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Cass and the Stone Butch
Cass and the Stone Butch is a little bit love story, a little bit mystery, and mainly a book about lesbian friendship.
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First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Antoinette Azolakov
6 books2 followersAntoinette Azolakov was born in Lufkin, Texas in 1944. Her father was in the U.S. Navy when she was born, and the Navy broke radio silence to tell him he had a baby girl. Antoinette has hardly been silent since. She taught high school English and Latin, worked in an explosives plant, as a welder, as a gas station attendant, as a landscape gardener and as a pet sitter. Her writing credits include several short stories and poems in various publications, four lesbian mysteries, and now her latest work, Ghostly Voices: Thirteen Texas Ghosts, available on Kindle. She is currently working on a new novel, Andrew Sparrow, set in early Texas. Her novel Skiptrace won the first Lambda Book Award for Best Lesbian Mystery. She lives with her ten cats and her Basset Hound in Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 21, 2019
This was written in 1987 and shows a real picture of life for lesbians back then: the bars, dances, and all the other women-centered activities; the lesbian-feminism; and the angst of finding your way in an unfriendly world. Cass takes in Lester, the stone butch in the title, after Lester's girlfriend was killed. Cass's girlfriend, Lisa, is the one who suggested it, even knowing that Cass likes her space and has a one-bedroom home. Cass sees her younger self in Lester and becomes fond of her. Meanwhile, Lisa is becoming closer to another woman, which pushes Cass closer to Lester. Their open relationship leaves both Cass and Lisa unsure of each other and how much the other feels for her. And meanwhile Lester wants to find out who her girlfriend was seeing on the night she died.
Although there is some mystery, it's not riveting. There's no danger to anyone or suspense. Reading this as a book about friends and lovers and their interactions was satisfying. I first read this shortly after it was published and I enjoyed it as much all these years later.
Although there is some mystery, it's not riveting. There's no danger to anyone or suspense. Reading this as a book about friends and lovers and their interactions was satisfying. I first read this shortly after it was published and I enjoyed it as much all these years later.
January 31, 2023
January 2023 read - it was really beautiful to read. Loved the butch-butch dynamic. Wish it had ended a bit differently but it was still interesting and romantic.
July 1, 2018
I feel I should start this review with a nod to Xan West, whose work regarding butchness and stone butches I’ve read over the past couple of years informed this review considerably. Thank you!
Cass and The Stone Butch is in many ways, the most lesbian book to ever lesbian. It's got your butches and your femmes, got your lesbians who defy those labels, got drama between all these groups, it's got polyamorous drama, it's got organising community trips to the gay bar in the city and subsequent gay bar hopping, it's got cats and dogs, and it even has arguments over what it means to be a feminist and who gets to say the word bitch.
My favorite thing about this book is that it was written in 1987. It sometimes feels very modern and very relevant while simultaneously like a time capsule of late-eighties (white?) country Texas lesbian life.
The story is about Cass, a blue-collar butch who owns a two-women landscaping company and is deeply involved in her local lesbian community. I can't remember how old she is, but I think she's in her thirties or forties. During a trip with some friends and friends-of-friends to the gay bars in Austin, Cass befriends a 19-year-old butch woman named Lester while she’s looking for her girlfriend, Sharla. The next day, they learn that Sharla died when her car went off a cliff. Cass’ girlfriend, Lisa, decides Lester should stay with Cass while grieving.
One scene I really enjoyed in particular was a funeral scene where Cass describes how cis straight people mourning queers erase their queerness. This especially resonated with me: “Twenty-two of us [queer women] were sitting right there in front of [the preacher], but we were invisible to these hets who thought they’d owned Sharla and who thought they now owned all the right to grieve for her.”
Immediately there is sexual tension between Cass and Lester, which is made more apparent when Cass says that she is interested in other butches. While I enjoyed the butch/butch attraction, their burgeoning relationship is somewhat cheapened by the fact that the reader would worry that Cass would potentially cheat on Lisa until it's revealed halfway through that Cass and Lisa are in an open relationship (albeit an untested one).
Besides the focus on butchness and the butch-butch relationship, I enjoyed the polyamory representation and drama (It made me feel like I was hanging out with my friends, lol), and I enjoyed the representation of lower-class queers. The narrator has a distinctive and consistent voice.
Though I mostly enjoyed the book, I have a lot more to say about my problems with the book then the positive aspects, lol. It could be a little repetitive and uneven and I wasn't sure what genre I was reading until I read the back (I avoid book backs) that said the book was "a little bit love story, a little bit mystery, and mainly a book about lesbian friendship". One easy one was that the three butches here were adept mechanically and with other similar physically-demanding chores. It borderline implied that was the only way to be butch, which of course is untrue (and ableist).
There is something of a mystery plot where Lester is determined that there were suspicious circumstances regarding Sharla's death. I enjoyed it as a way to characterize Lester's grief, but otherwise it seemed unnecessary? And I found it brought in extra elements to the story that seemed like a random distraction from what the rest of the book was doing. However, I'm not even sure what the regular plot really was? Other than Cass and Lester befriending each other and beginning a relationship.
There were a couple of problematic parts. If I remember correctly, the book was very... “race-blind” in that it didn't mention people's races except possibly intending to indicate race by mentioning blonde hair. I'm not sure if there were any people of color in the book? Or if people of color were supposed to be indicated by their names? As discussed more eloquently by people who are not me, “race-blind” choices aren’t progressive because Americans are trained to presume people are white until proven otherwise.
For those of you who don't know what stone butches are, they are butches who are tops (that's a sexual thing, for all you cis straight people) but are not interested in being touched sexually. Stone butches are often associated with the lesbian communities, but there are trans stone buches and the asexual communities have overlapping concerns with their representation.
The big concern with stone butch representation regards “melting”, which is an idea where a partner will convince a stone butch to stop being stone. So… convincing someone to adjust their sexual boundaries is?????? Awful???
And sure enough, Lester is “melted” by Cass. They have one (two?) conversations where Lester asks Cass how she can both be butch and allow herself to be touched. Cass explains her perspective regarding her own butchness and preferences. Later, Lester expresses interest in being touched. Importantly, Lester initiated both the conversation(s) and the change in sexual activities.
Overall, it seemed to me like a consensual situation and that Cass did not “persuade” Lester into anything. However, it seems very convenient considering Cass tells the reader that she attributes Lester’s stone status to her youth and past partners (whatever that means) and not as a legitimate boundary. Cass attributes the fact that she herself is not stone to her own past partners, and I'm not sure what to take from that?? That’s not explained any clearer than what I just said. The fact that Lester's stone status is in the title makes Lester's change in boundaries even weirder, as if this was the central challenge of the book or some shit. I don't get it, but I'm against it.
Conclusion: This book is old and very gay, which is fun. There’s not enough love for the stone butch in the title, which is the biggest deal breaker for me.
Most of the major trigger warnings I remember are discussed above. Sex scenes are mainly off of page/described very metaphorically. I think there's one off-page reference to anti-queer violence? Also, as you probably inferred, there's anti-queer parents.
Other fun fact: This review was written with Google Docs “voice typing” tool, which was a very frustrating process, lol. Eventually it figured out Cass’ name but “butches” is either capitalized or “butchers” or “bushes”. Someday I’ll figure this out. It is entirely possible that I did not catch all the mistakes made by the tool, so please forgive them...
Cass and The Stone Butch is in many ways, the most lesbian book to ever lesbian. It's got your butches and your femmes, got your lesbians who defy those labels, got drama between all these groups, it's got polyamorous drama, it's got organising community trips to the gay bar in the city and subsequent gay bar hopping, it's got cats and dogs, and it even has arguments over what it means to be a feminist and who gets to say the word bitch.
My favorite thing about this book is that it was written in 1987. It sometimes feels very modern and very relevant while simultaneously like a time capsule of late-eighties (white?) country Texas lesbian life.
The story is about Cass, a blue-collar butch who owns a two-women landscaping company and is deeply involved in her local lesbian community. I can't remember how old she is, but I think she's in her thirties or forties. During a trip with some friends and friends-of-friends to the gay bars in Austin, Cass befriends a 19-year-old butch woman named Lester while she’s looking for her girlfriend, Sharla. The next day, they learn that Sharla died when her car went off a cliff. Cass’ girlfriend, Lisa, decides Lester should stay with Cass while grieving.
One scene I really enjoyed in particular was a funeral scene where Cass describes how cis straight people mourning queers erase their queerness. This especially resonated with me: “Twenty-two of us [queer women] were sitting right there in front of [the preacher], but we were invisible to these hets who thought they’d owned Sharla and who thought they now owned all the right to grieve for her.”
Immediately there is sexual tension between Cass and Lester, which is made more apparent when Cass says that she is interested in other butches. While I enjoyed the butch/butch attraction, their burgeoning relationship is somewhat cheapened by the fact that the reader would worry that Cass would potentially cheat on Lisa until it's revealed halfway through that Cass and Lisa are in an open relationship (albeit an untested one).
Besides the focus on butchness and the butch-butch relationship, I enjoyed the polyamory representation and drama (It made me feel like I was hanging out with my friends, lol), and I enjoyed the representation of lower-class queers. The narrator has a distinctive and consistent voice.
Though I mostly enjoyed the book, I have a lot more to say about my problems with the book then the positive aspects, lol. It could be a little repetitive and uneven and I wasn't sure what genre I was reading until I read the back (I avoid book backs) that said the book was "a little bit love story, a little bit mystery, and mainly a book about lesbian friendship". One easy one was that the three butches here were adept mechanically and with other similar physically-demanding chores. It borderline implied that was the only way to be butch, which of course is untrue (and ableist).
There is something of a mystery plot where Lester is determined that there were suspicious circumstances regarding Sharla's death. I enjoyed it as a way to characterize Lester's grief, but otherwise it seemed unnecessary? And I found it brought in extra elements to the story that seemed like a random distraction from what the rest of the book was doing. However, I'm not even sure what the regular plot really was? Other than Cass and Lester befriending each other and beginning a relationship.
There were a couple of problematic parts. If I remember correctly, the book was very... “race-blind” in that it didn't mention people's races except possibly intending to indicate race by mentioning blonde hair. I'm not sure if there were any people of color in the book? Or if people of color were supposed to be indicated by their names? As discussed more eloquently by people who are not me, “race-blind” choices aren’t progressive because Americans are trained to presume people are white until proven otherwise.
For those of you who don't know what stone butches are, they are butches who are tops (that's a sexual thing, for all you cis straight people) but are not interested in being touched sexually. Stone butches are often associated with the lesbian communities, but there are trans stone buches and the asexual communities have overlapping concerns with their representation.
The big concern with stone butch representation regards “melting”, which is an idea where a partner will convince a stone butch to stop being stone. So… convincing someone to adjust their sexual boundaries is?????? Awful???
And sure enough, Lester is “melted” by Cass. They have one (two?) conversations where Lester asks Cass how she can both be butch and allow herself to be touched. Cass explains her perspective regarding her own butchness and preferences. Later, Lester expresses interest in being touched. Importantly, Lester initiated both the conversation(s) and the change in sexual activities.
Overall, it seemed to me like a consensual situation and that Cass did not “persuade” Lester into anything. However, it seems very convenient considering Cass tells the reader that she attributes Lester’s stone status to her youth and past partners (whatever that means) and not as a legitimate boundary. Cass attributes the fact that she herself is not stone to her own past partners, and I'm not sure what to take from that?? That’s not explained any clearer than what I just said. The fact that Lester's stone status is in the title makes Lester's change in boundaries even weirder, as if this was the central challenge of the book or some shit. I don't get it, but I'm against it.
Conclusion: This book is old and very gay, which is fun. There’s not enough love for the stone butch in the title, which is the biggest deal breaker for me.
Most of the major trigger warnings I remember are discussed above. Sex scenes are mainly off of page/described very metaphorically. I think there's one off-page reference to anti-queer violence? Also, as you probably inferred, there's anti-queer parents.
Other fun fact: This review was written with Google Docs “voice typing” tool, which was a very frustrating process, lol. Eventually it figured out Cass’ name but “butches” is either capitalized or “butchers” or “bushes”. Someday I’ll figure this out. It is entirely possible that I did not catch all the mistakes made by the tool, so please forgive them...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2014
Vintage lesbian fiction. Cute story about love and friendship
September 30, 2019
Kind of terrible ahaha but really heartwarming, and an important historical piece I think. Sweet and light.
August 24, 2010
Cass and the Stone Butch by Antionette Azolakov (1987)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews