From Publishers Weekly Chaos and fate are hopelessly intertwined in this exuberant second novel from Lemus (Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties). Frank Cruz—born as a girl named Francisca, but living and identifying as a man—is a loner from Southern California. His father, diagnosed with terminal cancer, offers Frank tragic stories of the Cruz family, a key to a safe deposit box and an arresting 1924 photograph of a beautiful woman named Nahui Olin, a bohemian Mexican artist/poet from an aristocratic background. Frank (who narrates) learns that Nahui had many lovers, lived transgressively and was endlessly wooed. When his father dies, Frank sets off for New York and lands in the East Village, where he meets and falls in love with Nathalie; she eerily reminds him of Nahui, whose face and history have now obsessed him. Their relationship is solid until the horror of September 11 throws them into chaos and sadness that tests their relationship, and Frank's self-image. With her blunt prose, Lemus doesn't waste a word in this smart, never sentimental identity novel. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Read more From Booklist When her dying father calls, ending years of silence, Felicia has become Frank, breasts tightly bound beneath layers of shirts. Caring for him emotionally frees the twentysomething to leave California for New York, which answers a nostalgic love for a romanticized past symbolized for Frank by an Edward Weston photo of a stunning woman ("serious dynamite"), a Bohemian poet self-named Nahui Olin, who once publicly lusted for Frank's father's mother. Frank meets a present-day embodiment of Nahui in the tempestuous Nathalie, who promptly claims the right side of our smitten protagonist's bed as hers. If Nat's unpredictability and drama are endearing, her occasional disappearances when intimacy overwhelms her are not. But so it goes for seven generally happy years. At 30, Frank opens a shop selling collectibles, she wants a baby, and she has achieved regular if not quite normal domesticity. Lemus' powerfully written chronicle of love, in which gender is irrelevant, and the siren call of the past threatens the present, deserves more than a niche audience. Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Read more See all Editorial Reviews
D**E
Frighteningly Good Book!
I picked this book up on a recommendation and was taken aback by just how excellent it is. I would liken the writing to that of Michelle Tea's fictional work in the sense that it's very engaging - partially because you can't believe what's happening and partially because you want to know what will happen next. They tread on similar ground - queer/trans/ issues along with family stuff and relationships. A quick read because F.L.L. is such a compelling storyteller that you will find it difficult to put the book down. (Her first book is also quite good. It bodes well for her writing career that there was notable growth between the first and second book. It makes me incredibly excited for her third book!) Also, Akashic Books has not let me down yet.
H**H
Great Book, Crappy Audible
This book is amazing and brilliant, which makes it all the more disappointing how crappy the Audible clip is. This person thinks in order to sound like a trans guy you just use a monotone? Major fail. Read the book if you can, or trade something cool with a friend who undoubtedly will read it out loud to you better than this catastrophe of a reading.
A**H
Not good. Nice attempt, but not good. The cover speaks for itself because it was my face when I finished thai book.
It had a nice roaring start, but then left one stranded and bored crawling to the end of an agonizing, pointless, wastrel of a story. Please save yourself and do not read this book.
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