Violet & Claire

by Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block Gets Real

In the final pages of Francesca Lia Block's deftly written new novel, Violet and Claire, one of the main characters wonders to "Maybe there had really been a kind of murder that night." This salient assertion comes from Violet, the whip-smart teen who, along with her friend Claire, wonders loudly about life. Besides forcing her characters to face big questions, this scene illustrates Block's current foray into storytelling in which events reflect a more hard-edged reality -- one where, if people are not physically dying, then, perhaps, their spirits are.

"Instead of genies and fairies, demons and lovers, it's very grounded in reality," Block said during a telephone conversation this past August. "It definitely has that tragic reality, and it's more plot-oriented than my other books." The 36-year-old author, whose widely acclaimed Weetzie Bat series for young adults has catapulted her to the top of the teen books scene, was forthcoming with her current interest in reality-driven storytelling.

Violet and Claire reads almost like a film script, which was originally the projected medium for the story. "I wanted to write a script, and I had a cool idea in my head," Block explains. "I woke up in the middle of the night and I typed 30 pages, and my legs were shaking -- it was really weird." The script-turned-book, however, still retains a scriptlike format ("fade in" and other stage directions are utilized throughout), and Block employs the Faulkneresque literary technique of shifting points of view. Hence, the book is divided into three Part I is narrated in first person with Violet speaking; Part II is narrated in first person with Claire speaking; and Part III is told in third person through both Claire's and Violet's points of view, as well as through the narrator's.

Since her first book, Weetzie Bat, which she has referred to in many interviews as a "love letter to my friends and family," Block has had an intimate alliance with her characters. In Violet and Claire, she takes parts of herself and apportions them between the two main characters; in addition she draws on a real-life encounter to bolster Violet's character. "Violet is a very strong, forceful character, but there's some darkness to her," Block says. "She takes things very far. Claire has this ethereal quality, this sort of innocent, childlike quality, and both of them are seeking something that is missing in themselves." Curiously, toward the end of the story, Violet aptly renames herself Ambition and Claire Innocence. These are tools of the fable trade; both allegory and metaphor strongly inspire Block's work.

When the story begins, Violet, 17, is working on a screenplay she hopes to make into a film. In her first-person narrative, she shares her personal philosophies and "And what else is filmmaking about if not a series of perfect and potent images strung together like the words of a poem?" Later in her monologue, we learn how she went from "wanting to save the world in sixth grade" to her "Goth" phase at 13, all the way up to her screenwriting venture, which came from years of studying storytelling and "renting two movies a night." Claire, on the other hand, is the flower of the two, the peace-loving, poetry-writing child whose fantastic dreams of making a living as a poet contrast with Violet's dreams of a life as a Hollywood screenwriter. Violet, Block says, was drawn mostly from a person she met through her recent encounters in L.A.'s film business, in which she is currently immersing herself.

As the story unfolds, Violet and Claire follow the path of their dreams, and a classic tale of lost innocence emerges; the reader, like the characters, may find herself asking moral questions. On their journey they meet the good and the Richter, a Hollywood mogul; Tinker Bell, a potential character for Violet's screenplay; party girls Esmeralda and Mathilda; rocker Flint Cassady; and various lovers. "In my work I always try to work with dark and light, positive and negative, love and fear, magic and realism," Block says. "I try to include both of those things, not because I want to make a statement, but I believe in both those forces and that they are in this world."

If all this talk of good and evil and scripts and murder sounds like fodder for more adult-oriented novels, then it's correct to assume that Block's moniker as a teen author is somewhat miscalculated. Although she's been on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and has been given awards by the American Library Association and the New York Times Book Review, her place as a teen writer continues to be a cloudy issue for her. "I didn't write my first book for teenagers," Block says. "A lot of my readers are older because I think these issues are ongoing. I think also a lot of the positive things of being a young person are retained." ...

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Teen, Coming Of Age

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 1999

About the author

Francesca Lia Block is the author of more than twenty-five books of fiction, non-fiction, short stories and poetry. She received the Spectrum Award, the Phoenix Award, the ALA Rainbow Award and the 2005 Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other citations from the American Library Association and from the New York Times Book Review, School Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly. She was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College in 2014. Her work has been translated into Italian, French, German Japanese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese. Francesca has also published stories, poems, essays and interviews in The Los Angeles Times, The L.A. Review of Books, Spin, Nylon, Black Clock and Rattle among others. In addition to writing, she teaches creative writing at University of Redlands, UCLA Extension, Antioch University, and privately in Los Angeles where she was born, raised and currently still lives.

Reviews

[Jaemi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started it all for me. A friend recommended I read it, and Francesca Lia Block made an immediate move to the top slot in my favorite authors list, where she's stayed ever since.

Violet sees life as a movie. There's always a scene, a mood, something unfolding. Though her own life, sadly, is lacking in some of the necessities for a great script. Conflict. Her parents, who seem to be from a completely different bloodline than she, give her none. And what little she does have isn't juicy enough. Love interest. Sorely lacking. Anyone who can understand what she wants and where she's coming from.

Enter Claire. Innocence emboddied, wearing a Tinker Bell shirt with faerie wings, surrounded by taunting peers. Violet decides she's perfect. Claire, never having fit in, is happy to have a friend. And one who defended her.

Their early adventures are innocent enough. A visit to a transvestite bar. A trip to an underground concert, where Violet finds her love interest in the form of the godly Flint Cassidy. But her unwilling slip into humanity leaves her wounded, when she realizes she fell for an act like any other girl. Determined, she makes the most of it, and takes her script to his agent, who gives her a receptionist job in exchange for helping her with it.

Claire is first excited, soon after worried. Violet comes to school less and less, eventually isn't there at all. The poetry class they signed up for together also becomes Claire's alone. As she gets deeper into her relationship with the teacher, Violet isn't there to listen, or warn her. Claire too finds herself injured and lost.

But even the darkness can't keep them apart. After all the misunderstandings and apologies gone awry, their friendship prevails. Life in the desert, away from the cruelties of the big city, awaits.

Violet's portion of the story should appeal to any movie buff. Claire's to anyone who's ever felt alien, finding solace mostly in paper and pen. A very quick read, which might or might not keep you up at night to get to see how it turns out, and one of my all time favorites, I highly recommend Violet and Claire to any and all.

[willowmoth (bookcravt) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading Violet & Claire by Francesca Lia Block was an interesting experience. I first read this book back in high school, and I’m revisiting it now as part of my journey to reread five of Block’s novels. This is the third one I’ve picked up, and while I still enjoyed it, I found that some of the characters' decisions were much more frustrating and insufferable to me now than they were when I was a teenager.

Violet & Claire is a story about two friends who are polar opposites but deeply connected. The writing is lovely, and you really get to know Violet and Claire, understanding the inner workings of their minds—even when their thoughts seem ridiculous. Despite this, I found the plot to be disjointed at times, which made the reading experience a bit choppy. I even found myself speed-reading through some parts just to get back to the more engaging sections of the story.

For me, this book was just a fun read. It’s a journey of friends growing up, making mistakes, being a great friend, and then being an absolutely shitty friend. The story touches a lot on how men are portrayed as problematic, and women should rely solely on each other and themselves. While I find this narrative a bit exhausting, that’s a discussion for another time.

This book is fun and cute, even if it’s not perfect. It’s a quick read about a tumultuous friendship. Trigger warnings for suicidal ideation and drug use.

[Stephanie Willing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francesca Lia Block's sentences are technicolor word candy. I eat them up and moan at their richness. Story? Barely there, don't care. What I did love, besides the words words words, is that this is truly the story of two girls. Two friends who need, understand, and adore each other in a way that no one else can. When shadowy men who wield too much power or influence throw them out of orbit, it's only by reconnecting to their love that Violet and Claire rebalance themselves and find the evolved versions of themselves.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah... I went through this really weird phase where I kept accidentally reading young adult fiction, it was very odd. This book was about two friends and... I don't remember. I think they have some problems or something. If I was a teenage girl I probably would've been pretty into it.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last time I read this I was probably 15. My best friend and I read it together, and we decided that she was a Violet-Claire and I a Claire-Violet, because I was a Violet that wanted badly to be a Claire and she the opposite. This book, our talks of it, my feelings for it...have stayed with me for a long time. I'm 24 now and I think often of the time when I was Violet-Claire and we made the ordinary pain and ugliness of our homelives into something beautiful, magical and useful. We romanticized it all, and got through it all, very much in debt to books like this.

When I first started reading this book again a few days ago, I did not think it could possibly resonate in a similar manner. Immediately, I picked up on grammatical errors and editing issues I had never noticed as a teen. I was disappointed at 5 pages or so in...but then I kept reading. And somewhere along the line, the magic crept back into me.

This book is a spell, a charm, against evil for me. It may not be for everyone, but it reminds me of happiness and of my own strength and of the purest and most perfect sense of camaraderie that I have ever known. It is so gorgeous.

Favorite quotes (of many, many more):

“I wish I wasn’t a girl who needed so much but a little free creature that slept in deserts and ran on clouds and lived on lilies.” - Claire

“This was not a faerie tale. This was not the movies. This was life. It hurt more. It was excruciating. It was excruciatingly beautiful.”

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is like a dream.

There's a very mystical quality when reading it. The scenes meld into one another, which can be quite disjointing when reading it initially. Pages need to be re-read and at points, nothing is quite clear. The book is very short, however, (easily read in under an hour), and so it isn't quite difficult.

The love between Violet and Claire transcends sexuality, and Violet never makes any attempt to clarify their relationship. Claire relies more on Violet, that much is true, but in many ways, she opens Violet up and makes her recognise her innocence, her youth, her vulnerability. In many ways, Violet makes Claire stronger, but Claire doesn't quite reach it.

The Hollywood side to it baffled me a little, admittedly, and it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the novel. I think it would have been easier if Violet had fallen in with a bad crowd (such as at the club she visits) than going straight to Hollywood.

[Isabella Seychel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that this book would be gay, but it was just some weird girls being friends. Not interesting at all and not worth the read to me.

[Kelly]

Read many years ago when I was going through a distinct Francesca Lia Block phase and devoured everything she wrote. I remember taking these books out from the library. They were so racy - there are definitely very mature scenes and themes and characters - and how magical and illicit it all felt, because these were books with fantastic writing about growing up in a way that called so clearly to young adults in the 90s.

[Nomad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Block's and even though I'm out of her intended age market, I and many others like me, still love her work. I really WANTED to like this book more than I did. It was good, that's not at issue and it was a very well written meditation on female friendship and how sometimes society really pits girls/women against each other. So as a book on the intricacies of female friendship during the teen years and what appeared to be their very early 20's, I recommend this highly.

However: Many times it feels like this book is heading into F/F land and it was a pretty huge let down when it never did. The author routinely writes about M/M relatiosnhips in a way that is really second to none. Unlike almost ALL M/M relatiosnhips written by straight women, Block gets the queer community right... and we love her for it. But she has never, as far as I know written a book that delves into F/F territory. So when it looked like she had I was so excited I barely knew what to do with myself. When it never happened, my disappointment overshadowed a lot of my enjoyment of a truly good book.

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Ms. Block’s for years since many moons ago when The Rose and the Beast was recommended to me and I fell in love. I read as much as I could get my hands on and in time have read the vast majority of her books, but it’s been years since I’ve really even looked at any of her classic stuff and thought it would be fun to re-visit an old favorite. I found that I am still very much enchanted by the author’s beautiful use of language and lush descriptions that paint crazy vivid pictures in your head, even though the story line didn’t hold my attention as much this time around. Block always writes with an effortless understanding of what it’s like to be a square peg and an embracing of that different shape and the beauty in it.

Also, just for good measure, one of my favorite quotes: “This was not a faerie tale. This was not the movies. This was life. It hurt more. It was excruciating. It was excruciatingly beautiful.”

[Izlinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The brevity bothered me a bit, and a bit of the predictability, but it was engaging in the difference of the way it was written. Based on two girls, the first section is written by Violet, in first person, but with camera cues. The second section is written by Claire, in the form of a journal, again in first person, while the story concludes with a third-person look at Violet & Claire. It explores friendship, ambitions, attaining dreams and falling from them and relationships, though I suppose I would have wished a bit more development. Claire's fascination with the faerie and how she relates to them (ostracized from the developing human world) is a nice touch of fantasy and ethereal thinking, whereas Violet sees the world as a story.

[Estelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It was excruciating. It was excruciatingly beautiful.". its a fast paced story. As troubled and dark Violet and Claire were, they exude innocence and pure love. This story seems to be all over the place yet also all together. I may not be able to grasp the story as a whole, but it touches me somehow, somewhere. After finished reading, the first thing that came to my mind was 'wouldnt it be nice to have someone there for you, protecting you like that?'

[Melinda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book in three words is "irritating, soullessly depressing." Pick it up if you want to be disappointed by the characters' decline in sense and likability, read about the shallow drug-and-sex-driven life of Los Angeles, and find no plot or development whatsoever.

[Alia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with FLB is that she gets teenagers so well that it's hard to read her books as an adult. This is a case of exactly that. I remember reading this book as a senior in highschool and totally relating. Now, the characters annoy the crap out of me.

[Ashley Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much how I usually feel about FLB's writing - I love the whimsy, I love the lush descriptors, but the stories are sometimes too underdeveloped to mean as much as they could.

[casper · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book was incredible. the most impressive piece of literature i have ever read!! i am in the target demographic for this book and i must say that i love the story, characters, everything about it! it was so incredible it brought tears to my eyes!! it was gifted to me by a friend and until i finished it it was unable to put it down!!! so good!

that was sarcasm. i absolutely hate violet. shes dense, lacks a singe ounce of common sense, and overall is just SUCH an unlikable character in every way. she romanticizes self harm and acts like it’s a personality trait, shes so “haha edgy not like the other girls”, and her so called life goals and aspirations were essentially abandoned bc she fucked some gerard way rip off once. shes underage too, which is basically never addressed throughout her drinking, drugs, smoking, and sexual encounters w someone who is most likely at least 5ish years her senior. but that’s a whole different issue! if i met anyone like her irl i’d punch her in the face! she is violently unselfaware and i just. I HATE HER AAAHSHSHSHDHDHHFHFJFJFJFN she’s so fucking annoying to read about and i only finished this book so i could write more whiny annotations ab how much i hate everything she does.

the only positives i could find were the following:

- claire. love her. mwah.
- relatively civil trans rep in a book from 99???
- the writing which was 7/10 times pretty mediocre but at those other 3 times i could b quite funky and fun to read imo.

[Stevi Lorenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was formative for my younger self when I read it for the first time at 13. If I had to pick one absolute favorite FLB book, this would have to be it. I mean, I don't have a butterfly/moth tattoo on my leg for nothing. And while it's been over 25 years since I first read this, I felt instantly transported back to my teenage self. I'd forgotten how I started listening to Tori Amos after reading this. How I'd spend hours on Livejournal in the FLB communities seeing which character others thought I was most like. Staging winged photoshoots in my backyard. Quoting this book over and over again and wishing I was a descendant of the faeries. I can honestly say I would not be who I am today if I hadn't discovered the wonders of FLB after picking up her books at Barnes and Noble based on the cover art. I am forever grateful I did .

[Jade Gregerson]

This book switches between Violet and Claire’s point of view. Violet is the darker one, Claire is the lighter one. Claire is new to Violet’s school, and immediately they become friends. Violet has been wanting to make a movie her whole life, and she thinks Claire would make the perfect star. For a while they work together on ideas, until Violet gets a job. They start to drift apart each having their fair share of bad things going on. Eventually they come back together, making a somewhat happy ending. The book wasn’t as good as I had thought it was gonna be, but it wasn't terrible. It has a sort of messy main conflict that i’m not quite sure I completely understood or not. I liked the characters, especially Claire. She was like a real-life Tinkerbell. I thought a lot of the last half was pretty mysterious and I’m not sure I have a very strong opinion on it one way or another. It was an alright book altogether. I’d recommend it to people who like books about young-movie makers and/or life in Los Angeles.

[Rahelynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "Violet & Claire" by Francesca Lia Block is about two completely opposite girls who meet unexpectedly and in the oddest way become really good and very close/best friends they both wanted different things but they ended up becoming angry at each other because of an issue they faced, one left the other and dropped out of school for drugs and partying. the other got bullied more too, so eventually one of the girls apologized to the other girl who dropped out and etc. The theme for this book in my opinion would be no matter what challenges you face with your best friend, dont let that stop you from being close to them, because their one of the most important people in your life.

[jessi ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one a few years ago when I was on a Francesca Lia Block kick, but really, I think I should have read it back in high school. I might have enjoyed it more then. 

As it was, the first half of the book seemed kind of surface level. I was more of a fan of the last half. It seemed to get to the heart of things and blur the lines of reality in that typical style that I've come to love from this author. 

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to see what all the hoopla about Francesca Lia Block was about, so this was the first Francesca Lia Block book I have read. I must say, she is definitely a good writer! I loved references to all things modern in this book, especially the Tori Amos lyrics! Tori Amos is a genius. Anyway, I think I might have enjoyed this book even more if I had read it when I was younger.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best friends, eccentric, struggling in high school. When one of them becomes famous and tainted by Hollywood, the other falls in love with a philandering poetry teacher, their friendship becomes shaky. Beautiful story of growing up, friendship, love, and finding yourself.

[marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75

her writing is beautifully visual as expected. i wish the conflict between the girls didn't feel so forced. violet's momentary connection with claire's boyfriend was very out of character and the richter murder plot was too vague/not even resolved.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been reading this author since I was about 15 or 16. Block can be a bit of a hit-or-miss but I immensely enjoyed this. Very mystical and faerie like, reads like a poem or a dream.

[Courtney Gendreau · Rating 1 out of 5]

After having it sit on my nightstand for a month I finally DNF'd this book. I was bored throughout the book and couldn't connect to the characters. Maybe I'll pick it up later, though I doubt it.

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very bizarre, but short and quick read.

[Fran · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is my first book by Francesca Lia Block.
Maybe I will try her others.

[Bridget · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to be a Block completeist. I don't think one was that memorable.

[Jamie Sands · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a mood

[CadyMar · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was pretty dry and boring throughout. Nothing too gripping.