Bakers Dozen 2013: 7

Violet & Claire by Francesca Lia Block

So this is the only young adult novel on my list this year.  Now Violet & Claire is kind of hard to explain unless you are familiar with the authors writing style it's kind of hard to describe.  She kind of writes like her stories are a poem or sonnet from the past.  Her words flow together like a song and she's very rich with detail and she uses a lot of symbolism to describe what she's writing.

The story is of two different girls, Violet and Claire.  Both opposite from each other, they both need each other to be whole.  Violet is the dark one, dressed in black and dreams of writing her own silver screen creation.  Claire is light and love, almost like a real-life Tinker Bell, dressed in wings of gauze and glitter, constantly writing poems to keep the dark away.   The story takes you through the journey in L.A. through the ups and downs.

This book not only followed these girls but you also feel their pain and loneliness.  It also touches upon anorexia, rape, drug and alcohol abuse.  But because of Francesca Lia Block's writing style you might now pick up on it right away.  Even though this book is in the young adult section I do feel that a lot of the symbolism might go over a lot of young adults head.  But if you're one to be able to pick up on them than this would be a good book for you to read.