A review by mhall
Witch Baby by Francesca Lia Block

5.0

Witch Baby was the first of the Weetzie Bat series I read back in junior high. I have a soft spot for tangled, snarled hair that persists until this day, and a slight inferiority complex about both photography and playing the drums.

Anyway, 20 years later, after I now know about Francesca Lia Block's struggles with an eating disorder, after I see the danger and weirdness of the positive racial stereotype characters in the book, I still can't help but love this book the most, because how could I not? With its sparkling fairy tale Los Angeles and sad girl with purple, tilty eyes?

“Under the twinkling trees was a table covered with Guatemalan fabric, roses in juice jars, wax rose candles from Tijuana and plates of food — Weetzie's Vegetable Love-Rice, My Secret Agent Lover Man's guacamole, Dirk's homemade pizza, Duck's fig and berry salad and Surfer Surprise Protein Punch, Brandy-Lynn's pink macaroni, Coyote's cornmeal cakes, Ping's mushu plum crepes and Valentine's Jamaican plantain pie. Witch Baby's stomach growled but she didn't leave her hiding place. Instead, she listened to the reggae, surf, soul and salsa, tugged at the snarl balls in her hair and snapped pictures of all the couples.”


How could a person not want this beautiful life?