Echo

Starred review from July 16, 2001
Block (The Rose and the Beast) moves to a new level of complexity—without sacrificing accessibility—for this exquisitely wrought coming-of-age story. The subjects, settings and semi-magical tone will be familiar to Block's readers as Echo, an artistic L.A. teenager, overcomes various forms of rejection in her search for selfhood and true love. Echo lives among angels, false and true, mythic and real, among them Echo's mother, whom Echo thinks is perfect but who appears blind or impervious to her daughter's needs; a famous-artist father whose love for his wife seems to leave no room for Echo; girls Echo wishes she could be; and a nameless, wounded boy who saves Echo from drowning and whose memory sustains Echo as she meets men incapable of loving her. As in previous works, death hangs heavily over the heroine: parents die young, vampires prey on the innocent, children fight terrible disease. Block's structure and imagery, however, manifest a new sophistication and subtlety, as passages and metaphors "echo" one another throughout. She 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. 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. This begs not just to be read, but to be reread, and savored. All ages.

Starred review from August 5, 2002
"Block moves to a new level of complexity without sacrificing accessibility for this exquisitely wrought coming-of-age story," wrote PW
in a starred review. All ages.

August 1, 2001
Gr 9 Up-Echo is the daughter of a magically angelic mother and a painter. When her father is diagnosed with cancer, the family's world turns on end. While she intensifies her search for self, for someone or something to make her feel beautiful and real, her mother is preoccupied with healing her husband. The teen's search propels her to dance with the demons of anorexia, leads her to dabble with sexy vampires, introduces her to rock stars and fairies, and finally takes her to New York and an angel she once knew. Echo's tale is chronicled in a short-story format; in fact, Block's fans will recognize characters and scenes from "Blood Oranges" and "The Box," which have been retooled here. Like many of the author's books, there are layers of meaning hidden among the lush, eccentric L.A. environs that Echo inhabits; rich textures, fabrics, smells, sounds, plants, and feelings surface as her life flows over the pages. Time is flimsy and Echo's world swirls as readers get caught up in this melancholy love-story adventure. Block devotees will be thrilled, and readers new to this author may find themselves going back to her earlier books. A fine tale written in a style only this author could finesse.-Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Aloha, OR

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2001
Gr. 8-12. Interconnected short stories bring depth to this tale of a Los Angeles girl fleeing her personal demons. Echo is the unremarkable (or so she thinks) daughter of a fantastically beautiful and talented mother, and an artist father. Her parents are besotted with each other, and despite her mother's loving attention, Echo feels lost. She seeks comfort and validation in casual sex and struggles with depression, anorexia, and feelings of inadequacy. A suicide attempt is thwarted by a young man with wings who rescues her, but disappears. Echo's story is rounded out by the stories of her parents, her lovers, and the child that one of those lovers fathers with another woman. Though Echo becomes a peripheral figure in these chapters, the final stories bring the focus back to her, in a satisfying, triumphant circle. Block's many fans will relish this latest title, which revisits themes such as anorexia and ghosts that have been explored in the author's previous works. Block's trademark magical realism beautifully fits both format and themes. The intriguing cover photograph, a close-up but off-center picture of a young woman's face, strikingly conveys Echo's need for intimacy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)