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moth_dance's review against another edition
5.0
I've been assigned an enormous amount of guidebooks in writing classes, but nothing has come close to Francesca Lia Block's "The Thorn Necklace." I love this book, not only because I'm a devotee-an eternal worshiper at her fictional house of magic and love-but because I'm constantly searching for established writers who don't belittle my experience, approach, style, etc. I despise Zinsser's "On Writing Well"; Strunk's "Elements of Style" is boring AF; every year I have to read Lamott's advice in "Bird by Bird" I become more aware of how dated it feels for me; Francine Prose's "Reading Like a Writer" is a lone favorite but too short. If you're looking for a grammar-police, get-published-now type of guide, this isn't the book for you.
"Thorn Necklace" is a study on self-love and self-care for any writer, passionate practitioners and occasional dabblers alike. There's a deep sense of awareness in Francesca's advice; she's always recognizing different creative processes and experiences juxtapose her life and career. The core of this book is in realizing that through writing, our experiences can be acknowledged and, potentially, healed to better ourselves and our practice.
A slight trigger warning for some readers: as a memoir, Francesca writes extensively in here about her life with eating disorders, depression, cancer, death, chronic illnesses, intense heartbreak.
Also, I highly recommend reading each chapter in order. Unlike other guides where you can skip around to find exact answers, "Thorn Necklace" is a journey that unfolds and illuminates like an orchid. If you're in need of immediate advice, there are really beautiful, simple exercises at the end of each chapter and a full chapter before the epilogue dedicated to writing advice. But IMO "Thorn Necklace" is best served in full, with close reading and emotional attachment to both the content and the author.
Francesca's art is a gift in "Thorn Necklace," much like Frida Kahlo's art has transformed into gifts for generations to follow. I know I will cherish this book and her advice for my entire life, taking what I've learned from reading her wisdom and applying it to all areas of my life, not just writing.
"Thorn Necklace" is a study on self-love and self-care for any writer, passionate practitioners and occasional dabblers alike. There's a deep sense of awareness in Francesca's advice; she's always recognizing different creative processes and experiences juxtapose her life and career. The core of this book is in realizing that through writing, our experiences can be acknowledged and, potentially, healed to better ourselves and our practice.
A slight trigger warning for some readers: as a memoir, Francesca writes extensively in here about her life with eating disorders, depression, cancer, death, chronic illnesses, intense heartbreak.
Also, I highly recommend reading each chapter in order. Unlike other guides where you can skip around to find exact answers, "Thorn Necklace" is a journey that unfolds and illuminates like an orchid. If you're in need of immediate advice, there are really beautiful, simple exercises at the end of each chapter and a full chapter before the epilogue dedicated to writing advice. But IMO "Thorn Necklace" is best served in full, with close reading and emotional attachment to both the content and the author.
Francesca's art is a gift in "Thorn Necklace," much like Frida Kahlo's art has transformed into gifts for generations to follow. I know I will cherish this book and her advice for my entire life, taking what I've learned from reading her wisdom and applying it to all areas of my life, not just writing.
katrinky's review against another edition
3.0
Like every west coast girl I know of a certain age, I rolled DEEP in FLB's punk Los Angeles fairy tales. Her books influenced my decision to move there.
I've grown out of her actual stories, which have plots so simple as to now seem trivial, but I could still read her descriptions of clothing and food all day. And that's when this book is best - the memoir parts. The writing coaching parts fell totally flat for me. The chapter where she gets rid of seemingly more than half of her belongings was like a drug to me. (I live with a collector who comes from a line of Stage 1 hoarders.)
The pseudonyms she chooses for the people in her life are very silly. Hearing a grownup refer to her partner exclusively as My Secret Man, or Secret Man, made me cringe.
Oh! And!! The verrry brief paragraph about David Bowie's sex with underage girls (FLB is obsessed with Bowie), is enraging. Fully enraging. It amounts to "I guess I wouldn't want my teenage daughter to have sex with a 30-year-old, but it was a different time and I would prob have done it, and I bet he smelled amazing, can you imagine how he must have looked while committing statutory rape, yum."
And yet, I stayed up past my bedtime two nights in a row to finish it. So clearly at least some of the old magic(k) still works on me. Except for the Bowie parts. If you love him, say you know he fucked up and you have made peace with it and love him still. Don't write off what he did as unimportant just because it didn't change your mind.
I've grown out of her actual stories, which have plots so simple as to now seem trivial, but I could still read her descriptions of clothing and food all day. And that's when this book is best - the memoir parts. The writing coaching parts fell totally flat for me. The chapter where she gets rid of seemingly more than half of her belongings was like a drug to me. (I live with a collector who comes from a line of Stage 1 hoarders.)
The pseudonyms she chooses for the people in her life are very silly. Hearing a grownup refer to her partner exclusively as My Secret Man, or Secret Man, made me cringe.
Oh! And!! The verrry brief paragraph about David Bowie's sex with underage girls (FLB is obsessed with Bowie), is enraging. Fully enraging. It amounts to "I guess I wouldn't want my teenage daughter to have sex with a 30-year-old, but it was a different time and I would prob have done it, and I bet he smelled amazing, can you imagine how he must have looked while committing statutory rape, yum."
And yet, I stayed up past my bedtime two nights in a row to finish it. So clearly at least some of the old magic(k) still works on me. Except for the Bowie parts. If you love him, say you know he fucked up and you have made peace with it and love him still. Don't write off what he did as unimportant just because it didn't change your mind.
kjboldon's review against another edition
3.0
The parts of this book never quite added up to a whole for me. I've loved Block's writing since Weetzie Bat and some of the best parts of this were the magical writing about herself and LA. I love this author; she is lovely inside and out. It was painful to read about the cruelty others have casually inflicted regarding her looks, and still sadder to read how she's internalized that. The memoir part felt as if she still has some inner work to do on her relationship to herself and with her parents' memories. Some of the writing and book analysis parts felt jammed in for formatting reasons, and the writing instruction never felt melded with the memoir.
rebadee's review against another edition
3.0
Francesca Lia Block's The Thorn Necklace was similar Stephen King's On Writing in that it's mostly memoir with a bit of writing instruction thrown into the mix. Both Block and King have distinct styles, and their advice differs significantly. Block focuses on the building blocks of story-- crafting characters, creating settings, taking them on a journey through crisis and resolution. Block's twelve writing rules/elements are tagged onto the end of chapters about her development, wins, and struggles as a writer and human being. Additionally, Block provides outlines of familiar novels exhibiting the twelve elements for story and a series of writing exercises and prompts in the appendix. This is a worthwhile read for writers, especially those inspired by Block's work.
library_lurker's review against another edition
3.0
the memoir part was interesting. it kinda confirmed my suspicions that FLB is fixated on beauty standards to the detriment of many other aspects of her life. there was a LOT of recounting of comments people have made about her appearance--as a thin, cis white woman who meets conventional beauty standards--and it's kinda like, ooookay. but it was also fascinating and beautiful and ethereal and all the things that make her such a captivating writer.
I mostly skipped the writing advice part, it's pretty basic and kinda jarring. I wish this was just a straight-up memoir about healing through writing without the instructional part of it. there'll be, like, this totally fascinating story and then it will be like, "and now about plot! let's look at the plot of 'to kill a mockingbird'"
I mostly skipped the writing advice part, it's pretty basic and kinda jarring. I wish this was just a straight-up memoir about healing through writing without the instructional part of it. there'll be, like, this totally fascinating story and then it will be like, "and now about plot! let's look at the plot of 'to kill a mockingbird'"
tmcphetridge4's review against another edition
4.0
Offered a lot of good tips on what makes a great book. Block's life story was very interesting to read about and made it quite relatable when it comes to pain and writing.
jmmoth's review against another edition
5.0
I've been assigned an enormous amount of guidebooks in writing classes, but nothing has come close to Francesca Lia Block's "The Thorn Necklace." I love this book, not only because I'm a devotee-an eternal worshiper at her fictional house of magic and love-but because I'm constantly searching for established writers who don't belittle my experience, approach, style, etc. I despise Zinsser's "On Writing Well"; Strunk's "Elements of Style" is boring AF; every year I have to read Lamott's advice in "Bird by Bird" I become more aware of how dated it feels for me; Francine Prose's "Reading Like a Writer" is a lone favorite but too short. If you're looking for a grammar-police, get-published-now type of guide, this isn't the book for you.
"Thorn Necklace" is a study on self-love and self-care for any writer, passionate practitioners and occasional dabblers alike. There's a deep sense of awareness in Francesca's advice; she's always recognizing different creative processes and experiences juxtapose her life and career. The core of this book is in realizing that through writing, our experiences can be acknowledged and, potentially, healed to better ourselves and our practice.
A slight trigger warning for some readers: as a memoir, Francesca writes extensively in here about her life with eating disorders, depression, cancer, death, chronic illnesses, intense heartbreak.
Also, I highly recommend reading each chapter in order. Unlike other guides where you can skip around to find exact answers, "Thorn Necklace" is a journey that unfolds and illuminates like an orchid. If you're in need of immediate advice, there are really beautiful, simple exercises at the end of each chapter and a full chapter before the epilogue dedicated to writing advice. But IMO "Thorn Necklace" is best served in full, with close reading and emotional attachment to both the content and the author.
Francesca's art is a gift in "Thorn Necklace," much like Frida Kahlo's art has transformed into gifts for generations to follow. I know I will cherish this book and her advice for my entire life, taking what I've learned from reading her wisdom and applying it to all areas of my life, not just writing.
"Thorn Necklace" is a study on self-love and self-care for any writer, passionate practitioners and occasional dabblers alike. There's a deep sense of awareness in Francesca's advice; she's always recognizing different creative processes and experiences juxtapose her life and career. The core of this book is in realizing that through writing, our experiences can be acknowledged and, potentially, healed to better ourselves and our practice.
A slight trigger warning for some readers: as a memoir, Francesca writes extensively in here about her life with eating disorders, depression, cancer, death, chronic illnesses, intense heartbreak.
Also, I highly recommend reading each chapter in order. Unlike other guides where you can skip around to find exact answers, "Thorn Necklace" is a journey that unfolds and illuminates like an orchid. If you're in need of immediate advice, there are really beautiful, simple exercises at the end of each chapter and a full chapter before the epilogue dedicated to writing advice. But IMO "Thorn Necklace" is best served in full, with close reading and emotional attachment to both the content and the author.
Francesca's art is a gift in "Thorn Necklace," much like Frida Kahlo's art has transformed into gifts for generations to follow. I know I will cherish this book and her advice for my entire life, taking what I've learned from reading her wisdom and applying it to all areas of my life, not just writing.
leucocrystal's review against another edition
4.0
"I had my answer, in writing. It didn't matter that I loved him, or even how much. I had to let him go."
I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like this -- a writing guide mixed in with such heartbreakingly honest memoir -- but both ends of it were very moving and effective. They inspired me to write, and look back at some of my own struggles in life and relationships over the past several years. Also, Francesca is just a lovely person, and I'm proud to call her a friend and fellow member of our little world of book people. I can easily see myself returning to this work as I delve further into memoir writing of my own.
I don't think I've ever encountered anything quite like this -- a writing guide mixed in with such heartbreakingly honest memoir -- but both ends of it were very moving and effective. They inspired me to write, and look back at some of my own struggles in life and relationships over the past several years. Also, Francesca is just a lovely person, and I'm proud to call her a friend and fellow member of our little world of book people. I can easily see myself returning to this work as I delve further into memoir writing of my own.
booksaremagic's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
eggbeater's review against another edition
4.0
I haven't read any of Francesca Lia Block's fiction works and her book took me a while to warm up to, so I'm not even sure if I'd be taking advice from someone whose writing I'd enjoy or not. An oversight on my part when picking up the book, but the title intrigued me and I've wanted to be a writer for so long and have been stuck. This book is very much a memoir and personal demonstration of creative writing. As I moved further along in the book, I became more motivated to write myself and it stirred up some ideas. And isn't that what you need out of any writing tutorial?
The author does assume that the would-be writer is already well educated (I'm not) and has already understands concepts like passive voice (I don't). Now I have a list of things to do more research about, but I have somewhere fun to start.
The author does assume that the would-be writer is already well educated (I'm not) and has already understands concepts like passive voice (I don't). Now I have a list of things to do more research about, but I have somewhere fun to start.