Wasteland

Reader reviewed by Keshia

In Francesca Lia Block's "Wasteland" the theme of love and closeness gets a new meaning. A teenager is trying to find out the truth about her brother's suicide but in doing so she has to confront herself about what happened between them that night.

The book is a bit choppy to read like poetry and goes from the points of view of the girl's dead brother, her, and a guy that likes her. It is extremely well written and not in the least bit graphic seeing as it is dealing with some sensitive issues.

The ending of the book left something to the imagination about what could happen next after the heart breaking conclusion. You have to read until the end of it to truly understand the meaning of it's beginning quote: "I'll be inside the one that holds you... and then I won't be."

Very good read.

Reader reviewed by Ria

Wasteland is another magical story by Francesca Lia Block. The main character Marina, is telling the story of her relationship with her brother, Lex. Lex is dead and she is heartbroken. She talks about how, when they were young children, she'd follow him around instead of playing with other girls. She talks about how they would go to the beach, and how they met West, a surfer, like Lex. She talks about how other people felt about Lex, like his English teacher who said that he was a really good writer. The most important event she talks about was a time when she went to a club with Lex, even though he didn't want her to go. This guy, Rat, started to flirt with her, and Lex didn't like that, so he took her home. So when Lex died, Marina thought that Rat might have something to do with it, so she kept going to that club to find out more information. There were also a group of girls that went there, and they really liked Lex, especially one girl named Justine. But Lex didn't love her. He loved the one girl he couldn't be with, his sister.

I think that Lex might have killed himself because he couldn't be with Marina. This book was really sad, especially because they loved each other so much. There's one fact in the story that's really sad, but I won't say what it is. It shows how people shouldn't lie about important things, especially Mothers.

This is the first book I've read that talks about incest. It was written in the same way that all of Francesca Lia Block's books were written, that magical writing that takes you into the story. It was a bit confusing because it was written from 3 different point of views, mostly Marina's, but Lex also wrote a few things, and a narrorator also told what was going on in the present with Marina and how she was coping with her brother's death. There was a poem called Marina by T. S. Elliot in the story, but I didn't understand it's significance in being there. Other than that, this was a good, short read and I'd recomend other divas to read it.

Reader reviewed by Dylana

This book was kind of hard to understand in the beginning, but once you keep reading, you really get it and get into it more. It's about a girl named Marina who had a very close and puzzling relationship with her brother Lex, who died. SHe tries to find out about how he dies, because it broker her heart and its hard for her to deal with life. She had a relationship with her brother that is very different and she struggles to get on with her life, with the help of her friend West. You'll like this book if you liked Francesca Lia Block's other books.