The Elementals

Block, F.L. (2012). The elementals. New York: St. Martin’s Press. 263 pp. ISBN: 978-1-250-00549-6. (Hardcover); $24.99.

This is not Weetzie Bat. It is Francesca Lia Block and this book is an adult title that both teens and adults will appreciate. This dark, paranormal thriller still echoes Block’s beautiful way with words: “It was easy. Girls like that, I knew what they liked. Pretty things. Maybe with a little oddness, a little edge. Dolls with too-big heads and eyes that changed colors. Dolls with little sharp teeth and flowered dresses. Porcelain dolls with pointed elf ears that could be exchanged for normal human ones. Not just dolls but vintage gowns and shoes and jewels. And food. And music. Halloween Hotel was always a good show more one. Oh, and the wine of course. Made in the basement with such slight traces of cannabis, opium and ephedra that you almost couldn’t detect them, unless you were a really bright chemistry student.” (p. 255). Ariel is trying to move on with her life, go to college, find friends, but it is impossible to forget the disappearance of her best friend Jen. In fact, Ariel chooses to attend UC Berkeley to investigate Jen’s disappearance in the last place she was seen alive. The fact that Ariel’s mother has cancer complicates everything to the point of reducing Ariel to a brooding introverted mess. Ariel wanders the streets that Jen wandered hoping to feel the psychic footprints of her friend—with very little success. She suspects the creepy Fritz Kragen but cannot dig up enough compelling evidence to persuade Detective Rodriguez to investigate. She also wonders about the street man with the dreads who says to her, “’I was once like you, my friend,’ he said. ‘You could become me easy, walk out into the street covered in hair and filth and people would look at you with disgust, sister, and think you were born like that, that you never were a little child, clean as a small tree, quick as water, bright in the mind and breathing sweetly…’” (p. 233). Jen, however, is gone without a trace. College only serves to confuse and alienate Ariel. Her roommate torments her and constantly has sex in the room, which forces Ariel onto the streets. Her life improves when she meets John Graves and his group of very strange ranger roommates. Eventually John becomes her lover and the descriptions are steamy and definitely adult, even if they are not too far removed from the experiences of many teens. They are also necessary for the Ariel/Prospero mythology that fills the pages. Eventually, the crises that are Ariel’s life pull her back to Los Angeles. Ariel needs to be near her cancer-ridden mother. She needs to be there for her father—that is until the missing Jen exerts her pull once again and back to Berkeley she goes. This mystery is dark and magical, filled with musical sentences, creepy and gorgeous all the way to the startling conclusion. Fans of Weetzie Bat will love this new direction for Block and older high school teens who have never read Weetzie will clamor for more. show less

The Elementals has a dreamlike aura that prevents close scrutiny. It is as if the story is a spell that weaves its way around a reader and ensnares one to its illusory plot. The prose is poetic, and the story is hypnotic, almost detrimentally so. A reader finds oneself incapable of doing anything other than letting the story flow without any of the scrutiny that one might normally apply to a novel. This is a good thing because the writing is so powerful; one can do nothing but appreciate it.

It is only when a reader looks to resolve the many WTF moments within the novel wherein the story falls apart. For, when it is stripped down to its basic elements, the plot does not bear close examination. In fact, the plot is rather ridiculous. show more Ariel is weak when she should be strong and strong when she should be weak. John is very intense, making him fairly creepy in a stalker-like manner, and their relationship develops mostly off-screen so that a reader never becomes comfortable with it. The rest of the cast – John’s enigmatic roommates, Ariel’s unusually cruel dorm mates, and even the people she meets out on her searches for clues – are too extreme. Lastly, the story’s resolution is abrupt, as if Ms. Block had a word limit to which she was bound.

For all of the story’s faults though, of which there are many, it is difficult to forget the ethereal quality of The Elementals. Ms. Block’s evocative writing is brilliant, overshadowing many of the character flaws and lack of development. It haunts and intrigues a reader even after one decides the plot is ludicrous. The eerie tone of the story, as well as Ms. Block’s sensual phrasing, creates a memorable novel that one should view as one does a pointillist painting; it is better seen from afar, allowing the imagery and dialogue to waft over a reader’s senses, rather than up-close where the flaws quickly become apparent. show less

My thanks to the author for lending me her copy to review. This is a very hard review to do unbiased, as Block is my mentor, but I will try nonetheless.

This is also generally a pretty difficult review to write, mostly because of how much the book moved me. I don’t say that often in my reviews, but I had to pause more than once when reading this because my eyes just kept filling up. While Ariel gets a happily ever after in this book and (presumably, since it’s not concretely sketched out for us at the end of the book) her cancer-stricken mother does too, unfortunately, Block’s mother did not. Gilda Block died almost two years ago, and this book is dedicated to her — and I think Gilda would be very, very proud of this book. Block show more wrote this from a place of grief, but all the same, that same grief moved her to a place that’s above some of her most wonderful works to date. “The Elementals” is definitely one of her most mature and tender books to date. It’s not a happy book, but is one that will ultimately make you grow and give you hope.

My best friend died at age 12 – three months away from her 13th birthday. Block, through Ariel and her search for her BFF Jeni, talks about how the vanishing or murder of someone so young stays with you. And it does. Never knowing what could have been stays with you, and while Ariel and Jeni are older than my friend who died (also from cancer) so young, the idea of youth vanishing at such an innocent age is a haunting one - I know it definitely haunted me because I identified with Ariel so strongly in that department. This book is structured as a murder mystery, but Block does it through her traditional style of magical realism. Are the new friends Ariel finds really magical? Or is she really losing her mind from the grief of losing her best friend and trying to battle it out along side her sick mother? It’s a question that gets asked repeatedly, reminding the reader that Ariel may or may not be a reliable narrator (spoiler alert: the question is never firmly answered, but it is implied that she is a reliable narrator in the end), and that reality is all about perception. Because Ariel is perceiving things in a magical way, they are magical when happening to her.

Ariel is one of the most sympathetic main characters, either in adult or in YA (and this is a book for adults), that I’ve ever ‘met’ (as much as a reader can meet a main character). She gets kicked around by life pretty hard her first year at Berkeley, and she’s trying so hard to keep functioning each day without losing her mind or her heart, or both. As I know how that feels on the grief end of losing someone so close to you, it pulled at a few very old triggers in me, so I did have to take breaks when reading it. Ariel does not hold back from the reader as she narrates us in her journey through her mother’s illness and her quest to find her best friend/who took her best friend. But Block once again manages to go through the “tough stuff” genre elegantly, knowing how to phrase things, and how to start knitting together a tale you can’t put down, even if it makes you feel things that you can’t quite immediately comprehend.

The plot is easy to follow, even with the question of magical reality versus insanity planted firmly within the audience’s mind. Block hasn’t written this murder-mystery plot before, but I couldn’t really find a place where she once stumbled or made me question the believability (even in the most fantastic parts of the book) of Ariel Silverman’s tale. Every character was filled out wonderfully, every arc and sub-arc executed with skill and grace. Her sensory language in this particular book is some of the most powerful I’ve read from her yet. I’ve never been to Berkeley or San Francisco (though I do know LA very well), and she yet made me experience both of those places through words. This is so very hard to do, and not everyone can excel in it, but I think that writing from this place of grief really ultimately helped enhance Block’s skills everywhere, and especially in the sensory language and imagery department.

Final verdict? A must-read, especially if you’ve read Block’s YA works – you’ll see how much she’s grown here. And if you haven’t, what better way to introduce yourself to her style than through this book? Either way, this is a mainstream adult debut you really can’t miss this year. “The Elementals” is out through St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan October 16th, 2012 in North America – other places, please consult your local bookseller. Seriously, guys. Not for the faint of heart, but the payoff is huge in the end. This one makes my best of 2o12 list so check it out when it gets published in October!

(posted to goodreads, shelfari, librarything, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com) show less

When Ariel's best friend, Jeni, doesn't return from a school trip to Berkeley , Ariel is doubly determined to persevere in her plan to attend the famous university--one, it's where she and Jeni were always going to go to college, and, two, she must learn what happened to her friend! She's sorry that her mom has just been diagnosed with cancer, but she has no intention of staying home in Hollywood to play nursemaid. Once arrived In Berkeley, Ariel questions everyone about Jeni, while living a lonely life in a freshman dorm without her. Then she meets John Graves, and Tania, and Perry, the strange threesome who live in the huge old house on the hill. Slowly she finds herself entangled in their lives, staying for their parties, wearing show more their clothes, eating their food, drinking whatever they give her--mmmm, what is that addicting flavor?

Block's novel is so atmospheric that sometimes the reader has a hard time laying aside the magic--whether imagined or not--to enter back into the reality of everyday life. Ariel's love for her friend Jeni, and the loss she feels in Jeni's absence are almost palpable--along with her mother's illness it feels as if Ariel is being torn apart. Some reviewers have called this title a mystery. I think it's more a word painting with a plot. As always, Block's writing is so lovely, so lyrical--and yet the story is more than enough to entice the reader into turning another page. It's also a story of connections--between BFFs, parent and child, girl and boy--the many ways we are connected to one another that keep our lives interesting, if not safe. show less

The Elementals was my first experience with Francesca Lia Block. I know her other series has quite a following, and I've been eager to check her out.

This isn't like any book I have ever read. It was bizarre and addictive, which I find so ironic now that I've reached the end. Main character, Ariel, is spiraling out of control after the disappearance of her best friend and the announcement of her mother's cancer. She heads off to Berkley where BFF, Jeni, was last seen, planning not only to pursue a higher education, but also the truth about what happened to her friend. Once there she is quickly thrust into the role of outcast and bullied by the cool kids. I thought the whole "mean kids" angle seemed slightly cliche and did a disservice to show more what is a truly brilliant plot. Thankfully, I was able to look past this and embrace the rest of the novel.

The entire time I read I was baffled (for the lack of a better word). Is it a mystery, fantasy, or was I simply lost in the the thoughts of a character whose mind had fractured under the weight of suffocating grief? I won't tell you because this discovery is what makes this novel so special.

The writing is something I just got lost in. Reading late into the night, holding my breath, anticipating what was yet to come. During several chapters I was shocked to find myself covered in goosebumps. It isn't often a book can evoke chills. I've read other reviews where the writing is called disjointed, but I found that to be part of the charm. It helps to enhance how truly lost Ariel is and rang so true to her character and her trials. This is a novel that I know will stay with me and not blend into the shelves like the many before it. show less

Faeries ... potions ... mysterious rituals ... forbidden sex ... need I say more? 'The Elementals' by Francesca Lia Block is a novel with some mature adult themes but enough juvenile allusions to anchor it strongly in the YA category. The author has a beautiful, lyric quality to her writing that draws the reader into the strange world of her creation; I found myself sucked in and unable to put down the book, even as the antics of the main characters frustrated and annoyed me. I wanted this book to be great, because the quality of writing is top notch, but the plot itself was mediocre and predictable.

Ariel (cue the first Shakespeare reference) has just arrived at college but is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend and by her show more mother's illness. She is socially awkward, deeply introverted, and a lover of poetry (yes, she quite neatly fits a certain stereotype). As she half-heartedly searches for her friend and at the same time begins her own downward spiral into depression and confusion, Ariel meets a strange trio of older students, who live off campus in a huge and mysterious house where alluring parties and bizarre practices abound.

I found the twists and turns of the plot to be predictable and a bit boring, and I kept waiting for Ariel to mature into some sort of better character, a person with whom I could relate, or at least sympathize. But those hopes never materialized. I give this book two stars - the writing is wonderful, but the story is unworthy of its beauty. show less

Despite being a book I should have adored I found that The Elementals felt flat and disconnected. I was left with several unanswered questions that should have been tied up in the story. Chances are, though, I would have adored this book at 19.