The same publisher rep who sent me Pantsuit Nation may have sent me more than a few other books as well! He officially retired on April 1st and my guess is, that after telling him repeatedly that he worked for my favorite of the publishers, he threw some caution to the wind and sent me well over half of my lengthy “wish list” for the spring and summer season, including Passing Strange!
Synopsis
San Francisco in 1940 is a haven for the unconventional. Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the world’s fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet.
Six women find their lives as tangled with each other’s as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where magic, science, and art intersect.
Review
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 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.
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Celebration of Books 