Re-release and great new audiobook version read by Anna Paquin. A classic. A must-read for anyone interested in and exploring LGBT history and literature. I'm so glad I re-read this. This was such a 'hot topic' tantalizing book for years after it was published. Now, it reads as a well written coming of age story- not strictly, a 'Lesbian book'. I know that today many people, especially in the LGBTQIA community, are highly critical of it. That it's not PC. I think that criticism is misguided. It was a triumph when it was first published. This is still a completely engaging adventure of a fierce character forging her place in a world that wasn't ready for her. I still love this book and every character in it. It made history. Now it is a piece of history. A glimpse in to the past that is unchanged.

I received a copy from the publisher, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Rubyfruit Jungle is a classic book in queer literature that I had somehow never heard of! As somebody who tries to devour any and all queer fiction, this was an obvious pick up for me.

I thought this book was compelling: I like the way old books can sometimes be franker about subjects normally considered off limits in polite conversation, and how authors these days definitely hold back from this kind of discussion in their books. I enjoyed the narrative voice, though I did find moments of the book to be distasteful.

I really enjoyed the narration from Anna Paqin, though I agree with another reviewer in saying that her voice didn't have much change between characters which definitely made the narration harder to follow at times since I didn't have the book right in front of me.

Originally published in 1977, this book is a classic in lesbian fiction. We follow Molly, our protagonist, as a teen affirming her sexuality, into her young twenties where she fights to be a film director in a man led world. She is misunderstood and outcast at every turn, and in her numerous attempts at love find she really doesn't need or want anyone at all. Molly comes across as rather heartless until a final school project in college leads her back home to her mom, where she is able to forgive and move on from some of the worst times of her life. A unique story that thankfully doesn't play out as true in most of current times America, but also sad, that not that long ago, being anything but a straight laced heterosexual was absurd. Thank you to Netgalley and Blackstone Audio for the opportunity to enjoy this book!

Finally! A Classic has been made into an audiobook. Rita Mae Brown mentions the ghettoization of her work as LGBTQ and I do agree that it is good literature that is about an LGBTQ person and while categorizing helps people find works it can also prevent others from reading.

This story is a classic and I’ve always loved Molly - her finding and defining her self while resisting labels and categories- which may have resonated more with me even 30 odd years ago when I first read Rubyfruit Jungle. Today, it seems as important as ever.

Anna Paqui’s voice for Molly is strong, with sarcastic moments, genuine doubt and more. However, I found her other voices for other characters were not differentiated enough which on occasion led to confusion over who was speaking.

Overall, I enjoyed revisiting a book that was a guiding light, a hopeful story of someone like me, and a damn good story of defining one-self. I am thrilled to have experienced it again in audio format.

I surprisingly enjoyed this book -- I say "surprisingly" because I often struggle with books where a significant portion is from the perspective of a child and is written as such. The main character is likeable and rebellious, pushing back on a world that tries to limit her because of who she is. In this short book, Brown takes on issues of class, region, gender, and sexuality and how our society tries to limit people and their life paths based on these identities. My understanding is that the book is semi-autobiographical, which leads me to believe the peek that you get into queer life in this moment in time, once the protagonist makes it to NYC, is somewhat authentic. It's a charming bildungsroman with a strong female lead that I think would be great in middle school classrooms.

Rubyfruit Jungle has been on my “I should read that” radar for a long time, so I was already interested when I saw this new audio edition coming out and was even more intrigued when I saw it was going to be narrated by Anna Paquin.

While definitely not without flaws (some of which can be chalked up to the time it was written in and some of which can’t, it’s a very interesting story, and oddly compelling. It reminded me in a lot of ways of To Kill a Mockingbird, with its down-south voice and sometimes bewilderingly frank discussions of subjects and scenarios considered taboo in many circles. I think in a weird way it could also be read as an updated, gender-bent History of Tom Jones, and Molly certainly presents a fascinating character. By turns honorable, selfish, viciously judgmental, amiably amoral, and, by the end, humble, she sometimes seems like quite the unlikely heroine, but never a boring one.

The spare prose and sometimes choppy dialogue is greatly elevated by a stellar narration by Paquin, who manages to bring out sympathy in the reader even in Molly’s worst moments.

Sizism and fatphobia play an unfortunately large role in the characters’, and I suspect the author’s, subconscious, and some slurs and stereotypes are bandied about in ways that, though they are presented to be critiqued and dismantled, may be jarring.