I would not have believed that a book could so completely change my life but this one has. I found it in my local library --just stood frontways on ,under the Travel section !---the only book thus displayed and I just had to read it.
Well I read it in two evenings and then I read it again . Ive now decided I have to buy it. I wish the author would right a sequel .
Why did it change my life? I had had an affair with ,and then married ,a farmer who was younger than me and not the type of guy I would normally be with for many reasons and this book reaffirmed that Love can cross all barriers if we let it and are not afraid . I was nearly letting us drift apart by seeing only our differences. This book made me see my relationship with different eyes and be thankful for the rich and beautiful life I have.
The author is a very honest open woman with a wonderful style . I reccommend you read it with an open heart and mind.

i never knew much about rock hudson, only that he was an actor, and that he was gay, but after reading HIS STORY i was able to see that there was a lot more to him than that stated. roc hudson was a caring, funny, and love-filled man who only wanted to entertain and live his life openly, never wanting to hide his lifestyle or those he loved. he was a great actor and starred in several classic films(GIANT, MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, A FAREWELL TO ARMS, and PILLOW TALK with doris day). but he was also a great person and and a great friend and this book does a terrific job in showing that. the book openly discusses his homosexuality and the relationships he had with other men, men who he loved dearly. it discusses his much publicized marriage to phyllis gates as well as his struggle to maintain that tough hollywood image that was forced on him and it sadly leads to rock's fight with AIDS, one in which he lost. it is a great book about a great man, actor, lover and fighter.

I wanted to write a review of the Going All the Way audiocassette to clear up one of the major questions I had when I considered purchasing this item. My question was, "What exactly does abridged mean?" How much of the book is cut out? Keeping in mind that I haven't read the novel, only seen the movie, I can say that the abridged audiocassette develops almost exactly like the movie. I give it only 3 stars because I think it is a good story, but I am very disappointed that it is missing the "extras" you don't get from the movie. The total running time is about 3.5 hours. If you think about how long it would take to read a novel aloud, this indicates that perhaps the majority of the book was cut. If you have seen the movie, you will gain very little from this audiocassette.

Despite these negative comments, the audiocassette has some good points, which is why I went no lower than a 3 star rating. The narrator does an excellent job of bringing all of the characters to life and putting the listener inside Sonny's head. This would be a great purchase for someone who has neither read the book nor seen the movie.

Finally, some potential customers may be worried that Going All the Way is something only people similar to the characters (20-something white males) can enjoy, but Dan Wakefield has done such a wonderful job with the characters that anybody can find something with which to identify in both Sonny and Gunner.

This novel captures the underlying unease that two young men face when they return home from the Army in the early '50's. It sketches their growing perception of all the boxes and groups that they were in before they left, like the jocks, what today would called nerds, and the sorority girls.

As they go through their first summer of freedom they begin to realize that the old home town has gotten too small and confining for them, and that it is time to go see what's over the hill. They begin to realize that they do have many choices, and the freedom to pursue them, and they try to sort out what some of them are.

Along the way there are some pretty accurate and painful descriptions of the social and sexual hangups of your average Midwestern male at mid-century.

Good stuff.

This is one of the most pitilessly honest and funniest books you'll ever read about early adulthood -- late high school, college and just after. The sexual preoccupation. The social striving. The uncertainty about one's future. Along the way, Mr. Wakefield captures a time and a place (Indiana, early 1950s) perfectly. You could draw a straight line connecting the art of J.D. Salinger, Dan Wakefield and Nick Hornby. Thank you, Mr. Wakefield!

I first read this book its first year on the shelves and have reread it many times. More to the point, the characters and their ways of speaking have never left me. This book is an important social history of the 1960s. It details many events I was just too young to appreciate at the time, having been born in 1959. This book filled in many gaps for me. It gives a riveting look at the confluence of important events this country coped with in the late sixties and early seventies, while these women were trying to establish themselves. I highly recommend this book, especially to any woman who has yet to read it.

I later read "Goat Brothers," a book about men written in response to "Loose Change," and highly recommend that book as well. I found it fascinating.

Sara Davidson's "Loose Change" is a brilliantly-written account of the Sixties as experienced by three young women coming of age. I bought this book when it first came out in 1977 and loved it. Recently, I came across "Loose Change" in a used book store and just couldn't put it down.
The Sixties were a time of great social upheaval, and I remember many of the major events. I went though college in the late 60s and early 70s. Even though my background is somewhat different -- Blue collar, conservative, Catholic, male, short-haired, Pittsburgh, and definitely never inhaled -- it was interesting to see the female, radical point of view. Like many others in that period, Sara, Susie, and Tasha search for life's meaning in a turbulent time in which the old values they grew up with have withered away.
You are there in the historical events and movements of that period -- the Antiwar movement, major student protests at Berkeley and Columbia, the bloodbath at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, the music of Woodstock, rural communes, free sex, and the terror of the Altamont Concert.
This book seems to get better over time because there is a greater contrast between today's world and the 1960s. The Antiwar, Womens' Liberation, and Civil Rights Movements changed the country and the world for the better, and drugs have changed things for the worst. And the sexual revolution.... well, you be the judge.
I like Ms. Davidson's rich writing style, as she places the reader right there, feeling and experiencing life with Sara, Susie, and Tasha, "warts and all." She's gutsy enough to talk about sexuality, a formerly taboo subject. Sara, Susie, and Tasha follow their sexual drives and suffer many bad love affairs, for which both the men and women share the blame.
I've also enjoyed a few of Sara Davidson's other articles and her biography of Rock Hudson. "Loose Change" is now historical, and it's so alive you can hear the music and the protest marches. This book is definitely worth five stars and I would recommend it to almost everyone, even my own daughter.

I loved this book! I've been dying to read this book ever since I read Larry Colton's "Goat Brothers" in 1994 and I was so happy when I found it on Amazon in 1997! As a recent grad from Cal (where I was also in a sorority), I definitely related to some of these women's college experiences, such as the strong friendships formed with some of my sorority sisters, and a few of the Cal traditions described in the book. Sara Davidson's descriptions of the lives she chronicled in the story were articulate and straightforward-it was one of those books where I could not put down until I was finished with it. The different paths the women took after college were bittersweet and at times heart-wrenching. I definitely recommend to anyone with an interest in women's experiences during the '60s.

Written by one of the writers for the TV show, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Davidson is a highly intelligent, well-educated lady that meets and falls in love with a cowboy from rural Arizona. Zack, who has knowledge of life on a different level, has grown up in the tradition of the old west. He is a man who works with his hands creating original and authentic bridles from strips of leather, a long lost art form. He has yet to hear of the Holocaust or the New York Times. This unlikely relationship progresses with all the properties of oil mixed with water at times while the underlying current is one of intense sexual attraction and love.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are strong and believable as odd as it might seem. You can't help but love them as they stumble along trying to make it all work. Sara is an incredible mom of two children that play a pivotal part in all of her decisions. She allows us to see her human side and shares her confusion as well as her problem solving capabilities, most of all she has heart. I for one thank her for a story well told. I can't help but wonder what part of the story is fiction. Kelsana 5/22/01

"Cowboy" was so compelling that I read it in one day while flying to Phoenix from Michigan. I couldn't put it down. It is truly the love story between two very different individuals. Zak and Sara had so little in common yet connected in such a special way. I found I was cheering for them when things were going well and feeling the pain of their struggles. The book was written from the author's perspective but provided enough of Zak's thoughts that one could see both perspectives clearly. There was fear, desire, acceptance, frustration, and a remarkable insightful thinking that evetually leads to growth. I, too, am in touch with a cowboy in another state. This book helped me to understand the struggles we are facing and to look inside for the answers. I've read "Cowboy" three times and still discover new insights as well as enjoy the humor and real life situations only this combination of unique differences could provide. Thank you, Sara!

Since I am in the midst of a wonderful relationship with my own cowboy right now, I had to read Sara's account of her Zack. It is a passionate reminder that true love can sometimes pass us by because of our preconceived ideas of what true love really entails. Hooray for Sara Davidson for putting down on paper what I am feeling every day of my life right now. Since I realize that it could end at anytime because of our differences, I look forward to each new day and celebrate each day that I can spend with him. My cowboy is 11 years younger, and has awakened the same passions that Zack awakened in Sara. I am reading the book for the third time. Her writing style leaves you spellbound and unable to put the book down until you've read it all.