Fiction Monday – An Old Favorite – Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

Rita Mae Brown has been writing books for a long time; since 1973 to be exact. In that year, she published her first of many novels, Rubyfruit Jungle. It was considered groundbreaking at the time for it’s startling and full portrayal of a lesbian main character. It was lauded by the critics of the day as an extraordinary piece of work.

The Original Product Description:

Rubyfruit Jungle is about growing up a lesbian in America – and living happily ever after.

Born a bastard, Molly Bolt is adopted by a dirt-poor Southern couple who want something better for their daughter. Molly plays doctor with the boys, beats up Leroy the tub and loses her virginity to her girlfriend in sixth grade.

As she grows to realize she’s different, Molly decides not to apologize for that. In no time she mesmerizes the head cheerleader of Ft. Lauderdale High and captivates a gorgeous bourbon-guzzling heiress.

But the world is not tolerant. Booted out of college for moral turpitude, an unrepentant, penniless Molly takes New York by storm, sending not a few female hearts aflutter with her startling beauty, crackling wit and fierce determination to become the greatest filmmaker that ever lived.

My take on the book in the present day:

Understand that more than 37 years have passed since Brown penned this book. A heroine by 1973 standards, Molly would be considered a “protagonist” in the modern day. Also, some of what passed as “humor” in 1973, especially in school situations, would no doubt be seen as bullying in 2011.

Reviews of this book are overwhelmingly positive. Those who have found fault with it seem to trend into three camps. The first group either don’t feel that Rita Mae Brown deserved the accolades she got for the book or for the occasional comparison of her to Mark Twain with regards to her work. Given the period in our history, at the birth of the feminist movement, those reviewers are likely speaking from a position that is still firmly grounded in 1973. They’re likely male rather than female and certainly not lesbians if they are female.

The second group find the work to be dated and irrelevant by today’s standards.  This is true when viewed against more recent works of fiction but if viewed as the book that led the way for all others the perspective would change. Every lesbian work that was published after this, has Rita Mae Brown and Rubyfruit Jungle to thank for blazing the trail.

Finally, the third group of readers that pan the book do so because they find the main character, Molly to be shallow and unlikable. They attribute this to bad writing. In reality, whether in 1973 when this book was written, or today, there are, unfortunately, lesbian women that are like this. They are not likable. They are women who hate men but who choose to be players and emulate all the worst in the worst men they have met. Our “protagonist” is just such a lesbian. Given that context, the portrayal is dead on. Any lesbian will recognize in Molly someone she knows and will laugh out loud at the similarities.

This is still an entertaining book if you read it bearing the period in mind. You’ll enjoy the exploits of the main character more if you don’t try to view her in the context of the present.

This book really should be considered a classic of lesbian fiction.