Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
10th out of 55 books
—
37 voters
Ecstasia
by
Francesca Lia Block (Goodreads Author)
Siblings Calliope and Rafe, along with Dionisio and Paul, are Ecstasia�the most popular band in Elysia, a city of jewels and feathers, of magic and music, where the only crime is growing old. Then Calliope�s visions take her to Under, where the Old Ones go to die, and where her parents had vanished long ago. Rafe joins her there, in search of the Doctor, who can bring back...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
January 19th 2004
by Firebird
(first published 1993)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,732)
What made me pick this up was actually the cover. A girl at a masquerade ball looking at someone had grabbed my interest and after reading the back of the book I knew I had to buy it.
No regret came from my decision. The book was very promising and the author had fullfilled her promise by delivering a good solid plotline with enchanting characters and scenery that just made you gasp with every turn of a page.
The writing was amazing. The way everything was described so amazingly using such great w...more
No regret came from my decision. The book was very promising and the author had fullfilled her promise by delivering a good solid plotline with enchanting characters and scenery that just made you gasp with every turn of a page.
The writing was amazing. The way everything was described so amazingly using such great w...more
Elysia is a city that is a carnival of light, sparkle, shimmer and joy. Sweet candy, hot house flowers, music, bars, clubs, circuses and carousels all make up this fun house city of youth and excitement. But, to stay in it you must pay the price. Only the young may stay above, when you grow old you go Under, to a labyrinth of dark tunnels and shadowy places of quiet, dark desperation, wrapped up in linen awaiting your death. In this beautiful city Calliope is a girl that has visions of the futur...more
This is one of the oddest of FLB I've read but I really liked it. It's a fantastical resetting of many Greek myths, taking the name of the crux of the myth and twisting it to this new setting.
This is basically a world of glamour and beauty where the elderly and ugly are shunned and sent underground where no one will see them. Calliope and Rafe come from Outside and both are drawn to Under. Calliope has always had visions and is haunted by a vision of their mother. Rafe falls in love with a danc...more
This is basically a world of glamour and beauty where the elderly and ugly are shunned and sent underground where no one will see them. Calliope and Rafe come from Outside and both are drawn to Under. Calliope has always had visions and is haunted by a vision of their mother. Rafe falls in love with a danc...more
This book is both really moving and an amazing commentary on our society. Francesca Lia Block creates a beautiful, lush, colorful world and peoples it with a group of friends trying to find their way through life in a culture where youth, hipness, and beauty are valued above all else. Such an important look at the societal condemnation of the aging, and at the punishments doled out to those who refuse to quietly disappear as they grow older. This book is so politically and culturally important,...more
This fantasy tale is poetic, but hard to follow at times. Meant for older teens it contains non-graphic references to sex, homosexuality, and recreational drug use. Calliope and her brother Rafe live in a city where youth is celebrated. Once you begin to age you are banished to the dreaded underworld of sewers and tunnels. Their band Ecstasia is all the rage, but Calliope will begin to age soon, and her brother's girlfriend is taking a drug that makes her age even more quickly than normal. It is...more
I probably should have read more Fransesca Lia Block when I was younger, because she doesn't seem to be doing it for me now that I'm an adult. This book was much like a dream, but I don't consider that to be a good thing. There were lots of descriptive words, but you noticed more that she was purposely trying to come up with imagery and metaphor rather than imagining the things she was describing. The plot especially was dreamlike, in that it seemed like everything was important and made sense a...more
My feelings on this book are mixed. I enjoyed the characters, the threading of classic greek myths, and some of the imagery/metaphorical language very much. Fans of Ms. Block will find much more of her whimsical prose and fantastic imagination to enjoy. However the book felt a bit off balance too. Many of the abstract, descriptive runs of prose went on a bit too long for my taste and the fairy tale ending seemed a bit at odds with the serious issues presented in the story. Still it was an intere...more
This book reads like a young teenager went to a rave and is trying to write a poetic (read: Purple) description of it. Elysia is a magical city in the desert where all youthful desires are realized with abundant food, easy living, and free entertainment; the catch is, when the inhabitants begin to age, they must go underground to a grim city of catacombs where their skin flakes away and they turn into living mummies. It's never explained how and why the city was built, why it is necessary for so...more
Please help save Francesca's home so she does not lose it! sign this petition!!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/save-...#
Ecstasia is not an easy book to describe, it is hard to do it justice. Like other novels by Francesca Lia Block (especially the Weetzie Bat books), it gets into your heart and soul.
Brother and sister Rafe and Calliope live in Elysia, a place that is all about joy and pleasure. The youth of Ecstasia spend their time visiting circuses, clubs, cafes, eating sweet sugary foods an...more
http://www.change.org/petitions/save-...#
Ecstasia is not an easy book to describe, it is hard to do it justice. Like other novels by Francesca Lia Block (especially the Weetzie Bat books), it gets into your heart and soul.
Brother and sister Rafe and Calliope live in Elysia, a place that is all about joy and pleasure. The youth of Ecstasia spend their time visiting circuses, clubs, cafes, eating sweet sugary foods an...more
Ecstasia: Now, finally, it's available in the re-issued paperback! In a carnival-town called Elysia, the band Ecstasia lives its enchanted life. Calliope, Rafe, Paul, and Dionisio are the members, each with his or her own story. Though they were born in the desert, siblings Calliope and Rafe are products of the young, bedazzled culture of Elysia, and they have accepted that they will live the good life until signs of aging drive them--willingly--to the Under, where the old ones live. Their own m...more
I think that Francesca Lia Block is an amazing writer. And although I enjoyed reading her books before, this is the one that made me fall in love. There is something about this story that is beyond magic and whimsy. I feel like every time I read something by Block I feel the electricity in the air shift and everything come alive. The magic that is in these books really pours out while you're reading and becomes part of your life. It's a wonderful feeling, like a drug almost.
I wish more modern YA in the SF/F genre was more like this... *sigh*
It wasn't a perfect book -- I didn't mind the dreamy quality (which, admittedly, was more dreamy and disjointed than I remembered), and there were things that could've been better fleshed out and I skipped all the many poems and whatever, but it was still a lot better than a lot of what I've read recently in the YA SF/F genre (and I think this book falls pretty firmly in the fantasy camp).
It wasn't a perfect book -- I didn't mind the dreamy quality (which, admittedly, was more dreamy and disjointed than I remembered), and there were things that could've been better fleshed out and I skipped all the many poems and whatever, but it was still a lot better than a lot of what I've read recently in the YA SF/F genre (and I think this book falls pretty firmly in the fantasy camp).
The imagery was fairly good but not consistently delightful. The plot meanders like a slow river and is just as dull. I felt no true connection to any of the characters and didn't really care what happened to them. What kept me going were the references to Greek mythology, however, they amalgamate to the story like borrowed, ill-fitting clothes.
This book and it's sequel-Primavera- are 2 of my all time favs, even for Francesca Lia Block's collection. I loved the music and flowers and characters. When I was reading this I understood all of their scenerios and related them with my own life experiences and people I have met or was. Two must reads!
While this isn't my favorite Francesca Lia Block novel, Ecstasia was still an engaging read for me, filled with beauty and passion and music and colors and textures. Beneath its vibrant glittery surface and gilt edges is a deeper message one must not fail to listen to.
I remember enjoying this book when I was younger, though I don't recall it being one of my favorites of Block's work. Rereading it I found that I wasn't overly interested in the story so much as I enjoyed the imagery, and I was decidedly unimpressed with some of the dialogue.
Defies description (although not to the extent that 'Weetzie Bat' did) - except that it does include some very bad poetry. I may be disappointed because, having read the sequel before I read this, I was hoping for some gay interest and there really wasn� t any. Huh.
FLB's novel Ecstasia paints the story of a parched desert world with the choice of living in paradise... for a price. I really enjoyed the novel, although the overall tone is quite dark. As always the language is thick with lush descriptions, strange characters, drug references, and romance.
Another crazy, wild, exotic read from Block! I greatly enjoyed it, even as she described the horrors of the world she created. I look forward to reading the next book, Primavera.
This book is really cool and fun, and it's like postmodern Greek mythology. The world building in this is intricate and beautiful.
I absolutely adore Francesca Lia Block - seriously, she is like a complete goddess in my eyes - that being said, this is my least favorite of her books. I'm not sure why, but something was different about it - the writing style is still beautifully poetic and her ability to make even the most ugly things in life seem dazzling is still there, but I didn't connect so much with the characters, I couldn't feel the magic. Still, for me at least, a so-so FLB book still beats many other writers at thei...more
Found this book to be amazing and magical. Really enjoyed it.
Interesting story. Very original; kept me interested all the way through.
another good book............really sexy and colorful......i LOVED it
One of FLB's books that I never read.
Such a mesmerizing book!
make this a movie
This was the first book of a two parter, and I read it second. Opps.
Kind of an interesting experience though. I liked the characters of this one much better, and found the fluff more palatable.
Still, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who wasn't already a big fan of the authors'.
Kind of an interesting experience though. I liked the characters of this one much better, and found the fluff more palatable.
Still, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who wasn't already a big fan of the authors'.
I couldn't finish this book. I prefer a minimalist style of writing, the author's writing is highly stylistic and even though I began writing as a poet it was a bit much. This book is for someone who enjoys highly metaphorical writing.
Mar 19, 2008
Christina knox
added it
this one is about a world where the young live in a carnival and the old are condemned to an underworld. as usual flb has created her own whimsical world of crinolines and magic.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
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
More about Francesca Lia Block...
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
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“The circus tent was flowing pale in the rain like a fleshy flower lit from within. It seemed to bloom in the downpour. Drops of rain caught on Rafe's eyelashes, blinding him as the circus light struck them. He groped for the flap, that slit in the fabric that would reveal her to him.
She was on the rope again, her skirt flashing with tiny mirrors, hair braided with petals. He looked up at her, dizzy with it, seeing her face framed in the parasol. There were bluish shadows around her eyes.”
—
6 people liked it
She was on the rope again, her skirt flashing with tiny mirrors, hair braided with petals. He looked up at her, dizzy with it, seeing her face framed in the parasol. There were bluish shadows around her eyes.”
“People worry so much. Just enjoy your body. That you can love. And you're alive.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
Feb 19, 2013 09:29pm