Witch Baby (1991)

I liked this much better than [b:Weetzie Bat|44353|Weetzie Bat (Weetzie Bat, #1)|Francesca Lia Block|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255925289s/44353.jpg|946181]! Now I see what the fuss is all about :) ( )

Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles. She still lives there and she knows every part of Los Angeles in and out. Francesca Lia Block wrote Witch Baby and the following titles: Weetzie- bat, Baby be- bop, and Angel Juan. Francesca Lia Block knows what she is talking about because she has won many awards and honors like the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and the Library Association Award. She lives rich. From the reviews I have read online are all mostly positive about Francesca Lia Block and her success.

Witch Baby is about a witch that gets left on a porch and it just so happens that she is left on the Bat’s porch and the Bat’s name her ‘’Witch Baby” Ever since Witch Baby has been able to walk and to talk she has always wondered where she came from. One night, Witch Baby wanted to go out and find real parents, so she could ask them why they left her on her new families porch. But she couldn’t find anybody so Witch Baby decided she wanted to take a break and found a little corner and stood in front of it and went in deeper and she found a little shop. She went inside and said “hello, and she kept hearing this old voice, and then she came to a deep dark corner and found another. She was scared so she ran away but then she went back and started crying and the old witch asked her “ Dearie What is the matter “ The ending is for you to figure out.

I think that Witch Baby was rated a 6 because I didn’t that the book was as great as the rest of the series. Witch Baby to me just wasn’t that interesting and besides it doesn’t have that good of an ending.

Bleah.

Admittedly, I haven't read the first book in the Weetzie Bat series, and my head was spinning a bit after getting through the accelerated recap at the start. But only the knowledge that I had borrowed this book, and therefore had to take good care of it, kept me from hurling it across the room partway through.

Part of this is due to the oppressively pervasive use of slang-- I am so sick of "slinkster," for starters. Part of this is due to the unbearably cutesy names-- one character is actually named "My Secret Agent Lover Man." But these pale by comparison to the main problem, which is that this book is concerned with the doings of a thoroughly dislikable cast of characters, who are uniformly immature, self-absorbed, self-righteous, and bloody stupid to boot. And I'm especially speaking of the alleged adults here.

To pick one illustration... the eponymous character, Witch Baby, is the daughter of My Secret Agent Lover Man, and Vixanne Wigg. She, however, doesn't know that, despite being raised by My Secret Agent Lover Man and Weetzie Bat; her father has been lying to her and claiming not to be her father.

Not entirely surprisingly, the central problem for Witch Baby in this book is that she doesn't know where she came from, and doesn't feel as if she belongs anywhere. Eventually, she confronts My Secret Agent Lover Man, and he reluctantly admits that he is her father, and says that he's been lying to her every day and repudiating his relationship with her for all these years because "I was afraid you would be ashamed of me." Are we supposed to take this as a reasonable excuse? Are we supposed to take this as an even remotely sympathetic character? Please.

(Again, this is just one example. Others abound throughout the book.)

Now, if this were intended as a novel in which the central character survives in a world of selfish, clueless grownups, there might be something here. But from all indications, the author expects us to like these characters.

Possibly this is another example of the New York / L.A. divide, but if you ask me, this book sucks. ( )

In Witch Baby Francesca Lia Block really spreads her wings and finds her pace. Witch Baby is the second book in her Dangerous Angels series and is her sophomore novel. You really need to have read Weetzie Bat for Witch Baby to make any sense.

Witch Baby is my favorite character in the whole crazy Bat family. She is a black sheep, an outsider, a loner. She doesn’t want to stick her head in the sand and forget about the troubles in the world, or pretend they don’t exist. She doesn’t try and use smoke and mirrors in the guise of drugs, alcohol, parties, etc to hide from the ugly truth of the world. She faces it head on. She puts it on display for everyone to see and forces other people to acknowledge the pain and suffering, the poisons and toxins, the ignorance and fear.

Between this gruff take on life and her various eccentricities which tend to alienate her from other people she lives a very lonely life for being in such a large family.

I always had a special place for Witch Baby ever since she was introduced in Weetzie Bat. Here we have a child that was dropped on their door stop and this loving/happy/glowing family's first reaction is to kick the baby out. She is an illegitimate love child (so is Cherokee, for all they know) and even her own father doesn't want her around. Then they decide to keep her but because the woman who seduced My Secret Agent Lover Man was an evil witch (he couldn't possibly have just f'd up and made a mistake, amirite? it's the woman's fault) they decided to predetermine this baby to follow in her mother's foot steps and name her Witch Baby. Great.

In just a few paragraphs everyone (even the baby Cherokee) start treating Witch Baby like a horrible witch child and so the child reacts accordingly. She is a monster of their creation, but because she is not cut from the same glowingly love, love, love cloth as everyone else in the family she becomes a more well rounded character. She sees the dark and she is not afraid of it. She wants to help her father create movies that show these dark things and the lessons to be found in them. She wants to acknowledge the times that we live in, but most importantly she wants to find a place to belong.

The book Witch Baby takes us on an adventure with her as we see LA through more realistic eyes and discover more back story on her and several of the other characters (but mainly the lovers Dirk and Duck). Through her camera she sees everything both from an in and outside perspective and is remarkably perceptive for a child her age. They never say it but I would guess she's in her tweens.

Again I think this is a book appropriate for more of a high school audience, but I think it is much better than Weetzie Bat. There is more depth, more rounded characters, more of an overall plot and a strong message. The ending wraps up very quickly into a ridiculously unrealistic bow, but that is the way of the magical books in the Dangerous Angels series. Highly recommended GLBT fiction. Witch Baby delivers hope, understanding, courage and love. ( )