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When Bee woke up, there was a girl standing in her room. "You are me," the girl said. Then she was gone.
I am a thirteen-year-old double Gemini. I get bad grades, write poetry with my left hand, dance in my room, surf the net. I Google images of the tattoos my mom won't let me get. . . .
But my world belongs to someone else. Someone who lives below the concrete of Los Angeles, someone with wild eyes and twigs in her hair.
And I think she wants her life back.
Awash in a bruised and aching adolescent sensibility, Weetzie Bat author Block's new novel doesn't waste a word. Doubles abound: doppelgängers, past lives and dual worlds in which poetic truths can exist alongside the banal details of modern teenage life. Never quite at home-even in her own home-Bee is jolted out of her social isolation by a nighttime apparition of a girl who looks just like her: " 'You are me,' the girl said. Then she was gone." Seeking to discover the meaning of this vision, Bee throws her lot in with two other outcasts at school (one thinks she is a reincarnated slave, the other, possibly an alien). For a time, their new friendship buoys all three ("She had, if only briefly, belonged," Bee thinks. "The world she had never loved before had turned to gold"). Still, hints indicate that Bee's alter ego is intent on reclaiming her place, and Bee grows mysteriously ill. Fragments of poems by Yeats and Shelley are eerily apropos (and may provide an irresistible invitation for further reading). Haunting and thought provoking. Ages 14-up. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Bee knows that she is different from other teenagers. She has a strange affinity with the earth, dreaming of eating it in handfuls to be more connected to it. Bee feels more at home in her mother's garden rather than at school or with other people. She never has an appetite and sees people for who they are, their true selves.
There is also the matter of her doppelganger. Bee begins to see her, in dreams and during her waking hours. She wants something from Bee; she wants her life back.
Bee has also befriended two outsiders, very much like herself. Haze is a tall, gangly boy who believes he was fathered by aliens. Sarah, with her braided hair and beautiful voice, tells Haze and Bee that she is the reincarnated soul of a slave girl. Neither one of these confessions shocks or mystifies Bee; she simply accepts them to be fact. Their differences make them unique and bring them together.
With the help of her two eccentric friends, Bee finally discovers who she is and where she truly belongs.
I have had the pleasure of reading many of Francesca Lia Block's other novels, and this one seemed different to me. It was easier to connect with the characters in this novel. They felt more "real" to me than in previous works.
Obviously, there is still that element of fantasy, but it doesn't saturate the story. Block has found a perfect balance of reality and fantasy. Fans of fantasy novels will love this book because of its fantastical elements, but those who are looking for a story about a young girl who is discovering her identity will also enjoy it.
Block has a way of crossing many genres and groups of readers; she has certainly done so with THE WATERS AND THE WILD.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This book is short but very good. I came to love the characters, and their little quirks. I wish it lasted longer.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.IvoryLover
Posted November 14, 2009
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Beautifully written and absolutely magical! i fell in love with this book the first time i opened it! The details make you want to crawl in between the pages and make yourself part of the story. I highly recommend this book! it's simple yet utterly seductive.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Francesca Lia Block is my favorite author; I am sure I have mentioned this before! :) When I read her work, I feel her words deeply penetrating my psyche and my soul. What writing could be better? While I also enjoy regular fiction and mysteries, her poetic writing is my preferred reading material. This book is not, in my opinion, her best piece, but it is worth reading, all the same. It is short and sweet like most of her tales. This would be a good first book to read if you have never tried Ms. Block before.
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Overview
When Bee woke up, there was a girl standing in her room. "You are me," the girl said. Then she was gone.
I am a thirteen-year-old double Gemini. I get bad grades, write poetry with my left hand, dance in my room, surf the net. I Google images of the tattoos my mom won't let me get. . . .
But my world belongs to someone else. Someone who lives below the concrete of Los ...