Rubyfruit Jungle

Rating:
Summary: It is an interisting book, but a little bit to discriptive.
Review: This is a story about a girl named Molly as she goes through life doing things her own way. She is bold and gay! She finds how people are predjudice about anybody diffrent! I say hurrah for her!!! It's her life and people shouldn't butt in if they don't like it. At least she is honest about it! I bet nobody can find five people half as honest as her!!! Could've gone a little easy on the discription though!

Rating:
Summary: Must-read !!!!!!
Review: Rubyfruit Jungle is one helluva-romp through the bad times and the good. i really like the scenes where Molly gets hot with her gym teacher and cried when she shared the pain of those awkward steps out of thecloset that opporesses all wimmin who Dare to come out of the closet. I really reccommend this book for all lesbians, young or old.

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Summary: Not just for lesbians!
Review: I am an avid reader and this is one of my all-time favorite books. I laughed and cried and thought about the book long after reading it. Very enjoyable for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: a must read for all women coming out!
Review: This book is a MUST READ for all women coming out as lesbians, young or old. Rita Mae Brown's other books are not as enlightening or entertaining to me, but Rubyfruit was a gift from my first girlfriend and i've passed it around to other friends coming out who really needed to read it. It's helped a ton of us become more comfortable with who we are and connect us to a greater history.

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Summary: I laughed and cryed aloud..making my mom wonder about me!
Review: I loved this book! I actually was talking to it on one or two occasions! There is so much spit and life in Molly, and she had much to teach me. The only thing that set back my rating for it was the "tomorrow is another day" ending. I would rather have seen her physically triumph over everyone, but emotional triumph is the next best thing, maybe even a better thing. Overall a beautifully crafted tale, and an adventure and a half for readers

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading for lesbians and all other humans
Review: This book has wit spilling from every page. I laughed as much as I cried and I invite anyone and everyone to share in this treasure. The young heroine possesses a determination that is seldom seen and often repressed. You will root for her as she makes her way through all kinds of crazy situations. Rita Mae Brown gives me, as a lesbian, a character that I can identify with. Moreover, she is a character that I am happy to identify with.

Rating:
Summary: Molly Bolt -- a hero for the ages
Review: I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to get to this book. When I was home over the holidays I went through my closet of books and found this novel, which I'd bought years ago. I started reading it and within an hour, I was completely hooked. Molly is so independent and smart, and Brown's writing keeps the story light even during some of the darker moments.

I would love to see whatever became of Molly (whom I suspect was at least partly informed by Brown's own life), but until a sequel appears, I am glad to have known Molly Bolt for the brief time we had together.

Rating:
Summary: I *Heart* Molly Bolt
Review: I am going to be honest, Molly Bolt is probably my favorite character, right after Lestat De Lioncourt of "The Vampire Chronicles" fame. I liked her personality, her resiliance, her strength and her determination. I have to disagree with a lot of reviews; I don't think she's cruel. I think it's more about she has a point to prove. I love her frankness and her audacity. She is definately an original character in literature.

The novel itself was very well written. I liked that it was stripped and clipped, without any fancy prose. It made it feel more from the heart. It was very realistic and it made me feel as if I was right there with Molly and experiencing what she experienced. I have to admit that it had a couple of scenes that were a little hard to believe, namly that scene about the man who loved to have grapefruit (or rubyfruit) thrown at him. It was a definate "What the h*ll" moment.

But overall, a must read.

Rating:
Summary: A book to remind you why you keep going
Review: First off, I'd like to say that LESBIANS NEED HEROES like Molly Bolt. This book reminded me of the strength that I carry inside of me to do any damned thing I please. If only more books were like this. Any young woman looking for support to go her own way and stand up for herself should definitely look into Rita Mae Brown.
I also enjoyed the way that the author takes as stab at the lebian stereotypes that women apply to themselves. She says, in no uncertain terms, that her protagonist loves women for being women, not for pretending to be men or putting on a facade.
Several have said that Molly's character was "two-dimensional" or "not very realistic". She's intended to be a figure that inspires bravery and confidence. In doing so, I think that she's allowed to be maybe a little greater than normal people. However, I didn't really find much in the book to think that she was fakey anyway. She doesn't "seduce any woman who looks her way" regardless of orientation or background. The cheerleader had alread slept with a girl; the "Jack Daniels swilling heiress" was going to gay bars before they even met. The older woman was the only person in the book that took some convincing, and the part about her daughter was not actually as some people who reviewed here portrayed it. The lady already had a lot of weird sexual hang-ups, and her supposed desire to sleep with her daughter (which the teenage girl only assumes is happening without any supporting evidence anyway) is there to further illustrate the insanity of the older woman.
It has also been mentioned that Molly plays immature pranks on her enemies. She's a child when she does the rabbit-droppings prank, and then explicitly states how bad she felt afterwards. Besides, so many women are afraid to do something that others may see as "crass". Molly's behavior demonstrates her lack of fear for what society thinks of her.
Furthermore, the supposed "graphic" nature of this book is massively overrated. There are very few scenes that could even be considered "sexually explicit", and they are brief and not very descriptive.


Rating:
Summary: shallow
Review: I am writing this review quite aware that it will earn plenty of knee-jerk "not helpful" votes, as I don't like the book. Hopefully you'll give it a read anyway...

Molly Bolt is one of my least favorite characters in fiction. She is shallow, egotistical, and at times even vicious. Some call this "bravery" and "boldness". I disagree. (I think characters that are truly bold are Huck Finn and Scout, with which Molly has been mistakenly compared.)

I find it fascinating and inaccurate that the book has been called a feminist classic. It is certainly lesbian, but I would not call it lesbian-feminist. Molly is harshly critical of most women in the novel, even more so than men. (Never seems to prevent her from sleeping with them, though!) Brown characterizes female characters by appearance and attractiveness in a way only matched by some of the most sexist of male American novelists. Molly is quick to judge others as "ugly" and see women only in sexual terms (i.e., those she would want to sleep with and those she wouldn't.) At times the book reads like a list of sexual conquests.

Some of the passages in the novel that could have been most insightful and thought-provoking are marred by mean-spiritedness and shallowness. One example is when Molly comes in contact with other out lesbians. Rather than creating an intelligent criticism of the stereotypes within the lesbian community and the concepts of butch and femme, Brown has Molly react with a sort of repulsion that were she a heterosexual character, would come off as homophobia.

I also wonder whether the book really *is* a story of hardship at all. Molly seems universally beloved by everyone, even when she has treated them badly. She never actually seems to care about anyone but herself, and, as she makes her own luck, looks down on those who are unfortunate. She has a vindictive streak that I found incredibly off-putting. I agree very much with the reviewer who found her unnecessarily cruel. (Brown's memoir seems to suffer from the same qualities.)

It isn't that I don't want a book about a lesbian woman who succeeds on her own terms and is happy; it's just that I feel Molly succeeds by stepping on and using others. I gave the book two stars because it was revolutionary when it was written, and it is well-written. I just found Molly's values, implicitly endorsed by Brown, repugnant.

I'd recommend Audre Lorde, who seems almost as far off on the lesbian-feminist continuum from Rita Mae Brown as you can get.