Rating: 
Summary: More wild fun with Rita!
Review: 'Alma Mater' is a return to the wild fun of 'Rubyfruit Jungle' and 'Venus Envy,' with an extra dose of quirky characters worthy of 'Southern Discomfort.' The dialogue is often thin filler, but the story is engaging enough for a 'beach book'-worthy read. (Perhaps our southern hemisphere readers can take advantage of this this November!) The ending few pages lock all the loose ends together in a tight weave, perhaps a little too tidily, but what REALLY redeems 'Alma Mater' is some of the hottest sex scenes Rita Mae Brown has ever written. Truly erotic. Thank you Rita! Welcome back!
Rating: 
Summary: "Alma Mater" Doesn't Quite Make the Grade
Review: Author Rita Mae Brown can always write a good story with a very colorful cast of chatracters. I must admit that I am a fan. However, this book is nothing more than a 260 page coming-out-novel. It reads like a screenplay for a Lifetime movie. (I must admit though that Ms. Brown can write a very hot [intimate] scene, better than any gay male writer I've ever read). I thought the Wallace characters were a weak, comic reflief device that I could have done without. Also this story doesn't seem to read true with its lesbian content given that time period that the story takes place. In the book, the story takes place in the 1980's but reads with a late 1990's gay acceptability that I found hard to believe, again given the time period and the setting (Virginia). As for the story, there is a "surprise twist" with Chris, that is interesting but a little too late for me. The Epilogue ties things up "too neatly" and is also unbelievable. I was really surprised that Vic ins't dating a guy again by the end of the book. I really didn't like Vic as a character. I never got a true sense from Vic when she starts to identify herself as lesbian. It is a little too "overnight," there is no build to the fact that she like women...
Rating: 
Summary: Rita Mae is back!
Review: Finally, Rita Mae Brown writes a book that is close to her old style; that of Six of One, Southern Discomfort, In Her Day, etc. Finally, a central character who is controversial (to an extent), is a lesbian, and is willing to risk a lot of what she was taught was "right" in order to be true to her own heart. I was getting very tired of the old traditional married or divorced woman who took her husband's name! I did think that Ms. Brown went overboard with the Virginia values and manners bit (I found myself eternally grateful that I was born and raised in California, where parents do not expect their children to wait on them like servants and most people could care less about your ancestors and bloodlines) and I was surprised and impatient with the boring and repetitive statements about choosing to have children ... I would like to see strong and beautiful women characters who choose not to breed and are proud of their choice and do not have regrets ... but then I should go write a book of my own, shouldn't I? Some disappointments but overall, this was a great book in inimitable Rita Mae Brown style.
Rating: 
Summary: Rita, I want a refund!
Review: For years, one of my pleasures has been reading books by Rita Mae Brown. However, I am quite bothered by the laziness that has marked her more recent books, the lack of self-editing, and the lapsing into formula. "Alma Mater" is a particularly dreadful example of the latter.... When I compare any of Rita's recent books to "Rubyfruit Jungle" especially, but even to "Six of One" and its sequels, I just cringe. She definitely knows better, but hasn't had to push herself given that we, her loyal readers, have been snapping up even mediocre stuff from her because we know we will find at least a few lines that amuse us in each work. From now on, I'm reading reviews before I give Rita any more money, and I advise everyone else to do the same--let this be some tough love to coax better work out of a good writer who should not cheat her fans.
Not only is "Alma Mater" poorly designed and populated with weak characters, but the lack of research is readily apparent to me, who attended William and Mary at the same time as the characters in the book. Although this fine institution is located in southern Virginia, it is not some backward, Dixie university, for the vast majority of the students come from suburbs of Washington, D.C., or New York City, and most of the faculty members hold degrees from Ivy League schools. Rita would have you believe that feminism was some foreign concept at W&M in 1980, but that is ludicrous. All of the women I knew there were smart, ambitious, and intent on having careers. Also, W&M has a history of having its statues decorated humorously, especially that of Lord Botetourt, so the harmless prank Vic gets involved in at the local Catholic church would not have led to her expulsion... If anything, the school certainly has more conservative students now than it had in my day. So, Rita, you really got it wrong! Next time, honey, do your homework as well as the W&M students do theirs!
Rating:
Summary: Certainly not one of her best, but a nice diversion
Review: I agree with the reviewer who referred to this novel as a 260-page coming-out novel. I also agree that it reads more like late 1990's lesbian relationship than 1980. For a more accurate picture of lesbian relationships and coming out in the early 80's, read Annie on My Mind, written during that time. Once you've read that novel, you will realize just how utopian and false this novel reads (for the time in which it is supposed to be set). I found it easier to get into the novel by just switching the time in my head. Brown does write an incredibly steamy sex scene or two, and the characters exude that Southern charm Brown writes so well. This novel does not rank among her best but was enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Certainly not one of her best, but a nice diversion
Review: I agree with the reviewer who referred to this novel as a 260-page coming-out novel. I also agree that it reads more like late 1990's lesbian relationship than 1980. For a more accurate picture of lesbian relationships and coming out in the early 80's, read Annie on My Mind, written during that time. Once you've read that novel, you will realize just how utopian and false this novel reads (for the time in which it is supposed to be set). I found it easier to get into the novel by just switching the time in my head. Brown does write an incredibly steamy sex scene or two, and the characters exude that Southern charm Brown writes so well. This novel does not rank among her best but was enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Once Upon A Time . . . But No More
Review: I confess. Once upon a time I was a great fan of Rita Mae Brown. Unfortunately, "Alma Mater" provides indisputable proof that her talent is diminishing at an alarming rate. This story of a young woman's coming to terms with her sexuality is inexplicably set in 1980. There is no reference to the culture or politics of the time (do Ronald Reagan & Anita Bryant ring a bell?). The only apparent reason for the trip back in time is so that the characters can indulge in unprotected sex. And even those pedestrian sex scenes can't spice up this tripe. The book follows the life of college senior Victoria Savedge and her family, friends and neighbors, good Southerners all. Ms. Brown has a tendency to create flat characters who are all flawlessly beautiful, who say and do the right thing. She doesn't seem to know the difference between dialog and diatribe. The book is full of lengthy speeches and ruminations on the nature of love, loyalty, fate, etc. Victoria must choose between the expectations of her parent & society or following her own heart (and other parts of her anatomy). This is ground that Ms. Brown has covered previously, and it's not clear why she feels the need to repeat herself. If Ms. Brown spent as much time plotting her novel as she does describing the Virginia sky, this would probably be a different book altogether. As it is, one finds it difficult to care about the characters, especially when their actions and reactions are so unrealistic as to border on ridiculous. Overall, this book feels like a first draft that was never corrected -- an oversimplified plot, cardboard characters, and a rushed and unsatisfactory ending. A story with a lot of potential that follows the most predictable, and sometimes ludicrous, path. So don't waste your time. Read some of Rita Mae's work prior to 1987 if you want to find out what a great writer she used to be.
Rating:
Summary: Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen
Review: I confess. Once upon a time I was a tremendous fan of Rita Mae's. But with each successive novel, I have lost faith and interest. "Alma Mater" is the latest in a long line of boring tripe of recent years. Set inexplicably in the year 1980 (the only apparent reason involving an unnecessary plot point related to unprotected sex), Ms. Brown makes no reference to the culture or politics of the time, let alone what it was like to be gay during that decade (do the names Ronald Regan & Anita Bryant ring a bell?). If Ms. Brown spent as much time plotting her novel as she does describing the skies of Virginia, this might be a different book altogether. As it is, the characters are flat & predictable (her books are never populated by unattractive people); their motivations and reactions are unrealistic and uninspired. Even the dialog, which usually sparkles, comes off stiff and contrived. The final outcome is rushed and unsatisfactory. Don't waste your time. If you want to find out what a great writer Ms. Brown used to be (before she started churning out a novel every 2 years to pay for her expensive farm in Virginia), check out her work prior to 1987. It's been downhill from there.
Rating:
Summary: Ugh. Save your money and time for something better.
Review: I for some reason wanted to read a particular Rita Mae Brown book (this wasn't it) but forgot which one when I went to the library. So I chose this one off the shelf because I went to the College of William and Mary, a prestigious university. I wish she'd just made up some school, because it embarrasses me that she's supposed to be writing about my alma mater. She has no idea what she's talking about and is way off on a lot of the details, terminology, and layout, which just bugged the heck out of me. Now those of you unfamiliar with W&M may say, "So what?" and not care, but this just shows you that the author did not do her research and thus you have to wonder about the research, thought, and effort that went into the rest of this book and her other books. If you're going to pick a real university as your backdrop, get the details right!A student with a clean record would not be expelled for dressing up a statue with no permanent damage, even if the statue were a religious one off campus, as it is in this book. On W&M's campus, Thomas Jefferson gets a party hat and balloons every year on his birthday, and a pumpkin on his head for Halloween. I don't think her depiction of life and attitudes in that part of Virginia is at all accurate, even for 1980, which is when the story takes place. And I seriously doubt there are several new car dealerships in Surry County (if any). The little details can make all the difference, and when they're inaccurate, the entire work suffers. The characters are not fully developed and I didn't care about a single one of them. The writing was poor and the story fairly predictable. I found myself skipping over large parts of text and skimming a lot. The epilogue crams the resolutions of the characters' lives into a hastily written five pages. Reading this was a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: halarious grown up book
Review: I got this book thinking mystery, wrong. It is however a truely funny book. I even read some of it aloud to my husband, he loved it, too.
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