To fully appreciate Tom Robbins' books, you have to be willing to wait. Most of his books open confusedly and this one was no exception. I think I enjoyed this book more than any of his others because the character of Sissy was introduced early on and expanded throughout the book.
The book centres around Sissy, a young girl with abnormally large thumbs. Random? Yes. Fits into the book well? Yes. Sissy learns about hitchhiking from an early age, she hitchhikes the wind, the cars and life in general. She is introduced to the 'cowgirls' through a part-time employer, shortly after she surprisingly gets married. Sissy's marriage, however, is also important to the book. She experiences life tied down, not as free to hitchhike when she wants and bewildered by not being able to keep moving as she is used to.
With the short-term escape to the Rubber Rose ranch, Sissy meets one of the loves of her life, aptly named Jellybean. She learns from her fellow cowgirls about loving the skin you're in (to put it lightly) and eventually journeys out to meet the second love of her life; Chink, who is a Japanese ex-prisoner living off the land. There's more, believe me but I don't want to ruin the book.
The reason I liked this book more that the others I have read was because the story flowed easily, but kept with Robbins' pattern and haphazard story-telling manor. You never quite know what is coming next and the story leads to a fanatical climax and an unusual ending. It effectively explores Sissy's unusual personality and changes in her life which lead to different outlooks. I highly recommend it, I really appreciate most of Robbins' work and his delightful imagination.
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