“Just hand me my walker, child.”
“I think it’s funny that you still call me ‘child’.”
“If I can remember when you was a child and I wasn’t a child myself at the time, then you’re a child.”
Hypnotizing Chickens by Julia Watts is a lesbian romance novel that is so much more than that. Chrys, the heroine, is at one of those lifetime crossroads where you have to sit down and think about which parts of your past you’re going to take into your future. When her doctor girlfriend of six years dumps her for a nurse half her age, and her aging, ailing grandmother fires her aide for stealing her pain pills, the broken pieces of life come together to send Chrys home for the summer to take care of Nanny. The romance that ensues is with Nanny’s physical therapist, the divorced mother Dee, but the romance is only one part of the very complete package that isChickens.
Author Julia Watts does a phenomenal job of bringing rural Kentucky to life, as well as all those family moments I know all too well — octogenarian grandparents needing help in bathrooms designed for people without mobility problems, loved ones who say ‘friend’ when they mean partner or spouse because they’re trying their hardest but still have to meet you where they are, and food you remember from childhood. This isn’t just a book about two women meeting and falling in love. It’s a book about a woman looking for the next direction her life will take; it’s a book about family and how even when they’re frustrating there is still sometimes a whole gallon of love to go around; it’s a book about having the pride not to be ashamed of things that have meaning to you or where you came from even if someone you care about is looking on them with disdain.
This story has probably been done before, with straight people. Dumped woman goes home to the couuuuntry to lick her wounds, eat some greasy food, and find true love. But I want this story for us. I love seeing stories where lesbians and bisexual women have families, friends, and a community, instead of just being isolated into stories where we only exist in order to get into romances. That’s why I wish this book was a movie. I can hear the twangy country soundtrack now — with all female vocalists, of course! — and I can see the gorgeous vistas of the countryside in my mind.
This isn’t a book free from any reference to homophobia, but it’s dealt with realistically, and it never takes over the story. I won’t promise you’ll like Chrys’s family — her father is, as she describes it, one of those hypocritical right-wingers who vote for people who wind up hurting them economically — but she likes them, and they like her. And you can see they’re making an effort.
I want this book to do well. When I was looking up the author this morning I found out she’d written “La Belle Rose”, one of the two stories I liked in the Once Upon a Dyke anthology. I’d check that one out, too, if you have time.
Shira Glassman 
loved ones who say ‘friend’ when they mean partner or spouse
This reminds me of my grandmother, except she did this for all of her grandkids, gay or straight. She couldn’t remember all the names and figured she didn’t want to step on any toes but also didn’t want to keep up with who was calling this person their “girlfriend” and who preferred “partner” or “spouse.” She was just like, “these kids today and all their labels for their relationships. I don’t even.”
This sounds like an awesome book! I need some more non-depressing rural LGBT in my life!
I can hear the twangy country soundtrack now — with all female vocalists, of course! — and I can see the gorgeous vistas of the countryside in my mind.
Speaking from experience, there’s nothing better than blasting lesbian country music…ESPECIALLY when you’re riding in a vehicle with your family. 😀
No, it’s REALLY GOOD. Read it. I want it to do well. I was still thinking about its world and its characters the next day, you know? Like, when things are really good but they’re kinda obscure it almost gives me this sense of panic like “eep, it’s ALL UP TO ME!” lol.
I’m open to recs of lesbian country music. Having grown up playing fiddle has given me a taste for twang, but so much of it is really Christian and conservative. Meep.
Like, when things are really good but they’re kinda obscure it almost gives me this sense of panic like “eep, it’s ALL UP TO ME!” lol.
I know that feel. 😀
It’s usually wrong, but it’s nice to get excited about things!
Well, there is definitely a lot out there and it gets play on regular public radio here (we’re the country that gave the world k.d. lang after all). I will think about recommendations.
However, this is the song I played with my mother in the car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj6kP8XI0xE
It became like her favorite song of that camping trip. 🙂