Francesca Lia Block
[ 4 February 2008 ]
Francesca Lia Block is one of my favourite writers. I found out about her online when I was in high school, & started voraciously reading anything by her that I could find. While officially she is an author of “young adult” books, I really think they can be enjoyed by anyone. Plus, FLB fans who start young can seek out her erotic novel, Nymph, when they’re ready!
Her writing is like nothing I’ve ever read before. For those who are new to it, it can be a bit challenging, but once you are over the initial stumbling block, you’ll be glad you persisted. Her books are imbued with magic & sparkle & beauty — a more captivating, ethereal world than the one we normally see — but they still deal with real issues & problems. Her characters are multi-faceted & flawed & easy to identify with. They are the sort of book you should lend to your best friend.
FLB’s most popular book is Weetzie Bat, a story about a girl looking for love & friendship. Block describes Weetzie as kind of her alter-ego, but she also says that the physical aspects of the character were inspired by a hitch-hiker she saw once in Hollywood. She had spiky bleached blonde hair & was wearing a pink ’50s prom dress with cowboy boots. Later, Block saw a pink Ford Pinto being driven by someone who looked similar to the hitch-hiker — the number-plate said ‘WEETZIE’.
“I wrote Weetzie Bat as a sort of valentine to Los Angeles at a time when I was in school in Berkeley and homesick for where I grew up. It was a very personal story. A love letter. I never expected people to respond to it the way they have. I never imagined I could reach other people from such a very personal place in me.” — Francesca Lia Block
This is a run-down of her major books.
Dangerous Angels is my favourite series by FLB. It is actually one big book with four stories inside it: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat & The Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan & Baby Be-Bop. You can buy them all seperately but I don’t see why you would, so Dangerous Angels is a great way to get your fix. The series follows a couple of families & a slew of characters in their adventures around Los Angeles — what they call Shangri-LA. These books were my saving grace in high school. It is hard to explain why, I guess they just gave me hope that there was more to life than private school & stupid girl politics. All the characters in Dangerous Angels are unconventional love warriors, totally inspiring & amazing. Oh, & Witch Baby is my favourite! I used to identify with her very strongly.
“All the girls were infatuated with Dirk; he wouldn’t pay any attention to them. But on the first day of the semester, Dirk saw Weetzie in his art class. She was a skinny girl with a bleach-blonde flat-top. Under the pink Harlequin sunglasses, strawberry lipstick, earrings dangling charms, and sugar-frosted eye shadow she was really almost beautiful. Sometimes she wore Levi’s with white-suede fringe sewn down the legs and a feathered Indian headdress, sometimes old fifties’ taffeta dresses covered with poetry written in glitter, or dresses made of kids’ sheets printed with pink piglets or Disney characters.”
Necklace Of Kisses was written years after Weetzie Bat, but is a follow-up to the original Dangerous Angels series. Weetzie is 40 now, & My Secret Agent Lover Man is just “Max”. Since the Twin Towers crumbled, there have been no kisses between them. Weetzie packs a bag & moves into a little pink hotel where she meets different people who teach her about passion & love, & help her to find herself again.
Psyche In A Dress is a short book of retold Greek myths. FLB takes the stories of Psyche, Echo, Eurydice & Persephone & weaves them together to create one big tale of love & truth.
“When your mothers tell you to love and appreciate your body it isn’t just to get you to shut up. They know that when you are old you are going to feel exactly the same way inside that you do now. We try on different dresses, different selves, but our souls are always the same — ongoing, full of light.” — Psyche In A Dress
The Rose & The Beast is a collection of fairy tales respun with FLB’s thread. Modern & dark, they are very different to the stories we were told as children. In this version of Sleeping Beauty, she pricks her arm with a heroin needle, while Red Riding Hood’s wolf is her creepy stepfather. The Snow Queen is a sex goddess who lives in a marble mansion, & Bluebeard is an L.A. bigshot & serial killer.
Ruby is a collaboration piece between FLB & Carmen Staton, & is quite different to her other work. Ruby grows up in the midwest United States with an unpleasant family, but then moves to England to find her soulmate. While she’s there, she learns that you can run from your past but that it will continue to haunt you until you confront it.
Quakeland is coming this year. It follows Katrina, a girl who has lived through a seemingly-endless stream of disasters, including 9/11 & a tsunami. She is on the hunt for stability & intimacy, & as she searches, she finds comfort in her friend Grace & conflict in the arms of a narcissistic yoga teacher (!). I am looking forward to reading this!
Nymph is a short collection of erotic stories (heterosexual, with one lesbian tale). They are all connected together but totally different. A surfer finds solace in a wheelchair-bound girl who turns out to be a mermaid, a girl discovers that everyone she sleeps with goes on to find true love, a stripper with a cat’s face can’t leave her job unless she finds someone who truly loves her, & more. The stories are not insanely raunchy; there is a still a layer of FLB “mist” that stops it from being graphic or crude, but there is definitely a sexy edge to this book that her others don’t have.
Girl Goddess #9 is another book of short stories! This is a fantastic read & another one of my favourite FLB books. In these nine stories you float through FLB’s world, meeting rock stars, pond nymphs & blue ghosts that live in closets. I love these stories & they are the perfect length to read to your friends.
Wasteland is the story of a brother & sister, Marina & Lex, who are best friends. In fact, they love each other so much there is barely room for anyone else. One night things go too far, & after sleeping together, they are both stricken with guilt. Lex commits suicide & Marina is left to pick up the pieces. FLB does exceptionally well dealing with these very difficult subjects, writing with tenderness & love & vulnerability.
I Was A Teenage Fairy is a story about Barbie, a teenage girl whose pushy mother is is obsessed with turning her into a model sensation. Barbie’s only friend is a sarcastic fairy called Mab, until she meets Griffin, another child model, with the same secret…
“If Los Angeles is a woman reclining billboard model with collagen-puffed lips & silicone-inflated breasts, a woman in a magenta convertible with heart-shaped sunglasses & cotton candy hair; if Los Angeles is this woman, then the San Fernando Valley is her teenybopper sister. The teenybopper sister snaps big stretchy pink bubbles over her tongue & checks her lip gloss in the rearview mirror, causing Sis to scream. Teeny plays the radio too loud & bites her nails, wondering if the glitter polish will poison her…” — I Was A Teenage Fairy
Ecstasia revolves around rockstars Calliope & her brother Rafe. Their only concern in life is that they are starting to get older in a city that only worships youth, & where aging means that you have to retreat underground to live in the sewers.
Primavera is the daughter of a couple from the book Ecstasia. Primavera was raised in paradise but longs for adventure, so when a man arrives at the house, she makes her escape. She ends up in Elysia, the city of youth, & she braves several dangers before coming out the other side with a stronger self of sense & love.
Echo‘s parents are so in love with one another that she feels constantly excluded, & so she decides to try to fill the void. On her way, she deals with an eating disorder, vampires & angels & her mother’s terminal illness.
“Echo’s story of salvation will appeal not only to eyeliner-wearing club kids, but to any older teen who’s ever felt insecure and lonely in a world full of kissing couples and Hallmark holidays.”
Violet & Claire is about two friends navigating life. Violet is a disciple of film — she worships Tarantino & is always working on her screenplay. She meets Claire at school — a girl with fairy wings sewn onto the back of her Tinkerbell t-shirt — & decides to cast her in her movie. Their friendship is strong, but as Violet starts working & Claire retreats to the desert, things begin to change.
“My books talk about tolerance,” Block says, “though I never consciously think of themes like that as I write. I guess my general theme is the value of love and art as healers. That you must face the darkness, acknowledge it and still have hope. I think that is what is important in life.”
Extra For Experts:
Francesca Lia Block’s website
Which Francesca Lia Block girl are you? from Quizilla
Strange Brew, an article on FLB by Salon
Francesca Lia Block Shrine
“Making Cities and Then Making Them Crumble”: Francesca Lia Block’s Place in the Young Adult Novel
An interview with FLB on gURL.com
Check out these communities on Livejournal, too: francesca_lia & flb_angels.
Super-love & cupcakes,
Gala
Tags: consumption,
life Share this! + Email This + Del.icio.us
+ Facebook
+ Stumbleupon
+ Technorati
Comment
Read more tagged consumption...
Vintage Loot! New Shoes! Wishlist For 2008 Man Bags What We're Using Hair Extensions Athletic Aesthetics Daylesford
Read more tagged life...
Dealing With Suicide 50 Ways To Rescue The Worst Day Ever Jobs (& Hints) For Creative Souls Man Bags My Raw Adventure! Yoga & Pilates How To Be A Gentleman How To Be A Writer
Oh Gala! How I absolutely loved the Dangerous Angels books when I was younger. It was like being absorbed into this absolutely psychadelic colourful tangible enhanced reality. Everything is described so deliciously and sensory. God, how I loved it. I can see how Witch Baby with her globe lamp and newspaper clippings would comfort little Gala with her combat boots and crazy hair colours. Now you’re Weetzie, a little more grown up but still with total charm and variety and joe de vivre!
Thank you so much for this post as I never read beyond Dangerous Angels and never thought to… I also don’t own any of the books, just borrowed them from my daddy. Your little summaries are wonderful, I’m definitely hitting the bookstores to find more of Francesca’s delicious stories, I’m so excited to read more!
I was so happy to see this article! I wish you would have mentioned “The Hanged Man”, though, which is my favorite novel by her. it is a wrenching tale about a young girl struggling with an eating disorder, but is so beautifully written. I must have read it 30 or 40 times last year.
also, I never thought that, in “Wasteland”, Marina and Lex actually sleep together… I thought that they made too powerful an emotional connection and it tore them apart. that was just my personal interpretation of it, though… I actually just reread it yesterday, nice timing with the article!
I’ve never read them – I think it’s one of those things, you know, when you’re a teenager and everyone tells you how fabulous a tv show/film/author is, and you automatically go the other way and ignore it, just to be contrary. Maybe I should finally take Francesca for a spin.
iris — Hee! I agree that I have changed from Witch Baby to Weetzie. Funny how that happens. D.A. is such a beautiful series of books. I have occasionally lent it to someone who doesn’t “get” it or enjoy it… needless to say, it is usually an indication that the friendship won’t last long!
voltaire — I’ve never actually read The Hanged Man & I couldn’t glean a lot of information about it off the web, so found it hard to write about. I didn’t want to do it an injustice by writing something half-assed!
Natalie — Hahahah. You’re talking to the right person. I am like that with Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, Audrey Hepburn & uh… lots of things, actually. I hear “Oh my god, you’ve never seen ____?!??!!” all the time.
I love, love, love FLB. My friend Anna and I are Weetzie and Witch Baby, almost exactly. Dangerous Angels saved my mind so many times, reminding me to be myself and love it.
Love the website, Gala. As my studio prof would say, it is FABULOUS and you are DIVINE.
Now I especially want to read The Rose & The Beast! Modern adaptations of fairy tales are great :]. Thanks Gala!
oh Gala, I hope you can get your hands on The Hanged Man because it is quite honestly a chef-d’oeuvre.
i love her books. a friend (no longer friends) introduced her work to me about seven years ago when i was a freshman in college. i borrowed “echo” and “violet and claire” from her and then bought “dangerous angels”. i’ve since read the majority of her books. i’m kind of on the fence as to if i would like to see her books made into a movie. it would be amazing to see it on the big screen but there is always the fear that someone is going to mess it up.
Oh sweetie – Lord of the Rings? You are in for a complete feast one day!
This summer I bought Dangerous Angels, Necklace of Kisses & I Was A Teenage Fairy.. Thank you Borders & trademe & my first job!!
Heh, I was tempted so many times to steal them from my school library, but I was the ONLY one who ever borrowed them.. so they’d know exactly where to look :p
oh my gosh… i don’t think my vocabulary is adequately equipped to describe my love for FLB’s books! i love seeing that other people heart them as much as i do…
they are my favorite escape. that is all.
Does anyone know about ‘Beautiful Boys’ and ‘Goat Girls’? I think they are combo-volumes . . . (I see online that they are what my library has.)
Thank you so much for this! I appreciate it, definitely. the Dangerous Angels series reminds me of my old best friend and past good times. it’s been a while since i thought back on that time in my life and relived some of those memories! that was unexpected.
and, i’m going to have to check out some of her other books now. aside from Teenage Fairy, I didn’t know they existed!
Reading this, I am kicking myself for never reading anything of hers. They all sound so interesting and good: definitely something I’d be into! I’m totally going to the bookstore tomorrow to pick up one.. not sure WHICH one yet even because they all sound amazing and I LOVED the excerpts posted.
This is making me happy that I have a lot of time for reading right now, since I’m out of town and my only internet access is on my phone! And during down time, TV is so mind numbing and boring, so I’ve been catching up on my reading :)
No computer access couldn’t keep me away from this site though! Pfft!
BTW, I think Francesca looks like Alanis Morissette & PJ Harvey’s love child! Anyone else see it?
Oohh, I just love Francesca Lia Block! She has been one of my favourite writers since I discovered her at age 14. Thanks for the great post, and introducing her magical writing style to the beautiful faerie girls and boys who read iCiNG.
Ooh, I love Echo!
This article made me so happy! FLB is my favorite author of all time, her books are just so unique & beautiful & have been such a comfort to me when I feel sad or contrary. Like most angst-ridden teenagers, I relate to Witch Baby the most. I do love Weetzie though! My goal is to become more and more like the bubbly, fun-loving personality that she is, haha. :]
PS: She has another book coming out called Blood Roses, but there isn’t description to be found anywhere!
Nadine — Yup, they are combo books. Beautiful Boys is Missing Angel Juan & Baby Be-Bop, & Goat Girls is Witch Baby & Cherokee Bat & The Goat Guys. Rent them!
I love Weetzie Bat. At the age of sixteen, I decided to seek out my own Secret Agent Lover Man.
so funny, I just put “Violet and Claire” on my anobii list to read…I love that site, recommended a lot of good YA type books to me, since I’m old (28), not many people I know read them anymore, so I need a good place for rec’s.
Now I’m psyched to read all of her books! Thanks Gala!
Thanks Gala! I will pick them up tomorrow :-)
hee! i have all her books around my house. i still pull them out and read them a lot.
I love FLB’s books. Now that you’ve posted this article I just remembered that I need to retrieve my copy of Dangerous Angels from a friend who keeps “forgetting” to return it. Like Witch Baby, I hope to find my Angel some day. :)
FLB! fwee! I just discovered her when a friend of mine gave ‘Violet and Claire’ to me for Christmas. I loved it to pieces. Claire listened to Tori Amos in the book, too, which really sealed the deal. Thank you for this article, now I actually have the motivation to seek out more of her work!
I think I’ve read Echo. The cover is very familiar to me. I know one of my friends has read it at least.
I seem to have totally missed the boat on FLB, Gala. After reading this post, however, I really must try and get my hands on some of her books. They sound wonderful!
These books sound amazing. I’m going to see if I can track one down today! Thank you, Gala!
MY SECRET AGENT LOVER MAN
How funny, the copy of Weetzie Bat I ordered from GreenMetropolis.com has just been dispatched!
I found a copy of Echo for $2.99 at a bargain bookstore. I picked it up because I was intrigued by the design and the few pages I flicked through. I had an eating disorder at the time and it was one of those books that helped me and also led me to her other work, which I adore and often feel inspired by.
The Hanged Man is the best book she’s done, in my opinion…you should read it :(
Also, I don’t think her books are very hard to read at all. I probably started/read most of them for the first time when I was 15ish.
Thank you for writing this article though! I haven’t read any FLB in a looong time and I think I may go look up some quotes now :)
Mweeeeeeeee! You wrote about Francesca!!!!! I was so very happy to pull up your page today and see her picture there…ahhhhh.
I have loved her books for years and years. My French teacher loaned me Weetzie Bat in ninth grade…I was smitten immediately. I wish I had shared how much I loved it with my teacher then, because she was really cool and I would have really liked to get to know her better. As it was, though, I was too reclusive and shy to, and I kept my rabid fanaticism to myself.
You should find and read ‘The Hanged Man!’ My French teacher had that, one, too, but I was afraid to read it since it was so different from Weetzie Bat. Last year I finally sucked it up and read it, and now I think it’s one of my favourites of her books. A bit dark, but having read Wasteland and the Rose and the Beast you’ll know that being dark is something she can do well, too.
I love Francesca and I love yooooou for writing about her! I hope thousands and thousands more people will read her books now!
Ahh, Weetzie bat was my favorite book in high school. I have bought four copies of it at different points and as presents for other people. I’m happy to see you liked it, too. In high school my friends and I got our slang from that book. (Ha. Lanka.) I love all of the characters. Weetzie is my favorite, though. And Duck.
She is a goddess. The way she uses words is simply gorgeous – I want to live in the world she writes.
I gave my Dangerous Angels to a friend for an impromptu birthday present, and o! how I miss it!
(Though I couldn’t STAND Ruby. I’ve stopped acknowledging it as a Francesca book because it so isn’t. I blame the collaboration, I guess – for one thing, I have to think that Carmen Staton was the one with the obvious crush on Orlando Bloom. It just killed the Francesca subtlety that is usually so wonderful; that “mist”, as you called it.)
FLB is amazing!
Thanks for this great post Gala!
She’s the one who first inspired me to wear faerie wings in public.
Anyone who hasn’t done this, it’s so worth it. It makes a lot of people smile. Extra points for going to the store right after halloween (mine cost 75 cents).
Crezia – I agree, all of her characters live such beautiful (glitter covered-sometimes broken-but always dazzling) lives. We should all live for freely, but maybe not so dangerously. ;)
I love you I love you I love you!
This makes my dayyy.
I wrote an article, Weetzie Bat Style, a few weeks ago, but I’m working on expanding on it a little to include the other books’ characters. It’s tougher than I thought!
Kylia- I am on the lookout for a pair of fairy wings to wear in public!
Her writing style is so different & intense & she can really take you into a whole other, crazy/beautiful world.
The first time I heard of her was when you dressed up as Witch Baby, with the roller skates & all, for I.D.U.D. I think it was, and I thought, “Hmm..slanted purple eyes, that sounds cool”..that’s when I checked “Witch Baby” out & absolutely ADORED it.
I’ve read three others of her books—overall, I didn’t like them…
although some of the short stories in “The Rose and the Beast” were absolutely gorgeous.
From your article, though, Ecstasia sounds interesting…I think I’ll check it out.
Gala- dont forget about Blood Roses, which comes out in may! Also, Block has a myspace (www.myspace.com/francescalia) where she puts up her poetry!
♥
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060763841/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=IMQ3C7A1ZDVHN&colid=MJDDW7PO8BL6
blood roses
pardon me if I’m wrong, but in Echo, isn’t Echo’s father the one with the terminal illness?
I’ve heard of FLB but I’ve never read any of her books. I think I’m going to put Dangerous Angels on my amazon wish list!
And I really would recommend Lord of the Rings, or even just the Hobbit. They can be very long winded at some points, but there is some beautiful poetry in them.
love love love this post, gala! flb is one of my favorite authors as well!
kahfiwskdh!! I LOVE her!! Personally echo is my favorite. I loved her books when I was 12 and I still love them at 18! She’s also coming out with a book called “blood roses” I think it may vampireish. book nerd<3
Great Post. I love FLB. She is amzing. I look up to her some much. I love Wasteland it is my Favorite book ever. The way FLB writes is like no one else. The way she discribes places, people, objects… everything is like they are magic. Her books read like one big fairy tale. I also love how she deals with a lot of issuses most people shy away from. She is one of my heros.
ohhh, i used to LOVE flb during high school. i haven’t read any of her newer books like necklace of kisses or psyche. i’ll have to renew my love of her & check them out though.
Bunnygirl is right, it’s Echo’s father that has the terminal illness and not her mother.
I love love LOVE FLB! My favorite way to spend an evening (or at least an hour of it ;) ) is to make myself a bubble bath and have a nice soak while reading an FLB book.
The Hanged Man is amazing. I found it to be a little darker than her others (excluding Wasteland) but I think you will love it.
Yep yep! Big inspiration to me obviously as that’s where I get my handle! I remember finding Weetzie Bat at the library when I was fourteen and being in awe at how beautifully written it was but also kind of dirty. It seriously impacted me and still does today.
I have just ordered Nymph and Weetzie Bat from Amazon and am eagerly awaiting their arrival! Ethereal, slightly erotic well written novels are exactly what I think I need to help me through the English winter! Xx
It only figures that the week that I am out of town (without internet access) is when you would write an article on Francesca Lia Block.
She has been my one of my favorite authors ever since i discovered her in middle school. I love her style of writing- like poetry.
I am looking to get a Witch Baby inspired tattoo sometime in the future.
akaMeegie — Oh, COOL! Maybe you could get a glowing globe… or a pair of cowboy boot rollerskates! Or drumsticks! Or ALL of it!
i love the fact that FLB’s work is impossible to pinpoint to a genre or age range.
I read Weetzie Bat last night – I was surprised by how short it was; took me less than an hour. I got to page 5 and was thinking, ‘this woman writes like Gala!’ Hee. Reminds me of that scene in The Commitments: “Who are your influences?” Anyway, yes, I liked it. Plenty of positive sparkliness, emotional insights, and a plot that gallops along.
oh, how wonderful that you posted FLB! i’m actually rereading all her books so i can figure out which phrase i’d like tattooed on me.
there’s a really great academic article on her books, “The rebirth of the postmodern flaneur: notes on the postmodern landscape of Francesca Lia Block’s Weetzie Bat”. you should check it out, you can find it for free through any local university.
oh goodie gum drops. i love to hear people talk about their love for flb’s mystic tales… dangerous angels is what i pick up whenever i feel i’ve lost the ability to see magic every day. i must have read through it about 15 times or so in the last 10 years. i often draw her characters as illustrations, vague and lovely people who come to life fluidly… i appreciate the light shined here on the magical tales of francesca lia block.
ooh, also… look for francesca lia block on myspace! she is there and she posts poems often in her myspace blog. all human and accessible and wrapped up in a myspace page!
i got to read blood roses early for a teen book review thing! it’s really nice; a bunch of short supernatural stories.
Hey! Props to you for honoring Francesca Lia Block! However, you left out one of her books The Hanged Man from your list. I only mention it because it’s probably my second favorite FLB book of all time!
So I’ve read all the Francesca Lia Blocks I could find, which was, sadly, not very many.
Are there any other authors or books that are similar to Block’s stories or style or something else I might enjoy ?
xoxo