Saturday, September 22, 2007

Weetzie Bat - Francesca Lia Block


i love this book! no seriously, this is one of my favourite books of all time. i absolutely adored it in undergrad, and i still can't get enough of block's crazy punked out vision of shangi-l.a., or hell-a., as it is also known. the title character, weetzie bat, is a free-spirited high school punk rock loner who meets her soul mate in classmate dirk, who has a brilliant mohawk and drives a '55 pontiac. they spend their time moshing at shows, eating cheese and bean and hotdog and pastrami burritos at oki dogs, picking up ducks, and visiting with dirk's purple haired grandmother fifi. when fifi passes on a magic lamp to weetzie, she makes three wishes: a secret agent lover man for herself, a duck for dirk, and a beautiful little house for them to live happily ever after in. and so brings into play the catalyst that will drive the story forward and allow block to continue with the four other books in the dangerous angels series: baby be-bop, missing angel juan, cherokee bat and the goat guys, and witch baby. block's books are considered by some to be must have a fiction. i'm not about to argue with that stance. if you enjoy magical realism and you feel ready for a literary trip that will leave you feeling not just a little dizzy, i would definitely recommend checking out weetzie bat.

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