Rubyfruit Jungle

by: Rita Mae Brown

Libby audiobook 6 hours

Read by: Anna Paquin

Published: 1973 (this version in 2022)

Genre: realistic fiction

I did not like this book, but I listened to the entire thing. (I drove from home to Green Bay, WI, and from there to the lake.) The intro alone made me question the content. I had originally checked it out based upon a recommendation from a friend (though she was telling me to read the Sneaky Pie Brown series . . . by this same author).

 

Molly was born in 1944(?) so the story starts with her childhood in the early 50s.

Some quick car notes:

• Part One:
• edgy . . . language (swearing and crudity)
• Molly and Brockle . . . Detweiler - showing his uncircumcized penis for 5 cents per view (as elementary school children
• "mom" Carrie is nasty
• cousin Leroy, tattler Earl, Molly is MEAN but Carrie is worse!
• trivializing marriage, Christian faith, . . 
  
• sixth grade, 11 y.o. Molly and Liota exploring one another sensually 
• Part Two:
• move to Florida
• "queer"
• "Keep doing it if it feels good."
• Connie, Caroline - negative peer pressure
• F-bombs galore . . . 
• devaluing sex, relationships
• college roommate Faye / psych ward, scholarships removed
  
• Part Three:
• 1960s, home, hitchhiking, NYC
• Ronny - throwing grapefruits
• $62.50/month for rent in a NY apartment!!!?? 1962 seems unreal in this regard . . . 
• convo with Holly re: money, morals, race, etc. I found this part to be ho-hum
• Holly leaves
• Part Four:
• Silver Publishing, Stella, Mr. Cohen
• Paulina and Paul . . . yuk
• "incest doesn't seem like such a trauma to me" 
• and Alice! This was too much for me. Molly is having sex with the mom, the dad, and the daughter. Just no.
• film school and sexism, equipment, professor 

 

This isn't actually a review, is it? There were places in the book that had beautiful language. I loved Molly's final film school project. I think Carrie was suffering from some serious mental illness. I'm glad we got to revisit Leroy and where life took him. I did not enjoy this book.

Oh! And the title refers to a woman's genitals.