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I’ve been an avid Block fan since a friend had me read Violet & Claire in 2001, after which I went out and bought all the books on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. Hanged Man has always been one of my favorites. It’s always struck me as odd, as it’s one of the touchier subjects, centering around molestation and repressed memories, but I suppose I felt I could identify, and her writing is just incredible.
As per usual with FLB books, her style is unique. Reality meats fantasy, poetry meets prose.
Laurel’s father has died, and she and her mother spend their days floating around one another, like ships anchored just out of reach, or at sea always passing but never meeting. The AIDS scare has begun, and Laurel worries for her friends and their wild lifestyles. Though constantly urged otherwise, she doesn’t eat. A man has been going around the valley breaking into women’s rooms, and Laurel can’t sleep, though her room is in a tower.
Phantasmic Jack haunts her dreams, appears at random at parties, on the streets. It’s he who eventually helps her to break free of her internal bars, to let go of everything held inside. Only after this point can she and her mother then confront what’s been between them for so long.
Laurel’s emotional journey will likely resonate with many, even if they can’t relate to her specific circumstances. The language alone makes it worth the read. I have a handful of favorite authors, but I’ve still yet to find anyone who can out-style Francesca Lia Block.
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March 15th, 2007
8:37 am
Book Review, Staff Favorites
california, death/loss, faeries, fantasy, francesca lia block, friendship, high school, motion pictures, realistic, ya fiction
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This is the book that started my obsession with Francesca Lia Block. After I read it, on a friend’s recommendation, I went out and bought all the rest of her books out at the time.
Violet wants to make movies. She views all of her life through eyes trained to this purpose. And while she’s had episodes that would add to a script, she finds her life mostly lacking in the requisite conflict and love interest categories. She also has no one to work with.
And then she spots Claire. Blonde, unknowingly pretty, surrounded by jerks. Violet comes to her rescue, and they become immediate friends. A new sensation for both of them. Violet is generally misunderstood, disliked and feared. Claire has never fit in.
While she doesn’t see life the way Violet does, she’s eager to try to help with the movie. And so the adventures begin. A trip to a transvestite bar, an underground concert, where Violet makes off with the lead singer, who spurns her, though she manages to turn it to her advantage.
She takes a job as a receptionist with an agent, who agrees in turn to help her with her script. Instead, he gives her a new story, and in the end, her movie becomes something much different than her original intent.
Claire, cut out of much of Violet’s life and time, is feeling lost. She has her poetry class–originally a joint venture with Claire, and her poetry teacher, but it isn’t the same. She’s worried about her friend, but doesn’t know what to do.
When her teacher also abandons her, and for another student, Claire is overcome. Violet, having had enough of her lot, is also at a tipping point. But there make-up goes awry when Claire spies Violet with Peter. An event innocent enough, but how would she know that from the shadows?
Her night takes many dangerous turns, and ends with another daring rescue by Violet. But the damage is still too great.
In the end, friendship triumphs, and a new and brighter life awaits the pair.
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Marina’s relationship with her brother Lex has always been different than that of normal siblings. Therefore, it’s not a shock to anyone when she takes his apparent suicide so hard. But there’s more to the story than anyone knows. At least, so she thinks.
As Marina delves deeper into the mystery, struggling to understand what happened to her brother, hidden truths come to light. But none so large as those learned when she takes off to visit her father.
This is a story of love: how it can raise you up and pull you down, heal you and break you.
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Psyche loses her first love to self-doubt, sure that she can’t be enough for a god. After he leaves, she sets about punishing herself in hopes of getting him back. She travels through Orpheus, Hades, her mother, Demeter. Eventually, she moves back home to work for her stepmother, who is fond of turning her into flowers and other things with which to make her dresses. But even Aphrodite can see how Psyche suffers, and one day brings her a book. A book so much like her life that she writes the author, and they agree to meet.
Finally, she has found her Eros. And is content in knowing that when he leaves this time, she will have a part of him with her always. Their child.
Follow her journey, in this modern retelling of popular greek myths.
Forewarning: there are brief instances where the language is fairly expicit; therefore, I would probably recommend this book for older teens only. But it’s only a couple of words, and it’s only a couple of times.
Any FLB lover will definitely appreciate Psyche. But it’s not Weetzie Bat, I guess that’s all I’m saying.
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An intertwining tale of two magical and troubled lives, Ruby is a gripping mix of fantasy and reality.
Ruby has always been different. Not just because she hides things.
She sees things. She hears things. She knows things. Her father has always ignored it. But she knows it’s real.
She moves across the country, to LA, to take a job as a nanny. She wants to be able to leave herself behind. An ex-boyfriend shows up at her employer’s door. Some things are easier said than done.
She leave LA and travels to England. Here the magic is stronger than ever. In the midst of what feels like only lies, she finds a family, her dream, and even herself. What started as a good cover story turns into a reality, freeing her from life-long demons.
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Witch Baby always felt out of place. With her tangled up hair and purple eyes and anger, she was never as soft and gentle as her almost-mom Weetzie, or her half-sister Cherokee. Only Angel Juan could ever make her feel like she belonged. So when he tells her he’s leaving, that he needs to go to New York and be on his own, she can’t understand, and runs away. When she wakes up and realizes she didn’t get to say goodbye, she decides she’s going to follow and look for him.
When no letters follow his first postcard to her, she becomes even more frantic, and knows she has to go. She asks permission to stay in Charlie Bat’s apartment, and sets off for the city.
Upon arrival she metts Meadows and Mallard, two kindly gentlemen who take care of Charlie’s apartment during the year. They take her to dinner, but as it turns out, they’re Ghost Hunters, and are off to Ireland. Witch Baby would wallow in her aloneness, if not for the appearance of a spectral Charlie.
With his help, Witch Baby wanders the city, usually searching for Angel Juan, sometimes sidetracked by her Ghostly Grandfather, but almost always gaining a new appreciation for life.
In the end, she follows her heart, which leads her to Angel Juan, and to some realizations about the dangers of the way she wants to cling to him and keep him to herself.
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