Somehow this was a Tom Robbins that I never got around to reading so when I found an audiobook version.... This one doesn't quite compare to his later novels but has it's quirky charm nonetheless. Sissy Hankshaw is the main character and quite a character she is. Born with abnormally large thumbs, she realizes as a teen that she was just meant for hitchhiking. When she finds herself in New York, she becomes a model for "The Countess," a misogynistic man who runs a feminine hygiene product empire. She marries an artist who is a full-blooded Mohawk in denial of his Native American-ness. Eventually she ends up at the Dakota spa ranch owned by the Countess and meets the cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean and the rest of the ranch cowgirls who take over the ranch and boot out the spa guests. Living in the hills above the ranch is a Japanese American mystic shaman known as the Chink whose favorite phrase is Ha Ha Ho Ho Hee Hee! The characters and bizarre plot twists are classic Robbins and include his hallmark philosophical expounding. The premise of the government battling cowgirls who have rustled endangered Whooping Cranes by drugging them with peyote is certainly as original as it's author.
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