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Lola Dances
Lola Dances by Victor J. Banis http://www.vjbanis.com
Purchase at: http://www.mlrpress.com
Sometimes funny, sometimes tragic and often bawdy, Lola Dances ranges from the 1850 slums of the Bowery to the mining camps of California and Montana, to the Barbary Cost of San Francisco. Little Terry Murphy, pretty and effeminate, dreams of becoming a dancer. Raped by a drunken profligate and threatened with prison, Terry flees the Bowery and finds himself in the rugged settlement of Alder Gulch, where he stands out like a sore thumb among the camp's macho inhabitants - until the day he puts on a dress and dances for the unsuspecting miners as beautiful Lola Valdez...
Review: 5 Stars - A character to love and inspire
I'll just say how much I loved - and found so easy to love! - the main character Terry/Lola. His struggle was distressing but I found I sympathised with him without feeling pity or condescension - he battled back every time, struggling physically and emotionally to understand what was happening in his life, to decide what he wanted, to make the best of what he had. He was a really tough young man, even if he didn't realize it himself. Far tougher than the men who bullied him in one way or another. Excellent writing from Victor Banis, though I expected nothing less. I've enjoyed all the books of his that I've read. His style is deceptively easy to read, but it's not lightweight at all - his characters get under your skin, they amuse, engage and enchant. What I came away with from Lola Dances was how Brian and Joshua were so emotionally affected by Terry, whether they wanted to be or not - but whereas Terry grew away from that and became successful, it ate away at them and blighted the rest of their lives. For me it highlighted delightfully the difference between their selfishness and greed and Terry's indomitable spirit. And, incidentally, Terry's transformation into Lola was just magnificent!
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