"Passing Strange" by Ellen Klages (BR)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

This is a buddy read for the Inclusive Book Bingo's book of the month for the category of "lesbian author/protagonist". As usual, you do not need to be playing along to read along!

Please use spoiler tags and chapter names in your comments :)

[Meredith]

I read this a while back and really enjoyed the characters, their interactions, and the setting. Looking forward to hearing what folks think of it.

[Megan]

I started this today, and even though it's so temptingly short, I'm trying to read slowly, so I can savor it!

Spoilers through the end of "Party Tricks." (view spoiler)[I'm really interested to see where the magic element is going, and Franny's response to Babs' mention of being able to manipulate time as well as space snagged my attention, too.

Also, I loved this line: "There's as much art to science as there is science to art." (hide spoiler)]

[Kaa]

I read this last year and will probably end up re-reading because it's so short and I liked it quite a bit.

In the meantime, I also recommend Caligo Lane, which is a short story set in the same world and featuring Fanny that explores (view spoiler)[the magic of the maps (hide spoiler)] in a little more depth: https://www.tor.com/2016/12/20/caligo.... It appears to have been written prior to my novel and doesn't contain any spoilers for Passing Strange other than for general content (as mentioned above).

[Gabi]

The cover drew me to this novel and (view spoiler)[ now I'm happily surprised that said cover is part of the story. This is a nice touch.
And I'm still curious where the fantasy part is. (hide spoiler)]

Spoiler is up to chapter 3

[Meredith]

Passing Strange won a World Fantasy Award for Best Novella today. :)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Man, we are really on the ball lately!!

[Cat]

I just started this today and I'm enjoying it so far but I'm with Gabi and Megan (view spoiler)[and wondering where the magic is! I do enjoy the idea of a magical cartographer though. I do also really like the cover and how it's related to the story, I thought that was really neat (hide spoiler)] (spoiler is up to start of Secret City)

I do like the setting, its not something I'm particularly familiar with and it's a bit different for a fantasy.

[Gabi]

I liked the feeling in the novela and the glimpse of magic, but I tend toward more plot driven stories, tbh.

[Oleksandr]

I plan to read it if time permits it later this month, I see many people liked it

[Megan]

Spoilers for the whole thing: (view spoiler)[* The fantasy element was so light, but I liked how the characters explicitly discussed magic and science and art, and how those things were integrated into their lives and their friendships. There was a coziness to this, even with the darkness hanging over them and threatening them. (And re: the books' friendships & coziness, it took me embarrassingly long to realize tomato pies were pizza.)

* I wanted more Helen. Smart Helen who orchestrated the sale of the painting in revenge for a friend who was exploited by that rare books dealer! There was a quick mention of her leaving money in her will to the Manzanar Committee, and I wondered if she was interned during the war or if she continued to pass as Chinese. Either way, I don't doubt she fought hard to help people.

* The writing style didn't always work for me. Sometimes the factual and research stuff was too heavy-handedly depicted, especially in dialogue, but I also liked learning about the lives of these characters.

* The cover is so lovely, and like Cat I like that it's actually part of the story. (hide spoiler)]

[Cat]

I enjoyed this book - but I only gave it three and a half stars for a couple of reasons. While I thought the writing was great, and the characters skillfully sketched, and it was very sweet and lovely... it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Spoilers for the whole thing (view spoiler)[ There just wasn't very much magic for a fantasy novella. If you'd left the magic out entirely I'm not sure you would have noticed... and I'm sure that a similar ending could have been written sans magic. I like historical fiction, it's my second fave genre, but I would have preferred it if it wasn't masquerading as a fantasy book.

I agree with Megan - more Helen, and more the others for that matter. The book said 6 lives intersecting and I wanted 6 damnit! I didn't feel like we really got to see the others very much. Small quibble though.

My other small quibble was the development of the main relationship. I mean I know it was meant to be a fantasy, and it's a novella so they don't have much time to fall in love... but I found that stretched the bounds of plausibility the most for me!

I liked the coziness too... and I suspected that the 'pie' was pizza but gosh that confused me. And I think that the integration of the cover was my favourite part of the whole story. That was really neat.

Overall, I really liked it as a historical fiction, it was lovely. As a fantasy, it left me a bit disappointed. (hide spoiler)]

[Oleksandr]

I just started it and a question to those in the US based on the beginning of the novella - aren't there property taxes to make keeping a building in the city [with turned on utilities] as a giant safe box for a very small item, too expensive?

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I haven't started yet, but yes, that would be expensive. Not unheard of though, stash houses are pretty common things for a certain sort of career.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

So today I went to the library to pick up this book and Word for World. The librarian got them off the hold shelf, looked at them, and started laughing. Neither being particularly humorous in nature, I wasn't sure what she found funny.

"Sorry. Another librarian and I have a game about titles messed up by barcode placement. I mean really, they could have just moved this down a couple inches."

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

[Gabi]

Allison wrote: "So today I went to the library to pick up this book and Word for World. The librarian got them off the hold shelf, looked at them, and started laughing. Neither being particularly humorous in natur..."

ROFL!

[Meredith]

Amazing!

[Anna]

https://bookriot.com/2017/11/20/stick...

[Jemppu]

Allison wrote: "So today I went to the library to pick up this book and Word for World. The librarian got them off the hold shelf, looked at them, and started laughing. Neither being particularly humorous in natur..."

Beautiful :D

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Exactly, Annna! haha

[Mareike]

Allison wrote: "So today I went to the library to pick up this book and Word for World. The librarian got them off the hold shelf, looked at them, and started laughing. Neither being particularly humorous in natur..."

:-D *facepalm*

[Travis]

Seriously hearty chuckles over here!

[Travis]

Almost done:

(view spoiler)[Several years ago I picked up Beebo Brinker and then, because I found it to be so much fun, read as many of Ann Bannon's other novels as I could find. The butches in these pulp novels are just amazingly fun characters, and I think Klages gets Haskel almost exactly right. (Almost because Haskel is maybe a wee bit too nice!)

I did find myself wishing for more plot, but I really enjoyed the humor and am loving the overarching setting of San Francisco and all the particular settings within the city. Like, I want to meet you all at Mona's where we can drink with the "butches, femmes, Flos, Freddies, wanna-bees, looky-loos, [and] he-shes."

I think the opening, "The Modern City," was my favorite part. It was so suggestive and interesting and, just, a lovely and dreamy and even appealing description of someone preparing to die.

This novel also delighted me on a personal level. My favorite aunt is a motorcycle-riding, septuagenarian butch who lives in the Bay Area, and I loved reading along and imagining her in her 20s and 30s. (hide spoiler)]

[Cat]

Travis wrote: "Almost done:..."

I also quite liked the opening as well. I thought it was very subtly and beautifully written. It was an excellent hook for the whole story.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I loooved the opening! Which made me sad at the rest.

(view spoiler)[ It had the feel to it of a tragic love story brewing but it never quite got there. The bad things that happened to our characters happened a long, long time ago and the worst things that happened "on screen" were to other people. I found it to elongated to be poignant and too short to be meaningful. I wanted it all to mesh together more, to be a sort of queer 1940s take on "Night Circus" which is somewhat reminded me of, though in a weak sort of way.

I liked seeing life from the eyes of queer women, but like you I felt the real movers here were more Babs, Franny and Helen. I wanted more depth, more color, or fewer inside jokes.

Also, I can hear the bi and pan women in my life going "it was so pretty, why did she have to be 'the cheating bi??'" (hide spoiler)]

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Oh I meant to add that tomato pie is an actual thing in and around Philly--it's a cold, cheeseless, toppings-less fluffy crusted pizza. I don't know if tomato pie was what they called pizza in the 40s or if this joyless, pre-sauced garlic bread is what they meant, but I pictured the things I can buy around here by that name.

[Kristin B.]

Finished this in two shifts at work. (SHH! Don't tell my boss!)

(view spoiler)[Totally agree with Megan and Cat. I want to know more about Helen! She was so cool! A Japanese lesbian lawyer, pretending to be Chinese married to a gay man who she danced with to pay the bills while being a bad ass legal mind! Come on! Give me that story please!

I also really wanted more Polly. Sixteen year old British science nerd getting excited to work with magic with tons of confidence and sass. Now there is a character.

Echoing what a few other folks have said, the magic was pretty tacked on. Felt like a complete afterthought. This whole story could have been told without it and it wouldn't have been any different.

Overall it was light and sweet. An easy read that I don't mind having spent a little time on. Klages does a great job with description and emotion. I think I would have just liked more of a plot. (hide spoiler)]

Also, Allison, that picture cracked me up sitting alone at my desk. Perfect sticker placement.

(Edited to add, I am super excited that this is my first post in months that can't be qualified as a necropost! I'm finally catching up! It may have also helped that I took a break from two other book clubs.)

[Cat]

Allison wrote: "Oh I meant to add that tomato pie is an actual thing in and around Philly--it's a cold, cheeseless, toppings-less fluffy crusted pizza. I don't know if tomato pie was what they called pizza in the ..."

That sounds... unappetizing... Just whyyy?

[Anna]

I read the first three chapters and it's great! I'm sad to see all the low ratings, so I'm proceeding cautiously.

[Oleksandr]

Anna wrote: "I read the first three chapters and it's great! I'm sad to see all the low ratings, so I'm proceeding cautiously."

I guess low ratings are due to the fact that it was positioned as an [urban] fantasy, but it reads more like historical fiction

[Anna]

Yes, I knew it was low on the speculative elements, but the middle part was super boring. I loved the first part though, and the ending was good, too. I wish the middle had been shorter.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Anna wrote: "Yes, I knew it was low on the speculative elements, but the middle part was super boring. I loved the first part though, and the ending was good, too. I wish the middle had been shorter."

I think that's general consensus. Started great, ending was fine, the road between those things needed more folding ;-)

[Anna]

Oh right, I haven't read the spoilery comments, duh. I'll go read them now!

[CBRetriever]

The ending (view spoiler)[required magic aka The The Picture of Dorian Grey t (hide spoiler)]. The map (view spoiler)[folding to get from place to place was also magic (hide spoiler)]. I don't need heavy duty magic to classify it as a fantasy, it totally worked for me.

I too would like to know more about some of the secondary and primary characters.