| | |  | | Home » Lilac Mines: A Novel | | | | | | | Description: | | “Klein’s characters are compelling, one and all.”—San Diego Union-Tribune "A quirky, quickly paced story of a young woman ending a relationship with a young woman then developing a relationship with another young woman: herself. Klein’s first book, The Commuters, was a fine debut. Second books aren’t necessarily as good. In this case, it’s better."--Noel Alumit, Frontiers Felix Ketay, a twenty-five-year-old Los Angeles dyke, has her foundations shaken when she’s ditched by her pomosexual girlfriend and then gay-bashed on the streets of West Hollywood. Felix’s old-school lesbian aunt, Anna Lisa Hill, ran away from home in 1965 at age nineteen and ended up in Lilac Mines, a small town in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills with a small but tight-knit butch/femme community. When Felix joins her aunt in Lilac Mines hoping to discover a place of respite, Anna Lisa proves stand-offish, so Felix devotes herself to investigating the town’s one hundred-year-old mystery: the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Lilac Ambrose in the mine shafts that run beneath the mountain. Felix learns that finding an authentic history is never easy, but Lilac Mines—with its abandoned mines, unknowable secrets, and the occasional quirky-cute thrift store employee—might not be such a bad place to try. Cheryl Klein is a shameless Angeleno, quiet pescatarian, and shameful tabloid reader. She lives in Los Angeles where she is West Coast director of Poets & Writers, Inc.
| | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Cheryl Klein | | Paperback:
| 352 pages | | Publisher:
| Manic D Press, Inc. | | Publication Date:
| June 01, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1933149310 | | Product Length:
| 8.4 inches | | Product Width:
| 5.5 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.8 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.9 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.4 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.95 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 8 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 8 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Funny and rich, an unusual bookAug 27, 2009
By Jake Dante
"jake"
Lilac Mines sneaks up on you. Reading it, I would admire a sentence here or there and really enjoyed the story. Then I finished it. Only weeks later, when I was still thinking about a few characters, did I realize how resonant it was. The writing reminded me of one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Lethem. I wouldn't necessarily point all Lethem fans toward Cheryl Klein, but I might. Like his novels, Lilac Mines is about a smart-but-flawed young hipster trying to make their way through the world as they get a little older and their pop culture references don't save them. The difference being Lethem is obsessed with the plight of the boy, and Klein's characters are predominantly girls--all kinds of girls, hip, quiet, loud, slow, whipsmart, sad, pissed off, pleasantly hip, unpleasantly hip, whatever. You get flashbacks to the 60s and 70s, flashforwards to the beginning of the 21st century. Small towns, big cities. It's not a sprawling, mammoth novel but it has the richness of one. Really, a great read.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Revealing and Reveling in HistoryJan 24, 2010
By Lara Zielinsky
Lilac Mines was born a boomtown in the mining period of the late 1800s. Its boon was a silver mine. Lilac Ambrose was a miner's daughter who vanished into the mine in 1899. The novel Lilac Mines, Cheryl Klein's first novel, plays out against the backdrop of uncovering what happened to young Miss Ambrose by two different generations of women, who happen to be aunt and niece.
In 2002, Felix, an androgynous mostly comfortable gay young woman, is out partying one night with her friends when she is attacked on her way to her car -- in mostly gay-safe Los Angeles. This throws her life and outlook into a tailspin. She resists then accepts her mother's suggestion to visit her aunt Anna Lisa out of town until she can get it back together. Something of a city versus country life clash is certainly bound to ensue as she drives off in her lavender Beetle for rural Lilac Mines.
The reader experiences the revelations of both Felix and Anna Lisa's life in alternating chapters and in the present tense. The immediacy of the approach draws the reader in deeply and quickly. The detail is rich and real. The narrative voices are authentic for both Felix and Anna Lisa. And as Felix and Anna Lisa -- separately in their own eras -- uncover more and more about Lilac Ambrose's short town-inspiring life, they are inspired to recreate their own lives with a purpose and meaning unique to them.
The book solidly comes together -- just as Felix and Anna Lisa do -- in the final chapters. And Felix's final "here's what I think happened" in the story of Lilac Ambrose and Calla Hogane, daughter of the local newspaper family, fills the characters and the reader with a sense of accomplishment. Not only has a more than one hundred year old mystery been resolved, but a comfort with their own lives and choices, and each other, has been achieved.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
California DreaminJun 20, 2010
By E. B. MULLIGAN
"Bronwyn"
Great reviews already posted (beware of spoilers!) and they all sum up the book very well from different directions.
I enjoyed this novel. I wouldn't classify it as a romance, I think it better belongs in General Literature.
Several story lines are set within, and without, a family and California.
In no particular order we have twenty-five year old Felix who has been dumped by her girlfriend, Los Angeles circa 2002. Felix is a great character and a unique individual with a good heart who sports a quirky appearance and a quirky outlook on life.
In 1965 her mother's sister Anna Lisa left home (Fresno, California) at age 19. We learn Anna Lisa's epic story over the course of the novel and it is a terrific one.
Lastly we learn about sixteen year old Lilac, who in 1899 vanished from the town Anna Lisa came to call home.
Fascinating characters all and I am glad I discovered this author who has a love affair with words and shares them with the reader. The author totally scored points with me for having Anna Lisa read 'The Girls in 3-B' by pulp classic author Valerie Taylor, who also wrote the classic 'Whisper Their Love'. Awesome !
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
This one requires concentrationApr 04, 2010
By Sage320
Lilac Mines is a dense story to read. It's not that 352 pages are that long, but the material requires concentration and assimilation of a number of details.
Felix Ketay isn't prepared for the changes that occur in her life. First, her girlfriend runs off to Europe with a female punk rocker and Felix can't stop obsessing over that. Then her friends try to distract her by taking her for a night out at a lesbian bar and she becomes the victim of a vicious gay bashing. She doesn't feel safe at home, she doesn't feel safe going to work and her parents are driving her crazy. When her mother suggests she spend some time with her seldom seen Aunt Anna Lisa in a backwater town called Lilac Mines, Felix agrees more with dread than an eagerness to visit a relative.
Lilac Mines is an unusual town. It takes its name from the mysterious disappearance of a young girl in a nearby mine and the name may explain why the town is a magnet for lesbians in two different time periods. Anna Lisa has seen one period pass and the next one arrive in the form of her niece and if she's learned anything, it's to keep a low profile. Felix comes into a town that is haunted by the mystery and in denial of what is going on right in front of it. As she tries to solve what happened to Lilac Ambrose and unravel the truth about her aunt, she finds that she learns even more about herself.
Klein sets her story in three different time periods, the late 1890s, the 1960s and the present. By alternating chapters from each period she weaves them together to create a single theme - growth. Lilac Mines itself grows and shrinks, coming back stronger with each incarnation. The book also addresses the growth of the lesbian experience, starting with that period when the culture was dominated by "butches and femmes" who had to deal with a society that hated and persecuted them openly and coming into the future where the situation is better, if still not yet perfect. Anna Lisa, as the one who straddles the two periods, shows the most growth and confusion. Klein apparently doesn't expect the reader to like all of her characters, but they are written in a way to make the reader listen to their points of view.
There is a lot to digest in this novel. At times it appears to be wandering around and the reader may wonder where all of this is heading. This is one that has to be read carefully and then thought about before the entire story is appreciated. This is definitely not a book for a casual reading.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Engaging Mystery, Fantastic Character DevelopmentNov 10, 2009
By BlabsOnBooks
I just finished reading Lilac Mines by Cheryl Klein and I loved it! The story takes place in two different time periods, focusing on two different character experiences, Felix and Anna Lisa. In the beginning of the story Felix has just been dumped by her girlfriend and she goes out clubbing with her friends to try and ease the heartbreak. She ends up getting mugged by two men. Shocked she decides to visit her aunt Anna Lisa who lives in a small town in California called Lilac Mines. Anna Lisa is also a lesbian and Felix expects that they will have a great time bonding. It turns out that Anna Lisa isn't as friendly as expected. Felix tries to adjust to life in Lilac Mines and learns about the history of the town. The town is named after Lilac Ambrose who disappeared in the mines in the early 19th century. Felix is intrigued by what may have happened to Lilac and is determined to solve the mystery.
The book also contains chapters in Anna Lisa's perspective and how she came to Lilac Mines in the 1960s. Anna Lisa ran away from her home in Fresno to be free from her suburban lifestyle. She goes to Lilac Mines and meets two girls who take her to the local lesbian bar. Anna Lisa discovers that she is a lesbian and a butch. There is still at lot of prejudice at that time so she has to hide her relationships. Towards the end of the book we find out what happened to Lilac Ambrose in an incredible parallel between the two main characters.
Lilac Mines is an enthralling story about love, loss, and acceptance. It is engaging and each of the character's voices comes through loud and strong. Klein paints a realistic tale that will capture the reader's attention and emotions.
BOTTOM LINE
I would suggest Lilac Mines to anyone interested in women's studies and anyone who likes a great story to read and get caught up in. You will find yourself thinking about these characters long after you have finished the book.
See all 8 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| | |
|
