Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
The first thing you notice in Robbins' work is how freakin' smart the guy is. Pure knowledge oozes out of his pen onto the paper (Yes, he writes first on paper). I'm a sucker for useless knowledge. I like to feel I'm well versed in that arena (just ask the people who have played me in Trivial Pursuit), so naturally he "had me at hello"-so to speak. Eventually you grasp the importance of the factoids that lace his stories, perhaps making the useless knowledge, useful. Ah ha!
Clever rascal! Of course, that in itself is not unique, but his anecdotes and other juicy brain morsels veer so off course sometimes, that you think it is an entirely new story, then magically it emerges from the abyss and hits the story right in the heart. Sometimes later than sooner, which makes it extra amusing.
Second thing you notice is his love of the language shown through his vocabulary and especially his metaphors. This is where he really tickles the toes. A true master! However, he is not for the faint of heart, for he breaks rules, splatters the page with sex and blasphemy, and balances on a tightrope over the absurd and profound. Really it does not get better than this: "The sun, which in those parts appears as a half breed--its father a prairie fire and its mother a wolf bite--shampooed Siwash Ridge in blood, so that it resembled the freshly scalped head of a trapper. This was the West. Dakota."
Here we have Sissy Hankshaw. A young girl from Virginia. Sissy was born with a defect, a defect she used to become the best hitchhiker there ever was or ever will be. She runs away from home at an early age and drifts from coast to coast and back again. Eventually Sissy is noticed by the "Countess", an entrepreneur and advertiser in New York. The Countess, who is old, wealthy, flamboyant, and a "he", makes Sissy a cover girl for his line of feminine hygiene products. All her billboards and magazine ads strategically hide her deformity. Eventually the Countess introduces Sissy to her future husband. But even a loving husband and stable home life can't tame the wild horses running in her heart. When The Countess sends Sissy out to the the Dakotas, for a photo shoot with an endangered flock of whooping cranes, the story really hits high gear. Because here is where we meet "The Chink" and Bonanza Jellybean, and of course the cowgirls. "The Chink" is a cave dwelling, Japanese/Native American philosopher who loves yams. Bonanza Jellybean is the leader of the cowgirl revolution. She is cute with just a trace of belly baby fat and a second belly button that we are told is a scar from being shot with a silver bullet. Sissy has extra marital affairs with both of these people. The two people are responsible for the most important relationships in the story. We are not to forget the others though, for the relationships with Julian who is her native American husband, his swinging friends, and Dr. Robbins are also key to the story.
Every person Sissy encounters becomes completely enthralled by her. She embraces her deformity fiercely and creates an aura that magnetically lures unique personalities. Tom Robbins masterfully uses her story to, I feel, convey his personal philosophy and beliefs. And, as in the previous novel I reviewed, the topical issues people were dealing with in that time period (here the early seventies), are the same issues in the news today. Partisan politics, racism, sexism, animal rights, conservation, foreign oil, religion, etc,etc, etc. It goes on and on, he touches on so many topics it is at times exhausting. The story is fun, clever, interesting, and informative, but a little sloppy. Robbins tries to be unique in the formatting which I feel could loose a straight laced reader. The book is one of his first novels, and seems to be a little less streamlined than the other Robbins' novels I've read ( Skinny Legs And All and Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates.) The book is not for everyone. Robbins is brash and daring. He has a knack for making the serious, absurd, and the absurd, enlightening. One of the more enlightening passages consists of a conversation between a brain and a thumb. Overall a great read. I did like the other two Robbins' books I've read better, but Even Cowgirls Gets the Blues is no slouch. Anyone looking for a comical roller-coaster ride of truth and love, look no further than Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Anyone looking for the Mad-hatter of metaphors look no further than Tom Robbins.
Next up This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science Of A Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin
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