Contributed by Chelsey Clammer
I read the first half of Felicia Luna Lemus' sophomore work Like Son in a day, and it's taken me two weeks to finish it--not because it is bad but because I didn't want the story to end. Lemus’ characters, storytelling, and obsession with a portrait of one radical woman created a world in which I never wanted to leave. Frank, Lemus’ main character, lives in post 9/11 NYC. He's really a girl, but that doesn't matter because why conform people to gender norms? The novel has been called a “post-trans� or “post-queer� novel, (see Bookslut’s interview with Lemus to get a full explanation and reaction to these terms.) because Like Son is not about what life is like as a transgender man, but instead it gets over the fact that Frank is trans and moves on with the story line. And what a story line at that. When Frank’s Vietnam War vet and blind father dies, he's left with only a few reminders of his Latino father: a briefcase, a suit, an Edward Weston photo of real-life Mexican rebellion Nahui Olin, and a book of Olin’s poems personally inscribed to Frank’s grandmother: “My Love: ‘She went through me like a pavement saw.’ Yours as ever for the revolution, Nahui.� The photo of Olin haunts Frank, as he can't shake her image out of his mind or why this mysterious woman was calling his grandmother “My Love�.
Transpiring from Frank’s obsession with Olin, he moves from L.A. to New York City, and meets and falls in love with the wickedly quirky Nathalie. As his relationship with his sassy girlfriend grows, Frank still can't leave the symbolism and image of Nahui behind. While the two lovers sleep through 9/11, their relationship to love, loss, and grief shift. And always in the back of Frank’s mind are Olin’s piercing eyes. The most amazing aspect of this novel is the way in which Lemus combines magical realism with an honest understanding of how humans are able to function through various types of tragedy. But don’t think this story is going to make you sad—Lemus’ witty style, political conscious, and imaginative way of describing people and situations brings Frank and Nathalie to life. Weaving issues of grief, gender, race, obsession, and odious coffee consumption into one splendid narrative, Lemus creates a story that you won't ever want to forget. Like Weston's photo of Nahui Olin, Lemus' novel will leave you feeling empty without it.
Chelsey Clammer is working on her MA in Women's Studies from Loyola Univerisity Chicago. When she's not working full time at the largest feminist bookstore in the nation, Women & Children First, she's working on finishing up her first novel. Chelsey's writing has been featured in Make/Shift magazine, www.chillmag.com, and the quarterly lesbian journal Sinister Wisdom.
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great review! i'm glad you mentioned the difficulty around describing it as a "trans" novel and how limiting those descriptions can be for the complexities of these characters and for the alternative/possible world views the story provides. i hope others read the book... i think i might go back and read it again with these thoughts of grief, gender, and politics more directly in mind.
It was interesting, she told many different interesting cases on work as it broke a screw-driver the lock on a suitcase as that got jammed as him arrested on border as it flied to New York and much still that.
Great review! I may have to read the book now.
Regards,
Nicole from part time jobs
i hope others read the book... i think i might go back and read it again with these thoughts of grief, gender, and politics more directly in mind.
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