rustbeltjessie's review against another edition
4.0
Francesca Lia Block's books are like comfort food for my brain. They're not junk food - there's definite nutritional value - but they're also not some gourmet foodie trend that challenges my tastebuds. They're comfort food: I feel comforted and satisfied when I read them. Even with this one, which is one of FLB's darker novels, I still found comfort in it. It's beautiful and sad and chilling, and sexy, oh my god is it sexy. (Also, I really wish Love Monster were a real blog I could read, and I'd love to read Catt's senior thesis about death in Los Angeles literature and music!)
underwaterlily's review against another edition
4.0
Beyond the Pale Motel is the type of story you want to end well. You want Catt, the protagonist, to work through her issues and to find peace. You want someone to tell her she's beautiful and worthwhile. You want her to realize she doesn't need to chase society's narrow view of beauty—an unattainable goal, because of her more voluptuous frame. When Catt finally does realize her body is perfect, her revelation is so simply stated, and with such regret, it moves the reader to ponder how any woman can suffer from body dysmorphic disorder.
Francesca Lia Block, author of Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books and The Rose and The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, is known for her dreamy prose and for her shimmering version of Los Angeles. Her characters feel like real people; they address myriad real world problems, as they navigate an otherworldly cityscape. In Beyond the Pale Motel, Block uses parts of the body to convey how disconnected and incomplete Catt feels. Catt and her best friend, Bree, cut and style hair at a salon called Head Hunters. Catt works out at a gym called Body Farm, in an attempt to inspire desire in her husband, who ultimately leaves her for another woman. The serial killer stalking the city slices his victims into parts: one woman's legs, another woman's arms. When Catt explores sex with random men, she physically separates from her body. Catt only becomes whole after she pursues the Hollywood Killer to an abandoned motel in the desert, where she realizes there is more to life than the pursuit of perfection. There is friendship. There is love.
And through this epiphany, Catt achieves a kind of peace.
*
Francesca was kind enough to answer my questions about Beyond the Pale Motel, as well as her love of fairy tales and mythology, on my blog!
Francesca Lia Block, author of Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books and The Rose and The Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, is known for her dreamy prose and for her shimmering version of Los Angeles. Her characters feel like real people; they address myriad real world problems, as they navigate an otherworldly cityscape. In Beyond the Pale Motel, Block uses parts of the body to convey how disconnected and incomplete Catt feels. Catt and her best friend, Bree, cut and style hair at a salon called Head Hunters. Catt works out at a gym called Body Farm, in an attempt to inspire desire in her husband, who ultimately leaves her for another woman. The serial killer stalking the city slices his victims into parts: one woman's legs, another woman's arms. When Catt explores sex with random men, she physically separates from her body. Catt only becomes whole after she pursues the Hollywood Killer to an abandoned motel in the desert, where she realizes there is more to life than the pursuit of perfection. There is friendship. There is love.
And through this epiphany, Catt achieves a kind of peace.
*
Francesca was kind enough to answer my questions about Beyond the Pale Motel, as well as her love of fairy tales and mythology, on my blog!
superdilettante's review against another edition
3.0
I'm more worried about FLB's psyche than ever. The main character, Catt comes upon her estranged best friend about to be murdered and dismembered by Catt's ex-husband's brother (a hot guy Catt has already slept with in her attempt to forget her ex, yes), and she screams and throws her phone to save her best friend.
So the hot guy (named Cyan, FLB has so many characters she's running out of names) ties up Catt and injects her with some sort of paralytic drug, and wheels her around in a wheelchair showing off his museum of obscenity that he's installed in a brokedown old motel (the titular location, yes). The last thing he shows her is the freezer full of body parts he's saved in an attempt to create "the perfect woman." And all Catt can think (more than once!) is "I guess I wasn't hot enough for him to want to hack into pieces." Then he takes her heart, because it's the only good part of her. Good thing he didn't take her brain, then his creation would have been ruined.
So ok, if you like the FLB of yesteryear but it didn't have enough cocks and juices for you, maybe you'll like this. But for me....no.
So the hot guy (named Cyan, FLB has so many characters she's running out of names) ties up Catt and injects her with some sort of paralytic drug, and wheels her around in a wheelchair showing off his museum of obscenity that he's installed in a brokedown old motel (the titular location, yes). The last thing he shows her is the freezer full of body parts he's saved in an attempt to create "the perfect woman." And all Catt can think (more than once!) is "I guess I wasn't hot enough for him to want to hack into pieces." Then he takes her heart, because it's the only good part of her. Good thing he didn't take her brain, then his creation would have been ruined.
So ok, if you like the FLB of yesteryear but it didn't have enough cocks and juices for you, maybe you'll like this. But for me....no.
feuryously's review against another edition
4.0
This book is so frustrating in that I simultaneously want more of it but it’s also the perfect length.
This is also a ringer. The last time I read this was when it was released. I’m reading an 800 page book currently and wanted to do 5 books in January and knew I couldn’t finish Crescent City in time so I pulled this one out because it was short and sweet (well, bittersweet). Is that cheating? Maybe. But does it still count? Absolutely it does.
This is also a ringer. The last time I read this was when it was released. I’m reading an 800 page book currently and wanted to do 5 books in January and knew I couldn’t finish Crescent City in time so I pulled this one out because it was short and sweet (well, bittersweet). Is that cheating? Maybe. But does it still count? Absolutely it does.
theswordandthesea's review against another edition
4.0
Read it in a day. Engrossing portrait of a woman falling apart. Absolutely didn't predict the ending. Man.
dreamofbookspines's review against another edition
5.0
As Block ages, her books get scarier and less light, though the beauty in her writing remains strong. This is rawer somehow, with more sex scenes and violence. This was hard to put down, as I wanted to know more about Catt. Catt's an unreliable narrator who's both deeply appealing in her vulnerability/humanity and deeply repelling in her penchant for sleeping with people to avoid looking at herself. The mystery of the story (who's the killer? what's happening to the people in Catt's life? what's happening to Catt?) and the theme of death are well integrated into the book.
titania86's review against another edition
2.0
Catt and Bree are hairdressers in LA. They've been friends for a long time and been through alcoholism, recovery, and over a decade of sobriety together. Catt's husband Dash suddenly leaves her for a rich, young starlet. This along with the Hollywood Serial Killer murders that seem to be closer and closer to her are shattering her world. She seeks comfort in many men, but all of them turn out to be using her. She sees a pattern to the murders and thinks Bree might be next, but is she right or is she becoming unhinged from reality?
Beyond the Pale Motel is Francesca Lia Block's newest adult novel. It's a bit more sexy and dark than her teen work, but just as lyrically written. I loved how the horror theme extended to unexpected areas of the story. Catt's salon is called Head Hunter and her gym is called Body Farm. Her blog is called Love Monsters and she has monster labels (vampire, manticore, zombie, or goblin) for the types of men there are. The story centers around Catt who has it together. She's been going to AA for years and her relationship with her husband is solid as can be. Her family consists of those she has chosen: Dash, Bree, and her son Skyler. Everything is idyllic and happy right up until it all falls apart. It was hard to read Catt's life just disintegrate. She is a sensitive person who needs people desperately and wants to be a mother above all else. Her need for people translates into hypersexuality after her husband leaves her and she invites man after man into her bed to fill the emotional void. This doesn't work out since they turn out to be scumbags. These encounters don't help her initial pain from her breakup, create more pain, and send her spiraling out of control, ending her sobriety. She also consistently had a horrible view of herself, thinking she was unworthy, ugly, fat, etc. This is unfortunately confirmed in one way or another by virtually all those around her. Her journey from solid to shattered was well written, but heartbreaking and hypnotic to read.
I have a lot of problems with the book that infuriated me. First, the way Catt's "friends" treated her when she was down. She made one mistake and her best friend just completely cuts off all contact and removes her from her life after over a decade of friendship. One mistake. Really? That is a sucky and unsupportive friend. I also couldn't believe how she was treated by her AA sponsors. They either weren't available for her to talk to during a crisis or wouldn't even "waste time on her" if she didn't redo some of the steps of the program. They along with the entire book were super judgmental about her sexual activity. There's nothing wrong with finding solace in sex as long as it's consensual. It didn't turn out to be good for her at all, but it's a better way to cope than turning to drinking or drug use. There was no understanding from anyone really. The horror element didn't figure as largely as I would have liked. It was really an afterthought to all the stuff that was going on in Catt's life. That element came into play during the last few pages and ended very abruptly. It just wasn't satisfying and just rubbed salt in the wounds.
Beyond the Pale Motel is well written and evocative, but the horror element isn't major enough and the people populating Catt's life are awful, selfish, judgy people. The writing kept me interested, but my grievances outweighed the good things about the novel.
Beyond the Pale Motel is Francesca Lia Block's newest adult novel. It's a bit more sexy and dark than her teen work, but just as lyrically written. I loved how the horror theme extended to unexpected areas of the story. Catt's salon is called Head Hunter and her gym is called Body Farm. Her blog is called Love Monsters and she has monster labels (vampire, manticore, zombie, or goblin) for the types of men there are. The story centers around Catt who has it together. She's been going to AA for years and her relationship with her husband is solid as can be. Her family consists of those she has chosen: Dash, Bree, and her son Skyler. Everything is idyllic and happy right up until it all falls apart. It was hard to read Catt's life just disintegrate. She is a sensitive person who needs people desperately and wants to be a mother above all else. Her need for people translates into hypersexuality after her husband leaves her and she invites man after man into her bed to fill the emotional void. This doesn't work out since they turn out to be scumbags. These encounters don't help her initial pain from her breakup, create more pain, and send her spiraling out of control, ending her sobriety. She also consistently had a horrible view of herself, thinking she was unworthy, ugly, fat, etc. This is unfortunately confirmed in one way or another by virtually all those around her. Her journey from solid to shattered was well written, but heartbreaking and hypnotic to read.
I have a lot of problems with the book that infuriated me. First, the way Catt's "friends" treated her when she was down. She made one mistake and her best friend just completely cuts off all contact and removes her from her life after over a decade of friendship. One mistake. Really? That is a sucky and unsupportive friend. I also couldn't believe how she was treated by her AA sponsors. They either weren't available for her to talk to during a crisis or wouldn't even "waste time on her" if she didn't redo some of the steps of the program. They along with the entire book were super judgmental about her sexual activity. There's nothing wrong with finding solace in sex as long as it's consensual. It didn't turn out to be good for her at all, but it's a better way to cope than turning to drinking or drug use. There was no understanding from anyone really. The horror element didn't figure as largely as I would have liked. It was really an afterthought to all the stuff that was going on in Catt's life. That element came into play during the last few pages and ended very abruptly. It just wasn't satisfying and just rubbed salt in the wounds.
Beyond the Pale Motel is well written and evocative, but the horror element isn't major enough and the people populating Catt's life are awful, selfish, judgy people. The writing kept me interested, but my grievances outweighed the good things about the novel.
girrlfriday's review against another edition
2.0
I expected a lot more from this book based on the glowing lyrical reviews here. I think you have to be a Block fan to enjoy this book. I am a Stephen King fan, however, and I feel this attempt at horror was bungled.
The unreliable narrator was too unreliable, the suspense build up was good but ham handed, and the end was jarring- not just because of what happened, because 'here's everything explained and tied with a bow in the last few pages kthxbye!'
This read like a YA novel with a lot of sex, decent but not a great read.
The unreliable narrator was too unreliable, the suspense build up was good but ham handed, and the end was jarring- not just because of what happened, because 'here's everything explained and tied with a bow in the last few pages kthxbye!'
This read like a YA novel with a lot of sex, decent but not a great read.
thegratefulpoet's review against another edition
3.0
Read this book in under 5 hours. I have been a fan of Block for years, but I feel like this is one of her best for sure. Definitely recommend!