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Title: Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0-06-028644-X Publisher: Joanna Cotler Books Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (12 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: You know what to expect
Comment: For anybody who has read other books by Francesca Lia Block, you will know what to expect - a haunting story with beautiful characters in a world of sex, drugs, and love. She paints vivid pictures, and though this story doesn't deal with fantasy, the whole book is imbued with an ethereal feeling. Readers can only hold on tight while they wind through the world of Marina and Lex, the brother and sister that loved each other as more than family. Their story is doomed before it begins, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. However, there are always a couple problems. The first of which has nothing to do with the quality of writing at all, but rather that the book is quite short, and is a quick read. Despite the fact that this was a hardcover book (and therefore more expensive), I purchased it. When I got it, I was able to read it in one evening, even factoring in homework and dinner time. Now I'm upset that I just didn't check it out from the library, because unless I read this book two more times, it really wasn't worth the money. The only other thing I'm going to mention is my initial confusion at her frequent narration shifts. Sometimes Marina is narrating, and sometimes it is Lex. Some chapters are in the third person. Both Marina and Lex refer to themselves as "I" and they seem to be writing to each other, saying "you". For the first few chapters, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but before long the lightbulb in my head went on and it all straightened itself out. Overall, a good book to read, but I'd advise a visit to your local library instead of buying it.
Rating: 3
Summary: Wasteful
Comment: "Your whole life you can be told something is wrong and so you believe it. Why should you question it? But then slowly seeds are planted inside of you, one by one, by a touch or a look or a day skateboarding in a park, and they start to unfurl uncurl little green shoots and they start to burst out of old hulls shells and they start to sprout. And pretty soon there are so many of them. They are named Love and Trust and Kindness and Joy and Desire and Wonder and Spirit and Soulmate. They grow into a garden so dense and thick that it starts to invade your brain where the old things you were once told are dying. By the time this garden reaches your brain the old things are dead. They make no sense. The logic of the seeds sprouted inside of you is the only real thing."
Francesca Lia Block pushes the moral limitations of the love between a brother and sister in her latest novel, Wasteland. This love provides both intense pleasure and extreme pain to Lex and Marina. When their mother realizes that her children's love for one another is stronger than that of a sibling, she becomes distant. This pushes Marina closer to her brother and father figure. As they come into adolescents Lex becomes almost obsessively protective of Marina who does all she can to ensure his acceptance The two try to deny their sexual attraction by becoming interested in other boys and girls. But one night they cross the boundaries.
When Lex realizes the immorality of their attraction he betrays his sister and then takes his own life. Marina is devastated with her brother's death. She turns to a friend of her brothers to help her search for answers to the questions that she has about his unexpected death.
Block's readers are forced out of their comfort zones when they begin her book, Wasteland. Reading the quotes inside the cover, I would have never thought this book was going to be about incest. Had I known this, I would have never bought this overpriced book. I found the abrupt switching from Lex's journal entries to Marina to a third person narrative significantly confusing along with the use of exerts from T. S. Eliot's poem. Until page 19, I was baffled by the use of the word "you" as a term of endearment. Furthermore, the surprise ending is a weakness. I think Block might have meant for it to provide a justification for those who were closed-minded to incest. But she left me feeling like it was an unnecessary addition to the book. Maybe this book will shed some constructive light on this situation but it was disturbing to me.
Rating: 3
Summary: reminds me of an anime...
Comment: or maybe a good slash angst fanfic. girls who want draco malfoy to press harry potter against a wall somewhere and kiss him will likely devour this book. sometimes the narration gets confusing as the two people call each other you, but that's really only during one chapter. if you didn't like it as much as the other books it's probably because of the fact that it's much sadder than the other things she's written. you want things to end differently, but you know they can't. won't. still, try it anyway and you maybe pleasantly surprised.
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Title: Ecstasia by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0142400378 Publisher: Puffin Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Nymph by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 1885865430 Publisher: Circlet Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Primavera by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 014240067X Publisher: Puffin Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Guarding the Moon: A Mother's First Year by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0066213673 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Echo by Francesca Lia Block ISBN: 0064407446 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 06 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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