Francesca Lia Block's Echo and Weetzie Bat: A Comparison
Although Francesca Lia Block's books are all very unique in style and characterization, her works share many similarities. All of her works have themes in common, such as the power of personal expression and the importance of love, kindness, and acceptance. While her creative works might be worlds apart, they are connected by there universal themes. (Millner Halls 2002).
Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat tells the story of a sprite-like teenager, a twig with pixie blond hair, trying to find her place in the world and trying to find love. The story is a modern day fairy tale, complete with fairies, genies, and witches, set in Los Angeles. Block's language appeals to the senses. As Amazon.com editorial reviewer Brangien Davis says:
Block's unique, poetic style immediately draws readers into an intoxicating magical-realist world populated by empathetic, original characters (as well as a few ghosts, fairies, and genies): "He kissed her. A kiss about apple pie à la mode with the vanilla creaminess melting in the pie heat. A kiss about chocolate, when you haven't eaten chocolate in a year. A kiss about palm trees speeding by, trailing pink clouds when you drive down the Strip sizzling with champagne. A kiss about spotlights fanning the sky and the swollen sea spilling like tears all over your legs."
The story contains a magical feeling not only in Block's language, such as Weetzie's Los Angeles style and slang like her repeated expression, "Lanky Lizards," but in the setting as well. While some aspects seem far-fetched, for the most part the wacky characters fit right in to the funky L.A. scene. Betsy Hearne, New York Times Book Reviewer, commended Block's style: "Block's far-ranging free association has been controlled and shaped into a story with sensual characters. The language is inventive California hip, but the patterns are compactly folkloristic and the theme is transcendent" (Contemporary Authors Online 2003).
The reader comes to relate to Weetzie's love of Los Angeles, the city of angels, devils, and freaks, through Blocks descriptions of the city by the ocean and its inhabitants. Her descriptions of the scenery extract a familiarity for those who have seen the sights she writes of and stir the desire for a tour of L.A. to visit them. As Patricia J. Campbell wrote, "Although there are magical elements in her books and the tone is pure fairy-tale, I know of no other writer who has written so accurately about the reality of life in Los Angeles -- or one of many realities that make up this complex multicultural city" (1993).
Block's Echo is the story of a lost, soulful girl who feels overshadowed by her angelic mother. Her mother is beautiful, can cook delicious meals, grow beautiful flowers, and is the object of Echo's father's affection as he is hers. On a quest to find someone to love her as much as her parents love one another, Echo searches through casual sex, by clinging to friends who she epitomizes as perfect. Later she becomes anorexic in an attempt at perfection and when that doesnt satisfy her, she becomes obsessed with working out. Tired of lost love and unfulfilling friendships and sexual encounters, Echo moves to New York where she finally spends time contentedly alone. Echo comes to realize at this juncture that the friends she sought to imitate were angels leading her to enlightenment of her self worth.
Echo is most certainly a modern day fairy tale, all the way down the to characters whose names are Smoke, Valentine, Thorn, Eden, and of course Echo. The characters are vampires, rock stars, and angels. In addition, as Angela J. Reynolds points out in her review, "Time is flimsy and Echo's world swirls as readers get caught up in this melancholy love-story adventure" (2001).
The story is a more mature example of Block's writing than Weetzie Bat. The pattern of the book is original. As Diane Roback suggests, "Block delicately shifts the narrative to show different partners (the heroine's grandparents; the lovers of Echo's friends; a sibling pair) facing similar conflicts, but she quietly varies the individuals' responses" (2001). Wispy, delicate language evokes the angelic feeling of the book. "Lyrical passages, such as Echo's descriptions of her mother's extraordinary beauty ('She is like the da Vinci Madonna with a crescent moon hung on her mouth') ripple beneath Echo's life-and-death struggles" (Roback 2001).
As Block herself and Weetzie did, Echo grew up in Los Angeles and once again, Block delicately weaves in the setting with the use of imagery. When Echo, like Weetzie, visits New York City, she is inspired to paint Los Angeles: "As soon as I'd gone away I remembered the watermelon sunsets, the fruits that seemed to fall from the sky, the neon flowers and petals of neon, the secret stone staircases and jungle gardens." (Block 2001, 199). Her vibrant descriptions of New York such as "the park with its zoo and its tunnels and its pretzel and lemonade vendors and its runners and its angel fountains" mirror Echo's emotions as she begins to come back to life at the end of the story (Block 2001, 196).
Characters are introduced through narration and conversation. While the cast of characters in these two books is quite different, many recurring themes and ideas run through Blocks works. In both, the importance of friendship is a major component. In Weetzie Bat, Weetzies circle of friends is the glue that holds her together. In Echo, Echo is constantly in search of a true friend who will make her feel whole. While at times the characters seem otherworldly or unbelievable, Block uses the eccentricity of L.A. in essence to justify her characterization
It seems that much of Block's writing is autobiographical. Just as Block's father died soon after she graduated from college, both characters experience the deaths of people they care about--both of their fathers die in the books, Dirk's grandmother dies, Duck's friend is stricken with AIDS, and Echo has a brush with death in her own suicide attempt.
Although the books are categorized as young adult, they deal with very mature themes: love, death, homosexual relationships, sex, drugs, and AIDS. Echo has casual sex with strangers in an attempt to win their affection and adoration. While the characters in Weetzie Bat take a little more responsible approach to sex, it is by no means conventional. Both girls are searching for love. Weetzie Bat finds love in her family and friends. Echo finds love in finding herself. Both of Blocks stories are also about coming of age and tolerance.
Despite the similarities in setting and sometimes theme, the books have a drastically different feel. Block uses her descriptions of Weetzies world and language to give Weetzie Bat a funky and edgy feel, while on the other hand the characters and language in Echo connote a soft, fluttering sentiment. While they are on the same search for happiness, Weetzie is encircled with unconditional friendships while Echo moves along forlorn, from one superficial relationship to another. The books are an otherworldly treat for young adult and adult readers alike. Block's wistful fairies will give even the most lost soul hope for happiness. As Weetzie Bat closes, Weetzie considers, "I don't know about happily ever after, but I know about happily."
Works Cited
Campbell, Patricia J. 1993. People are talking about ... Francesca Lia Block. The Horn Book Magazine 69 (Jan.-Feb. no1): 57. In Student Resource Center (database online). Available from <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2251/servlet/SRC?locID=txshracd2583>. Accessed 14 February 2004.
Contemporary Authors Online. 2003. Francesca (Lia) Block. Contemporary Authors Online. In Gale Literary Databases (database online). Available from <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2251/servlet/GLD?locID=txshracd2583>. Accessed 14 February 2004.
Davis, Brangien. Editorial Reviews: Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books. Amazon.com. Available from <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0064406970/103-1507712-6735047?v=glance&s=books&vi=reviews>. Accessed 14 February 2004.
Milner Halls, Kelly. 2002. Block, Francesca Lia. In The essential guide to childrens books and their creators, ed. Anita Silvey, 45. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Reynolds, Angela J. 2001. Echo (Book Review). School Library Journal 47 (Aug. no 8): 175. In Academic Search Premier (database online). Available from http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=web&defaultdb=aph <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2251/servlet/SRC?locID=txshracd2583>. Accessed 14 February 2004.
Roback, Diane. 2001. Echo (Book Review) Publishers Weekly 248 (16 July no 29): 181. In Academic Search Premier (database online). Available from http://search.epnet.com/login.asp?profile=web&defaultdb=aph <http://ezproxy.twu.edu:2251/servlet/SRC?locID=txshracd2583>. Accessed 14 February 2004.
