Rubyfruit Jungle

Rating:
Summary: Still A Classic
Review: Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle was a revelation at the time and is still a wonderful and readable lesbian coming out story. The strength of this book will always be in the strong, funny, honest, Southern lead character, Molly Bolt. She is the type of character that will anchor the future books of Rita Mae Brown. Rubyfruit Jungle does not have the richly drawn supporting characters of the even better Sudden Death and Southern Discomfort or the self assured writing that developed but in this fine first novel are all the beginnings of a dazzling writer who takes the read from silly to touching in the warm breath of a paragraph. This still should be anyone's first choice to learn as a teenager that being different is not only OK, it is preferred.

Rating:
Summary: Fun book to read, but lack of strong ending
Review: This book was pretty good. I couldn't put it down after I read first few chapters. Molly's courage and struggle through her tough life simply melt my heart. It was quite inspiring. However, I didn't rate this book 5 stars because I thought the ending was pretty dull. Also I didn't like the idea of Molly's sleeping with her lover's daughter. That's sick! This is a brilliant book if only the ending wasn't so dull. It could have been so much better. Overall, it's a fun book to read.

Rating:
Summary: The unsinkable Molly Bolt... What an inspiration
Review: I began reading this landmark book not knowing what to expect. Who I discovered was Molly Bolt who followed no rules and simply lived her life. She had the courage or audacity to say what would only run through my brain. I wonder where we would all be if we could simply do the same. Perhaps not the in your face shocker it was when first published this book has not lost any of it's charm. Not only do I admire the adoption story line (as I am adopted also) but also the transitions of coming out. Even though now lesbian characters are seen on almost every tv series... mis-nomers and prejudice still haunt us. I believe Rita Mae Brown wrote a timeless classic with Rubyfruit Jungle and gave lesbian literature its own hero.

Rating:
Summary: Provocative
Review: I thought that this book was provocative. It was well written. I would highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I have just finished reading this book and it was the best book I've read in ages. For someone who is unsure of their sexuality, it clarified a few things for me. The simple, but descriptive syntax was what made this book, as did the open-ended ending. Molly character was so inspiring, it made me want to take on the whole world and everything that is wrong with it. For anyone who said this book was dated was wrong, even in the year 2000, homophobic attitudes still prevail and it is books like this which can make people more open-minded. Recommended to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: A marvellous coming-of-age story.
Review: I don't normally care all that much for coming-of-age stories, nor for overly realistic books set in the backwater south (ie, Faulkner, Steinbeck). But this is a very character-driven novel, and while there is only one interesting character in it (the heroine, Molly Bolt), she is more than interesting enough to grab and hold the imagination. Sort of a cross between Holden Caulfield and Randle Patrick McMurphy, only as a lesbian.

Yes, some of the scenes in the second half of the book, after she moves to New York City for college, are somewhat cartoonish and caricatured; still, it was impossible to give any book that gives us Molly Bolt less than five stars. And since I assume that the book is at least somewhat autobiographical, and since Ms. Brown has had a very successful writing career, I'm glad to see that "Molly" did, indeed, get to "make her movies."

Rating:
Summary: such a sick book
Review: sick is a light word to describe this book. Some things I don't wanna know. The details are NOT necessary. Definitely not a book for a light stomach. It's not just lesbians...she seems to go both ways for awhile, then gets bored with men, explores with older women, obsesses over a woman her own age who ends up getting married, and in the end, it's an altogether depressing book. Whether this is the outcome of all homosexuals, or a dramatic complaint of one woman who kept on and never gave up, i don't know. However, pick Joan of Arc or Hellen Keller if you want a real story of perseverance.

Rating:
Summary: funny but not deep enough
Review: i read it in just one night, burning out in laughters quite many times so that my sister caame in asked if i am alright... exactly one of the most comic book i've ever read but , but laughing doesnt count so much...it's not deep enough to make you see the bitterness of the thing or be affected... a book which you can read very easily but without getting into the subject very much, for enjoying your time....

Rating:
Summary: Not Just for Lesbians
Review: I am not a lesbian; I loved this book. It's a story of survival and struggle, the heroine just happens to be a lesbian too. The prose is simple. No doubt there were times when I would have liked Ms. Brown to delve a little more deeply about the concepts and values she is trying to explore. On the other hands prose like this leaves the reader free to think what she/he wants to without being limited by the author. This book is a classic. A lot better than much of the pseudo stuff that passes for literature these days. After all big words and boring passages do not literature or granduer make. Thank you Ms. Brown for writing Rubyfruit Jungle.

Rating:
Summary: Simple words for simple wording
Review: I have been reading all of the customer reviews, and it seems that they have been missing the whole point of this book. By no means is this a "lesbian" book, or a book that completely focuses on dealing with "coming out". Nor should this book be read exclusively by lesbians. It's a book that simply follows a unique, strong young woman from when she was a kid to when she grows up into her 20's. Futhermore, the simple style is the essence of the book; more complicated wording would not embody the character of Molly nearly as well. The point is that Molly, who is sassy and a shamelessly cut-and-dry lesbian, does not think that things should be overanalyzed and obsessed over. She sees everything as obvious and blatant. Hence the simple language. It is an unapologetic, extremely funny book, and it is hard to put it down. It pulls you in from the beginning and continues to stay exciting throughout this girl's tumultuous life. In some ways she grows, but in others she never does compromise her gutsy, fiery self. I loved it.