Review: Rubyfruit Jungle - Rita Mae Brown

A Tale of Growing Up as a Lesbian 

“When I make love to women I think of their genitals as a, as a rubyfruit jungle.”

“Rubyfruit jungle?”

“Yeah, women are thick and rich and full of hidden treasures and besides that, they taste good.”

Rita Mae Brown was 29 years old when she published her breakthrough, first novel of Rubyfruit Jungle. The book dealt explicitly with sex, homosexuality, lesbianism, growing up as a woman, and being ambitious in a family that valued women as mothers and wives only.

Rubyfruit Jungle sets itself apart from other novels from the first page: “Broccoli, what’s all that skin hanging around your dick?” From that first page, I knew this novel was going to deal with sexuality and sex and I couldn’t wait to read on about what it had to say. It began with Molly Bolt, our lesbian protagonist, as a child. We watch her grow up and understand herself as different to the others, she knows she’s “queer” and refuses to see it as anything to apologise for. The sexual adventures in the novel loop into the next; fluently showing a full life of experiences that hooks the reader’s curiosity with the odd and different experiences Molly is thrown into. Or, more accurately, follows eagerly into. A woman after everyone’s own heart, with her beauty and wit. She’s ambitious enough to remind me of myself, or who I should be, especially as I have similar dreams to her. No wonder so many people have loved this book when Molly can remind us of that part of yourself that’s unafraid to stand up and talk. Or the part that is never going to be ashamed of being who they are. The honest, unafraid part.

I began reading this book as a way to understand myself. I’d just come out to myself as a lesbian. But it remained on my mind. I didn’t like having it hanging around my shoulders like some new, but vibrant cardigan I wasn’t used to. So I read this book and I was enthralled. As Molly understood herself and knew she was gay, and accepted it; so did I. By the end of the book, I didn’t care that I was gay. I find myself thinking myself a better person than I was months ago, because now I am so much more comfortable. And that is what you can see in Molly by the end of the novel, too. Maybe even a little before that.

We meet the different types of lesbian characters. The first love, where neither of you know how to have sex, as is expected with a lack of sexual knowledge (thank you education system, I really appreciate knowing so much about my cervix and straight sex. I’m sure it’ll come in useful.) We meet the historically famous part of lesbian culture: the butch and the femmes. This would then set up people’s views, even today, of what a lesbian looks like. 

We meet the lesbians in denial. We meet the lesbians who act as rich bachelors and objectify women, despite being one themselves. 

We meet Leota. Her first love, who thinks Molly “just [hasn’t] met the right man.”

This book was powerful, and I recommend it to anyone, but especially to lesbians. Especially to lesbians just coming out. It can be helpful and just a reminder that you’re not alone and that life still keeps going.

To sum up why I love this book, it’s how amazing the character of Molly Bolt is. Don’t believe me?

“You’re crazy. A woman’s got to marry. What’s going to happen to you when you’re fifty? You got to grow old with somebody. You’re going to be sorry.”

“I’m going to be arrested for throwing an orgy at ninety-nine and I’m not growing old with anybody. What a gruesome thought. Christ, you’re twenty-four and you’re worried about being fifty. That makes no sense.”