Even Cowgirls Get the Blues [Paperback]

Tom Robbins (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 1990

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 all.

Freedom, its prizes and its prices, is a major theme of Tom Robbins’s classic tale of eccentric adventure. As his robust characters attempt to turn the tables on fate, the reader is drawn along on a tragicomic joyride across the badlands of sexuality, wild rivers of language, and the frontiers of the mind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is  one of those special novels--a piece of working  magic, warm, funny, and san--that you just want to  ride off into the sunset with."–Thomas  Pynchon

"The best fiction, so far,  to come out of the American  counterculture."—Chicago Tribune Book World

“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues comes as a magical gift, a brilliant affirmation of private visions and private wishes and their power to transform life and death.” —The Nation

From the Back Cover

"This is one of those special novels--a piece of working magic, warm, funny, and san--that you just want to ride off into the sunset with."--Thomas Pynchon

"The best fiction, so far, to come out of the American counterculture."--Chicago Tribune Book World

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Later Printing edition (April 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055334949X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553349498
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.2 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (112 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't leave this book the same December 3, 1998

By [e-mail]

Format:Paperback

This book isn't for everyone, but anyone who likes a playful author who knows how to write wonderfully and can keep an open mind about life and living... should love this book. Either way you won't put it down being the same. My girlfriend began to read this book and instantly she was hooked. Everyday she would quote to me from it, talk about theories and ideas Robbins brings up that ARE genuine through his humourous and whimsical charachters and plot. They're unrealistic, yes... but that's what makes this delightful genious as opposed to dry theory. I bought this book to try to keep up to the new doors it was opening in my girlfriend's mind and it has just never been the same. His insights on life, religion, truth, time, and perhaps simply BEING ALIVE... are beautifully introduced and made to be entertaining and powerful. Don't get hung up on the sex scenes or the lesbian issues. It's not a porno and it's not about being a lesbian. Read this book with an open and QUESTIONING mind and laugh at the silly people in it and the things they do as the masterful theories explode like fireworks on the page. Anyone who gave this book 1 star simply didn't understand it, and maybe it wasn't for them. But if you let these ideas touch you and learn to question them... you won't just put it down and go pet your cat. You'll want to go make love to the horizon. It's beautiful stuff.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent October 21, 2000

By "taliesun"

Format:Paperback

Simply put, reading Even Cow Girls Get the Blues is fun. Robbin's prose are not only easy to read but a pleasure. While this book has a deeper meaning than the story, and provides many ideas worthy of philosophical reflection, it also provides a comical story that makes the book a pleasant escape from the world. Robbin's humor is undeniable, and created through his masterful use of the language as well as the plot of the novel. While the novel becomes tedious in places, Robbins sometimes discusses his philosophical ideas point blank - directly to the reader - instead of revealing them implicity through the developement of his novel, such digressions are infrequent and rarely last for more than a page. And of course, the idea of Sissy, a maestro in the world of hitchkicking, is so unique and original that it provides a freshness that is both captivating and invigorating. If for no other reason, you should read this book for Sissy's monologues of her experience, and expertise, when it comes to hitch hikking.

30 of 37 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Maybe it's just me... August 25, 2004

By Amanda Richards HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Maybe it's just the order I'm reading the books, but after "Still Life With Woodpecker" and "Jitterbug Perfume", this one came up a bit short.

Maybe he just got better with age, like fine wine and aged cheese.

Maybe I just haven't read enough of Tom Robbins' books, and so haven't acquired a complete appreciation for the clever wordplay, but this one seems to be far too wordy at the expense of content and story. There are at least two chapters that unapologetically say absolutely nothing, and do not advance the story in any way.

Maybe I was just too impatient to get to the "meat" of the story, and got frustrated with the rambling.

As I said, maybe it's just me.

The characters are very Tom Robbins, especially Sissy Hanshaw, the super-sized digited ugly duckling who grew up to be a hitchhiker, model and cowgirl, the delightfully named Bonanza Jellybean, ranch boss and all cowgirl, the hygienically challenged Countess with castanets for teeth, Delores del Ruby, whip maestro and forewoman, and the Chink, pecker waving yam lover.

Parts of the story are very similar to "Jitterbug Perfume", especially if you consider the Chink as an oriental Pan, all musky and ready to rut, and compare the Clockworks tribe to the Bandaloop, both of whom possess the wisdom of the ages and are more finely attuned to nature than the rest of us.

Readers of "Still Life" will note that "O O Spaghetti O" makes about as much sense as "Ha ha ho ho and hee hee"

There's a wonderful storyline here, with our thumb-tied heroine struggling to find herself, the all cowgirl ranch, and the interrupted migration of the protected whooping cranes, but alas, it was hidden amongst the rambling passages, and I almost couldn't see the story for the words.

In my opinion, not a good beginner's guide to Tom Robbins - there are better - but still a clever concept teeming with physical and spiritual love, nature and magic, cultural differences, freedom, overcoming handicaps and of course, hitchhiking. It's a three thumbs up, but could have been a five.

Ha ha ho ho and hee hee

Amanda Richards, edited August 30, 2004