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The Elementals

by Francesca Lia Block (Goodreads Author)

3.35 of 5 stars 3.35 · rating details · 509 ratings · 124 reviews

From star YAauthor Francesca Lia Block comes an adult novel about astudent haunted by the disappearance ofher best friend, desperate to find and withstand thetruth.

The Elementalsis on one level a contemporary story 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...more

Hardcover, 265 pages

Published October 16th 2012 by St. Martin's Press

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Oct 21, 2012 Cristina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: so-damn-pretty, in-my-dreams

Beautiful, lush, shining, whimsical, magical, sensual...every adjective used to describe Block's previous works are applicable. But this book is also so compelling, filled with gripping and horrifying mystery. At times, I could not stop reading - I needed to know more, but at others I had to put it down, knowing I should prolong the experience because when it was over I would feel an emptiness wash over me. And here it is. But I also feel like I'm glowing inside, and so happy that years after be...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Charlie rated it 5 of 5 stars

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. Think of it this way: Francesca Lia Block may be the Raymond Ch...more 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. Think of it this way: Francesca Lia Block may be the Raymond Chandler of Young Adult fantasy. 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.(less)

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Feb 11, 2013 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars

I honestly love and adore Francesca Lia Block's style and voice but this is not one of her best books. ---SPOILER WARNING---
After downloading the kindle sample, I was hooked. However, after buying the book I was let down. There were so many instances where I was rooting for Ariel, wanting so badly for her to succeed, and then being disappointed in her poor choices and reasoning.

Many of the characters, I couldn't take seriously at all, especially the love interest. He just didn't come off as a w...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Lighthearted rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: college, mystery, occult

Ariel Silverman’s best friend disappeared while visiting the college they meant to attend together. Ariel is still shaken by this loss when she learns that her mother has breast cancer. She begins her first year at college in a haze — she’s completely disconnected from everyone, including herself. Clinging to memories of happier days, Ariel is determined to find out what happened to Jeni. While handing out flyers she encounters some peculiar street people who seem oddly interested in her.

While t...more Ariel Silverman’s best friend disappeared while visiting the college they meant to attend together. Ariel is still shaken by this loss when she learns that her mother has breast cancer. She begins her first year at college in a haze — she’s completely disconnected from everyone, including herself. Clinging to memories of happier days, Ariel is determined to find out what happened to Jeni. While handing out flyers she encounters some peculiar street people who seem oddly interested in her.

While the street people seem intrigued by her, her fellow freshmen seem intent on either dismissing her or taunting her. Things change when she meets grad students John, Tania, and Perry. They are beautiful, mysterious, and seductive. For the first time since her world fell apart, she’s interested in something other than her desire to find out what happened to Jeni. Her new friends are eclectic — their clothes tend to be elegant but frayed, as does the house they share. The food and drink they serve reawakens her appetite — but only for what’s on their table — she has to struggle to eat anything else.

This is a surreal coming of age story — the tone is ominous from beginning to end. Block’s writing is richly atmospheric. I loved the otherworldly strangeness of several of the characters. Are they fae? Are they something else? Why is Ariel so drawn to them — and why are they so drawn to her?

The strangeness, the mystery is done very well. The normal part of the story was a little jarring for me — I never understood the reason why her dormmates chose to torment her in the way that they did. I’m not even sure if they were responsible for the pranks — John entered her room to fill it with flowers, maybe he or his roommates placed the other items in there as well, to make her hate the dorm enough to move in with them. Whomever was responsible, it seems evident that there’s a theme at play here but I’m not entirely certain what Block means for us to draw from it.

The romance is reminiscent of Edward and Bella but this is definitely not a YA novel. There are no “vegetarian” vampires but there is plenty of sex, drugs, and ritual. Bohemian occult chic.

Overall, a mostly compelling read. I did lose my patience about halfway through but the story wouldn’t let me stop reading — I loved the writing but I was frustrated by the agonizingly slow pace.(less)

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Jan 10, 2013 Leah rated it 3 of 5 stars

At first this was a bit too much like "YA: The College Years" for my taste. The constant and unnecessary detail bothered me--Block seemed to shout at the reader, "I know what's cool! Hipster boys and Tori Amos! I'm still relevant!" I love Tori as much as the next alternative girl who grew up in the 90s and early 00s, but I don't need her songs constantly referenced in an apparent attempt to seem contemporary. It will cause the book to become outdated quickly. But it redeemed itself a bit in the...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Ed added it

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 w...more 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 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.
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Dec 03, 2012 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fiction, magical-realism

Ariel Silverman has lost a piece of herself- her best friend, Jeni, who disappeared on a college visit. She knows it's her fault- they went everywhere together, so if Ariel hadn't missed the trip, Jeni wouldn't have gone missing, would she?
A year after the abduction, Ariel heads to Berkeley as a college freshman, intent on finding any trace Jeni may have left behind. What she finds instead is a trio of grad students steeped in mystery and mythology, serving soma at parties and debating the trans...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a novel that you thought was so weird and even when you have finished reading it , you are still at a loss ? The Elementals did this too me , as a voracious and plentiful reader I have read almost 500 books this year alone and ALOT of books in my lifetime. Normally if I get a book that I cant get into or read I put it down and move on as there are so many other good books in the world to read but The Elementals was one of those books and I have to say ONE of the few books that...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 Elementalswas 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...more 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 Elementalswas 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 beauty and the tragedy of L.A. and other California destinations written so gorgeously it makes the reader long to experience those places firsthand; the other-worldliness of faerie pulsing just behind contemporary life. 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? Human? 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. The reader is expected to accept that Ariel's bereavement over Jeni is the reason for her acceptance/addiction to the trio, but Ariel comes and goes, saying no sometimes, saying yes sometimes. 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. (less)

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Nov 02, 2012 Liviania rated it 4 of 5 stars

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. In THE ELEMENTALS, college freshman Ariel Silverman searches for her best friend Jeni, who went missing on a trip to Berkeley. While searching, she falls in love.

THE ELEMENTALS may be published as an adult novel, but it reads very similarly to Block's YA novels. Although, since it cove...more 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. In THE ELEMENTALS, college freshman Ariel Silverman searches for her best friend Jeni, who went missing on a trip to Berkeley. While searching, she falls in love.

THE ELEMENTALS may be published as an adult novel, but it reads very similarly to Block's YA novels. 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. ("New adult," but that name is terrible.) 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.

The various threads of THE ELEMENTALS don't always fit together neatly. 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. But the book is about Ariel's journey, not whodunit. Block's magical realism is more intriguing than ever, as there's a sense that nothing magical at all is happening in THE ELEMENTALS. Instead of this being a setting where some of the rules of are world simply don't exist, it feels like there is an explanation in line with our world. It's a trick I haven't seen Block pull before.

I devoured THE ELEMENTALS in a single sitting. It's a book that moves between lovely and creepy without blinking an eye. It's cathartic, to see Ariel overcome her depression and grief, ready to make a future for herself. When she enters Berkeley, she mostly attends the college in order to find out what happened to Jeni. By the end, she's there for herself. It's a fantastic story with an ending full of love and hope. (less)

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Oct 07, 2012 Cathe Olson rated it 3 of 5 stars

As if it's not hard enough starting freshman year at college, Ariel is still haunted by the disappearance of her best friend Jeni and has just found out her mother has cancer. Friendless and wanting to avoid hostile college peers, Ariel becomes obsessed with trying to find out what happened to her friend. During this search, she because entranced with a eccentric trio who dress in odd costumes, drink strangely addicting wine, and host elaborate parties. Despite warnings from other students, she...more

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Feb 05, 2013 black lamb rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

** THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS **

hnnnnnnggghhhhhh.

i assume this is supposed to be an adult book because of all the explicit sex in it, but francesca lia block's background as a young adult author shines through, painfully so. the characters are flat and one-dimensional. it's supposed to take place in a college (berkeley, specifically) but it reads much more like your typical high school cardboard cutout stereotypes - the bullying jock football players, the preppy popular girls, the outcast got...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Kris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-reviewed, ya-crossover-new-adult, mystery

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...more 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 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.

--
For more of my reviews, visit my blog Imaginary Reads.

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Oct 27, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own

Well, I know what I think, but how can I possibly convey in words that would even remotely begin to encompass the dream-like state I was in during my journey of reading this book? I quickly got lost in the imagery, the magic of Ariel's world and the tragic and brutal honesty Block is able to convey through the telling of Ariel's descent into her own lonely and isolated thoughts. In her freshman year at Berkley, Ariel is trying to make sense, and find clues, to the disappearance of her friend Jen...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Eileen Granfors rated it 5 of 5 stars

Usually, I am not likely to choose fantasy, paranormal books even though that's what my readers answered in a poll as the number one genre. I loved "The Elementals" by Francesca Lia Block, but I wouldn't try to write one myself. I'll just put her other 20 books in my TBR pile!

This story of a Cal Berkeley student gave me a good head start with the setting since I love Northern California. Berkeley is an entity unto itself. Add to that a freshman who just can't fit it, who feels "odd one out," wit...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Jessica Figueroa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, read-2013

I didn't even know this book existed until I went into the library one day and saw the name Francesca Lia Block on the cover as the author and just knew I had to have it. You ever have those few select authors where you wont even have to know any thing about the book and just know the author and know that its going to be a great book, well this was one of them. I just knew I had to get this book and be surprised with whats in side. And just as I thought this book did not disappoint it was actual...more

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Jun 02, 2013 Stven rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a lovely, powerful, sad book. The writing has an emotional density I seldom encounter. It seems as though most of our modern protagonists distance themselves from feeling, or leave us guessing -- not a bad technique when it connects, but here the heart is on the sleeve. This is almost a gothic, almost a romance, and perhaps the emotional intimacy is expected in those genres. But many rules are broken. There is no exact genre shelf The Elementals should call home. It has no precise market...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Rachael Smyczak rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Francesca Lia Block. I don't think that I have come across a single book from her that didn't suck me in. She has the ability to make you think that fairies and monsters are real and they are out there and we could find them if we just opened our eyes.

This was an odd book and I wouldn't have expected anything less. Ariel's world has fallen apart. Her best friend, Jeni, went missing during their junior year on a tip to Berkley and while the case hasn't closed nobody seems to be looking for...more I love Francesca Lia Block. I don't think that I have come across a single book from her that didn't suck me in. She has the ability to make you think that fairies and monsters are real and they are out there and we could find them if we just opened our eyes.

This was an odd book and I wouldn't have expected anything less. Ariel's world has fallen apart. Her best friend, Jeni, went missing during their junior year on a tip to Berkley and while the case hasn't closed nobody seems to be looking for her anymore. Then her mother gets breast cancer. Ariel's parents allow her to go to school at Berkley because of this. They think it will be easier for her to be away from her mother's sickness than by their side. But Ariel isn't going for the college. She is going to look for her friend.

Once at school, things get even harder. She is completely alone, unable to make friends because she is so scarred from the loss of her friend. On Halloween, she stumbles upon a party in a beautiful house in the hills and there she sees John, Perry, and Tania for the first times. Eventually, Ariel is accepted into their inner circle. Her and John begin a relationship. Things start to look up.

But in the back of her mind, Ariel knows she is letting her friend down. She is aware that she feels addicted to her new friends. They are all she thinks about and all that she needs. Her grades begin to slip. When her new friends ask her to do something she doesn't agree with, she finally has enough. She extracts herself from their lives and goes back to her parents. In L.A. she is completely heart broken. She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. When John eventually shows up and tries to make it right with her, Ariel decides to start putting her life back together. She helps her mom and she goes to school and eventually she even goes back to Berkley where Jeni's killer ends up being closer than she thinks.

As with most of her books, when FLB mixes magic with the everyday, sometimes it gets a little confusing. I would argue that some of the magic in this book feels unnecessary. It gets in the way of the story. I also felt like the ending was too sudden, almost like Block didn't know how to get to where she wanted to go. Other than that, this was a very absorbing read and I enjoyed it very much.(less)

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Mar 03, 2013 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 24, 2013 Queeniee rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very moody, almost excessively so from beginning to end. Not sure what I was expecting but what I got was not it. I'm still not completely sure what my opinion is.

EDIT 1/24: Okay, so I recently read something on the author's blog where some of the inspiration was from books like The Lovely Bones, The Secret History, and In The Woods, and seeing that really pinged what I did not like about the book. I haven't read In The Woods, but I have read the other two. This book fails to resonate with me be...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Kristen Byers rated it 3 of 5 stars

A tentative 3 stars (only because I can't quite figure it out -- this book left me pondering more than other Francesca Lia Block novels). For what it's worth, this book reminded me a lot of The Hanged Man, which is one of my favorite books by FLB.

I appreciated that the protagonist, Ariel, is a little bit older than the usual FLB lead character. However, the same recurring themes that are popular in FLB's other works are also prominent in this one: an eating disorder, a mom dying of cancer, and a...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Brittany (The Book Addict's Guide) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, contemporary, selective-collective, currently-own

3.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book for review.

Well this was quite different than what I was expecting so I'm not really sure quite how to review it. It's a very different kind of book - part mystery, part horror, part magical-realism - and despite how uncharacteristic it is of my usual reads, I really was sucked in until the very end. I will say that Block does a great job of keeping the reader curious regarding what happened to Jeni, what will happen to Arie...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Amy rated it 5 of 5 stars

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, ho...more

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Dec 07, 2012 Alexandra rated it 1 of 5 stars

Two words: fucking weird. If you have ever read any of FLB's books before, then you are familiar with her descriptive, lyrical writing. And it's all well and good. But I think I've outgrown it. It used to seem, when I was 15, so beautiful and different. Now it just kind of annoys me. "I heard his voice through my sobs; it seemed he was singing something, some kind of lullaby with words I wanted to possess, like weird gems, but didn't understand. Through my tears the room glowed like liquid gold....more Two words: fucking weird. If you have ever read any of FLB's books before, then you are familiar with her descriptive, lyrical writing. And it's all well and good. But I think I've outgrown it. It used to seem, when I was 15, so beautiful and different. Now it just kind of annoys me. "I heard his voice through my sobs; it seemed he was singing something, some kind of lullaby with words I wanted to possess, like weird gems, but didn't understand. Through my tears the room glowed like liquid gold." . "But she wasn't the only one who haunted me; when I got back up north I was missing John so much that my whole body - bones, joints, sinews, tissues, even weirdly my blood - ached with it."
It's like, alright already! You love him, we get it. After awhile these types of sentences start to, in the words of Peter Griffin, "grind my gears."

This is supposedly the first book of FLB to be targeted towards an adult audience. Aside from the fact that it's written somewhat like a "normal" novel, you know - not in verse, I don't see much of a difference in the subject matter from any of her other books. I mean, it's longer, but you know. That's it.

And it's fucked up too, did I mention that?

In the beginning, I was fascinated and I wanted to find out what the hell happened to her missing best friend. But I was just sorely disappointed. This book was all over the place. What was it about exactly? Her missing friend? Or a gaggle of misfit weirdos who give me a serious case of the creeps? (They wear velvet dresses and tuxedo jackets on any given day of the week. Out. In public. Yeah.)

If you absolutely love FLB, of course, read this book. But if you are kinda 'eh, take it or leave it', leave it. The Elementals has many common characteristics of her other novels. Lyrical 'prose', a lot of emo gobbledegook ('"I can't tell if you are outside of me or inside of me," was all he said'.), a really s.k.i.n.n.y main character ('I felt conscious of how thin I was, how wide and lethal my hip bones looked.'), a seriously depressing story with a downer doom and gloom type feel, a girl completely obsessing over a guy and them making each other the be all and end all. In other words, the usual. So if you pick up this book thinking "Oh hey! She wrote a book for adults! I wonder how this will differ from every single one of her other books!", just know that it doesn't, except that it has more words.

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Jan 08, 2013 Melissa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

I tried to get through this one, but even though it's supposedly written for adults, Ariel's character is so angsty that I think most people would have a hard time relating to her. If this weren't enough, the author created such an unrealistic view of Berkeley and the Bay Area that I felt like I was being constantly reminded that the author knew little about either. This may be more of my pet peeve since I live in the Bay Area and others may be able to move past it, but really couldn't stand it....more

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Feb 03, 2013 Dora rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a strange book. I recognized the author's name from her YA books and thought the summary sounded interesting. Unfortunately, as much as I've enjoyed many YA books, this one reads a little too much like a not-so-great YA book . . too much angst and bad sex scenes to be what I would consider a true coming-of-age book. The way the mother's illness was handled in the beginning was strange, also. Overall, I finished it because I wanted to know what happened to the friend and if there really...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Heather Wallen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love Francesca Lia Block's work, and this book was no disappointment, it was fantastic!
It was current, and fresh, and fantastic. The story had a lot of twist and turns that beg you to continue reading. The richness of Miss Blocks writing is as powerful as ever, transporting you to the realm of fae through her brilliant phrasing. However, the story is as down to earth as it is out of this world. A lot of the struggles of the main character, Ariel, are very relate-able, and her reactions to stre...more

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May 04, 2012 the golden witch. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, faepunk, crime, magical-reality, mystery, best-of-12, reviewed, sexy-tiems, own-print-arc, signed, ala12, not-for-swap

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 a...more 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 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)(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Jennifer Kronk rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, children-and-young-adult

This is a great exacmple of why fantasy lovers are frequently turning to the YA shelves. This story works for many reasons but one is because Ariel, the main character, is young enough that she does not doubt the truth of her experience. I feel like a similar novel, with an older heroine, would have wasted time with "But this can't be real!!" types of dialouge. Ariel accepts the rules of this game and that makes it easier for the reader to dive into the story
I enjoyed grow and learn and gather s...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Brittany rated it 1 of 5 stars

Let me start by saying that I have enjoyed a fair amount of Block's books. I am familiar with how she combines supernatural extraordinary elements with gritty real life situations. That being said, I did not like this book. Billed as an adult novel, I found the writing bizarre, the plot and characters scattered and the overall feel of the novel was jumbled and hard to follow. I sadly did not finish this book but I did skim the last few chapters in order to find out what happened to the best frie...more

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About Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles to a poet and a painter, their creativity an obvious influence on her writing. Another influence was her childhood love of Greek mythology and fairy tales.
She has lived in the city all her life, and still resides there with her daughter, Jasmine Angelina (about whom she wrote her book Guarding the Moon), her son Samuel Alexander, and her two dogs: a spr...more

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Quotes from The Elementals

“In order to have bliss you have to be able to accept all the parts of the other, all the wildness and the darkness. You have to be able to hold on.” — 12 people liked it

“It’s hard to remember what you fall in love with. Usually it is an expression in the eyes, an exchange, or a gesture or the sound of a voice, a word spoken. Those things can get blended with the atmosphere around you at the time — a fragrance in the air, a play of light, even music — so that they become almost one with each other and when you see or smell or hear the memories of a place you feel the love again, but as a pang of loss. Sometimes the feelings get connected so deeply to your body that even your own skin, your own eyes in the mirror remind you of what you no longer have. Sometimes it only takes a few things for someone to attach the way I did — enough hunger, enough loneliness, enough loss, someone who will feed you and touch you and listen. Sometimes attachment — call it love — is more complex than that. When you are in the state I was in, love can be tied up with other things, like excitement and danger, and the desire to know what really happened, what actually took place.” — 5 people liked it

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