A warrior's journey of a one-of-a-kind disconcerting individual, a transgender, biracial woman. Isolated, lonely and emotionally troubled, a stranger in her own body. Her crimes of violence are at first life-preserving and later become opportunistic, as she fights the obstacles that fuel her fear of returning to childhood misery.She begins her journey in a notorious Philipine prison for murder at a young age. After being selected to fight in the Muay Thai priosn circuit, she manages to travel to Bangkok where she tansitions sexes, and then comes to the U.S. to find her father, a former serviceman. Through over-coming countless obstacles she becomes a police officer in New Orleans.
Excerpt
You are never as different as you feel
Prologue
I know now this is the last chance I’ll have to tell my story. This isn’t the whole story, but it’s the only real account you’ll probably hear. I need to tell it now because I think my waiting is almost through. You know I’ve lived so many lives that I’m not even sure now if this one’s my real life, but I know it’s my last. And because I’ve lived so many lives, I know one thing for a fact; there’s freedom in not caring. When you don’t care, you can do anything you want. Anything, because you don’t care about the consequences.
I know I never cared about the price of freedom before. Just yesterday, I was planning to head straight to Mexico before they found me. But I think now I changed my mind. I’m too weary to start over again in another strange place, listening to another foreign language I don’t understand and knowing that one day when I’m not expecting it someone will spot me. Besides, where do you run to when you run away from a place that’s heaven compared to so many other places in the world?
Now I’m just lonely and worn-out, sitting here and waiting. The memories are unwavering; they cling to
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me demanding attention, in an endless loop. I awoke as soon as the light started streaming in this morning. I sit on my bed and stare out of the dirty window in my tiny rented room downtown. Yesterday I sat here all day. I didn’t realize I did until I saw that the sky turned dark. If I pass through this day again, I’ll finish another bottle, and go back to sleep to wait for another tomorrow. Somebody will show up for me eventually or I’ll take the easy way out and shut down those memories forever.
Maybe once you’ve heard how it all happened, you might even see it from my point of view; but I shouldn’t kid myself; you probably won’t. I am sure though, that you’ll most likely agree with me on this; I’m really no different from anybody else locked away doing time. The blue uniform and the badge let me collect a paycheck and whatever other advantage I could grab. In exchange, I kept my mouth shut and my eyes turned away just like I was told.
Actually, you could say that I just continued down the path I’d already begun in another place far away, when I was someone else. Who you really are doesn’t change, no matter what you look like on the outside. So, in the end, I realize you won’t feel much sympathy for me once I finish telling you how it all happened. Really, you shouldn’t, because I’m sure I’d do it all again if I could start over.
Professional Reviews
Reader's Favorite
Viga Boland
Review Rating:
5 Stars - Congratulations on your 5-star review!
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Reviewed By Viga Boland for Readers’ Favorite
If you’re going to write a long fiction crime thriller, you'd better make sure of three things: you have a really great plot, gripping characters, and most important of all, the skill to create a true page-turner. Well, Francine Rodriguez certainly followed that mandate in A Woman Like Me. What a read...so riveting that I nearly missed a doctor’s appointment when I couldn’t put the book down! Her un-named protagonist is based on the life of a real person, a former female cop currently on death row for several murders. What on earth happened in her life to bring her to this? Was it the fact that she was born in the slums of Manila where she had an early introduction to the life of crime that resulted in her murdering two people? And how does a murderer end up as a US cop whose eye-opening experiences as a female member of the force lead her to murder again? Enough of a thrilling plot for you? Believe me, that’s only part of the full story and if anyone doubts that adage “truth is stranger than fiction”, the truth in this book will change your mind.
But it’s not just the plot that keeps you turning the pages. It’s the character and motivations of the protagonist that capture your imagination. She is full of rage that she struggles to keep under control. She is desperate for an identity, a sense of worth, a feeling of belonging to a family, a group or a person who really cares about her. When she fails to find that after years of trying to do the right thing by and for others, to ultimately fit in somewhere and be loved, her world falls apart. Readers feel her pain, her sense of rejection and disappointment so acutely, there is no criticism, just sadness. Though the storyline is very different, what I felt after reading this novel was similar to what I took away from the true-story movie Monster with Charlize Theron.
The Woman in Me is also a sobering look at the sexual inequality so many women encounter, especially in both the military and police forces, where “having your brother’s back” too often takes precedence over doing what is right. Granted, this story takes place a couple of decades back and one would hope it’s not as bad being a female cop today as it was then, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Francine Rodriquez captures that inequality in unforgettable detail that leaves you thinking about what you have just read for days after. There is just enough description and realistic dialogue to establish the mood, the settings, and believable characters. Despite the fairly large amount of introspective reflection on the part of the protagonist, which authenticates her motivations and actions, The Woman in Me never bogs the reader down.
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Thanks so much for writing this. I have a daughter, 39 now, who is still thinking about becoming a cop. I’m making sure she reads your book!
Amazon Reader
"A Woman Like Me" takes the reader on a journey, a struggle, a discovery. It does this in much the same way as life does; gradually and almost inexorably. The reader is swept up in the protagonist’s events, struggles, victories, and developments. It’s only after a couple hundred pages, and in retrospect, that the reader appreciates just how much life our anti-heroine has lived.
The protagonist is a trans-gender woman, but this is neither a “trans” nor a “woman’s” tale. She is multi-racial, but the story is not about her being so. We are confronted with corruption at various levels, but do not expect a morality tale. The reader travels along with the heroine through numerous forms of exploitation and brutality, but the story does not focus on these. Rather, this is a personal story of one woman who just happens to be multi-racial and transgender, and is who making her way through a world where corruption, exploitation, evil and brutality confront her. Ms. Rodriguez draws the reader in naturally to empathize with the heroine, and thereby experience this world alongside her.
The reader’s journey spans decades and traverses continents. We travel through, and experience numerous rich, diverse cultures. More importantly, we follow the protagonist’s inner journey and growth. Ms. Rodriguez weaves a deep and richly textured tapestry of characters that our anti-heroine encounters. She weaves all the actors through the story so deftly that the reader never loses the forest for the trees.
This is a gritty, grimy and emotional warrior’s journey. One becomes emotionally invested in the heroine; not because she is wonderful or full of grace, but because she is a vulnerable human whose struggles, battles, suffering and hopes often resonate. We follow the protagonist and root for her because in her we see glimpses or different versions of ourselves.
This is a page-turner. Rodriguez guides the reader through an intricate, detailed and well fleshed-out journey without ever bogging down. As you follow this woman’s story you go beyond the role of a reader and become a passenger on her journey. As with her prior novel, "A Fortunate Accident," you will be sated but hungry to continue the journey.
Amazon Reader
I found the book an excellent read and highly recommend it.The book begins with the birth of the main character in the slums of Manila.The author
vividly describes in depth the main character of the story and his journey
and the cast of characters he meets in his journey to survive, using his wits,which tend to lead to violence.
He is incarcerated for murder as a teenager. The author continues the character developement as begins his real education,where he is introduced to kick boxing
and thru a chance encounter with a tranny inmate comes to a self realization that he wants to change genders.
The story line details his escape from prison and his eventual trip to New Orleans, in search of his birth father.
She joins the New Orleans Police and joins Blue Fraternity The story of her venture in the police force,is a clever
adaption from a true case of murder by a female police officer in New Orleans.The story concludes with the protagonist moving to Los Angles,to escape.People that like fiction,will enjoy this novel.
to the seedier sites of Los Angles,which the author appears to be familiar with.
Ireland 1945. Florence Kite finds a letter and her whole world crumbles. Marcus Fanning was her real father. But twenty-five years ago, Marcus Fanning vanished off the face of the earth.
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