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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
Great concept, but substantially underdeveloped. It would have paid off if the author had fully developed Bee, Haze, Sarah, and the doppelgänger. I do believe the author nailed the dreamy essence of the story, but it needed to be expounded upon.
I fell in love with Francesca's Weetzie Bat series in high school and since then have been convinced that nothing she writes can ever top the characters and modern faerie tale stories in those books.
The Waters & The Wild came very close.
The only problem I have with this book is that it is too short. I wish Francesca had written it as a full length novel. By the end, there is so much more to explore. Why was Bee switched for a changeling? How will all of the characters live when so much of what they knew of the world has changed?
If you've ever felt like you don't belong, and all of us have in one way or another, you'll find yourself in this book. I really connected with Bee, Haze and Stephanie, not only because they felt they belonged somewhere else, but that there was a place they needed to get back to. The difference in finding a place to belong and returning to a place where you belong may seem subtle, but I think it is vast. Returning is reclaiming who you used to be, but often times you can't go back unless you go forward. Is that a paradox?
Francesca weaves in other themes such as war. War between the world and war between peers, the outcasts and the popular kids. But it isn't the typical dynamic you see in a lot of books. Bee and her friends aren't afraid of the popular kids. They don't long to be them. They crash their parties and fly away. Francesca's prose is so lyrical I found myself side by side with the characters as they soared and sang and were covered in the earth.
The Waters & The Wild came very close.
The only problem I have with this book is that it is too short. I wish Francesca had written it as a full length novel. By the end, there is so much more to explore. Why was Bee switched for a changeling? How will all of the characters live when so much of what they knew of the world has changed?
If you've ever felt like you don't belong, and all of us have in one way or another, you'll find yourself in this book. I really connected with Bee, Haze and Stephanie, not only because they felt they belonged somewhere else, but that there was a place they needed to get back to. The difference in finding a place to belong and returning to a place where you belong may seem subtle, but I think it is vast. Returning is reclaiming who you used to be, but often times you can't go back unless you go forward. Is that a paradox?
Francesca weaves in other themes such as war. War between the world and war between peers, the outcasts and the popular kids. But it isn't the typical dynamic you see in a lot of books. Bee and her friends aren't afraid of the popular kids. They don't long to be them. They crash their parties and fly away. Francesca's prose is so lyrical I found myself side by side with the characters as they soared and sang and were covered in the earth.
Finally a Francesca Lia Block novella I really enjoyed! It wasn't as mind-bending as some of her other books, and while it was characteristically airy-fairy, it wasn't as annoying as, say, the Weetzie Bat series and the like.
Here's something I like about it: while the reader can decide that Bee is actually a changeling and choose to go back to her faerie world, it could also be read as Bee being mentally ill and escaping into a fantasy world. Well, that's how I read it, anyway. Or maybe it can also be read as a young girl finally growing up and fitting in with the rest of her high school. Her friends stay caught in the childish world that is their youth and mature slower.
Here's something I like about it: while the reader can decide that Bee is actually a changeling and choose to go back to her faerie world, it could also be read as Bee being mentally ill and escaping into a fantasy world. Well, that's how I read it, anyway. Or maybe it can also be read as a young girl finally growing up and fitting in with the rest of her high school. Her friends stay caught in the childish world that is their youth and mature slower.
Bought this when I was also a freaky 13 year old, maybe should have read it then instead of now
Despite finishing this book in less than an hour, I enjoyed the premise. As a teenager I often felt lonely and out of place and would have killed for friends like in this book, even if the relationships weren’t very developed but I didn’t expect them to be as it is written for a younger audience.
In the way that I have always loved FLB and will always read the books she writes even if she seems to be jumping the shark more often than not in recent years, I read this book. It's typical FLB -- the city of Los Angeles is practically a character. There's a girl who feels like an outcast. She doesn't belong to this world, she's unpopular, she has no friends and she has strange dreams. She battles popular girls, her kind but misunderstanding mother, and the terrible dreams of a girl who looks just like her but lives below ground. After she befriends an alien disguised as a boy and a former slave reincarnated as a young black girl, Bee realizes that she is actually a changeling, and the dopple ganger she sees is the girl who wants her life back. Even though none of the characters were very well-developed, they were relatable and interesting. This book is just over 100 pages, though, and reads more like a long short story or a novella. A lot of the complicated emotions that FLB usually explores just don't fit into this book. For that reason, it rings hollow to me, even if though I like the characters and the story. My biggest issue (besides the length) was how FLB tried to make the book seem modern or timely with the cultural references and context. Usually her pop culture references are spot on and make you feel more like the story takes place in a specific time, but something about the multiple references to 1. the twin towers falling 2. global warming 3. the polar bears dying and oh, don't forget the tsunami... it just stops feeling like an inside secret reference to pop culture and more like grasping at relevancy. That's something I never thought I'd hear myself say about FLB. Either I'm getting old and jaded, or she just missed it on this one. I'm going to read another one of her newer books to see if I can tell -- is it her, or is it me?
Once again Francesca Lia Block weaves a magical tale of life. I only wish it lasted longer, and was a little disappointed that no more enchanting romances ensued. But, still a great book that will leave your heart whole.
I always seem to think I'll like Francesca Lia Block's books, and then I'm always left underwhelmed. It's exactly the same for this one. It's about changelings. I love changelings. I love all the different ways a changeling story could go. And this was going there, but then fizzled. The ending had absolutely no impact on me. I just didn't care.