exlibrisbitsy's review against another edition
4.0
In Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys the story arc in the Dangerous Angels series continues. What started with Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby continues in this book with the kids now teenagers and the adults in the household all out of town filming a movie in South America. Naturally Cherokee, Witch Baby, Raphael Chong Jah-Love and soon even Angel Juan, who makes a reappearance, run into trouble.
In a lot of ways I think this book is the most distinctly YA novel in the series. It focuses on the younger generation and problems unique to youth: self image, relationships, finding yourself, growing up.
At the start each of the four characters feels inadequate in one way or another. When they perform on stage they freeze up, when they try and initiate a relationship with someone else they feel rejected or aren't even brave enough to make the attempt, they feel bare, defenseless and powerless in an overbearing world. Coyote, a Native American friend of the family, steps in and offers to help Cherokee create gifts from nature (wings from feathers, goat pants from goat fur) to give each of the four teens outward strength from material things to solve inward problems. Naturally these objects are magical in nature, and naturally they unintentionally result in more problems then they solve.
The rest of the book covers the uncomfortable, dizzying and at times exhilarating descent into a world of late night jams and eventual sex, drugs, smoking, drinking and all night parties. This is where the book had most of its power. To show these things in both the positive (exhilarating, powerful, ego enhancing) and the negative (exhausting, damaging to health both mental and physical, losing control). This is something teens can see and relate to from a source they will listen to as well.
By the end of the book the teens must learn to pull their strength from inside themselves instead of their material trappings and learn how to help each other step back from the edge of self destruction. A powerful and poignant YA novel. Highly recommended.
In a lot of ways I think this book is the most distinctly YA novel in the series. It focuses on the younger generation and problems unique to youth: self image, relationships, finding yourself, growing up.
At the start each of the four characters feels inadequate in one way or another. When they perform on stage they freeze up, when they try and initiate a relationship with someone else they feel rejected or aren't even brave enough to make the attempt, they feel bare, defenseless and powerless in an overbearing world. Coyote, a Native American friend of the family, steps in and offers to help Cherokee create gifts from nature (wings from feathers, goat pants from goat fur) to give each of the four teens outward strength from material things to solve inward problems. Naturally these objects are magical in nature, and naturally they unintentionally result in more problems then they solve.
The rest of the book covers the uncomfortable, dizzying and at times exhilarating descent into a world of late night jams and eventual sex, drugs, smoking, drinking and all night parties. This is where the book had most of its power. To show these things in both the positive (exhilarating, powerful, ego enhancing) and the negative (exhausting, damaging to health both mental and physical, losing control). This is something teens can see and relate to from a source they will listen to as well.
By the end of the book the teens must learn to pull their strength from inside themselves instead of their material trappings and learn how to help each other step back from the edge of self destruction. A powerful and poignant YA novel. Highly recommended.
tanyabc's review against another edition
3.0
This was okay. Witch Baby and Cherokee Bat are growing up and starting to have romantic/sexual experiences. Like with a lot of YA romance, I didn't enjoy that so much. But we also get the girls and their boys starting a band and we get to watch them fall into that sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle. That was alright. The ending was schmaltzy. The book was mostly saved by a really dark moment that happens at the climax which I enjoyed quite a bit.
monasterymonochrome's review against another edition
3.0
In my edition of Dangerous Angels, this book is longer than the first two in the series, but it somehow feels much shorter. The chapters are longer, and so there are less of them, and maybe this contributes, or maybe it's that this book feels much more contained to a very specific sequence of events rather than freewheeling indiscriminately through time. But I think it might more likely be the fact that something just feels like it's missing. The specific story Block concocts here feels like it could do with a bit more fleshing out to make it really sparkle.
I loved that this revolved around Cherokee, Witch Baby, and their friends deciding to start a band (which reminded me of and made me more eager to reread another Block book, the oft-forgotten Ecstasia). That's always a fun concept, and it was made even more intriguing by the idea of the gifts each band member gradually receives (wings made with real bird feathers for Witch Baby, goat-like haunches for Raphael, goat horns for Angel Juan, and heavy black hooves for Cherokee). These gifts are more sinister than they appear on the surface, seemingly imbued with a strange black magic that propels the band's success but strains their relationships and compels them toward drugs, alcohol, and violence. I thought this idea was really cool, but I think Block wastes too many pages on the giving of these gifts, leaving her with very little space to explore their more nefarious effects. The worst of their influence is seemingly introduced and resolved in a chapter or two, which lessens the threat significantly and, I feel, lets Cherokee and Witch Baby off too easy for their oblivious greediness in acquiring them.
As Cherokee gathers materials for her gifts, Block seems to be weaving a lesson into the narrative, that you can't keep taking things from the earth, even when you ask for them nicely, without expecting some consequences. This is an important and relevant message (maybe even more so now than when she wrote the book), but it is too often complicated by Block's penchant for Native American appropriation. Unfortunately, this is something that permeates the whole series, and I imagine it's probably at its worst here. Each chapter opens with a Native American song/poem, which only reads as tone-deaf and cringe-worthy today. The one Indigenous character, Coyote, is there largely to support the white protagonist, to issue vague, ominous warnings each time she comes back asking for his help with another gift but to rescue her anyway when she ignores him. It also gave me pause how many references there are to the "shack" he lives in, while the Bat homestead is always described in rich, opulent, fairytale-esque words.
The story here is interesting and engaging, but it's hard to sit back and enjoy it without reservation through a lens more than 30 years removed from the one through which Block wrote this. Cherokee's perspective is certainly a less irritating and bratty one than Witch Baby's in the previous book, but as likable as she can be, it's hard to erase from your mind the image of a skinny ghost-pale white girl sleeping in a teepee, running around in headdresses and moccasins, and taking advantage of her parents' Native American friend and his culture.
I loved that this revolved around Cherokee, Witch Baby, and their friends deciding to start a band (which reminded me of and made me more eager to reread another Block book, the oft-forgotten Ecstasia). That's always a fun concept, and it was made even more intriguing by the idea of the gifts each band member gradually receives (wings made with real bird feathers for Witch Baby, goat-like haunches for Raphael, goat horns for Angel Juan, and heavy black hooves for Cherokee). These gifts are more sinister than they appear on the surface, seemingly imbued with a strange black magic that propels the band's success but strains their relationships and compels them toward drugs, alcohol, and violence. I thought this idea was really cool, but I think Block wastes too many pages on the giving of these gifts, leaving her with very little space to explore their more nefarious effects. The worst of their influence is seemingly introduced and resolved in a chapter or two, which lessens the threat significantly and, I feel, lets Cherokee and Witch Baby off too easy for their oblivious greediness in acquiring them.
As Cherokee gathers materials for her gifts, Block seems to be weaving a lesson into the narrative, that you can't keep taking things from the earth, even when you ask for them nicely, without expecting some consequences. This is an important and relevant message (maybe even more so now than when she wrote the book), but it is too often complicated by Block's penchant for Native American appropriation. Unfortunately, this is something that permeates the whole series, and I imagine it's probably at its worst here. Each chapter opens with a Native American song/poem, which only reads as tone-deaf and cringe-worthy today. The one Indigenous character, Coyote, is there largely to support the white protagonist, to issue vague, ominous warnings each time she comes back asking for his help with another gift but to rescue her anyway when she ignores him. It also gave me pause how many references there are to the "shack" he lives in, while the Bat homestead is always described in rich, opulent, fairytale-esque words.
The story here is interesting and engaging, but it's hard to sit back and enjoy it without reservation through a lens more than 30 years removed from the one through which Block wrote this. Cherokee's perspective is certainly a less irritating and bratty one than Witch Baby's in the previous book, but as likable as she can be, it's hard to erase from your mind the image of a skinny ghost-pale white girl sleeping in a teepee, running around in headdresses and moccasins, and taking advantage of her parents' Native American friend and his culture.
jovvijo's review against another edition
3.0
Dream like and punk like, magical and strange.
Curiously both strange and interesting, and yet you feel like you gain nothing from reading it, just the experience of reading it.
Definitely recommended for teens in angst!
Curiously both strange and interesting, and yet you feel like you gain nothing from reading it, just the experience of reading it.
Definitely recommended for teens in angst!
scpmrt's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
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? Yes
5.0
bekrecka's review against another edition
2.0
This is the 3rd book in the Dangerous Angels series. This story focuses on the kids of the family, in particular Cherokee Bat. The last story, Witch Baby, had more voodoo inspired magic. In this, the magic is inspired by Native American spirits and stories. In the beginning, Cherokee sets out on a mission to help cheer up her younger sister, Witch Baby, who has locked herself in a shed for days. Cherokee gets the idea to make her sister a pair of wings from feathers she’s asked the birds to give her. They do the trick, and bring Witch Baby out of her slump. From there, Cherokee ends up trying to do the same for everyone else in her group and the power from these magical gifts start to have some adverse affects. I liked the idea of it, but for me it became trite rather quickly. I’m ready for the stories to return back to the adults of the group, who I find much more interesting, but I have a feeling the series is supposed to be mainly about the kids. There are two stories left in the series, but I’ll be putting them aside to pick back up in between my next round of books.
la_yuli's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
heypretty52's review against another edition
4.0
i love how this series touches each character. two more books to go.
libscote's review against another edition
4.0
Almost as good as [b:Witch Baby|44331|Witch Baby (Weetzie Bat, #2)|Francesca Lia Block|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170260280s/44331.jpg|946182]
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