‘Cause my thesis?

Is done!

Necklace of Kisses: A Novel by Francesca Lia Block

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
Like most teenagers with Punky Coloured hair, I loved Weetzie Bat. My sister introduced me to her when I was about twelve, and I spent the remainder of my adolescence reading them over and over again until my copy of Dangerous Angels looked like a dog had gnawed on it. I’m sure I cried every single time I read Witch Baby (life is so unfair!).

So I was excited to find that Francesca Lia Block had returned to the magical landscape of LA. Perhaps I should have hesitated more–perhaps I should have taken it as a sign that Necklace of Kisses was shelved with the adult fantasy rather than in the young adult section of my local library.

Because Necklace of Kisses is the story of Weetzie in her middle age. After her sex life with My Secret Agent Lover Man (called here Max, mostly, as if Block could no longer tolerate the silly names she gave her characters) abruptly stops, Weetzie retreats to the pink hotel that hosted her high school prom for some reflection. She has a series of quasi-sexual romantic flings with some mystical creatures, but it seems clear from the outset that she won’t consummate them, so there’s no real tension, sexual or otherwise.

This narrative is interspersed with tales of other Weetzie Bat characters, but they seem more like token guest appearances than anything else. Max’s meeting with Coyote stuck out particularly–Coyote sits around talking about what a politically incorrect cliche he is, and then defends this cliche because (essentially) it’s “who he really is!” I think the author needs to get out of the mouths of her characters.

This contributes to a read that is, even without these distracting interludes, uneven. There’s something almost comical about Weetzie’s clothing obsession–this is supposed to be the story about her maturation, but in the end, as she spins around in a coco chanel dress, it just doesn’t feel earned, magic or not. Don’t get me wrong–I love magic. But maybe this sort of whimsy is just more easily forgiven, and even endearing, in teenagers, whereas in a character as old as Weetzie, it just seems sad.

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Farseed by Pamela Sargent

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this terrific and long awaited sequel to Pamela Sargent’s Earthseed, Sargent presents teen readers with an exciting survival story lightly laced with science fiction elements. Characters from the less cohesive first volume appear, but the real focus is on the teenaged protagonists Leila and Nuy, children from warring factions of a Terran colony on a distant planet they’ve come to call “Home.”

These heroines are very well developed and quite strong. Although they are still nominally children in their societies, they are intelligent, bright characters who easily take on leadership roles. Although some of the sexual violence that darkened the first volume is still present, it’s less of a centerpiece here, and both female protagonists spend the majority of the book happily unpaired. Their focus isn’t on romance, but rather on survival–both survival as individuals and the survival of their community.

The science fiction aspects of the story also take a backseat; there’s some slightly troublesome hand-waving in terms of the genetic development of the colonists, but this hardly detracts from the strongly paced, action-filled plot. Sargent sets readers up for another volume, so maybe some of these unresolved elements will be addressed, but hopefully readers won’t have to wait another twenty years for a resolution.

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