Passing Strange {novella}

I admit it. The cover of this book is what drew me in. Little did I know it would play a pivotal role in the story. It is absolutely haunting, beautiful, and alluring. Kudos to Gregory Manchess for the art and Christine Foltzer for the design. I didn't realize, when I snapped it off the shelf that the book would take place in a city I love, nor that it was written by an author I've read, or published by one of my favorite houses. These surprises, plus learning that Klages has written before of a magic-infused San Francisco, and will seek out more on this.

But to the book: the story is primarily set in the 1940's, and is a beautiful love story. In today's world, San Francisco is a stronghold for the LGBTQ community. In that time, though, show more queer life was forced even more underground. (I'd never heard of the 3 piece rule, for instance, though the internet tells me it was still being used, even in this century.) The story, which involves everything from art, to cross dressed torch singers, to Chinatown, held my attention. That there was magic thrown in, also helped, but to be honest, the magic was more of a bookend plot device than a true element of the story. The real magic was the love these friends had for each other, lasting decades, and the love between an artist and a singer in a long ago San Francisco. show less

It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book, and I'm still having issues with articulating how I feel about it. The simple answer is 'I loved it, it's wonderful / fabulous / fantastic (both meanings)'. But this is not a simple book, even though it is short, and that answer misses so much.

I don't remember what it was that caused me to buy this book, and so when I pulled it off the shelf to read, I had the summary on the back cover as my available info. And from that, I took that this was a Fantasy book, and to expect Fantasy shenanigans. Checking back, I realise that the quote is

"Inspired by the pulps, film noir, and screwball comedy"

so I can see where I got the shenanigans from, but not the fantasy (there is a reference show more later to Klages having won a World Fantasy Award, but not for this book). There is a singular reference to magic in the summary, so maybe it is that.

This really isn't a fantasy book. There are some interesting fantasy details, and the plot hinges on them, but they aren't the story that is being told, merely the mechanism by which the disbelief is suspended. What it is, is a warm portrait of a group of queer women in an antagonistic setting, having a wonderful time--as much as is possible. There are some pretty grim elements to the story, but they slide past quickly enough that I imagine some readers miss at least some of them. Including, but not limited to, racism, police brutality, homophobia, toxic masculinity, and domestic violence.

I was fascinated by all the characters, and the ways in which they navigated the complexities of their lives. The compromises that they made for safety, for survival in a culture that didn't want them for their strengths.

And I did love the story that was woven through, of the picture that was used both as escape and as revenge. show less

A dreamy, stand alone, slightly magic novella set deeply in queer San Francisco in the 40's and it turns out to be a TOR novella -- go figure. No wonder I loved it to its very bones. Ellen Klages takes us on a trip in time, and brings us to an irreverent, funny, vital lesbian circle of women who are finding ways to remain fiercely themselves despite the horrifying local laws governing their dress, their property, their rights as women and minorities. In addition, there's a little bit of magic, a little bit of satisfying revenge, some wish fulfillment and characters worth their salt. Delightful.

Passing Strange is the first book by Ellen Klages that I have read. By the looks of her extensive list of published works, and her Nebula award winning status, it should not have been the first time I was introduced to her stories. Passing Strange wrangled me in from the very first sentence and the time shifting story line is expertly done.

Starting in the present day, the majority of the story then shifts back to 1940, exploring the relationships between 6 intriguing women, who, despite having a shortened amount of time to leap off the page, still manage to make strong impressions on the reader. Klages flawlessly weaves the women’s stories into one, sweeping story of discovering for who you are, and who your real family is.

The two show more primary figures, Haskel, the artist, and Emily, the performer, are the heart and soul of the group, despite not being familiar with each other at the start of their story, and the rest of the women quickly come together to support them when the going gets tough. While a shorter novel, a novella, theoretically seems like it would be easier to write, I find it is often harder – there is less time and space to convince the reader that the story you, as an author are telling, should stick with them – and so any time it is done particularly well, I appreciate it even more. show less

A charming romance and a portrait of queer community in 1940s San Francisco. There's a lot of love for the city in the writing. The story exists within a framing device in the modern day, but the bulk takes place in the past. I appreciate the way it shows a queer life is possible, even though it doesn't shy away from the reality of the homophobia, racism, and sexism of the time. It contains just a little touch of magic, which, for a novella, I'll accept without much explanation. A nice little glimpse in time.

there is a lot to like here, especially the group of women friends who are smart, pithy, loyal, queer, and independent. i love what i can imagine as their all night debates about religion and science and magic. i don't usually like a lot of magic in books when realism could do, and the magic here seemed a bit...haphazard and meaningless until the end. i liked the way she tied that in and used it, even as it's not normally my thing. i probably would have liked it less if it had been used more, but it also probably would have been a little stronger if it was sprinkled a bit more throughout. i also don't usually like the framework she used for the book, but it worked for me here. (i guess it's not completely traditional in that the first show more part is told from helen's point of view and the last part is told from the dealer's point of view.) it was also a surprise then when we went back in time, that even though we opened with helen, she wasn't the main story we followed. klages did some unusual things with what, at first, seemed like a familiar
structure, and i appreciate that.

i would like this to be longer. there is some nice, elegant detail here, but i want more from all of the characters in the friend circle, as each of them are fascinating and deserve more time on the page. and i don't really feel like we got to know any of them, or fully understand the love between haskel and emily. that said, she managed to talk about quite a lot in a small book. (it's shorter than the 220 pages sound; the pages are small and the margins are big.) the feeling she gave of san francisco in 1940; the art work that haskel did for the pulp publications; the relative safety (and also the danger) of the community that made itself in san francisco when they weren't able to stay with their families of origin in other places in the country; the racism helen faced but also her strength; this circle of women friends that i wanted to be a part of. it's well done but i wanted it to be longer because of how much more i'd like to know about all of them and how much more time i'd like to spend in their world. show less

Some really gorgeous elements, especially scenes bringing venues of 40s SF, and occasionally characters, vividly to life. But I feel slightly shortchanged. There were so many stories to tell about these women and I can't help thinking that several of them would have been ultimately more interesting to read about than the one presented. There is no ensemble cast here, instead we see a fairly standard romance with two leads and a rather (purposefully?) pulpy storyline. There are only glimpses of the secondary characters and almost nothing fantastic for most of the story. The plotting near the end is quite cliched. And the final scene broke with the overall tone of the rest of the novella and detracted from an otherwise lovely and vaguely show more mysterious ending. show less