If you're going to go weird, go all out. Have them all in on those sexual fantasies; make me understand their allure to Ariel and why she is so attracted to them. I ended up feeling repulsed by the "innocent" member, for his knowledge of their dealings while trying to play innocent was far more offending than if he was in on it.
The Elementals isn't weird enough. By being so seeped in realistic problems, the book loses all sense of unreality. This is not to say that books dealing with unreality can't have real problems within them; Kavan's Ice exudes a sense of loss without admitting to the reader that she has lost anything with prose.
Block states Ariel's problems constantly - and that is a problem when we are in the realm of magical-realism. I wasn't seduced by the Elementals as Ariel was, to say the least. The Elementals is a book that creeps on you and draws you in page by haunting page. Ariel was sixteen when her best friend disappeared. At seventeen closing in on eighteen now, Ariel is going to the college Jeni was visiting when she disappeared. Here, Ariel hopes to find some closure through investigating the mystery of her friend's disappearance.
In searching for sympathy, help, something, however, Ariel finds hostility. The streets are filled with crazy people, her roommate is a bitch, and th The Elementals is a book that creeps on you and draws you in page by haunting page. The streets are filled with crazy people, her roommate is a bitch, and there are a bunch of weirdos living in her dorm. No one proves especially welcoming until she meets three otherwordly grad students who welcome her into their lives.
Among them, one in particular catches her heart: John Graves. The heart of the story spans three parts: freshman year, sophomore year, and junior year. Jeni disappeared a year ago, and while the case is still open, the officer in charge of the case has given up hope for Jeni. And while Ariel persists in searching for clues to Jeni's disappearance, there are times when she forgets her best friend and loses herself in the world she's discovering with John Graves and his companions.
While she is with them, the inner artist escapes Ariel, and in the moments where her emotions overtake her senses, she catches glimpses of other worlds and finds magic in her life. There is also the case of her mother's cancer and growing weakness. She is discovering herself as a woman and a daughter, and she is learning that she can't devote all her time and energy to the missing or dead when the present and living need her as well. This is a coming-of-age novel for the New Adult, filled with haunting prose told in a mature voice.
There are some characters introduced who rarely appear again. Some of them play important roles in moving the plot; others wouldn't be worth your time if you bump into them. In another novel, I would find this frustrating. Living on a college campus myself, however, I know that it is possible to live in the dorms and only run into most people now and then, even if you live on the same floor, in the same hallway.
With Ariel in a state where she doesn't know how to pick up the pieces left after Jeni's disappearance, this lent all the more to the reality of the story. She's away from home for the first time for such an extended period of time, her best friend was supposed to be there with her but isn't, and now she's running into all these new characters. She doesn't know what to do and in the process of figuring her life out she's making a lot of mistakes, but it's okay because this is all a part of life, just like the people coming and going and reappearing in your life.
Ariel doesn't know it, but she has a good support system of people ready to hear her out if she'll only come to her. Of course, in the process of coming into her own, Ariel isn't able to readily recognize these people, especially when they say something that makes her feel as though they can't understand what she's going through with Jeni and all the other crap in her life. Many of the smaller conflicts between her and other characters aren't resolved with the end of the novel.
Again, it's okay with this book because it shows us that not everything can be resolved perfectly. Some mysteries are solved, but the resolutions are imperfect. While we can't fully comprehend everyone's motives, we can see that Ariel has found the closure that she needed, which is what really matters. Mysterious and intriguing, Ariel's story will captivate readers with her fragility, hesitancy to open her heart, and inner strength.
Mature warning: there are very detailed sexual references in this novel. Apr 24, Hell rated it it was ok. There was too much going on in this book. It felt clumsy. FLB helped me through my teen years and I still adore her.
I used to collect her quotes. This didn't feel quotable. Ariel was too innocent. The sex scenes were remarkably bland, especially for how dark the whole book is supposed to be. And how did she NOT know she was being drugged? Why is everyone always so thin? Drugs, I guess? It was a quick read. I'm not giving up on her. Everyone has a blip. Shelves: young-adult , adc-reviews , arc , sky-s-the-limit-club , yearly-reading-challenge , urban-fantasy , owned-copy , mythpunk , read-by-august While this is not my usual cup of tea, it was well-written and gripping.
An emotional, magical realism coming of age story. Reviewed for Affaire de Coeur Magazine in the October issue. This one took me a little while to get into. 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.
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. 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? Because Ariel is perceiving things in a magical way, they are magical when happening to her. 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.
Every character was filled out wonderfully, every arc and sub-arc executed with skill and grace. Final verdict? 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! View 1 comment. Dec 04, Ed added it. Block, F. The elementals. New York: St. ISBN: This is not Weetzie Bat. It is Francesca Lia Block and this book is an adult title that both teens and adults will appreciate.
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 w Block, F. 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 one. Oh, and the wine of course. 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.
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. 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.
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.
Nov 21, amyextradot rated it it was amazing. I'm not a devotee of Francesa Lia Block, my any means. Don't get me wrong, she's a great author--I've read some of her YA stuff, but it's too "old" for my students, so I usually don't seek it out.
In her first "adult" novel, she absolutely blew me away, to the point where I will seek out her YA books just so I can read them for my own pleasure.
I'm not going to give you a summary of the book--you can read that in one of the countless reviews here, or just read the dust jacket. What I will say, however, is that Block created a world of love, lust, magic, loss, grief, sadness and longing with such lush language, I couldn't put the book down. I started reading it at 3 and finished it at with some breaks in there to feed the kids and stuff. It's hauntingly lovely. I would say I enjoyed this book for the most part.
What I didn't like: The descriptions were quite wordy but beautiful , and the ending was rushed and unsatisfying. But I did like that I could feel Ariel's sadness. I liked the romance. I didn't mind Ariel's passiveness, especially when she begins to realize things about herself later in the book, and grows stronger. This wasn't exactly a quick read, despite the short length. Also, the story doesn't really seem to go anywhere for a long time.
I h I would say I enjoyed this book for the most part. I had this book on my maybe this, but I'm glad I took the time to read it. It made me wonder why I haven't read more of Block's book over the years. May 08, And rated it it was amazing. A dark, delicious romp through two very different worlds. A ghost story worthy of the Romantics that leaves you wondering where the supernatural ends and the natural begins.
Block draws the reader so deeply and so subtly into the protagonist's world that one is left blinking in the sunlight wondering what just happened upon finishing the book. Rich, unique and immersing - my favorite qualities in a book. Nov 08, Melanie rated it it was amazing. The Elementals is a book that just fills you up. I'm rereading it just to savor Block's words because of course the first time I read it I rushed and read and read until I was at the last page way too soon.
This is a book for anyone who has a best friend, who enjoys the possiblity of magic, and loves lush descriptive worlds like the one Francesca Lia Block creates. Jun 05, Izabela rated it really liked it. This book is filled with Block's usual beautiful prose, but is actually a lot more straightforward than a lot of her YA books. I wish we had gotten more clues about the ending, because it felt kind of out of left field, but I still devoured this book. Sep 10, Cherlynn Womack rated it it was ok.
About a girl named Ariel who tries to find her missing friend, while at Berkeley University as a student. These friends drink wine that is laced with something. The characters are stupid with stupid beliefs.
I was glad when I finished the book so I can move on to something decent to read. Feb 26, Christine rated it it was amazing. Reading through the other reviews, I see this is one of those love it or hate it books. I am clearly in the love camp, seduced by the lyrical writing and other worldliness of this story. I read this book in two days and I am a very slow reader!
When 17 year old Ariel begins college at UC Berkeley, she is haunted by the tragedy of a friend who has gone missing and also by the recent diagnosis of her mother's breast cancer. Unable to adjust to normal campus life, she is befriended by Tania, Perry Reading through the other reviews, I see this is one of those love it or hate it books. Unable to adjust to normal campus life, she is befriended by Tania, Perry and John -- three strange but beautiful grad students. Shunned in the dorm rooms and not very well liked by professors, Ariel spends more and more time with the three grad students.
They live in a mansion, eat strange food and explore a quasi reality with one foot in the faerie world. They are obsessed with solstices, costuming and general weirdness. A slow building romance ensues with nihilistic John, but Ariel cannot let go of her obsession with her missing best friend. As the friendships intensify, Ariel learns exactly what is expected of her. And it ain't pretty. I loved the gorgeous writing of this book, the magical situations and also the suspense.
The mystery kept me reading right till the end. Be warned -- in some ways it is more of a YA book than an adult book, featuring 'mean girls' first romance. However in other ways it is very adult, featuring sexual situations and the dark depravity that comes with a missing teenager. There are a few hard to stomach scenes that contrast with the faerie land paradise, a great blend of gruesome and beautiful. If this sounds intriguing to you, please give this book a try! Nov 22, Karen rated it liked it.
I absolutely love Francesca Lia Block, so it pains me to give only three stars to her newest book. But in the end I felt the book was consistently disjointed and though I was compelled to finish--she's still magical even when disjointed--I can't rank it among my favorites. The Elementals was published for adults rather than teens, and at first I couldn't understand why. The basic plot and feel of the novel is classic FLB--a lonely, lovely teen narrator; magic; vintage clothes; old houses; the bea I absolutely love Francesca Lia Block, so it pains me to give only three stars to her newest book.
The basic plot and feel of the novel is classic FLB--a lonely, lovely teen narrator; magic; vintage clothes; old houses; the beauty and the tragedy of L. However, the teen narrator, Ariel, becomes an adult through the course of the novel, and really, her experiences are those of a burgeoning adult, the girl left behind as she grows into a young woman. Ariel's first year of college is marred and ruined by the loss of her best friend, Jeni, who disappeared on a class field trip to Berkeley the summer before her freshman year.
Ariel is plagued and tormented by the not-knowing. Determined to discover the truth of what happened to Jeni, she rarely eats, moves through her life like a phantom, and suffers cruelty from her roommate and the jocks with whom she shares a co-ed bathroom.
Then she meets a trio of strange upperclassmen who live in a sprawling, decaying mansion in the Berkeley hills. They throw lavish parties, serve questionable cocktails, and quickly draw Ariel into their strange ritualistic life.
Are they Fae? What is it they want from Ariel? The reader won't find out for a very long time, and the road to the revelation tested my patience as a reader. I understand that the trio, especially John Graves, who becomes Ariel's beloved, is supposed to be magical and entrancing, but their odd behavior strained the willing suspension of disbelief. In the end, the addictive aspect of the trio is explained, but by the time that explanation comes, it's a little too late.
At least it was for me. I still enjoyed the book, though the threads of the plot felt loosely weaved together, unlike other, more successful FLB reads. The mystery of Jeni's disappearance, finally revealed, satisfied me, but the narration from the mouth of the villain, felt unbelievable in the end.
The subplot of Ariel's mother, suffering from cancer, didn't do much for me, at least in the first two-thirds of the book, but then FLB writes about it beautifully in the last third.
I wish I hadn't been as impatient with this novel as I was. I found myself bored by the seemingly endless sex scenes with John Graves--oh, they're having sex again and it's so magical it's drawing Ariel into other worlds again --and I rarely find myself bored by sex scenes. Ultimately, I felt the novel needed tightening throughout, that if a few more edits and some rewriting had been done, this novel would have been a five-star, knock-it-out-of-the-ball-park read.
It wasn't, but it was still good enough to recommend, with some reservations. Feb 27, Charlie rated it it was amazing. With Ms. Block, it's all about the voice: the elevated, poetic voices of characters out of skew with the conventional world, troubled by this fact but obstinately refusing to conform.
Her books rise or fall on the consistency of her narrators' thoughts and the accessibility of their predicaments. At her best, Block captures a certain elfin cast of mind better than any other writer. When she does, she can be very powerful and moving. And in this book, Block brings it. The Elementals will not disappoint Block's many fans who expect her brand of lush, lyrical modern fable; but it may also earn her a new audience beyond the teens and tweens of her base.
The spirit here is darker, more bleak, and the raw sexual energy has more in common with Block's adult erotica and poetry than with the fanciful, precious love stories of Weetzie, Dirk and Duck [see Dangerous Angels by the same author].
That's not to say that Block plays away from her strengths. There's plenty of magic and mystery here; quotations from ancient lore, sanguine rituals and weird synchronicities abound, enough to sate young minds jonesing for the next dose of Twilight. But grown women and men such as myself will appreciate the longing Block so ably captures here on a much deeper level than her typical young reader who we hope has yet to experience crushing loss and failure.
And the ambiguous ending will prove more satisfying than a conventionally happy tale or a dream we can wake from to a bright morning. The Elementals proceeds in many ways just like a dream - a true dream, that is: baffling, inconclusive but totally engaging. Ariel behaves illogically at times, but then she is a young woman in a collapsing world.
As I read, I was often reminded of Yeats's poem "The Stolen Child:" the eponymous characters prod and cajole Ariel to choose their secret life in the place of the pain and death of the outer world - a choice which is eventually revealed as false. Although it's never flatly painted as such by either the author or her character, it's a moral choice, one by which Ariel comes of age.
And for this reader at least, that very morality is the adult fiber of the book, what sets it apart from frothy wish fulfillment or titillation and earns The Elementals its place at the grown-ups' table. Childhood really does end, after all. Nov 02, Liviania rated it really liked it. Francesca Lia Block's style is as beautiful as ever, dreamy and almost more poetry than prose. It can lean toward the purple, but I think it works with her lush stories wherein fairytales clash with harsh reality.
While searching, she falls in love. Although, since it cove Francesca Lia Block's style is as beautiful as ever, dreamy and almost more poetry than prose. Although, since it covers Ariel's first three years at college, it fits nicely into that new category of YA-style novels aimed at twentysomethings. The sex is slightly more explicit than Block's YA novels, but she's never been an author to shy away from sexiness. Her style revels in the sensual. There's the search for Jeni, in which Ariel does not prove to be a master detective.
She's a teen looking for any answer in her grief. There's her mother's cancer, which she ignores for much of the first year the novel covers. There's her classwork and attempts to interact with her classmates which mostly fade away once she meets John Graves. Ariel falls very deeply into John Graves, along with his strange roommates Tania and Perry. Each element is important to Ariel's growth, but the novel felt episodic. However, it's a beautifully told story. I thought the person who took Jeni was pretty obvious, although others might not - there were several red herrings.
Find out more about OverDrive accounts. Francesca Lia Block. Martin's Publishing Group. From a star YA author Francesca Lia Block—an adult novel about a student, haunted by the disappearance of a friend, who must face the truth The Elementals is on one level an intriguing coming-of-age novel about a young woman, Ariel Silverman, facing the challenges of her first years away at college in Berkeley, California, while her mother battles cancer at home in Los Angeles.
But the book takes on deeper, stranger meanings when we realize that Ariel is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Jeni, who vanished without a trace a few years before, closing Ariel's heart and changing her forever. Ariel wonders if she will ever be fully alive, until she meets three mysterious, beautiful and seductive young people living in a strange old house in the Berkeley hills. Through them Ariel will unravel the mystery of her best friend's disappearance and face a chilling choice.
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