Weetzie Bat
 Front cover of unknown edition | |
| Author | Francesca Lia Block |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Suza Scalora |
| Language | English |
| Series | Dangerous Angels |
| Genre | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | Harper Collins |
Publication date | 1989 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 109 pp |
| ISBN | 0-06-073625-9 |
| OCLC | 55874309 |
| Followed by | Witch Baby |
Weetzie Bat is the debut novel of Francesca Lia Block, published by HarperCollins in 1989. It inaugurated her Dangerous Angels series for young adults.
The narrative follows the adventures of the eponymous character Weetzie and her best friend Dirk, as well as their friends and relations. After being granted three wishes by a genie, Weetzie discovers that there are unexpected ramifications.
The story is set in an almost dream-like, heightened version of Los Angeles, aptly referred to as "Shangri-L.A.", in an indefinite time period evoking both the 1980s punk craze and the sophisticated glamor of 1950s Hollywood. Block describes issues such as blended families, premarital sex, homosexuality, and AIDS.
Plot summary
Weetzie is growing up in L.A. with her mother while her father has moved to New York. She does not like school, and tends to avoid making friends until she meets Dirk, the "best-looking guy" in her school, who soon admits that he is gay. They become best friends and often visit Fifi, Dirk's grandmother. The two friends enjoy hunting for boyfriends, or "duck-hunting" in their terms.
Fifi presents Weetzie with a lamp, which contains a genie who promises her three wishes. Weetzie wishes "for a Duck for Dirk, and My Secret Agent Lover Man for me, and a beautiful little house for us to live in happily ever after." She quickly receives a call from Dirk, informing her of Fifi's sudden death, and that Fifi left them her cottage in her will. Dirk soon meets his own "duck", Duck, who moves in with them.
Weetzie meets a film director, who introduces himself as "My Secret Agent Lover Man" and requests that she be in one of his films. He comes to see her at work every day, until she finally agrees to his requests. He, too, moves into the house.
Things go smoothly until Weetzie announces her desire for a baby. My Secret Agent Lover Man refuses, declaring that the world is too evil to bring more people into it. Dirk and Duck secretly make a pact to get Weetzie pregnant. When My Secret Agent Lover Man learns of their plot and discovers that Weetzie is indeed pregnant, he walks out on them, infuriated by the deception.
Weetzie gives birth to a tiny baby girl, Cherokee. My Secret Agent Lover Man returns. Although they are still unsure of the baby's true father, he treats the baby as his own, and he is welcomed back into the family.
This peace does not last for long. A strange woman (whom we learn to be a witch) comes to their door, demanding to see "Max" (My Secret Agent Lover Man). He explains that they had been sexual partners during his separation from Weetzie, and that the witch now bears his child. The witch demands money from him for an abortion. The witch does not follow through with this, and leaves her baby on their doorstep, along with voodoo dolls of Weetzie and My Secret Agent Lover Man. While he does not want to keep the child, Weetzie insists that they do so, naming her Witch Baby to settle the matter.
While on a night out, the little party notices Christmas decorations set up for a film. Weetzie remarks that it looks like "Shangri-L.A.", providing My Secret Agent Lover Man with his next film. As they progress through the filming (taking place in a surreal alternate reality), they realize that they do not yet have an ending for it. They convince Weetzie to ask her father's opinion, and so she flies to New York with her daughter for a visit. The three tour the city, all the while discussing Charlie's failing health, and the estranged relationship he has with his ex-wife. Weetzie pleads with him to return but he refuses and dies a few days later. They dedicate Shangri-L.A., with his ending, to his memory.
One day, Duck comes home crying, locking himself in his room, and refusing to confide even in Dirk. They discover him missing the next morning. He has left a note saying that his friend Bam-Bam is dying (most likely of AIDS), implying that he will never return. The devastated Dirk leaves on a search for his lover, which leads him to San Francisco. Upon meeting once again, they become fully aware of how much they truly mean to one another. They return home the next morning to find their family waiting for them with open arms. Weetzie reflects on their life together, and decides that while "happily ever after" may be the ideal, she is perfectly contented with "happily".
Characters
- Weetzie Bat
- The central character of the book. Daughter of Brandy-Lynn and Charlie Bat, best friend of Dirk, lover of My Secret Agent Lover Man, mother of Cherokee. When first seen, she is a skinny, unusual girl with a bleach-blonde flat-top hair cut, a love of Indian culture, and a quirky sense of style. When presented with a magic lamp, she makes three life-altering wishes, none of which turn out as she expects them to.
- Dirk
- The best friend of Weetzie Bat. Grandson of Fifi, lover of Duck, and possible father to Cherokee. When first introduced, he possesses blue eyes and a black Mohawk, which later morphs into a ducktail. He drives a 1955 red Pontiac named Jerry, after Jerry Lewis. Like Weetzie, Dirk tends to have poor taste in men.
- My Secret-Agent Lover Man
- A movie director with green eyes who rides a motorcycle. He appears in Weetzie’s life after her three wishes.
- Duck
- A short, blonde, freckly male surfer who wears leather.
- Slinkster Dog
- Slinkster Dog is Weetzie’s dog.
- Go Go Girl
- My Secret-Agent Lover Man buys Go Go Girl as a mate for Slinkster Dog so that Weetzie will stop wishing for children as she can raise the dogs' puppies.
- Cherokee
- Weetzie’s daughter.
- Witch Baby
- The daughter of My Secret-Agent Lover Man and Vixanne (also known as "the Lanka")
- Grandma Fifi
- Dirk’s grandmother
- Charlie Bat
- Weetzie’s father.
- Valentine JahLove, Ping Chong, and Raphael Chong JahLove
- Valentine is a tall Rastafarian. Ping Chong is a tiny Chinese woman working as a fashion designer in L.A. (Shangri-L.A). They have a son named Raphael.
- Sophie Aywas
- Weetzie’s mother.
- Jennifer Morales (aka “the Lanka”)
- A woman with long, black hair, purple, tilty eyes and a long body.
- Sorangel Peguero
- Main Character
Reception
Weetzie Bat won the 2009 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not a major award when it was originally published twenty years earlier. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix, which is reborn from its ashes, to suggest the book's rise from obscurity.[1]
Criticism of Weetzie Bat focuses primarily on the appropriateness of the subject matter for the young adult reader. Weetzie Bat describes gay marriage, children out of wedlock, abortion, common-law marriage, and the AIDS epidemic, in language that makes it accessible to the pre-teen and early teen reader. Alan Cart states "Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat (HarperCollins) is not only a classic of gay fiction but also one of the most memorable of all young adult novels."[2]
Weetzie Bat was put on the banned book list by one group because they did not approve of Block's "ideas and views on a variety of issues surrounding alternative lifestyles" according to the B.G. Censorship Watch of American Libraries.[3][failed verification]
Critics[who?] counter that censorship has a long history in the U.S., and that books like Weetzie Bat can provide a vital resource for lesbian, gay, transgender, and HIV-positive teens growing up in what is still largely a homophobic society. Critics such as Rebecca Platzner offer that, while the material is suggestive, the dialogue that it establishes about these depictions is vital to a developing young adult’s perspectives on difficult social issues. Platzer offers this as explanation:
"For what age do you think these books are appropriate?" asks our professor. "Thirty two", I whisper to my friend who sits next to me. "Twenty five", she scribbles back on my notebook. We think of these books as "a find" and imagine a time when we will be in a position to pass them on to just-the-right kids. For now though, we'll share them with our friends.
— Rebecca Platzner, Collage in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat Books, The ALAN Review[4]
See also
References
- ^
"Phoenix Award Brochure 2012". Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
See also the current homepage "Phoenix Award". - ^ Cart, Michael (Winter 2004). "What a wonderful world: Notes on the evolution of GLBTQ literature for young adults". The ALAN Review. 31 (2). Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English. ISSN 0882-2840.
- ^ "New Challenges Filed at Beleaguered Texas Library". American Libraries. American Library Association. June 30, 2006. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
- ^ Platzner, Rebecca (Winter 1998). "Collage in Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat Books". The ALAN Review. 25 (2). Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English: 23–26. ISSN 0882-2840. Retrieved August 29, 2010.