exlibrisbitsy's review against another edition
4.0
With the three deaths that have happened recently, young people driven beyond the brink from being bullied due to their homosexuality, I was glad when I picked up the final book in the Dangerous Angels series. It gave me some hope.
Baby Be-Bop is a prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat and tells the story of Dirk McDonald throughout his childhood and entering into adolescence. This is a coming out story of the first order. Dirk realizes from a very young age that he is different and later realizes that he is gay and the ramifications that is going to have for himself and his family.
He agonizes over telling his grandmother Fifi who he worries it will hurt. He struggles with his feelings for his best friend Pup and worries about the effect it will have on their friendship. He gets into trouble, smokes weed, gets a fake ID and sneaks into clubs, dresses as a punk rocker so that no one will mess with him, falls in love and deals with heart break. Baby Be-Bop pulls no punches as Dirk deals with everything from friends that are too afraid to come out of the closet, to finding out that others that are out were not careful and are now suffering from HIV or AIDS.
Finally Dirk ends up struggling with thoughts of suicide and has to find a reason to live, a story that will make him want to live. That's when the magic that is in all of the Dangerous Angels books comes to life and the genie in the lamp appears to give Dirk hope. Baby Be-Bop can be read as a standalone book and if you want to read a magical, fantastical GLBT story then I recommend you read this one. It's short, but to the point. It shows someone being driven to the brink by hatred and being saved by love, hope and understanding.
Baby Be-Bop is a prequel of sorts to Weetzie Bat and tells the story of Dirk McDonald throughout his childhood and entering into adolescence. This is a coming out story of the first order. Dirk realizes from a very young age that he is different and later realizes that he is gay and the ramifications that is going to have for himself and his family.
He agonizes over telling his grandmother Fifi who he worries it will hurt. He struggles with his feelings for his best friend Pup and worries about the effect it will have on their friendship. He gets into trouble, smokes weed, gets a fake ID and sneaks into clubs, dresses as a punk rocker so that no one will mess with him, falls in love and deals with heart break. Baby Be-Bop pulls no punches as Dirk deals with everything from friends that are too afraid to come out of the closet, to finding out that others that are out were not careful and are now suffering from HIV or AIDS.
Finally Dirk ends up struggling with thoughts of suicide and has to find a reason to live, a story that will make him want to live. That's when the magic that is in all of the Dangerous Angels books comes to life and the genie in the lamp appears to give Dirk hope. Baby Be-Bop can be read as a standalone book and if you want to read a magical, fantastical GLBT story then I recommend you read this one. It's short, but to the point. It shows someone being driven to the brink by hatred and being saved by love, hope and understanding.
la_yuli's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jackieeh's review against another edition
3.0
I think I may be (finally) venturing into these books in a non-traditional order, but this was the only one the Chicago Public Library had for my kindle okaaaay?
There was a lot to like here. So much, in fact, that I threw my jet-lag recovery plan out the window and stayed up into the wee hours reading this in one go. It did indeed feel like a prequel to a story I hadn't read, but I didn't have any trouble sinking into this nineties-tastic world with its magic and its great names. Definitely one for hypothetical future children of mine.
I mean:
There was a lot to like here. So much, in fact, that I threw my jet-lag recovery plan out the window and stayed up into the wee hours reading this in one go. It did indeed feel like a prequel to a story I hadn't read, but I didn't have any trouble sinking into this nineties-tastic world with its magic and its great names. Definitely one for hypothetical future children of mine.
I mean:
Our stories can set us free, Dirk thought. When we set them free.
sarahheiman's review against another edition
5.0
i'm just going to go ahead and give this whole series 5 stars.
monasterymonochrome's review against another edition
3.5
This is a nice book, and I really appreciated finally getting to know more of Dirk's (and a little bit of Duck's) backstory. They're two characters who are easy to love from the very first time they're introduced in Weetzie Bat, but they're mainly relegated to sidekicks in the first two books (serving as Weetzie's best friends and then as caretakers/confidantes of Witch Baby) before nearly disappearing in the third and fourth books. I can see how this book was probably pretty groundbreaking for its time in how candidly it addresses the topic of coming out and navigating one's sexuality in a way that's accessible to very young teens. It's ultimately uplifting, but it also doesn't shy away from depicting the prejudice and violence that sadly often lurks in the shadows.
That being said, it felt a little too scattered for me following the comparatively tightly-plotted Missing Angel Juan. Block always favors atmosphere and characters over plot, which I usually don't mind, but this book is clearly an attempt to return to the kaleidoscopic and loose nature of the first book, which is a bit more hit or miss here. The entire second half of the book is basically a dream sequence, where Dirk is talked down from his suicidal feelings by visions of his great-grandmother, parents, and future boyfriend that appear to him via a magic genie lamp. I felt like this sequence went on for far too long, and I got a bit bored with it after a certain point because it was just entirely expository dialogue. Still, overall, this book is a poignant way to close out the original series, even though I really expected the final pages to return us to Weetzie and Dirk's first meeting and was slightly let down when they didn't, though maybe that would have detracted from this being Dirk's story, Weetzie's having already been told.
That being said, it felt a little too scattered for me following the comparatively tightly-plotted Missing Angel Juan. Block always favors atmosphere and characters over plot, which I usually don't mind, but this book is clearly an attempt to return to the kaleidoscopic and loose nature of the first book, which is a bit more hit or miss here. The entire second half of the book is basically a dream sequence, where Dirk is talked down from his suicidal feelings by visions of his great-grandmother, parents, and future boyfriend that appear to him via a magic genie lamp. I felt like this sequence went on for far too long, and I got a bit bored with it after a certain point because it was just entirely expository dialogue. Still, overall, this book is a poignant way to close out the original series, even though I really expected the final pages to return us to Weetzie and Dirk's first meeting and was slightly let down when they didn't, though maybe that would have detracted from this being Dirk's story, Weetzie's having already been told.
mcpltechlady's review against another edition
5.0
The first time I read this book was in the late 90s or early 2000s as part of the Dangerous Angels anthology when I was probably way too young to understand all its pieces and plots. It was my first memory of encountering lgbt anything and had always held a special place in my heart.
It holds up. So good.
It holds up. So good.
angelasunshine's review against another edition
2.0
Strange story (stories?)
I liked Dirk's storyline but the whole genie thing just seemed to get more convoluted and I couldn't tell what was going on, and not in a good way.
I liked Dirk's storyline but the whole genie thing just seemed to get more convoluted and I couldn't tell what was going on, and not in a good way.
evelum's review against another edition
4.0
Re-read this recently, and while it's not as phenomenal for me as the first book of the series, I do enjoy getting more background story for some characters.
scpmrt's review
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
aca_reads's review against another edition
5.0
The first time I read this book was in the late 90s or early 2000s as part of the Dangerous Angels anthology when I was probably way too young to understand all its pieces and plots. It was my first memory of encountering lgbt anything and had always held a special place in my heart.
It holds up. So good.
It holds up. So good.