Wasteland

Starred review from December 1, 2003
From the author of Weetzie Bat
comes a picture-perfect vision of mid-1970s Los Angeles, shimmering with Block's signature California-style magical realism and delicately overlaid with allusions to T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land
. Marina's life is shattered by the death (likely a suicide) of her older brother, the surfing punk rocker Lex. With the help of her classmate (and aspiring love interest) West, Marina sets out to come to terms with the forces that led to her brother's death. Through hints, whispers and delicate shudders, the glittering, fragmented narration—told mostly by Marina, but also by West and even by the deceased Lex—moves back and forth through time, gradually revealing the central incident that drives the novel's action: the evening the siblings strayed into physical intimacy in a sunken bathtub. One of Lex's early narratives offers a clue, as he describes a visit to a psychic after the incident: "Here it comes, I thought. 'Fear death by water. Those were pearls that were his eyes' " (a reference to Eliot's clairvoyant, Madame Sosostris). Though undeniably attention-grabbing, this dramatic plot element seems almost forced, as if it were added on just in case the luscious prose and the authenticity of the teen scene were not enough to hold readers' attention. An 11th-hour twist underscores this feeling. Still, sophisticated teens are likely to be enthralled by Block's bold and poetic experiment; her skill with words never flags. All ages.

October 1, 2003
Gr 9 Up-Block once again tackles the theme of love and its many variations. This time, she zeroes in on the ultimate taboo: incestuous love. Though Marina and her brother, Lex, struggle against their powerful love and attendant sexual attraction, the force is too strong to be denied. Readers will fear for them as their situation slowly but inexorably propels them toward their ultimate union, and, by extension, to Lex's suicide. It is a double tragedy, because Marina later learns that her brother was adopted. While Block's prose is as poetic and lush as always, her narrative shifts may confuse less sophisticated readers. It's not immediately clear that the italicized portions are from Lex's journal, and chapters switch abruptly from Marina's voice to third person. Also, while parental flakes aren't unusual in Block's fiction, readers may have a difficult time buying into the mother's reason for not telling her children about the adoption. Still, Block might reach a larger audience with this book; it does not stray too far from her characteristic terrain, but is set in a more realistic neighborhood than her otherworldly Shangri-L.A.-Catherine Ensley, Latah County Free Library District, Moscow, ID

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2003
Gr. 9-12. Teenage Lex and his sister, Marina, have been close since early childhood, always there for each other. But when their love intensifies during a sexual encounter one night, both are racked with guilt. Lex kills himself; Marina tries to carry on with the support of a friend who loves her and knows that her brother did, too. There have been several recent YA books about incest, but what distinguishes this small poetic novel is its quiet. There's no sexual violence, no abuse. In the siblings' short, alternating monologues to each other, the word " you" is an endearment as each teen remembers growing up with a beloved sibling who was mother, father, friend, and child. The young people remember the small physical facts of their childhood together, the tenderness of Marina's baby hand clasped around Lex's finger; the laughter, then darkness. A plot surprise at the end seems patched on, and a long quote from T. S. Eliot's "Wasteland" may be beyond many readers. It's Block's simple, beautiful words that reveal the loving connection--and then the fragments.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)