What a frustrating book. The characters are portrayed with such life that they remain memorable, despite a rather large cast of characters for a novel of this genre. Brown has problems with the prose, especially with being clear about who and what people, animals, and places are when they are introduced. I could forgive those problems, however, and truly did until the last 80 pages. This charming romantic comedy begins a slow decay into melodrama around page 180, and continues to slide downhill until the last page, compacted by a hackneyed, eye-roll-worthy last ten pages followed by a truly horrendous epilogue. Unfortunately, this ruined the whole damn book for me, and I was immensely sad to see Brown ruin her characters with a rushed, unhappy "happy" ending. Four stars for the first part of the book, one and a half for the last.
I'm a fan of Rita Mae Brown, but this was definitely my least favorite book of hers I've read. I liked the characters but the story seemed a bit too much for my liking. Spoiler: I also didn't care for how everything ended well for everyone in the Epilogue.
What do You think about Alma Mater (2002)?
My favorite Rita Mae Brown book so far. I haven't followed her mystery series, but I've read pretty much everything else she's written and this book is great. The main characters are likeable, the story is both a timeless love story and a tale of the time in which it's set (1980). A time with more freedom and hope for acceptance then that of Molly Bolt in Rubyfruit Jungle, but still much less accepting than now (or 2001, when it was published). If it's not yet a classic of queer literature, then it damn well should be.
—Meredith Mc
