At first I didn't like this because it's pretty hard to understand starting in medias res, namedropping characters without introducing them, glamorous words from the 30s that I've never heard of like kelsomine and alpargatas and brush agent and lorgnette... But once I understood the writing wasn't bad it was just trying to be modernist I ended up really enjoying this. I really came to appreciate Gale's use of language, it's minimalist and feels sloppy but under the hood is very carefully calculated and crafted, I don't know how else she draws such beauty from such simple phrases. I found it very romantic (if a little melodramatic)! And an interesting portrait of a time period that I knew little about. The book isn't about being gay, it's just a story that happens to gay characters. I appreciated this, because modern queer literature so often devolves into polemics-- I don't even think this book had the word "gay" or "lesbian" in it! On that note, the book doesn't end with a heterosexual cop out, like most lez pulps do.I mean it's not your stock 'happy ending' but it does affirm the characters' homosexuality (or in one case bisexuality) without the usual moralizing. ( )