Rubyfruit Jungle
by Rita Mae Brown
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 1548)
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 me ...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 me ...more
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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
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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
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OK- here's the thing- this book gets 4 stars mostly because of how I remember it. When I figured out I was gay, I looked up "lesbian" in the card catalog. This book was listed, but the library copy was "lost". Mmmhmm. So, the next time I traveled to the big city near my hometown I bought this along with Tiger Beat or some shit. Yes, of course I still love you Jason Priestley, but I love the ladies too!
It isn't a great book, but it is a classic for what it is, a novel a...more
It isn't a great book, but it is a classic for what it is, a novel a...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
people who like to read about people who are different
so, i think this book must have been a real show stopper in the late 70s when it came out, but reading it now, it has sort of a hackneyed theme. and i found it annoying that the protagonist always knew EXACTLY the thing to say to make herself less mainstream and more 'alternative' but RIGHT in every way - it was sort of corny after awhile.
I also think, if you've read "Fingersmith" or "Tipping the Velvet" by sara waters, after reading this book you have to wonder where th...more
I also think, if you've read "Fingersmith" or "Tipping the Velvet" by sara waters, after reading this book you have to wonder where th...more
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Read in October, 2007
Lesbian coming-of-age story with all the class of South Park and none of the, er, "wit". I need to go shower to scrub this book off of me.
It is my understanding that the author went on to write several books in collaboration with a cat. One can only hope the cat possessed enough literary ability to compensate for the human's shortcomings. In fact, I suspect that what happened is that someone read this book and told Ms. Brown, "a freaking cat could write better than this!"...more
It is my understanding that the author went on to write several books in collaboration with a cat. One can only hope the cat possessed enough literary ability to compensate for the human's shortcomings. In fact, I suspect that what happened is that someone read this book and told Ms. Brown, "a freaking cat could write better than this!"...more
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Read in March, 2005
I took this class in grad school as an elective. It was Reading Second Wave Feminism. Of the four novels, this one was actually onr of the less painful to read, with Sula by Toni Morrison coming in first. I was painfully out of place in that class, while not being a staunch feminist and a moderate on most political topics--and really the books didn't help much because of the subject matter. Even though this was the least painful to read, the female protagonist is a lesbian growing up in the ...more
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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"
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2005
I think this was the first book I ever read where the main character is a lesbian.Hooray. However the character is so anti-heterosexaul and anti-family that it was hard to like her. I appreciate queer culture's struggle for recognition and acceptance in a heterocentric (is that a word?) world, but going to the other extreme isn't any better. The main character can never fail, she gets who she wants when she wants it, she can't fail. It's annoying quite honestly. But other than that it's worth a ...more
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this is the worst book i've ever read. it's not that i can't handle the homo thing, i think i was in my theoretical queer phase when i read it in fact, it's just the way that everyone is gay or they have a problem and are lying to themselves, that and that it's terribly written. i just thought i'd mention since it seems like something people might make the mistake of trying to read. pick the next one on the gay book shelf and maybe watch slumber party massacre (also written by this author).
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Catherine by:
Friends
So many people that I know (and whose literary opinions I [used to] trust) have raved and raved about this book, insisting that I must read it.
I was seriously let down.
The narrative lacked continuity -- Brown simply jumped from event to event and it lacked climax and resolution.
Honestly, it's a shame that this is considered to be THE book that every lesbian MUST read!
I hope The Well of Loneliness treats me better.
I was seriously let down.
The narrative lacked continuity -- Brown simply jumped from event to event and it lacked climax and resolution.
Honestly, it's a shame that this is considered to be THE book that every lesbian MUST read!
I hope The Well of Loneliness treats me better.
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Read in December, 1999
recommends it for:
10 year old queers
before i read this book, i thought gay people had a disease which made them laugh so hard they died. (no really -- some confusion both of connotation and definition.) fortunately, a few hidden rendezvous with molly bolt (truly my alter ego) sorted that out and now i can't think of fifth grade or sex without a picture of that purple flower on the cover floating through my mind.
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone!!
Sure, everyone knows that this classic is, uh, a classic by now, but really...it's great!
For some reason I kept avoiding reading it, but now I don't regret one second!
The main character is strong-willed like an ox, so awesome.
Such a good, butch, lesbo role model for the kids...right after Huckleberry Finn!
Love to love this book, & it's a wicked fast read too.
For some reason I kept avoiding reading it, but now I don't regret one second!
The main character is strong-willed like an ox, so awesome.
Such a good, butch, lesbo role model for the kids...right after Huckleberry Finn!
Love to love this book, & it's a wicked fast read too.
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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.
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Such a funny book. I had to read it for a gender and sex lit class and it fit really perfectly. I'd suggest this to people just in general though. The only thing is that you really need to be comfy with the topic of lesbianism. The main character is awesome though, she is so funny and Brown really brings you into the story through her.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.64 (1345 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.65 (955 ratings) number of reviews: 133popular shelves
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"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."
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