Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Block's Necklace of Kisses

Ah, Weetzie Bat. How little we know ye. Francesca Lia Block's Necklace of Kisses (2006) was screaming to be read. Weetzie has a midlife crisis at 40, leaves her husband and business, and checks into a magical hotel where she failed, at her senior prom, to kiss the boy she thinks might have been her soul mate. Okay. The fashion asides are interesting, although if Weetzie has a similar figure to Block's, I don't really see why the crisis!

I enjoyed this book, but am really confused as to the audience. Weetzie Bat(1989) doesn't get a lot of readers these days, and I don't have the rest of the series, although I feel compelled to read them now. No middle schooler wants to read about a 40 year old, and how many 40 year olds would have read the original? I was married by the time it was published, and not reading about high school students.

The ending also didn't quite do it for me. She went back to the husband after meeting with former boyfriend. That just wasn't resolved to my liking. Something about the whole book left me feeling more conflicted about the character than ever. But, as I said, I feel a need to pick up the rest of the books, so there is something oddly compelling about the writing.

No comments:

Post a Comment