Book Description
The bestselling author of The Dirty Girls Social Club returns with an engrossing memoir about how falling in love with a sexy cowboy turned her feminist beliefs upside down.
From their first date the Cowboy makes her pulse race, and she discovers that “when men… act like men rather than like emasculated boys, you as a woman will find not only great pleasure in submitting to them but also great growth as a person.”
Told with plenty of humor and candor, The Feminist and the Cowboy will delight the many readers who made The Pioneer Woman a bestseller—not to mention every woman who dreams of being swept away by a rugged cowboy.
My Thoughts...
I pre-ordered this book after I heard about its upcoming release from the author's newsletter, of which I'm a subscriber. Ever since I read The Dirty Girls Social Club I've been impressed with Alisa's smart, witty--and yes, controversial!--voice and persona in both her books and her life.
I have to admit, I was completely immersed in her memoir as soon as I started it and finished the whole thing over the course of three nights. To use the old reviewer's cliche, it was 'unputdownable.' Does this mean I agree with everything she wrote? No, of course not. But it means Alisa used her gift as an author to pull me into her world with a lot of passion and sincerity, even as I kept shaking my head at times. In fact, this is what impressed me the most: her candor. Her voice is so honest and personal that, to use Brenda Ueland's words, she 'infected' me just as if she were a best friend telling me her story in a cafe. If only because of this, I consider this memoir a success. (And let's face it, few memoirs are able to fully engross the reader!)
There's been a lot of controversy these past two weeks over the release of this book. The author has been criticized and attacked by some reviewers, readers and bloggers because she's no longer in a relationship with the cowboy and since the writing of her manuscript over a year ago, some of her views about him and their relationship have changed. If I heard correctly, one Amazon reviewer gave the book a one-star review because of this. Honestly, this is stupid. No one can tell what the future holds and human beings change with time. Therefore, a reviewer should judge a book based on the context in which it was written. It's also important to remember that this is a memoir and not a how-to book.
Thank you, Alisa, for making me laugh and ponder and for sharing all your ideas.
The Feminist and the Cowboy is available from Gotham Books, Amazon, B&N, Indie Bound, iTunes and most brick and mortar bookstores.
Comments