The Feminist and The Cowboy by Alisa Valdes

The Feminist and the Cowboy. Alisa Valdes. Gotham Publishing. January 2013. 336 pp. pbk. ISBN#: 9781592407903.

The Feminist in this novel is a hyper-liberal woman who reflects the epitome of the feminist from the 20^th Century who ultimately made the opposite sex the enemy.  It’s an extremist attitude that unfortunately evolved as a reaction to years of woman experiencing poor to shoddy treatment at the hands of men. This is confirmed in the story of the feminist’s own mother who abandoned her child and launched into a new life that would be free. 

When the protagonist meets the Cowboy, an antagonist in the true sense of the word, he’s something she’s never met, a man who is ultra-macho (actually he’s downright nasty and rude at times, something that the Feminist seems to miss in her bedazzled state) and yet very traditional in the way he courts a lady. At times the Feminist assumes a great deal and those assumptions make her the target of his wrath and also expose her unruly tirades of rage as well, to the point where she knows she is in serious need of anger management counseling and/or help.

While the author attempts to make the Cowboy come out as a totally balanced male, it just doesn’t work.  He tries to be neutral and yet is as domineering in his own “tough love” fashion.  This reader is unimpressed by him and definitely not “wowed” by his tactics that are missing the sense of compassion and caring that is okay for men to demonstrate to women. To generalize that the feminist movement made women out of all men is a large stretch for sure, albeit it may be true for some.

The Feminist and the Cowboy is an okay read, very fine in the way the main female character grows and changes, but one hopes she can evolve even more to see that the Cowboy she has grown to care for needs some evolution himself.