TWIB II-23: 3/3-3/9

[akujunkan]

Francesca Lia Block. Again. Otherwise, a shload of really dry articles on China's economy.

1) Rose and Beast - Francesca Lia Block
Some people (Robin McKinley, Donna Jo Napoli) have a knack for retelling fairytales; Block apparently does not. Her updates of nine standard tales slot seamlessly into their modern day treatments; but one feels that this has more to do with the universal applicability of their original themes than any originality on Block's part. Which isn't to say that this is a bad book or that it does not have its moments. Just that it's nothing more imaginative than many fairytale retellings produced by high school creative writing classes. One comes away with the impression that this was written as a quick-and-easy one-off, an easy way to get some cash between more complex books, than for the writing itself.


That will be all.

Comments

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Well, I loved the Weetzie Bat books (collected into an omnibus called Dangerous Angels) a great deal. Her style perfectly fits the story she's trying to tell in this instance; so well that I continue to read her other books. I also very much enjoyed Ecstasia/Primavera. They were her first two books and thus not quite as solid, but she did some interesting things with Classical mythology in them.

I generally find her novellas to be hit and miss, and her short stories really mediocre, so I'd suggest giving one of the abovementioned books a try before writing her off completely. That said, I think she's coasting along on the name she's built for herself, as evidenced by the recent spate of novellas and short story collections.