment
maybe the worst book i've ever had the awful experience of reading. too bad this book is on such a pedestal - with all its hatred for the rest of humanity, it does not deserve it.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
recommends it for:
coming out lesbians--it's required reading
I don't remember reading this book, but I know I did. Every woman I knew who was even cosidering becoming a lesbian read this book.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
recommends it for:
young dykes, anyone
A must for anyone coming out. A primer. A staple for any lesbian bookshelf. A must read.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in August, 1993
If you're a woman just coming into her power, I recommend this book, but for everyone else, you might be above and beyond its finer points. When I read Rita Mae Brown's tome to punk rock wimmin years ago, it suited my mindset perfectly. I was an angry, under-employed young feminist who had yet to go back to school. It was the early 1990s, and bands like Bikini Kill, Hole and Slant 6 were screaming their way into the clubs and Rolling Stone Magazine. Though RFJ arrived on the scene almost a decad...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in June, 2008
Yeah, that Rita Mae Brown. I bet you didn't know she wrote steamy lesbian novels when she wasn't working on those cat mysteries. Ok, it wasn't really steamy...
Here are my notes, verbatim:
Well, at first I was just going to put this one down as one more depressing rant about a character who couldn't give a damn and who putters away life in a permanent state of depravity. I was also starting to be alarmed by the fact that there were more lesbians in the first 30 pages than I've met in my life...more
Here are my notes, verbatim:
Well, at first I was just going to put this one down as one more depressing rant about a character who couldn't give a damn and who putters away life in a permanent state of depravity. I was also starting to be alarmed by the fact that there were more lesbians in the first 30 pages than I've met in my life...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2002
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I read this book for a women's studies class in college. It was an OK class, and I didn't dislike reading the book, but was turned off by its message: namely, if you aren't a lesbian, it's only because you haven't tried it. I couldn't quite buy that. If it were true, life on Earth wouldn't last long, would it? I'm not sure if this was the author's message or just the main character's message, but either way, not true. Too militantly lesbian for me! I much, much, much prefer, and even reall...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Well. Look, I read Rubyfruit Jungle and The Well of Loneliness the same weekend during my freshman year of high school (1986). I'm not ashamed to say that I totally loved this book when I read it.
I feel some shame now (internalized homophobia?) when I think about how I then read everything else Rita Mae Brown had written --this was before she started writing about cats. Thank god for The Well of Loneliness, which at least led...more
I feel some shame now (internalized homophobia?) when I think about how I then read everything else Rita Mae Brown had written --this was before she started writing about cats. Thank god for The Well of Loneliness, which at least led...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
I devoured this book, but it left me feeling a little uneasy. I couldn't stomach the complete and total righteousness of the main character. She's almost too damn perfect to be believed. Plus, her repulsion towards role-playing in sex and transgendered and dykey lesbians made me pissed. But maybe that's more indicative of the time she was writing than anything else. After all, how visible were issues of ableism, s & m, transgenderism, or kinky / perverted sex in 1973?
I just don't bu...more
I just don't bu...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
Where do I begin? Lesbians are interesting. When people think gay, they think men. Lesbains on a whole are more acceptable than gay men because straight men love them. I've never really thought about this community very much. "Rubyfruit Jungle" is about a woman who struggles to make sense of her sexual orientation. From a child, she haboured feelings of intimacy for her playmates and never doubted that she was gay. When she moved to the city, penniless and alone, she found older women ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 1987
This was the first Rita Mae Brown book I ever read, and it impressed me so much that I have never missed another one. Don't you miss them either!
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
to-read
(on 175 people's shelves)
fiction (on 96 people's shelves)
queer (on 44 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 21 people's shelves)
glbt (on 15 people's shelves)
lgbt (on 9 people's shelves)
queer-fiction (on 9 people's shelves)
feminism (on 8 people's shelves)
novels (on 7 people's shelves)
classics (on 6 people's shelves)
More shelves...
fiction (on 96 people's shelves)
queer (on 44 people's shelves)
currently-reading (on 21 people's shelves)
glbt (on 15 people's shelves)
lgbt (on 9 people's shelves)
queer-fiction (on 9 people's shelves)
feminism (on 8 people's shelves)
novels (on 7 people's shelves)
classics (on 6 people's shelves)
More shelves...
quotes from this book
"It doesn't matter to me. We're still cousins in our own way. Blood's just something old people talk about to make you feel bad."
More quotes...
