coris's profile picture

coris 's review for:

Passing Strange by Ellen Klages
3.75

I'd recommend this to people wanting a historical, positive view of Sapphic relationships in 40s San Francisco ... flagging content warnings for
racism, homophobia and domestic abuse
in particular.  The characters are interesting, the plot vivid, yes sometimes people launch into relationships very quickly indeed ... and it wraps up neatly.  I especially enjoyed the descriptions of comic book art.

I would be less keen to recommend it to people attracted to any of the other genres -- sci-fi is a "blink and you'll miss it" explanation of
multi-dimensional theory
, magical realism & fantasy are "magic when it's plot-convenient".  

(Current hot take: books can't be both.  Either Magic is a Thing, in which case Fantasy ... or else it's a background quirk in an otherwise contemporary or historical story, in which case Magical Realism.)