[Victoria]

I enjoyed the book. I thought it was fun and quite charming. Though it was short, the descritive passages made the setting quite tangible, and appealing to read about. I liked all the characters.

I understand of the critiques, but I saw the book differently, and didn’t find either the gay or straight characters falling into stereotypes.

I didn’t think the scene with the pianist was just a device. It was distressing to read how the cop treated her, and I thought the author intentionally wanted to portray the abuse of power against lesbians in the 40s, and what was in store for her. It was awful to think about.

In terms of the two women, we were told Emily went home alone every night, though she had plenty of offers. Haskel had remained single for years. Emily wasn’t homeless; she just needed a place for the night. They had friends in common, etc., so crashing Haskel’s place seemed reasonable.

The connection between the two women actually began during the performance, before the fight. Emily recognized Haskel, saw how moved she was, and sang directly to her. Was their connection overly rushed? Well, people do hook up sometimes, and they were both young and functionally single. I can remember being young once too, lol, so it seemed plausible to me.

Like gmw, I thought that the childhood abuse was fuel for Haskel’s artwork. It functioned very similarly to the oppression and pain experienced by Kahlo and Rivera.

I didn’t think all the men and and straight people were abusive. Emily’s brother was loving, Rivera was good friend, Helen’s connections were kind, etc. Children, LGBT people and non-whites who have less social power experience more abuse - even more so in the 1940s - so its inclusion in the story seemed realistic to me.

Having a little magic thrown in was fun. Yes, it was cheating, and I usually hate Deus Ex Machina, but in this case it was satisfying. It was so implausible that I enjoyed it - like sticking my tongue out at the abusive and discriminatory laws of the day.

Sorry for being so longwinded. And I hope this doesn’t seem argumentative. I do appreciate the seriousness of stereotypes and can see how this book is open to that critque; I just saw the author’s intent differently.

PS: Just a quick postscript to say the magical escape, and the exploding painting reminded me of the movie “The Sting”.