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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 29,940 ratings · 1,188 reviews

The whooping crane rustlers are girls. Young girls. Cowgirls, as a matter of fact, all “bursting with dimples and hormones”—and the FBI has never seen anything quite like them. Yet their rebellion at the Rubber Rose Ranch is almost overshadowed by the arrival of the legendary Sissy Hankshaw, a white-trash goddess literally born to hitchhike, and the freest female of them a

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Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages

Published November 1st 1984 by Bantam (first published 1976)

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Apr 19, 2007 emily cress rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone- just to prove my point

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 A...more

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Apr 08, 2007 Helena rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: essentials

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 ba...more 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.](less)

41 likes · like · see review

Dec 01, 2009 Carrie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

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 strange...more

14 likes · like · see review

Jul 14, 2007 Robert Page rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who wants to get 100 pages in and give up in despair

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 plan...more

18 likes · like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Nathan "N.R." Gaddis rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Illiterates

Recommended to Nathan "N.R." by: Illiterates

Right. I skipped the book and went straight to the movie because of course I wasn't about to waste no time reading another *book* by Mr Robbins but I did need corroboration of my intense dislike of this nut-job and of course the film was very convincing that I need never bother thinking about reading another of Mr Robbins' books. I think I'd rather read all the sequels to Wicked or something from Hermann Hesse than another Robbins book.

5 likes · like · see review

Aug 11, 2009 A.K. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: s-e-x, slipstream-n-spec

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 men, but Robbins goes on to explain that this is literally what lesbians, lovely and sweet and cute as their affairs are, need. Boo.

17 likes · like · see review

Jul 16, 2007 Michael rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary_fiction, bullshit, comedy-parody

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.

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 19, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"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 gro...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jul 09, 2010 Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, favorites, just-like-a-woman, own, ramble-on, the-power-of-love, wild-wild-west

Oh, Tom Robbins. Tom Robbins, I would like to apologize to you. When I wrote that review of Still Life With Woodpecker, I was a little angry at you, but for reasons beyond your control.

I do still kind of take issue with Tom Robbins for all of the things I mentioned in that review - namely, he could use a good editor. But my editor leanings can stop being so stuffy and be pushed aside.

Even Cowgirls Get The Blues follows one miss Sissy Hankshaw, a woman with extraordinarily large thumbs and a pas...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 22, 2007 Christine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: To anyone who just read 5 non-fiction p the wold is ending - humans such - books in a row.

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...more

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Aug 17, 2007 Wyn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Everyone !

My all-time, absolute, favorite book ever. The 'stranded-on-a-desert-island-with-only-one-book' favorite. I can read this one over and over.

Hitch-hikers, lesbians, whooping cranes, feminine hygenine products - it has everything. And written in a lyrical manner that begs to be read out loud. (Trust me - I have done this. Parts of this book are poetry.)

I haven't given away as many copies of this as I have 'Good Omens' because I think it doesn't have as broad an appeal. I wish it did. Really - ever...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2007 Adriana rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: women one and all

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...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2008 Deez rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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...more

8 likes · like · see review

Mar 17, 2009 Robyn marked it as tried-to-read-or-listen · review of another edition

Shelves: gave-up, fiction

I think I'm supposed to like this but it just annoyed me. Good narrator though. Life's too short for annoying books. Moving on...

6 likes · like · see review

Apr 16, 2009 Holly Paluck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fun-light-books

A wonderful story of a girl with rather large thumbs which lead her on many adventures as a natural 'hitchhiker', who learns to love her unique appendages!

1 like · like · see review

Apr 14, 2013 Hortense rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Somehow I have to confess I think I would have liked this much better had it been written by a female. Even though it is hard not to react simplistically to the hormonal changes in history. I get the blues every so often and you should see the result. I'll tell you one thing, this kind of steroidal prose it isn't.

I don't respond well to all the explosions points and badly harnessed big boobs; as a cowgirl I'm a centipede, and my skin goes splotchy in the desert sun; cringing, I still have to cro...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 29, 2012 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone with even a shred of cosmic enlightenment left in 'em, man...

Recommended to Alan by: The times, which are and have always been a-changin'

From the cover painting of a naked blonde riding a whooping crane (credited to one Charles Shields), to its dedication (to "Fleetwood Star Robbins, the apple, the pineapple, the mango, the orchard of my eye"), to the explicit apology for using masculine third-person pronouns... we aren't even into the novel itself and already it's crystal clear that Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a product of The Seventies—the "What Were We Thinking?!?" decade that followed so sweatily upon The Sixties.

And, y'k...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Patrick rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's hard not to compare this disappointing plotless cult-classic with the disappointing plotless cult-classic I read last year around the same time, A Confederacy of Dunces. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was by far funnier, but it took me longer to read- I started this book in July, and had to take many sabbaticals from it since then.

This book just became too full of smug hippie bullshit after awhile. It became preachy and obnoxious, and the sleazy 70's dude feminism stuff got grody. While I stil...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Debbiegordon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am sorry to say I have to add this book to my "did not finish" list. I usually enjoy Tom Robbins, but what a horrendous book this was.
I wanted to like it...I tried very hard to like it. I've only had good experiences with Robbins in the past, so it took me awhile to realize that I really was not enjoying this book at all.
I can't even quite express why I disliked it....it had aspects of Robbins’ writing that I liked, but it just seem so exaggerated. The escape from reality? Yes, usually charm...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, glbt

I give this book 2.5 stars. I almost liked it. Certainly Robbins has some intriguing ideas, and he can turn a nice phrase once in a while. But I found his long lists tedious: if something could be said well with one phrase (or word or clause), Robbins chose instead to list all the possible phrases he could have chosen for that position in that sentence. I kept wishing I could skip over them, which, since I was listening to the audio book, I really couldn't do.

I think this book might have earne...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Marcie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 phi...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 14, 2011 Brooke Johnson rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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.......more

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Sep 14, 2010 Ben Wrobel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Some people would argue that the story is not the most important part of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", rather, the story only serves as a vehicle for the philosophy and existential musings of a young and emboldened Tom Robbins. I would argue that that that doesn't go far enough - the story actually gets in the way of Robbins' rants.

Robbins was a counterculture icon when this book was published in 1976, and his rambling odes to freedom, irrational behavior and, yes, female genitalia, stand alone...more Some people would argue that the story is not the most important part of "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", rather, the story only serves as a vehicle for the philosophy and existential musings of a young and emboldened Tom Robbins. I would argue that that that doesn't go far enough - the story actually gets in the way of Robbins' rants.

Robbins was a counterculture icon when this book was published in 1976, and his rambling odes to freedom, irrational behavior and, yes, female genitalia, stand alone as the highlight of this book. What holds it back is that Robbins tries to transform his metaphors and symbols into flesh-and-blood character - so that the idea of the thumb as a symbol of human movement and freedom (other animals lack its "flexibility") gets personified in the main character, Sissy Hankshaw, who literally has enormous thumbs and uses them to hitchhike. Or the free-thinking cowgirls who represent free spirits, feminist thought and a living-off-the-earth cerebral lifestyle, but come off as stock characters who alternately speak and act like B-movie cowboys or Robbins-school intellectuals.

The plot that Robbins creates for these characters suffers from poor pacing and silly plot twists, so it was no surprise to learn that the film adaptation flopped when it only managed to convey the narrative and not the deeper philosophy. However, I suppose a certain amount of plot is necessary so that the reader has a reason to continue (I never finished "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" for this reason) and Robbins at least seems fully aware of the narrative's easy convenience, often making meta comments in the book's last few chapters.

Still, Robbins excels when writing in the abstract, and many of his thoughts are lasting. Humans are too dependent on time and place, he writes, and we must look at our history and realize the absurdity of what we consider our goals. Poetry and "magic" should be our guiding forces (when he says it, it somehow makes sense). However, the book does not pretend to be a self-help guide, or to contain all the answers. The most eye-opening revelation, for me at least, was that a single mentor, shaman or religion cannot teach you how to be happy or give you all the answers. By very definition, those answers can only be found by looking inside yourself. Tom Robbins may not be willing to give us the answers, but he provides us a new way of thinking about them.(less)

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Jul 03, 2010 Bryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

two freakishly large thumbs up: A young lady with fantastically large thumbs. An all female ranch. Roundabout routes to self-descovery, hitchiking and whooping cranes. The troublesome part about reading "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" is twofold. The first is that you cannot put it down. The second is, having subjected yourself to such a large dose of Robbins trippy, meandering style, you begin to think like him. Worse, you begin to talk the way he writes. One moment, you're having a perfectly luc...more

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Jan 20, 2010 Jennifer Brearly rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a book that travels well. It moves from rural Nowhere to New York City to the wide open spaces of the Dakotas. It has the gemmy shine of a South American diamond, the sweetness of a Georgia peach, and the sauciness of a Louisiana chef. Robbins has written many fantastic books, some better than others. This is absolutely one of the best. What sets "Cowgirls" apart--though some will not agree with me--is its irreverent delight in the human being.

The key humans in this case are Sissy Hanksh...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Carlyfaye rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There's a lot to say about Tom Robbins. I have only read a few of his novels but I can already tell you: Yes, he does like similes. Yes, to an excessive degree. But to me, these are the gems to pick out when reading one of his stories. They are the parts I enjoy most even if it means digging through a few of them first. His arrogance is something almost amusing, but I have definitely had my fair amount of eye-rolls. Sometimes it feels like he projects himself in ways to test if one is actually s...more There's a lot to say about Tom Robbins. I have only read a few of his novels but I can already tell you: Yes, he does like similes. Yes, to an excessive degree. But to me, these are the gems to pick out when reading one of his stories. They are the parts I enjoy most even if it means digging through a few of them first. His arrogance is something almost amusing, but I have definitely had my fair amount of eye-rolls. Sometimes it feels like he projects himself in ways to test if one is actually smart enough to understand his wit. To some, he comes across as bombastic at times due to his "intellectual" choice in vocabulary. But hey, an author has the right to use whatever word he wants, and due to his focus on pushing societal restraints, I wouldn't be surprised if he does this intentionally to shake up the reader's own vocabulary comfort. I mean, the word does exist, it might as well be used once in awhile. One thing is for certain, you can always tell when you're reading a Tom Robbins book.

I like this story mainly for personal reasons towards connecting with the main character, Sissy. Overcoming social discomfort and prejudice due to outward appearance is something noticeable to a great degree. The plot itself isn't something that was profound, but the quirky characters are lovable, and how he connects things through religious facts, philosophies, and criticisms of modern day society while including dashes of humor to examine the characters' predicaments is interesting, and also engaged my own thinker-- though these "philosophical messages" do seem to get a bit redundant when taking his other books into account. Also, this book did attempt to focus on female empowerment, but was lacking real strength in my opinion.

I've noticed he's gotten quite the rap for overtly misogynistic sexual undertones. Which to a degree, is true. His sexual explicitness could also, at times, ride the line of vulgarity for some folk. I guess I'm simply not the type of person to experience excessive anger towards the more shallow natures of a human being through a fictional book. Some readers, however, may understandably be put off by his reoccurring focus on sex in his novels, but Tom Robbins also focuses on the positivity of love almost just as heavily.

All in all, I like Tom Robbins' colorful writing style, and would suggest this book if you're not familiar with it for it is both an easy and entertaining read.
(less)

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Nov 01, 2009 Ringthebells rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 20, 2009 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, new-classics

Tom Robbins is a master of confounding readers and turning preconceived plots and societal notions on their heads. The value his narrators place on inanimate objects or personal philosophies usually win out over whatever cultural baggage readers bring to his work; probably that is because Robbins is so utterly charming in speaking to a need for more interesting, more vibrant lifestyles and self-definition.

Self-referential, he is. Indulgent of personal fantasies as filtered through his characters...more

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Feb 26, 2009 Shelley added it · review of another edition

I 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 ab...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Facing an imminent battle with federal police, the cowgirls didn’t hesitate to party, because, well, Sissy Hankshaw Gitche had returned and a party was only proper.
"Ain’t that just like women," growled the ghost of General Custer, peering through the grass.
Yes, oh yes yes yes sweet yes.
Ain’t that just like women, indeed. "

A really great book, it was rather difficult to get into, but the last two thirds were a wonder. A fantastically poetic use of words – without getting in the way of story te...more

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About Tom Robbins

Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1936 in Blowing Rock, North Carolina) is an American author. His novels are complex, often wild stories with strong social undercurrents, a satirical bent, and obscure details. His novel Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1976) was made into a movie in 1993 directed by Gus Van Sant.

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“There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for.” — 540 people liked it

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