Reviews

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

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evelyna421's review against another edition

fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

The worst book I've read in a long time. Not only is the plot something of, what I assume to be, a drug-induce fever-dream, but the main character is insanely inappropriate with cultural appropriation and Native American stereotyping.

Content Warnings

miffy4real's review against another edition

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5.0

i read this so young and i loved it so much -- i read it again and i still loved it and i love to imagine fifi's gorgeous house as mine :-)

bookbuyingwithkatie's review against another edition

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adventurous funny relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

mistressofthesea's review

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adventurous lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

elle4352's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Weetzie Bat is a YA contemporary novel about a girl, her best friend, and a strange, Wonderland version of LA.

Things You'll Find:
*What LA is like after taking 5 edibles*
*My Secret Agent Lover WHAT*
*A hippie-like story that wants to be deep, but fails to make a connection below the surface*

I can't do a summary of this one without spoilers, so I'll blur that and then keep going.

Weetzie Bat meets Dirk, they date, Dirk reveals he's gay. Dirk and Weetzie remain best friends and move in together as adults. Dirk meets the love of his life, now we have three in a house. Weetzie meets the love of her life, My Secret Agent Lover Man, now there's four in a house. Weetzie has a threesome with Dirk and his boyfriend and has a baby, Cherokee. My Secret Agent Lover Man leaves, has a one night stand with a witch, comes back to Weetzie and the witch leaves her baby with them. They affectionately name the child Witch Baby. Weetzie's dad commits suicide. Dirk's boyfriend gets the news that a friend is dying and runs away in a panic. Dirk finds him and brings him home. They live happily ever after. The End.

I wish I was making this up.

This book is clearly a really strange allegory for some difficult topics for teens and young adults in the late 1980s (and I suppose today as well). Block presents divorce, coming to terms with ones sexuality, infidelity, AIDS, and other issues in this odd representation of four people in LA. It definitely has an audience that would love it. I'm not it.

As much as everyone likes to say this is a "modern fairytale" I feel like that's an insult and vast oversimplification when talking about fairytales. If anything, this feels like 1980s fanfiction. While Block is able to present the issues she wants to talk about clearly, the depth of these issues was lost in the story. Another reviewer said this feels like a story that a kid is telling where they're just making up names and the plot as they go along and that's exactly what it reads like. It's almost too ridiculous to take seriously, and if it was just supposed to be a lighthearted, artsy sort of thing that might've been fine. But if the goal is to present these topics and inspire some sort of thought or introspection, it's hard to do that when you have a narrator that sounds and acts like she's thirteen and just discovered Tumblr throughout the entire novel. Perhaps that's the draw for younger audiences, but I still think it reads a little young in character development and plot in comparison to the intended audience of older teens. I think teens that need a bit more structure in their books won't enjoy this

Overall, this book isn't quite refined enough to be considered a fairytale, but if nothing else, it is original. You'd be hard pressed to find another Weetzie Bat.