Like Son (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: framed retablo, felicia luna lemus, sur mon pupitre, Nahui Olin, New York, Ash Wednesday (more...)

Editorial Reviews

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)
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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 Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (April 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933354216
• ISBN-13: 978-1933354217
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #693,018 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars good writing but not enough about trans issues, September 8, 2009

By	Nicole Baucom Hays (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a good book and Lemus is a good writer. She made me care enough about her characters that I wanted to find out what happened to them. I was excited about reading a story from the perspective of a transgendered person. Lemus did briefly touch on the main character, Frank, binding his chest and not comming out to his father. But I wanted more about how his transgenderedness affected his life. Certainly there are books with lesbian and gay main characters who don't have to discuss the impact of being a gay in great detail. But that is because lots of books have already done that. There has not been so much writing about transgendered people that it is not necessary to discuss the issue more if your main character is trans.
Lemus gives details of childhood sexual abuse but does not discuss how gender affected Frank's childhood. I get the impression that suggest she is suggesting that somehow transgenderedness comes out of abuse. Childhood sexual abuse is all too common, but does not cause gender identity issues.

Lemus is a good writer. I look forward to her future work. But what makes her main character interesting is his transgenderedness and there wasn't enough about that in book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Frighteningly Good Book!, November 12, 2008

By	Denise Clarke (Bronx) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.