Rock 'N' Roll Babes

Sally Eckhoff

Linda Jaivin's Tom Robbinsish sex writing gives the story a rapid pulse and gratifyingly sweaty palms.
— The New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The three babes of the title, Baby, Doll and Latileave their home planet of Nufon as in, no fun for Australia and the druggy, piercing-oriented purlieus of Newtown Sydney's East Village equivalent in this idiotically amusing B-movie retread. Baby falls in love with the first human they abduct, rock 'n' roller Jake, a clueless grunge lothario with the ambition and animation of a beanbag chair. Problem: Jake can't seem to make a move on Baby. Is this fear of commitment, or just fear? Baby can't tell. In the meantime, Earth is threatened with total destruction by Captain Qwerk of Nufon, intent on recapturing the young women. And, as Baby might say, yadi yadi yada. Jaivin Eat Me writes in a manic, stand-up style and continually undermines her inventiveness with a sophomoric sense of humor. But she also has a real sense of the erotic, and her set pieces of alien-to-human sex are energetically skewed e.g., Nufon girls have multiple sexual organs, and more appear when they are aroused. Even after the book's band-naming glibness begins to grate, Jaivin's ear for street talk and made-for-the-sitcoms wit endow the story with a certain gruesome fascination for those of us on the wrong side of 18.

Entertainment Weekly

Outrageous...

Scott Veale

There's plenty of gender bending, drug gobbling and rude high jinks when the Babes and their human comrade do the town....Jaivin's Tom Robbinish sex writing gives the story...gratifyingly sweaty palms.
— The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

The title says it all about this cartoonish second novel by the author of "Eat Me" (1997): Three alien babes escape to Earth in order to enjoy lots of sex, drugs, and loud music. Jaivin pretends that every pop sci-fi universe is real, from the space babies of the tabloids to the paranoid fantasies of 'The X-Files', and there's even a nod to Douglas Adams's 'Hitchhiker' books, which clearly serve as some sort of prototype for the extraterrestrial antics here. Baby-Baby, Lati, and Doll are hybrid "ayles" (i.e., aliens) from Nufon, the most boring planet in the "yoon" (i.e., universe). The spawn of previous Earth abductees, the three aspiring rock star/sex fiends steal a rocket and head to Sydney, where Baby-Baby soon hooks up with Rasta-coiffed slacker and rocker wannabe Jake, the lead singer in the band Bosnia. After a night of otherworldly sex, Jake will do anything for his alien love, except commit. Meanwhile, the rock scene in Australia is mesmerized by the most amazing band they've ever heard—the three slightly greenish super-babes, whose antennas are assumed to be just part of their act. Up in space, an interplanetary committee, headed by Capt. Qwerk, decides to recapture the girls, before all of Earth learns of the "Hidden Agenda." The babes manage to escape ahead of Qwerk, and bring a number of earthlings along for the ride—including UFO-spotting George, who's been waiting a long time for alien contact; and Ebola Van Axel, a leather-clad metal superstar. Their hasty getaway is assisted by none other than God, who makes cameo appearances throughout. The flimsy plot, though, is beside the point: Jaivin devotes most of her energy to re-creating the sounds of suchthings as inter-species lovemaking: "Um um um! Socky wocky wocky! Um um um! Chp chp chp. Ooooooh. Smelly welly welly . . . ." Strained humor and annoying bouts of intergalactic jive talk.