Weetzie Bat

weetzie bat by Francesca Lia Block (Harper Collins) ISBN: 978-0-06-073625-5

Plot Summary

Weetzie is given a magic lamp by her gay friend Dirk's grandmother.  She uses her three wishes to acquire boyfriends for her and Dirk and a house all of them can live happily ever after in.  Any sense of magic seems to walk out of the novel with the Genie (who walks out of Weetzie's house after granting the wishes).  The bulk of the novel is spent describing the life that Weetzie, Dirk, Duck, and My Secret Agent Lover Man (Weetzie's beau) lead.  My Secret Agent Lover Man makes films starring Weetzie and her friends. Weetzie wants a baby, but Secret Agent won't oblige, so she enlists Dirk and Duck.  Secret Agent becomes upset by Weetzie's pregnancy and goes on a six-month long lost weekend.  By the time he returns, he's fathered another child -- Witch Baby -- who eventually becomes part of the household.  Weetzie mourns after the death of her father.  Dirk and Duck face the HIV/AIDS scare.  The narrative is ephemeral and dreamlike; it does not proceed in a normal fashion and at times feels less important than the language used to describe it.

Critical Evaluation

It would be easy to think Booth's book was all style and no substance at first blush.  It's most prominent feature is its stripped down Gertrude Stein-style sentences.  The anaphora and paired down nature of the sentences gives the work a breathless and dream-like quality.  The mostly realist novel is so dreamlike that it doesn't feel entirely out of place when a genie shows up to grant wishes.  Once he's vanished from the novel, it feels like he never existed.  Booth's gloss, though, hides a dark undercurrent of consequences for the choices the characters make.  As Charlie Bat proclaims in a statement about L.A., but which encapsulates the whole atmosphere of the novel:

I can't be in that city.  Everything's an illusion: that's the whole thing about it -- illusion, imitation, a mirage.  Pagodas and palaces and skies, blondes and stars.  It makes me too sad.  It's like having a good dream.  You know you are going to wake up. (Block 1989, p. 89)

Bat seems to condemn the style that makes up the bulk of the novel (both the stylistic manner in which the characters speak and the images they dress themselves in in attempts to express their identities through fashion or names).  But Booth's novel isn't a simple condemnation of style.  That would be too easy.  Style does offer the protagonists happiness.  But their reality is always more complicated than their dreams.  And while there is great happiness in the novel, each character also deals with demons: pride, jealously, mourning, and HIV/AIDS.  Booth's compares favorably to Bret Easton Ellis -- another writer who captures the 80s in his diction and dialogue.  Like Ellis' best work, Weetzie Bat offers the reader ephemerality. 

Reader’s Annotation

Weetzie's an 80s pop princess who cops her style from 50s teen rebellion movies replete with the clothes, the hip slang, and the devil may care attitude.  All of her wishes come true, but life is more complicated than the cult B movies she loves and makes with her friends.

Information about the author

From the author's webpage:

Author Francesca Lia Block is renowned for her groundbreaking novels and stories—postmodern, magic-realist tales that transport readers through the harsh, gritty landscapes of contemporary life to transcendent realms of the senses where love is always our saving grace.  

Born in Los Angeles, where she still lives, Block’s work pulsates with the language and images of the city’s sprawling subculture. Lauds a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, “Block writes about the real Los Angeles better than anyone since Raymond Chandler.”  

Block has described her work as “contemporary fairy tales with an edge,” where the real world and its trouble find solace through the magic of creative expression and love. She has received numerous honors, including the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award and the Phoenix Award, as well as citations from the American Library Association, The New York Times Book Review and the School Library Journal, Her work has been published around the world, translated into many languages.  (Block 2010)

Genre

weetzie bat doesn't fit cleanly into a single particular genre.  It has elements of magical realism, but it's not a fantasy novel.  It features positive portrayals of gay characters, but it's not quite an LGBT novel.  Like a David Lynch film, the book purposely blurs genre. 

Curriculum Ties

The entire Weetzie Bat series is included in the California Department of Education Recommended Literature database (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/rl/ll/ap/details.asp?id=111).   Because the book is included on the recommended reading list, it will likely meet the standards of section 3.0 Literary Response and Analysis of the California English Language Arts Content Standards -- Curriculum Frameworks.  This section reads, "Students read and respond to historically or culturally significant works of literature that reflect and enhance their studies of history and social science. They conduct indepth analyses of recurrent patterns and themes. The selections in Recommended Literature, Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students" (p. 67).  The book would fit lessons about fairy tales or fantasy because of its inclusion of a magic genie -- it would serve as an interesting counterpoint to traditional fairy tales.

Booktalking Ideas

1) Focus on the friendships and romantic relationships of the book's four main figures (Weetzie, Dirk, Duck, and My Secret Agent Man).   
2) Talk about the book's frank look at sexuality and its consequences.  
3) Describe the book using Block's high-gloss, slang heavy style.

Reading Level/Interest Age

The book tackles a number of potentially controversial issues in a manner appropriate for readers from the 9th grade and up.  The novel likely has a  wide range of interest; I daresay people from their late teens well into their 30s or 40s would find the work quite appealing.

Challenge Issues

Block speaks openly (and somewhat fliply) about drugs, alcohol, sex, abuse, and suicide.  The book also discusses HIV -- though in a more subtle manner that may not be as clear to a generation of readers who didn't grow up constantly hearing about HIV/AIDS from the media.

I would openly greet any patron who presented a challenge to the work, giving them ample time to detail their complaint.  I would listen attentively.  To respond to these challenges I would have some reviews of the work on hand.   I would be prepared to explain that as a public institution libraries "cannot limit access on the basis of age or other characteristics" (ALA, 1999).  I would have copies of the library's collection policy on hand.  I would be prepared to politely discuss that parents can control what their children are exposed to by coming to the library with them and examining books they check out.  If the Teen Advisory Group had written reviews of the book I'd have them handy.  While it may be of little comfort to certain parents, I would also be prepared to discuss my staunch support of intellectual freedom and abhorrence of censorship.  As a last resort, I would be sure to keep copies or a reconsideration form on hand. 

I would discuss this particular book's presence on the California Department of Education's recommended reading list.  

Why did you include this book in the titles you selected?

The book came highly recommended by a friend and was also the recipient of the 2009 Children's Literature Association's Phoenix Award.

References

American Library Association. (1999). Strategies and tips for dealing with challenges to library materials. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips  

Block, F. L. (1989). Weetzie Bat. New York: Harper Collins 

Block, F. L. (2010). Bio. Retrieved from http://www.francescaliablock.com/bio 

California Department of Education. (2009). English-Language Arts content standards for California public schools: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Retrieved from www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/elacontentstnds.pdf