Underrated Authors- Francesca Lia Block
Hello Friends!
Do you guys find an author and realize that you absolutely love their style of writing? Next thing you know you're at your local bookstore, library, or even online trying to figure out what of their writing to read next? I know I do, mostly because I can be picky about writing styles.
When I was in middle school I was obsessed with a writer I found while browsing my local library. Now keep in mind, that was the early 2000's and for me, it didn't feel like there was a lot of Middle Grade- Young Adult books that I was super interested in. I'd outgrown the babysitters club, but I wasn't ready for those small mass produced books that have the tiniest font. None of the "classics" for young literature interested me either. Fortunately, in my tiny town I found Violet & Clair by Francesca Lia Block. That book completely changed how I read in middle school and through part of high school.
Block's writing was whimsical, magical, but still had such a darkness to it. She would write about abuse, but there would be fairies and Greek gods. I was just learning about sex and her stories talked about how the lines between love and lust can be so muddy. Her characters would be such feminist before feminism became the statement it is now.
All of her writing could easily be classified as Young Adult, despite some of the heavier stuff in them for younger teens. It blurs the line between Fantasy and contemporary because of the gods, magical creatures, and fairies.
I think Francesca Lia Block is an underrated author, and I wanted to shine some light and do mini-reviews on all of her work that I've read over the last 10+ years.
Violet & Claire (Published in 2000)
This was my first book reading by Block. The story starts out with Violet, a rich kid living in L.A. who is obsessed with film. Her dream is to become a screenplay writer, drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarintino. She is completely friendless at her high school, until Clair shows up in a Tinkerbell shirt (wings and all) and becomes Violet's muse for her new movie.
Being the sophisticated one of the pair, Violet opens up Claire to the world of being a rich kid in a big city and the two grow close, until Violet lands in the hands of Mr. Richter. Violet starts to grow up, faster than every Claire starts to feel left behind. She finds solace in her poetry class, specifically with her teacher, Mr. Brookman. Being the more innocent and naive of the pair, Claire ends up being heartbroken by her poetry teacher, after she finds out he's more interested in any new girl in the class, not just her.
As Violet feels herself loosing control and Claire reflects on the feeling of abandonment, the duo realize how much they truly rely on each other and how they've both grown from their friendship.
Although there are topics of suicide, murder, and sexual conduct; this is certainly one of Block's more neutral reads and I think it's fitting for young teenagers.
I Was a Teenage Fairy (Published in 2000)
I've read this book a few times and it's one of the darker pieces of Blocks writing in my opinion. She starts off by describing the setting by comparing Los Angeles and the valley and two sisters, one older and more glamorous and the other the younger, peaceful sister.
Within the story we follow Barbie from childhood to her teenage years. The daughter of a pushy, ex-model mother and nearly absent to actually absent father, Barbie has a hopefuly career to become a child superstar. To cope with the turmoil of her family life, Barbie finds Mab, a little fairy that hides in her garden at home. Mab is the complete opposite of sweet, quiet Barbie. For only being the size of your pinky-finger, she serves sass and encourages Barbie to stand up for herself.
Still innocent to the predators of the world, Barbie agrees to meet a world renowned photographer who ends up changing Barbie's life, and not necessarily for the better. We fast forward to Barbie as a teenager, and still feeling the guilt of her past she is careless as a young girl in such a large city. She meets Griffin and Todd, two film maker friends who she finds courage through to fight the demons from her past.
I would say this book is better for the young adult audience since it does have trigger warnings for sexual abuse, child molestation, and rape.
The Rose & The Beast (Originally Published in 2000)
This is a collection of Fairy Tale retelling, each one super short. The theme of the stories vary greatly between each tale, Sleeping Beauty is a drug addict and Thumbelina is just as whimsical as the original (by original I mean the 1994 animated version).Overall I have mixed feelings because although they are a mixture of more lighthearted fairy tales and darker, modern ones; they're all incredibly short. I would be reading through Thumbelina, get onto the next story and then onto the next and instead of focusing on Cinderella or Little Red Riding hood, I'd wish that Thumbelina would have kept going. If you read them one at a time, spaced out or used them for inspiration I think they'd be okay but as a short story, they're far too short.
Ruby (Published in 2006- I know, quite the jump)
The beginning of Ruby does a lot of reflecting on Ruby's childhood. We find that her father is physically abusive to both Ruby and her sister, Opal (cool names, I know). There are a lot of scenes showing examples of when her father would hit her or her sister, Ruby being a little more defiant than the older Opal. Throughout her entire childhood though, Ruby has always known she was slightly different, feeling magic in her veins and the "knowing" in her heart.
Opal leaves the house for school, leaving Ruby alone to bear the wrath of her father and the injustice she felt growing up. As soon as she graduates, Ruby is out of there, driving to L.A. with her cousin. There, while working as a live-in nanny, she finds Orion Wolfe; mega super star, most eligible bachelor. Right then she knows, she has to find him.
Ruby packs up her life and flies to England, on the false notion that she's a writer she ends up in the tiny English countryside village that Orion grew up in. Everything lays out far too easy, meeting Orion's parents, they welcome Ruby into their lives without the knowledge of Ruby's true intentions. Through magic, ghosts, and love, Ruby tackles her inner demons and finds her true love.
This book is not as whimsical as most of the rest of Francesca's writing, despite the wiccan references. There is sexual abuse, physical abuse, rape, and incest within the story; so I would suggest the reader that leans more towards young adult rather than middle grade. I would say at this point was Block's peak in writing because all three books of hers that I will mention were my favorites.
Necklace of Kisses - Weetzie Bat #6 (Published in 2006)
I would like to preface this review by stating, the Weetzie Bat series, though I have not read the original, is by far my favorite piece of Block's writing I've read so far. When Block writes about these characters, you can tell she's in her element and has the super whimsical themes that I love her for.
Necklace of Kisses is a book about Weetzie, but Weetzie has grown up and is having a little bit of a "mid life crisis". She doesn't tell her family where she's going, just her best friend and co-owner of her little boutique. She ends up at a magical hotel for a week where she meets many different guests. We go through each guests story, some of them are mythical creatures with terrible pasts or stuck in harmful relationships. As Weetzie helps each guest she encounters, they kiss her to give her a jewel for her necklace of kisses. At the end, Weetzie really reflects on her relationships at home, with her Secret Agent Lover Man and her children, and all the obstacles her family had overcome over the years.
Although this book is a continuation of the Weetzie Bat series, I don't think it's necessary to read books 1-5 or even the stories about her children. This is a very whimsical book, there is some talk of abuse but I think the content is mild enough to get a PG-13 rating. I highly suggest if you pick up any of Block's writing, pick up the Weetzie Bat series, including this book.
Psyche in a Dress (Originally published in 2006)
I am a pretty big fan of Greek mythology, and if you tie it into modern times it makes it even better.
Now Psyche in a dress was a little hard for me to follow and I'm really glad I re-read it. It starts with our character being Psyche, talking about her father being a film maker who killed her sisters and mother because you know... film makers are psychos.
As the story progresses, each chapter is our characters transforming to another Greek legend. We move from legends like Orpheus, Echo, Persephone and then transfer to their counterpart in the story such as; Hades, Eurydice, Narcissus. It's set in modern day L.A., and the characters are super fluid.
This is another story that Block is super whimsical, punk girl meets go-go dancer in her writing. It also switches from a poem format to a full on novel format; with full paragraphs and chapters. None of the themes are very dark, there is mention of drug abuse and consensual sex, but again it's not graphic enough that young adults couldn't read it.
The Water and the Wild (Published in 2009)
Out of all the books I've mentioned so far, this book is actually labeled as a Children's book on amazon. It doesn't talk about sex, drugs, or violence; and it's super fast to read. It's 128 pages with big font and some spacing reminiscent of page minimums in high school (getting creative to reach that 5 page minimum on something boring like photosynthesis).
Our main character is Bee, who feels like an outcast but wants to please her parents and try to make friends and fit in. Shortly into the book, Bee makes two friends who are also outcasts. The story progresses with a little bit of magic and Bee falling sick. When Bee emerges healthy back at school, suddenly she is part of the popular crowd.
Although this was the tiniest of the stories I read, it was also the hardest. There were a lot of loose ends, like we never really find out what happens to Bee, and the writing is really disjointed. The only theme I can really find in the writing is regarding puberty, which is why I think it fits in the Children's book category. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this book, even to a child going through puberty, simply because it doesn't make sense and isn't helpful in any way.
Beyond The Pale Motel (Published in 2014)
Ah, the book that prompted this post. I already have a review up for this book but I wanted to include it on this list as well. I've always wanted to return to Block's writing, mainly because I remember really enjoying how fantastic and magical she can make something like the gritty part of L.A. sound. As I mentioned before, I accidentally purchased this as an e-book.
Block's writing had really transformed since Necklace of Kisses to Beyond the Pale Motel. I believe a lot of it was trying to change her targeted audience from young adult to mystery/thriller. For me, I think the biggest let down was that her magic and flower-child-a-go-go writing went out the window and now this was a generic thriller novel that felt more problematic than interesting.
I didn't like the characters, the plot was boring, and Catt seemed like a terrible person to follow. The ending wasn't what I expected, but I think that was because at a certain point my brain was on auto-pilot.
Overall, I do think Block's writing is worth checking out. Her writing is colorful, creative, and super intriguing. You should tread carefully depending on what you're looking for. I hope this post, though super long was helpful.
Let me know if you liked it in the comments below, I already have another author in mind to do this post for and I'd be more than happy to make this a series.
Thanks for reading! See you soon!
Do you guys find an author and realize that you absolutely love their style of writing? Next thing you know you're at your local bookstore, library, or even online trying to figure out what of their writing to read next? I know I do, mostly because I can be picky about writing styles.
When I was in middle school I was obsessed with a writer I found while browsing my local library. Now keep in mind, that was the early 2000's and for me, it didn't feel like there was a lot of Middle Grade- Young Adult books that I was super interested in. I'd outgrown the babysitters club, but I wasn't ready for those small mass produced books that have the tiniest font. None of the "classics" for young literature interested me either. Fortunately, in my tiny town I found Violet & Clair by Francesca Lia Block. That book completely changed how I read in middle school and through part of high school.
Block's writing was whimsical, magical, but still had such a darkness to it. She would write about abuse, but there would be fairies and Greek gods. I was just learning about sex and her stories talked about how the lines between love and lust can be so muddy. Her characters would be such feminist before feminism became the statement it is now.
All of her writing could easily be classified as Young Adult, despite some of the heavier stuff in them for younger teens. It blurs the line between Fantasy and contemporary because of the gods, magical creatures, and fairies.
I think Francesca Lia Block is an underrated author, and I wanted to shine some light and do mini-reviews on all of her work that I've read over the last 10+ years.
This was my first book reading by Block. The story starts out with Violet, a rich kid living in L.A. who is obsessed with film. Her dream is to become a screenplay writer, drawing inspiration from Quentin Tarintino. She is completely friendless at her high school, until Clair shows up in a Tinkerbell shirt (wings and all) and becomes Violet's muse for her new movie.
Being the sophisticated one of the pair, Violet opens up Claire to the world of being a rich kid in a big city and the two grow close, until Violet lands in the hands of Mr. Richter. Violet starts to grow up, faster than every Claire starts to feel left behind. She finds solace in her poetry class, specifically with her teacher, Mr. Brookman. Being the more innocent and naive of the pair, Claire ends up being heartbroken by her poetry teacher, after she finds out he's more interested in any new girl in the class, not just her.
As Violet feels herself loosing control and Claire reflects on the feeling of abandonment, the duo realize how much they truly rely on each other and how they've both grown from their friendship.
Although there are topics of suicide, murder, and sexual conduct; this is certainly one of Block's more neutral reads and I think it's fitting for young teenagers.
I Was a Teenage Fairy (Published in 2000)
I've read this book a few times and it's one of the darker pieces of Blocks writing in my opinion. She starts off by describing the setting by comparing Los Angeles and the valley and two sisters, one older and more glamorous and the other the younger, peaceful sister.
Within the story we follow Barbie from childhood to her teenage years. The daughter of a pushy, ex-model mother and nearly absent to actually absent father, Barbie has a hopefuly career to become a child superstar. To cope with the turmoil of her family life, Barbie finds Mab, a little fairy that hides in her garden at home. Mab is the complete opposite of sweet, quiet Barbie. For only being the size of your pinky-finger, she serves sass and encourages Barbie to stand up for herself.
Still innocent to the predators of the world, Barbie agrees to meet a world renowned photographer who ends up changing Barbie's life, and not necessarily for the better. We fast forward to Barbie as a teenager, and still feeling the guilt of her past she is careless as a young girl in such a large city. She meets Griffin and Todd, two film maker friends who she finds courage through to fight the demons from her past.
I would say this book is better for the young adult audience since it does have trigger warnings for sexual abuse, child molestation, and rape.
This is a collection of Fairy Tale retelling, each one super short. The theme of the stories vary greatly between each tale, Sleeping Beauty is a drug addict and Thumbelina is just as whimsical as the original (by original I mean the 1994 animated version).Overall I have mixed feelings because although they are a mixture of more lighthearted fairy tales and darker, modern ones; they're all incredibly short. I would be reading through Thumbelina, get onto the next story and then onto the next and instead of focusing on Cinderella or Little Red Riding hood, I'd wish that Thumbelina would have kept going. If you read them one at a time, spaced out or used them for inspiration I think they'd be okay but as a short story, they're far too short.
The beginning of Ruby does a lot of reflecting on Ruby's childhood. We find that her father is physically abusive to both Ruby and her sister, Opal (cool names, I know). There are a lot of scenes showing examples of when her father would hit her or her sister, Ruby being a little more defiant than the older Opal. Throughout her entire childhood though, Ruby has always known she was slightly different, feeling magic in her veins and the "knowing" in her heart.
Opal leaves the house for school, leaving Ruby alone to bear the wrath of her father and the injustice she felt growing up. As soon as she graduates, Ruby is out of there, driving to L.A. with her cousin. There, while working as a live-in nanny, she finds Orion Wolfe; mega super star, most eligible bachelor. Right then she knows, she has to find him.
Ruby packs up her life and flies to England, on the false notion that she's a writer she ends up in the tiny English countryside village that Orion grew up in. Everything lays out far too easy, meeting Orion's parents, they welcome Ruby into their lives without the knowledge of Ruby's true intentions. Through magic, ghosts, and love, Ruby tackles her inner demons and finds her true love.
This book is not as whimsical as most of the rest of Francesca's writing, despite the wiccan references. There is sexual abuse, physical abuse, rape, and incest within the story; so I would suggest the reader that leans more towards young adult rather than middle grade. I would say at this point was Block's peak in writing because all three books of hers that I will mention were my favorites.
I would like to preface this review by stating, the Weetzie Bat series, though I have not read the original, is by far my favorite piece of Block's writing I've read so far. When Block writes about these characters, you can tell she's in her element and has the super whimsical themes that I love her for.
Necklace of Kisses is a book about Weetzie, but Weetzie has grown up and is having a little bit of a "mid life crisis". She doesn't tell her family where she's going, just her best friend and co-owner of her little boutique. She ends up at a magical hotel for a week where she meets many different guests. We go through each guests story, some of them are mythical creatures with terrible pasts or stuck in harmful relationships. As Weetzie helps each guest she encounters, they kiss her to give her a jewel for her necklace of kisses. At the end, Weetzie really reflects on her relationships at home, with her Secret Agent Lover Man and her children, and all the obstacles her family had overcome over the years.
Although this book is a continuation of the Weetzie Bat series, I don't think it's necessary to read books 1-5 or even the stories about her children. This is a very whimsical book, there is some talk of abuse but I think the content is mild enough to get a PG-13 rating. I highly suggest if you pick up any of Block's writing, pick up the Weetzie Bat series, including this book.
I am a pretty big fan of Greek mythology, and if you tie it into modern times it makes it even better.
Now Psyche in a dress was a little hard for me to follow and I'm really glad I re-read it. It starts with our character being Psyche, talking about her father being a film maker who killed her sisters and mother because you know... film makers are psychos.
As the story progresses, each chapter is our characters transforming to another Greek legend. We move from legends like Orpheus, Echo, Persephone and then transfer to their counterpart in the story such as; Hades, Eurydice, Narcissus. It's set in modern day L.A., and the characters are super fluid.
This is another story that Block is super whimsical, punk girl meets go-go dancer in her writing. It also switches from a poem format to a full on novel format; with full paragraphs and chapters. None of the themes are very dark, there is mention of drug abuse and consensual sex, but again it's not graphic enough that young adults couldn't read it.
Out of all the books I've mentioned so far, this book is actually labeled as a Children's book on amazon. It doesn't talk about sex, drugs, or violence; and it's super fast to read. It's 128 pages with big font and some spacing reminiscent of page minimums in high school (getting creative to reach that 5 page minimum on something boring like photosynthesis).
Our main character is Bee, who feels like an outcast but wants to please her parents and try to make friends and fit in. Shortly into the book, Bee makes two friends who are also outcasts. The story progresses with a little bit of magic and Bee falling sick. When Bee emerges healthy back at school, suddenly she is part of the popular crowd.
Although this was the tiniest of the stories I read, it was also the hardest. There were a lot of loose ends, like we never really find out what happens to Bee, and the writing is really disjointed. The only theme I can really find in the writing is regarding puberty, which is why I think it fits in the Children's book category. Overall, I really wouldn't recommend this book, even to a child going through puberty, simply because it doesn't make sense and isn't helpful in any way.
Ah, the book that prompted this post. I already have a review up for this book but I wanted to include it on this list as well. I've always wanted to return to Block's writing, mainly because I remember really enjoying how fantastic and magical she can make something like the gritty part of L.A. sound. As I mentioned before, I accidentally purchased this as an e-book.
Block's writing had really transformed since Necklace of Kisses to Beyond the Pale Motel. I believe a lot of it was trying to change her targeted audience from young adult to mystery/thriller. For me, I think the biggest let down was that her magic and flower-child-a-go-go writing went out the window and now this was a generic thriller novel that felt more problematic than interesting.
I didn't like the characters, the plot was boring, and Catt seemed like a terrible person to follow. The ending wasn't what I expected, but I think that was because at a certain point my brain was on auto-pilot.
Overall, I do think Block's writing is worth checking out. Her writing is colorful, creative, and super intriguing. You should tread carefully depending on what you're looking for. I hope this post, though super long was helpful.
Let me know if you liked it in the comments below, I already have another author in mind to do this post for and I'd be more than happy to make this a series.
Thanks for reading! See you soon!
Comments
Post a Comment