Magical Realism for Young Adults

Dinitia Smith (NYT) profiles Francesca Lia Block, one of my favorite authors writing about Los Angeles. (Her Weetzie Bat is my absolute favorite Hollywood character since Gavin Lambert's Daisy Clover, and some days I can't decide whether Block is Bruce Wagner for teenagers or Wagner is Francesca Lia Block for grownups, but I always recommend both...) My first reaction was "jeez, it's taken the Times long enough," but I quickly realized that there was a specific occasion involved in calling attention to Block today: She's receiving a lifetime achievement award from the American Library Association. I'm less than convinced, though, that the reason (or even a reason) her work finds favor with more and more older readers is that "more young people are living with their parents after college and still leading an adolescent lifestyle," and I'll be curious to see how Weetzie makes the transition to full-on "adult fiction" in Necklace of Kisses this summer.

photo: Jamie Rector