Felicia Luna Lemus

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Like Son, a novel
by Felicia Luna Lemus



Set amidst the outsider worlds of present-day downtown New York, 1990s Los Angeles, and 1920s Mexico City, Like Son is the not-so-simple story of a father, a son, and the love-blindness shared between them.

Meet Frank Cruz: a post-punk, sardonic, thirty-year-old who unwittingly inherits his dead father's legacy. Born a bouncing baby girl named Francisca to parents tangled in a doomed love affair, Frank grows up in both the poorest barrios and poshest hills of Southern California. A defiant loner, Frank leaves home at the age of eighteen for the big city, but instead is sucked back into helping his estranged and blind father navigate an untimely death. On his deathbed, Frank's father gives him a mysterious crumbling photograph of a woman with a stunning gaze: Nahui Olin, a captivating member of the early-20th-century Mexican avant-garde who once brought tragedy upon the Cruz family.

Punctured to his core by Nahui, Frank takes her portrait and flees to New York City to start anew--this time for real. There he meets eccentric, gorgeous, and sharp-tongued Nathalie. The two fall in love, but after seven years of happy-go-lucky life together, in September 2001 the New York skyline tumbles, and Frank finds himself smack in the middle of his predestined fate.




* * Felicia reads from Like Son * *


(click here for podcast)





"Lemus doesn't waste a word in this smart novel."
-Publishers Weekly


"[A] powerfully written chronicle of love."
-Booklist


"Lemus is a writer with a serious voice."
-Time Out New York


"A writer with an unparalleled literary style and attitude, Felicia Luna Lemus comes charging full force."
-El Paso Times


"[A] must read book."
-Latina Magazine


"Felicia Luna Lemus is a literary alchemist: she combines words that you never before thought could exist in the same sentence. She breaks all the rules and makes you wonder why you thought there were any. But enough about her style...The characters in Like Son are truly original creations—it would take a heart of stone not to love them."
-Vendela Vida, author of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name


"Felicia Luna Lemus' fresh yet plain-spoken prose roots us in today's sad and sweeping chaos, as hope, love, and wild myth propel her unique characters into an unknown future. Like Son is a sweet song of a story."
-Michelle Tea, author of Rose of No Man's Land


"Felicia Luna Lemus’ Like Son is a love story that, like a psychic’s trick, leaves nothing unbent: not gender, not culture north and south of the border, not time, or friendship, not even love itself. Don’t try to understand how it happens; just watch, and be amazed."
-Paul La Farge, author of Haussmann, or the Distinction


"Like Son moves on the wings of a soulful, visceral kind of androgeny. Old men, young men, hot girls--all step forward and sing from their stuttering hearts. Like Son is one terrific read."
-Eileen Myles, author of Cool for You


"Like Son is revelatory: a truly original exploration of the complex relationships that shape a wonderfully complicated protaganist. This is intimate storytelling of the best kind."
-Joe Meno, author of Hairstyles of the Damned




praise for
Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties


“Lemus is a truly talented storyteller. Highly recommended.”
-Library Journal


“Spry debut from a writer who’s got the skills.”
-Kirkus Reviews


“An edgy, exuberant debut novel. The sex is fun, rollicking and a little dangerous; the characters are young and guardedly optimistic…this is an intriguing novel sure to attract readers searching for something urban, lively and a bit different.”
-Publishers Weekly


“Lemus’ debut has a breezy tone that keeps the pages turning.”
-Booklist


“Bursting at the seams with pizzazz and invention...”
-The San Francisco Chronicle


“An edgy and risky debut that leaps over clichés and lands in the center of the modern-day intricacies of a new generation…Felicia Luna Lemus will indeed be declared a trail-blazing writer.”
-El Paso Times


“[O]ffers deep insights into familia and cultura without an ounce of heavy-handedness.”
-Latina Magazine


“Dares to be bold.”
-Hispanic Magazine







* * anthologies * *

 
 
 
 
 



All Content © 2004 by Felicia Luna Lemus