WAHOO! Was this such a fun read. Tomato, I need more! ( )

Hilarious, unapologetic, bawdy, weird, intelligent and a quick read (plus lots of entertaining illustrations). ( )

An entertaining read - definitely a quick one. It attempts to turn the American road novel on it's head - by following two bisexual women as they cross the country on motorcycles, getting into crazy adventures, etc. It's also a "coming-of-age" story - as the narrative grows, so does the protagonist. It's reminiscent of On the Road as the story follows Tomato on her misadventures, with no purpose for hitting the road other than it's there to be hit, and life lessons are learned along the way. But the book breaks the road novel convention with illustrations (at times completely meaningless), and other stylistic leaps. ( )

I remember ordering this book for a library I worked at in 1997. The book had just come out. It caught my attention because: 1. it was written by a Latina (I'm always on the lookout for Latina fiction) and 2. it was so unique physically (full of illustrations and funky fonts and such). But why I recommend this book is that it's hilarious and smart. Interestingly, I met the author's father at a party in Amherst a few years ago. He's a long time resident. Oh - and we read the book in a class I took here at UMass 2 years ago: Spanish 697V Travel & Translation in U.S. Latin@ Literature. Great class!
-Isabel Espinal, Librarian for Afro American Studies, Native American Indian Studies & Information Literacy ( )