Rating: 
Summary: Love is a dangerous angel...
Review: I'd read the whole Weetzie Bat series before purchasing this book, but the problem was that no-one I'd loaned my individual copies of the stories to ever returned them. (Which may, in and of itself, be a testament to the kick-butt slinkster coolness that is intrinsically a part of this book.)So anyway, as I was falling in love with a girl with whom I go to college, I read her Weetzie Bat. It was really cool. Especially the part in which My Secret Agent Lover Man expresses his undying love for Weetzie (I liked the part about "You are my martini..."). Since that time (about a month ago), however, this person has emotionally crucified me, and started dating an extremely goofy-looking boy. Alas, that's the life portrayed in Ms. Block's novellas: hartbreaking and inspiring, exhilirating and melancholy. Read as modern day fairy-tales, they are wonderfully crafted pieces of fiction. Not surprisingly, however, I've read many scathing reviews of this series on Amazon.com. I think that for people to review it poorly, they have to miss the point--that these are fairy-tales. I wouldn't want a 13-year-old kid reading this as an instruction guide to life, but then again, how many people take fiction that seriously? (At least a few people do, as evidenced by the reviews.) As with all fairy-tales, there is a moral behind the narrative: that love and universal acceptance goes a long way to make people happy, to heal hurt, and to generally make the world a better place--but also that things that some people take for love (that is, sex) can be devastating and hurtful. Love *IS* a dangerous angel. On that level, this book is not only a beautiful piece of prose, but of perhaps immeasurable value to a world torn by conflict, hurt, and hate. I just wish that more people would see the good in this book, instead of the bad. (Good for high-school aged and up readers, but I'd probably have it tempered by parental guidance for anyone younger than, say, 15.)
Rating:
Summary: Fairy-tales of love...dangerous angels...
Review: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block is a wonderful poetic fairytale. The people who bash it need to realize just that: it is a fairytale.
The simplistic sometimes irrelevantness of it adds to the fantasy world that Block wraps around Weetzie and her friends. I have read this book repeatedly and love it each time. Block knows exactly what audience she is aiming at and she caters to it. The creative minds of teenage girl crave fiction like this: fiction that can take them to a different place, and what teenage girl is not fascinated with the concept of falling in love.
Weetzie Bat is well written and conveys precisely what Block is trying to get across, that love is a "dangerous angel". The fairy tale aspect of the story is what makes it so appealing. Where else could one find characters named My Secret Agent Lover Man, Weetzie Bat, Dirk, or Duck?
This story, much like Blocks others, is a story of teenage love affairs and what it does to a girl trapped in a world of in-between. The fact that it is told, at a couple different times, from other characters point of view, instead of just Weetzie's, is interesting. Block is truly a magnificent writer. This book is full of clever quotes and language that will stick in the mind of a 16-year-old girl forever. It expresses the pains, fears, and heartbreaks of falling in love, as well as the elation, happiness, and hopefulness that love entails.
I also would not suggest this book to anyone younger than maybe 15. I can understand where some parental concerns may come from, but as long as the teenager knows the difference between real and fairy-tales, and knows that it is just a fairytale, it is all right to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Unrealistic, childish
Review: I dunno, this book just didn't cut it for me. Maybe it was that I expected something else from it, or maybe its just not my style. Whatever it was though, it left me with a very very sour taste in my mouth after giving up halfway through.
From the cover as well as the title, I expected fantasy or a storyline where a magical/powerful influence surfaces on modern day life. I was disappointed to find, well, this.
If I had been reading something like this online, I would have stopped about a paragraph in. Sadly for me though, I had spent good money for it, so I figured I should give it more of a chance. Enough of that though, this is about the book.
The author dwells a lot on unneccessary detail. We don't need, nor want, to know the specifics of what Wheetzie ate for lunch, nor do we need a documentary of her wardrobe. Several of the characters are introduced without warning. Weetzie's dog, for example, comes in midsentence. It seems almost as if the author is expecting us to already know the people she's supposed to be describing.
I got the strong impression that, despite this author's previous experiences in other books and magazines, this was amateur work. The setting and events that unfolded mirrored the written fantasies of a pre-teen. It was too unrealistic.
I'm glad that other people seem to like this book. I'm not trying to say I think you're wrong in any way for enjoying it. But I felt the need to express my opinion on my soon-to-be-returned book. ~Farewell~
Rating:
Summary: Deceivingly simple, potentially complex
Review: Francesca Lia Block's series, Dangerous Angels, presents a beautiful oxymoron -- on the one hand, we have a simple, magical fairy tale, revolving around issues of identity, love, family, and struggle. On the other hand, Block uses her distinctive, rhythmic, highly stylized prose-poetry, and her offbeat but lovable characters to explore some very mature and complex ideas.
As a fairy tale, the series has inherent value in its capacity to create in the mind of the reader striking imagery, which makes the reader a cohort in a journey of coming-of-age of two generations of American teens. In this light alone, the series presents a highly-original modern-day tale, appropriate for mature adolescents, thru persons aged 101 years. In a second light, Block (although perhaps not intentionally) manages to craft her language, characters, and plot to explore advanced topics in critical theory -- her deceivingly simple "fairy tales" deal with such complex notions as self/other and marginalization, subject/object and the power of the gaze (especially in the second book, Witch Baby, where issues of "life through the lens" are in perfect complement with issues of theoretical discourse of Roland Barthes, Jacques Lacan, and Slovoj Zizek), through to issues in language that include her use of neologism, and technique which serves to flout norms of structural linguistics.
Can her stories merely be enjoyed as the "fairy tale?" Indeed they can, and perhaps this is the intention -- but to those who have read her series and dismissed it as "trite" or "too simplistic" I would merely like to encourage that they reconsider the series in a critical sense, and realize its incredible potential for even the most academic reader. Personally, I first encountered these books as a young teen, and was captivated...but now (too many to tell you) years later, in the academic world, my appreciation has grown. So if you are fifteen, or fifty, and looking for entertainment or academic stimulation, open the book, open your mind, and perhaps you will be pleasantly surprised.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerous Angels
Review: I loved this book. My grandmother bought it for me on the 16th and I was done reading it on the 17. I read the entire book in two sit down sessions. The story is very realistic with just the right touch of fairy tale for it to be wonderful. I know this is a bad reviev but I'm only 13!!
Rating:
Summary: Fairy-tales of love...dangerous angels...
Review: Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block is a wonderful poetic fairytale. The people who bash it need to realize just that: it is a fairytale.
The simplistic sometimes irrelevantness of it adds to the fantasy world that Block wraps around Weetzie and her friends. I have read this book repeatedly and love it each time. Block knows exactly what audience she is aiming at and she caters to it. The creative minds of teenage girl crave fiction like this: fiction that can take them to a different place, and what teenage girl is not fascinated with the concept of falling in love.
Weetzie Bat is well written and conveys precisely what Block is trying to get across, that love is a "dangerous angel". The fairy tale aspect of the story is what makes it so appealing. Where else could one find characters named My Secret Agent Lover Man, Weetzie Bat, Dirk, or Duck?
This story, much like Blocks others, is a story of teenage love affairs and what it does to a girl trapped in a world of in-between. The fact that it is told, at a couple different times, from other characters point of view, instead of just Weetzie's, is interesting. Block is truly a magnificent writer. This book is full of clever quotes and language that will stick in the mind of a 16-year-old girl forever. It expresses the pains, fears, and heartbreaks of falling in love, as well as the elation, happiness, and hopefulness that love entails.
I also would not suggest this book to anyone younger than maybe 15. I can understand where some parental concerns may come from, but as long as the teenager knows the difference between real and fairy-tales, and knows that it is just a fairytale, it is all right to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Tapestry Of Eye Pooping Words
Review: While some characters may seem shallow and flat. Block does a beautiful job with her writing.
This is a very good strange romance series. I love it because it's so off beat and not like other romance novels.
Rating:
Summary: sure sure
Review: admittedly this might not be the best written book ever. or the most plausible story. that's not the point. the point is i read this book when i was 15, in high school, and the only gay kid i knew of. my friend gave me her copy of weetzie bat and i read it all at once then went to the library and got the rest of them. it was one of the most reassuring things. people who loved each other beyond the conventional perception of what family is, or what love itself is even. this book didn't "save my life" but it certainly gave me something to look forward to.
Rating:
Summary: UUUggh
Review: I read this book because some of my students were reading them and I like to keep up with what the kids are reading. The content is totally inappropriate for readers under 13. The text is poorly written. I hope that reading any book leads students to keep searching for and reading other, higher quality, books.
Rating:
Summary: Lanky Lizards, it's a strange world!
Review: When I first set eyes on this in a mid-town book shop, I put myself under the impression that it was going to be a mystical fantasy type book. I bought it. A few pages in and i'm thinking "What have I gotten myself into?" but I continued on and next thing I know i've read the first two Weetzie Bat books and am in awe. It's a strange world Francesca Lia Block creates for us. It's a mixed scene of retro 80's punk glam and spiritual awakening. Very odd indeed. Not only that but she has an amazing way of describing things that at first make you go "Who the hell speaks like that?" and then you re-read and think "My God! That makes perfect sense". There is one particular description of the first time Weetzie Bat kisses My Secret Agent Lover Man that really just made me sort of melt and laugh at the same because really is that not how kisses are? I don't know how she does it but she manages to find the words that you would never think of to say and describe things. My only small complaint is the lack of timeline. With each new book time has passed between since the last one but yet we are never told how many years, months or whatever it has been. We're only given a vague idea. That made it somewhat frustrating and confusing. I have read in some places of the suggested reading age being 12 and up but I think I would probably raise it more to somewhere around 14-16 as a good starting age for Weetzie Bat books. Not graphic or anything but there still is sex, drug abuse, self-mutilation and other things that I think make it more appropriate for teenagers than pre-teens. And though designed for young adults I do think anyone older could read these and still be just as thrilled with the world of Weetzie Bat.
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