Violet & Claire (original 1999; edition 2000)

I just got through my second read of this, but it had been several years so it was like reading it anew. It was very easy to get through and is a good quick read for someone who enjoys "young adult" lit. There's not too much to say about it plot-wise, and I don't think this is a book one reads for the plot. Or dialogue. Or imagery or symbolism, or ... I don't know. I like the way Francesca Lia Block writes, the way things are a sorta fairytale (yes, that's a Tori Amos song) but also real and something one can identify with. I suppose this book is best for teeenage/college-age girls who are that point in their lives when they feel alienated and like no one understands them, but I think a girl (maybe a guy, too, I don't know) of any age can identify with having been there at some point, or having gone through the other stuff that Violet & Claire go through.
Overall, I enjoyed it. ( )

Violet & Claire is the story of best friends. Violet is dark, serious and ambitious. She has always had an obsession with movies and is determined to become a screenwriter and director. Violet befriends Claire, the new girl at school, who could not be more different - Claire is innocent, she glues sparkly fairy wings to her Tinker Bell t-shirt and tells her classmates that she believes she is descended from an ancient race of Faeries. Claire writes poetry and avoids conflict and spends her time out in nature kissing flowers and trying to catch falling stars in her mouth.

"At first we raced through space, like shadows and light; her rants, my raves; her dark hair, my blond; black dresses, white. She a purple-black African-violet-dark butterfly and I a white moth. We were two wild ponies, Dawn and Midnight, the wind electrifying our manes and our hooves quaking the city; we were photo negatives of each other, together making the perfect image of a girl. Projecting our movie onto the sky." (p. 89)

As Violet becomes enmeshed in the Hollywood machine of talent agents and big budget movie deals, Claire falls in love with her poetry teacher - neither of these end up being good things, and the girls have a huge falling out, even as they both realize how special their friendship is. What really makes this short novel stand out if Block's fantastical descriptions of Los Angeles, the magical essence she gives her characters and the genuine sweetness and beauty of the world she wants her readers to believe in and create. ( )

I've become rather disenchanted with Ms. Block ever since I was older than the average age of her main characters (16-17). I know when I was that age I found the glittering adjective laden descriptions of southern California and the otherworldly characters magical and wondrous. But after 20 I really thought _enough already_. That being said, I found Violet and Claire a nice change. It drew me back in to an appreciation of Ms. Block despite my cynicism. It still has all those things, which is good, because she has her own unique style and it would be a Francesca Lia Block book without those things. But she keeps the adjectives to a more reasonable level and actually gets some storytelling done rather than the extended neon dioramas most of her books seem to be. And I liked how much the book focused on friendship - love interests came and went, it was essentially about the friendship between the two very different girls. The book still has faults, but I liked it more than I thought I would when I bought it. ( )

Violet and Claire is the story of 2 girls who are very different but best friends. Here is a
quote from the book that captures them perfectly and gives you a great taste of Block's
writing: "…like shadow and light; her rants my raves; her dark hair, my blond; black
dresses, white. She a purple-black African-violet-dark butterfly and I a white moth." "…we
were photo negatives of each other, together making the perfect image of a girl."
Violet dreams of making movies and Claire believes she is a descendant of faeries who
were killed off and sent to hiding underground by the patriarchy. Violet is power and
ambition and Claire is beauty and innocence. Together things start looking up for them as
they have found someone that they make sense to in a world where they are outsiders.
Once they loose touch, things spiral out of control through a strange circus like climax.
Not to give anything away, but you do get a happy Hollywood ending, which seems so
fitting given that the book is written like a movie. The book is also written from alternating
perspectives, which gives you a glimpse into the light and the dark of each of their worlds. ( )