Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

Author: Francesca Lia Block
Genre: Realism
Rating: 1
Teach-ability: 0
Teachable Aspects: ...

For someone to rave about a book as much as some people rave about this book, I would expect to get some sort of something out of the book. I even waited over 12 hours to write this review to give myself time to reflect on the book, in hopes to get just something, anything, out of the book. Still nothing...

But maybe I just don't get it. Maybe it's really a fantastic read full of dynamic characters and a great story and a revolutionary message. Maybe I read it too fast, or in the wrong environment or with the wrong mindset.

I didn't get it.

To me, this book was nothing special. It was full of unbelievable characters who don’t develop at all over a span of many years although how many years is unclear.

The book had absolutely no value to me, a literary work or as a story. It was not unique, or interesting in the slightest. When I mentioned to my professor that I was going to read this novel, she said that it could be described as "dated" in the 1980's. Maybe that is the link that's broken for me. I just don't get it because I'm not a child of the 80's and have absolutely no interest in them. The book itself didn't seem to be stuck in the 80's, but perhaps part of what makes the book so special and unique for some people is that it was written so long ago. Not for me.

I don't think I would actively recommend this book to anyone. As far as stories go, (as far as reading for entertainment) there are other books with better stories that I would recommend before this one. And I certainly wouldn't teach it.

I normally don't dislike books as much as I disliked this one, and it’s actually been a while since I really didn't like a book, so this is actually a different reaction for me.