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Title: Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0-06-440697-0 Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 31 May, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.55 (115 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Love is a dangerous angel...
Comment: I'd read the whole Weetzie Bat series before purchasing this book, but the problem was that no-one I'd loaned my individual copies of the stories to ever returned them. (Which may, in and of itself, be a testament to the kick-butt slinkster coolness that is intrinsically a part of this book.)
So anyway, as I was falling in love with a girl with whom I go to college, I read her Weetzie Bat. It was really cool. Especially the part in which My Secret Agent Lover Man expresses his undying love for Weetzie (I liked the part about "You are my martini..."). Since that time (about a month ago), however, this person has emotionally crucified me, and started dating an extremely goofy-looking boy.
Alas, that's the life portrayed in Ms. Block's novellas: hartbreaking and inspiring, exhilirating and melancholy. Read as modern day fairy-tales, they are wonderfully crafted pieces of fiction. Not surprisingly, however, I've read many scathing reviews of this series on Amazon.com. I think that for people to review it poorly, they have to miss the point--that these are fairy-tales. I wouldn't want a 13-year-old kid reading this as an instruction guide to life, but then again, how many people take fiction that seriously? (At least a few people do, as evidenced by the reviews.)
As with all fairy-tales, there is a moral behind the narrative: that love and universal acceptance goes a long way to make people happy, to heal hurt, and to generally make the world a better place--but also that things that some people take for love (that is, sex) can be devastating and hurtful. Love *IS* a dangerous angel. On that level, this book is not only a beautiful piece of prose, but of perhaps immeasurable value to a world torn by conflict, hurt, and hate. I just wish that more people would see the good in this book, instead of the bad.
(Good for high-school aged and up readers, but I'd probably have it tempered by parental guidance for anyone younger than, say, 15.)
Rating: 5
Summary: Deceivingly simple, potentially complex
Comment: Francesca Lia Block's series, Dangerous Angels, presents a beautiful oxymoron -- on the one hand, we have a simple, magical fairy tale, revolving around issues of identity, love, family, and struggle. On the other hand, Block uses her distinctive, rhythmic, highly stylized prose-poetry, and her offbeat but lovable characters to explore some very mature and complex ideas.
As a fairy tale, the series has inherent value in its capacity to create in the mind of the reader striking imagery, which makes the reader a cohort in a journey of coming-of-age of two generations of American teens. In this light alone, the series presents a highly-original modern-day tale, appropriate for mature adolescents, thru persons aged 101 years. In a second light, Block (although perhaps not intentionally) manages to craft her language, characters, and plot to explore advanced topics in critical theory -- her deceivingly simple "fairy tales" deal with such complex notions as self/other and marginalization, subject/object and the power of the gaze (especially in the second book, Witch Baby, where issues of "life through the lens" are in perfect complement with issues of theoretical discourse of Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, and Slovoj Zizek), through to issues in language that include her use of neologism, and technique which serves to flout norms of structural linguistics.
Can her stories merely be enjoyed as the "fairy tale?" Indeed they can, and perhaps this is the intention -- but to those who have read her series and dismissed it as "trite" or "too simplistic" I would merely like to encourage that they reconsider the series in a critical sense, and realize its incredible potential for even the most academic reader. Personally, I first encountered these books as a young teen, and was captivated...but now (too many to tell you) years later, in the academic world, my appreciation has grown. So if you are fifteen, or fifty, and looking for entertainment or academic stimulation, open the book, open your mind, and perhaps you will be pleasantly surprised.
Rating: 4
Summary: Tapestry Of Eye Pooping Words
Comment: While some characters may seem shallow and flat. Block does a beautiful job with her writing.
This is a very good strange romance series. I love it because it's so off beat and not like other romance novels.
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Title: Girl Goddess #9 : Nine Stories by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 006447187X Publisher: HarperTrophy Pub. Date: 28 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Echo by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0064407446 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 06 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: I Was a Teenage Fairy (Ageless Books) by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0064408620 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Nymph by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 1885865430 Publisher: Circlet Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Rose and The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0064407454 Publisher: Joanna Cotler Pub. Date: 07 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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