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Weetzie Bat #4
Missing Angel Juan[ MISSING ANGEL JUAN ] by Block, Francesca Lia (Author) Sep-01-95[ Paperback ]
Lonely City A tangly-haired, purple-eyed girl named Witch Baby lives in glitzy L.A. She loves a guy named Angel Juan. When he leaves for New York she knows she must find him. Looking For Love So she heads for the city of glittery buildings and garbage and Chinese food and drug dealers and subways and kids playing hip-hopscotch. Finding Trouble Her clues are an empty tree house in the park, a postcard on the street, a mannequin in a diner. Angel Juan is in danger, and only Witch Baby's heart-magic can make him safe. When Angel Juan leaves L. A.—and Witch Baby—to play his music and find himself in New York, Witch Baby, wild and restless without him, follows. The story that ensues "is an engagingly eccentric mix of fantasy and reality, enhanced—this time—by mystery and suspense. It is also magical, moving and mischievous, and—literally—marvelous."—SLJ.
Unknown Binding
First published September 26, 1993
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643 people want to read
About the author
Francesca Lia Block
100 books3,372 followersFrancesca 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
December 10, 2021
The plot is quite interesting.
June 23, 2018
Haunting, magical, romantic, and simultaneously out-of-control and calmly sane, Missing Angel Juan tells the story of Witch Baby, a young woman distraught when her boyfriend -- and love of her life -- Angel Juan leaves for New York City to explore his music and himself... alone. Witch Baby -- Niña-Bruja -- pursues Angel Juan to New York City, where she meets the ghost of her grandfather, two helpful gay men, and a soul-stealing mannequin named Cake. Along the way, she learns the truth of the cliche "if you love something, set it free" and realizes that two independent people can love each other much more powerfully than two whom are dependent on one another.
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Francesca Lia Block has ruined me. She tells a powerful story packed with numerous memorable scenes and beautifully lyrical language in 138 pages -- something I find most modern-day authors I've tried cannot do in 300+. This story is both foolishly juvenile -- as we all are as teens -- and devastatingly mature, something we (or at least I) can only hope to be.
Near the novel's climax, Witch Baby comes to the following realization about "soul-mates", which is so carefully and lovingly worded, it really affected me (edited for length by me): "Then you meet and you think, okay, now we can just get on with it. [...] They feel like you don't really love them but the idea of them, the dream you've had since you were a kid. [...] Which doesn't mean they're not the one. It just means you've got to do whatever you have to do for you alone. You've got to believe in your magic and face right up to the mean nasty part of yourself that wants to keep the one you love locked up in a place in you where no one else can touch them or even see them. Just the way when somebody you love dies you don't stop loving them but you don't lock up their souls inside you. You turn that love into something else, give it to somebody else. And sometimes in a weird way when you do that you get closer than ever to the person who died tor the one your soul married."
This is my favorite YA novel -- and maybe one of my new favorite books ever. The YA bar is a pretty low one (aside from the recent Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue), but this book will be hard to top.
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Francesca Lia Block has ruined me. She tells a powerful story packed with numerous memorable scenes and beautifully lyrical language in 138 pages -- something I find most modern-day authors I've tried cannot do in 300+. This story is both foolishly juvenile -- as we all are as teens -- and devastatingly mature, something we (or at least I) can only hope to be.
Near the novel's climax, Witch Baby comes to the following realization about "soul-mates", which is so carefully and lovingly worded, it really affected me (edited for length by me): "Then you meet and you think, okay, now we can just get on with it. [...] They feel like you don't really love them but the idea of them, the dream you've had since you were a kid. [...] Which doesn't mean they're not the one. It just means you've got to do whatever you have to do for you alone. You've got to believe in your magic and face right up to the mean nasty part of yourself that wants to keep the one you love locked up in a place in you where no one else can touch them or even see them. Just the way when somebody you love dies you don't stop loving them but you don't lock up their souls inside you. You turn that love into something else, give it to somebody else. And sometimes in a weird way when you do that you get closer than ever to the person who died tor the one your soul married."
This is my favorite YA novel -- and maybe one of my new favorite books ever. The YA bar is a pretty low one (aside from the recent Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue), but this book will be hard to top.
August 18, 2018
Kind of relieved that this one holds up 20 years on. Give me ghosts and magical realism and New York City any day. Witch Baby is definitely the most interesting of the Weetzie Bat series characters.
October 13, 2010
For every fan of the new modern love triangle, “tru wuv”, your love is my drug, I will die without you YA romance novels that have been published recently I humbly beg and plead for you to read this book. It’s time for you to wake up.
Missing Angel Juan is a fantastical, magical, fairy tale story that addresses some very real emotions, needs and addictions of a teen couple who separate through their fear and addiction to love.
Angel Juan leaves to try and find himself. He feels like he is only an object to be loved and used like a drug, he feels like he is being suffocated in this unhealthy, clinging, I-will-die-without-you relationship and wants to go and find himself. He fears love as well for those reasons.
Witch Baby feels lost and alone without him. She loves him, she needs him and she doesn't understand why he went away. She leaves school and follows her (older, out of school) boyfriend to New York to try and find him. She starves herself and pines and discards everything and everyone in her life to track down her other half. That's when both Angel Juan and Witch Baby discover things they never expected. Witch Baby meets up with her step mother's father Charlie Bat (a ghost that only she can see, by the way) and Angel Juan meets up with someone far more sinister (if you can believe it).
They both have a lot of lessons to learn. She needs to learn to use herself to find happiness through music and art and life. She needs to learn to love, but also to let go. He needs to learn the same lessons about finding and using himself for his own happiness, and also how to love and be loved in return. They both need to learn about how to form a healthy relationship and how to be happy both together and apart.
With each new book in Dangerous Angels Francesca Lia Block gets better and better. Witch Baby was always her most well rounded and vivid character and she really comes into her own in this novel. I loved reading about Witch Baby's take on New York and about the magic she finds on every street corner, whether in soho, central park, or the meat packing district. The language sparkles and really brings the world and characters to life.
The message is also one that you hear precious little of in YA romance today and it's one I would like to see more of. I want to see girls forming healthy relationships, getting out of or changing unhealthy ones, changing unhealthy mindsets, and having enough self respect to draw the line even if it feels like it's going down your middle. Most importantly I want to see them learning the difference between love and need and addiction and seeing that they are not all one and the same. This book does just that.
Missing Angel Juan is a fantastical, magical, fairy tale story that addresses some very real emotions, needs and addictions of a teen couple who separate through their fear and addiction to love.
Angel Juan leaves to try and find himself. He feels like he is only an object to be loved and used like a drug, he feels like he is being suffocated in this unhealthy, clinging, I-will-die-without-you relationship and wants to go and find himself. He fears love as well for those reasons.
Witch Baby feels lost and alone without him. She loves him, she needs him and she doesn't understand why he went away. She leaves school and follows her (older, out of school) boyfriend to New York to try and find him. She starves herself and pines and discards everything and everyone in her life to track down her other half. That's when both Angel Juan and Witch Baby discover things they never expected. Witch Baby meets up with her step mother's father Charlie Bat (a ghost that only she can see, by the way) and Angel Juan meets up with someone far more sinister (if you can believe it).
They both have a lot of lessons to learn. She needs to learn to use herself to find happiness through music and art and life. She needs to learn to love, but also to let go. He needs to learn the same lessons about finding and using himself for his own happiness, and also how to love and be loved in return. They both need to learn about how to form a healthy relationship and how to be happy both together and apart.
With each new book in Dangerous Angels Francesca Lia Block gets better and better. Witch Baby was always her most well rounded and vivid character and she really comes into her own in this novel. I loved reading about Witch Baby's take on New York and about the magic she finds on every street corner, whether in soho, central park, or the meat packing district. The language sparkles and really brings the world and characters to life.
The message is also one that you hear precious little of in YA romance today and it's one I would like to see more of. I want to see girls forming healthy relationships, getting out of or changing unhealthy ones, changing unhealthy mindsets, and having enough self respect to draw the line even if it feels like it's going down your middle. Most importantly I want to see them learning the difference between love and need and addiction and seeing that they are not all one and the same. This book does just that.
July 30, 2012
Excerpted from the full review:
"Here is something to love best about Francesca Lia Block’s writing for young adults: it doesn’t condescend to young adults, which is ironically rare fare in a genre that ought to be highlighted for its compassionate understanding. Block trusts that hearts not straddling the full saddle of adulthood can still articulate, in startling relief, all that they hold, as witnessed in this early letter from Witch Baby to her distant inamorato.
“Dear Angel Juan,
You used to guard my sleep like a panther biting back my pain with the edge of your teeth. You carried me into the dark dream jungle, loping past the hungry vines, crossing the shiny fish-scale river. We left my tears behind in a churning silver pool. We left my sorrow in the muddy hollows. When I woke up you were next to me, damp and matted, your eyes hazy, trying to remember the way I clung to you, how far down we went.
Was the journey too far, Angel Juan? Did we go too far?”
This isn’t parochial writing for young people, either — we’re gifted access to a panorama of intricacies that knit relationships together, or else wrench them apart: two people loving each other is incomprehensible work, Block seems to be advocating, even with the full current of adoration coursing betwixt their hearts.
A cursory skimming of the novel’s plot might suggest that Witch Baby is 1995′s answer to the dependent Donna — a comely young woman concerned principally with the acquisition and maintenance of a male partner. Witch Baby isn’t Bella Swan with a more bohemian title, however. Quite the contrary: the former’s observant rollerbladings through New York, and the ways in which she interfaces with the clues lined up for her personal edification, are engineered most tenderly to prompt an alternative ending for young people: that partner-prompted identification is no way to declare your definitive personage."
You can continue reading my full review of Missing Angel Juan at Novel Niche.
"Here is something to love best about Francesca Lia Block’s writing for young adults: it doesn’t condescend to young adults, which is ironically rare fare in a genre that ought to be highlighted for its compassionate understanding. Block trusts that hearts not straddling the full saddle of adulthood can still articulate, in startling relief, all that they hold, as witnessed in this early letter from Witch Baby to her distant inamorato.
“Dear Angel Juan,
You used to guard my sleep like a panther biting back my pain with the edge of your teeth. You carried me into the dark dream jungle, loping past the hungry vines, crossing the shiny fish-scale river. We left my tears behind in a churning silver pool. We left my sorrow in the muddy hollows. When I woke up you were next to me, damp and matted, your eyes hazy, trying to remember the way I clung to you, how far down we went.
Was the journey too far, Angel Juan? Did we go too far?”
This isn’t parochial writing for young people, either — we’re gifted access to a panorama of intricacies that knit relationships together, or else wrench them apart: two people loving each other is incomprehensible work, Block seems to be advocating, even with the full current of adoration coursing betwixt their hearts.
A cursory skimming of the novel’s plot might suggest that Witch Baby is 1995′s answer to the dependent Donna — a comely young woman concerned principally with the acquisition and maintenance of a male partner. Witch Baby isn’t Bella Swan with a more bohemian title, however. Quite the contrary: the former’s observant rollerbladings through New York, and the ways in which she interfaces with the clues lined up for her personal edification, are engineered most tenderly to prompt an alternative ending for young people: that partner-prompted identification is no way to declare your definitive personage."
You can continue reading my full review of Missing Angel Juan at Novel Niche.
November 15, 2022
I've been working my way through the Weetzie bat books again as a kind of comfort read. I've read them so many times at this point that I've lost track. This time, though, this one hit me different. I was dealing with some personal stuff and I found myself highlighting passage after passage.
"My heart is like a teacup covered with hairline cracks. I feel like I have to walk real carefully so it won't het shaken and just shatter and break."
"I must look like a beastly beast with a cracked teacup for a heart."
"I feel like I need him to put me back together every night. After his kisses and hugs it feels like without them my body will fall apart into pieces."
Angel Juan and Witchbaby have been in love forever but Angel Juan needs to find himself so he leaves for New York City. A few postcards come but when Witchbaby stops hearing from him she knows that something is wrong. She goes to New York to find him and stays in her dead almost-grandpa's apartment. But she's not alone. The ghost of Charlie Bat is there to show her the city, show her his past, and help her find something, though it may not be Angel Juan. Of course, it's not all benevolent almost-uncles and almost-grandpa ghosts singing R-a-g-g m-o-p-p in the magical city, there's also something much more sinister.
Look, this has always been my favorite out of the series. I love Witchbaby and I think that I've always kind of felt like her. The portrayal of her heartbreak here is so real for me. I expected to not like it as much on this read-through but it really did still hit me hard and I loved it.
"My heart is like a teacup covered with hairline cracks. I feel like I have to walk real carefully so it won't het shaken and just shatter and break."
"I must look like a beastly beast with a cracked teacup for a heart."
"I feel like I need him to put me back together every night. After his kisses and hugs it feels like without them my body will fall apart into pieces."
Angel Juan and Witchbaby have been in love forever but Angel Juan needs to find himself so he leaves for New York City. A few postcards come but when Witchbaby stops hearing from him she knows that something is wrong. She goes to New York to find him and stays in her dead almost-grandpa's apartment. But she's not alone. The ghost of Charlie Bat is there to show her the city, show her his past, and help her find something, though it may not be Angel Juan. Of course, it's not all benevolent almost-uncles and almost-grandpa ghosts singing R-a-g-g m-o-p-p in the magical city, there's also something much more sinister.
Look, this has always been my favorite out of the series. I love Witchbaby and I think that I've always kind of felt like her. The portrayal of her heartbreak here is so real for me. I expected to not like it as much on this read-through but it really did still hit me hard and I loved it.
April 4, 2025
So very close to being a four, but the erasure of lesbians in this whole series, but in this book specifically, is really pissing me off. I get that this is a me problem, but I’m so tired of straight women always writing about gay men and never lesbians. And no, Francisca, the two men dressed up as women are not lesbians.
September 20, 2007
I like them all, but this one is my favorite Weetzie Bat book. Witch Baby (my favorite character when I first read them) is the main character, and she comes to NYC, where I lived at the time. I once got to meet Francesca Lia Block at a conference. When I told her how much I liked Witch Baby, she signed this book for me "To Elissa, Love From Witch Baby and Francesca Lia Block". If my younger son, Leo had been a girl, he would have been named Lia. OK, enough gushing.
December 23, 2014
Witch Baby is by far my favorite character from the Dangerous Angels series. Her boyfriend, Angel Juan, disappears in New York City and it's up to Witch Baby to find him, and find who she is without him. Watch for a cameo from one of Ms. Block's short stories, "Dragons in Manhattan." And there's a good, creepy climax.
December 15, 2015
If it were possible to give more than 5 stars I would. I've loved all of the Dangerous Angels books so far, but this one spoke to me in a way the others did not. It's beautiful and sad and amazing all at the same time. Francesca Lia Block really outdid herself.
November 18, 2020
I didn't remember anything about this installment at all. The first time I read it was probably at least 25 years ago, to be fair to myself, but perhaps I was more engaged with the story this time around because I have been to New York so many times and am more familiar with the deeper pain of the world at large.
New York definitely suits Witch Baby's feral kitty vibe better than L.A. And of course she's homies with the ghost of Charlie Bat - even though he's her "almost-grandfather," they're kindred souls. The whole Cake's Shakin' Palace part of the plot seems out of left field - a gallery of street kid souls trapped in mannequins - but nothing is truly ever too weird for the Weetzie Bat universe.
Food plays a much bigger role in this story, adding a whole new dimension that isn't as prevalent in the other books. Charlie Bat, being a ghost, can't enjoy such tasty earthly delights anymore, so he does so vicariously through Witch Baby. The glimmering descriptions usually reserved for the land of palm trees are now applied to the perfect grits at Sylvia's in Harlem, macrobiotic tofu pie, and samosas.
Also, I found out yesterday that "Rag Mop" is a real song, which makes me love that little tidbit even more.
"He was the first person that made me feel I belonged - like I wasn't just some freaky pain-gobbling goblin nobody understood." p. 7
"It's the day I was left in a basket on the doorstep and Weetzie found me like those changeling things in stories, the ones that fairies leave in baskets, strange kids with some mark on them or the wrong color eyes. My eyes are purple." p. 9-10
"Here is this whole city full of monuments and garbage and Chinese food and cannolis and steaks and drug dealers and paintings and subways and cigarettes and mannequins and a million other things and I am looking for one kind-of-small boy who left me." p. 37
New York definitely suits Witch Baby's feral kitty vibe better than L.A. And of course she's homies with the ghost of Charlie Bat - even though he's her "almost-grandfather," they're kindred souls. The whole Cake's Shakin' Palace part of the plot seems out of left field - a gallery of street kid souls trapped in mannequins - but nothing is truly ever too weird for the Weetzie Bat universe.
Food plays a much bigger role in this story, adding a whole new dimension that isn't as prevalent in the other books. Charlie Bat, being a ghost, can't enjoy such tasty earthly delights anymore, so he does so vicariously through Witch Baby. The glimmering descriptions usually reserved for the land of palm trees are now applied to the perfect grits at Sylvia's in Harlem, macrobiotic tofu pie, and samosas.
Also, I found out yesterday that "Rag Mop" is a real song, which makes me love that little tidbit even more.
"He was the first person that made me feel I belonged - like I wasn't just some freaky pain-gobbling goblin nobody understood." p. 7
"It's the day I was left in a basket on the doorstep and Weetzie found me like those changeling things in stories, the ones that fairies leave in baskets, strange kids with some mark on them or the wrong color eyes. My eyes are purple." p. 9-10
"Here is this whole city full of monuments and garbage and Chinese food and cannolis and steaks and drug dealers and paintings and subways and cigarettes and mannequins and a million other things and I am looking for one kind-of-small boy who left me." p. 37
January 23, 2024
4 stars
This was a massive step up from the third book in the series. Honestly, Cherokee Bat just isn't a good character compared to her mother or half-sister. We are back with Witch Baby's perspective in this book and following her as she travels to New York to find Angel Juan after he embarks on his own journey to find himself.
This is another coming-of-age story, but following an older Witch Baby in her late teens. It was so heartwarming to see Witch Baby connect with Charlie Bat's ghost as she stays in his New York apartment. This was a fun and transcendental and oftentimes trippy journey from the love letters of LA to the confusion and overwhelming magic of NY.
My biggest complaint with this addition to the series is the rushed ending and uncertain message of Cake, the evil owner of a cafe where he lures homeless and runaway teens in with food, kidnaps them, and traps them into mannequins. It ended abruptly and was very deux ex machina. I wanted this section to be longer and have more introspection into the seedy underbelly of decay and vulnerability of missing and runaway adolescents. There could've been so much said, but Block stopped and didn't push further.
Another Witch Baby hit, but not as good as the first Witch Baby novel. I am quite curious about Baby Be-Bop because I think follows Dirk and Duck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prev-Review:
I have now reached a Weetzie Bat book that I've never read before. This is where the series is 100% being looked at with fresh eyes and no nostalgia or complete dislike like Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys.
This was a massive step up from the third book in the series. Honestly, Cherokee Bat just isn't a good character compared to her mother or half-sister. We are back with Witch Baby's perspective in this book and following her as she travels to New York to find Angel Juan after he embarks on his own journey to find himself.
This is another coming-of-age story, but following an older Witch Baby in her late teens. It was so heartwarming to see Witch Baby connect with Charlie Bat's ghost as she stays in his New York apartment. This was a fun and transcendental and oftentimes trippy journey from the love letters of LA to the confusion and overwhelming magic of NY.
My biggest complaint with this addition to the series is the rushed ending and uncertain message of Cake, the evil owner of a cafe where he lures homeless and runaway teens in with food, kidnaps them, and traps them into mannequins. It ended abruptly and was very deux ex machina. I wanted this section to be longer and have more introspection into the seedy underbelly of decay and vulnerability of missing and runaway adolescents. There could've been so much said, but Block stopped and didn't push further.
Another Witch Baby hit, but not as good as the first Witch Baby novel. I am quite curious about Baby Be-Bop because I think follows Dirk and Duck.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prev-Review:
I have now reached a Weetzie Bat book that I've never read before. This is where the series is 100% being looked at with fresh eyes and no nostalgia or complete dislike like Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys.
February 11, 2019
The reason I gave the final book in the Weetzie Bat series a lower rating than the first 3 is that it its tone is harder to understand than the previous four books. Perhaps I will read it again one day and feel differently, but my memory of it is that it was far darker, far stranger than its predecessors. I suppose you could say that the shining, dirty world of Los Angeles is expressed in the first four books while the metallic, grimy world of New York is expressed in this volume. The shift is jarring, as is the story. It is about love being taken away, chasing after hopes and dreams, and facing the darkness of humanity. Witch Baby returns as the lead character, the one to venture outside her shining LA world.
August 24, 2022
4.5 stars. Witch Baby trails Angel Juan to New York, and finds Charlie Bat's empty apartment and lonely ghost. This is my favorite book in the series. Witch Baby is the best character, of course, and the switch into her first person is beautiful--a coming-of-age story about holding on and letting go which is well-suited to her prickly personality. I like Block's New York and the textural contrast it offers to LA; diversity is a running theme in this series (albeit imperfectly rendered) and it's in joyful profusion here. I'm a sucker for a Jewish backstory. Beautiful, brokenhearted, evocative; the antagonist I find less necessary, but that's a minor part.
October 28, 2018
It was almost nice reading about Witch Baby again since she was the least annoying one in the series but I could not see the NY I just left in this book, the names and words were still too strange and I just wanted to get it over with. The only plus is character development and the fact that everything is so trivial you stop expecting anything not to happen for a very specific reason.
Want to read
December 2, 2021I just wanted to say that this book was awesome it felt so real once i started reading the book. This book inspired me to think if i wanted to be an author, but anyways I love the way she wrote it. I couldn't stop reading it for the past few weeks. I hope that other people loved it.
June 1, 2017
Beautiful.
October 25, 2018
I loved being able to learn more about Charlie Bat and seeing the world through Witch Baby's eyes again. I want Angel Juan and Witch to end up together forever and that is how this book ends for me.
December 12, 2022
Witch Baby is the protagonist and she goes to NYC so obviously this was my favorite one so far
May 17, 2024
i love this series sm. this is my favorite weetzie bat since book 1.
January 3, 2017
OMG WTF
.....but in all seriousness, this is a rather powerful story about finding your inner strength, even under extreme (mystical) duress.
Thank you, boyfriend, for filling my winter break with this engrossing novella series.
.....but in all seriousness, this is a rather powerful story about finding your inner strength, even under extreme (mystical) duress.
Thank you, boyfriend, for filling my winter break with this engrossing novella series.
June 19, 2020
Angel Juan is gone. The crew are trying to find him and he is trying to find himself.
December 31, 2022
4.5 stars.
This is probably my favorite book of the Weetzie Bat series so far. It doesn't quite rival the first book in terms of atmosphere, but the story definitely feels the most complexly and cohesively plotted of them all. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end, some fun and inventive twists, and it ties everything up in a satisfying way (if I were to nitpick, I'd say the dramatic climax of Witch Baby being captured, freeing herself, and then rescuing Angel Juan could have been drawn out a bit longer, but Block as an author is never one to linger on a single plot point for too long, so the speediness of the resolution was expected and not all that bothersome to me).
This book also continues the maturation of Witch Baby as a character, which results in her being 1000 times more likeable, quite the feat considering how bratty and irritating I found her throughout her first run as a protagonist. It's also easier to sink directly into the story as a reader in 2022 because it isn't marred by Weetzie and Cherokee's Native American appropriation, an element I found especially distracting and difficult to overlook in the previous book, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys.
I think Block's decision to transfer the setting to New York here is a refreshing one and makes this story stand out amongst her oeuvre, which largely serves as one long love letter to Los Angeles. Another thing that sets this book apart is that the fantastical elements loosely sprinkled throughout the rest of the series take the forefront, imbuing the book with supernatural energy that is both fun (the charmingly goofy ghost of Charlie Bat) and horrific (the creepy madman transforming children into mannequins). At the same time, it feels grounded by Witch Baby's very real desperation to find Angel Juan (and, more broadly, settle into herself and discover her place within her family and the world at large), which makes even its most bizarre moments strangely believable. Also, Witch Baby's biological mother, Roxanne Wigg, finally gets a tiny bit more characterization that establishes her identity beyond a mere cartoon villain. It's not much, but I'll take it.
Overall, I couldn't find much to complain about here. I was enjoying it so much that, instead of saving the last 20 pages for another reading session, I read straight through to the end. I had been worried that none of the other Weetzie Bat books would rise to the level of the first in my reassessment of them as an adult, but this is one I would definitely read again and likely find just as delightful. (Also, like Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, many of the plot elements and the general vibe of this book reminded me so much of the Ecstasia/Primavera duology, which I suppose makes sense considering they were all written around the same time. It makes me hope even more that those books hold up on reread as much as I'm expecting them to.)
This is probably my favorite book of the Weetzie Bat series so far. It doesn't quite rival the first book in terms of atmosphere, but the story definitely feels the most complexly and cohesively plotted of them all. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end, some fun and inventive twists, and it ties everything up in a satisfying way (if I were to nitpick, I'd say the dramatic climax of Witch Baby being captured, freeing herself, and then rescuing Angel Juan could have been drawn out a bit longer, but Block as an author is never one to linger on a single plot point for too long, so the speediness of the resolution was expected and not all that bothersome to me).
This book also continues the maturation of Witch Baby as a character, which results in her being 1000 times more likeable, quite the feat considering how bratty and irritating I found her throughout her first run as a protagonist. It's also easier to sink directly into the story as a reader in 2022 because it isn't marred by Weetzie and Cherokee's Native American appropriation, an element I found especially distracting and difficult to overlook in the previous book, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys.
I think Block's decision to transfer the setting to New York here is a refreshing one and makes this story stand out amongst her oeuvre, which largely serves as one long love letter to Los Angeles. Another thing that sets this book apart is that the fantastical elements loosely sprinkled throughout the rest of the series take the forefront, imbuing the book with supernatural energy that is both fun (the charmingly goofy ghost of Charlie Bat) and horrific (the creepy madman transforming children into mannequins). At the same time, it feels grounded by Witch Baby's very real desperation to find Angel Juan (and, more broadly, settle into herself and discover her place within her family and the world at large), which makes even its most bizarre moments strangely believable. Also, Witch Baby's biological mother, Roxanne Wigg, finally gets a tiny bit more characterization that establishes her identity beyond a mere cartoon villain. It's not much, but I'll take it.
Overall, I couldn't find much to complain about here. I was enjoying it so much that, instead of saving the last 20 pages for another reading session, I read straight through to the end. I had been worried that none of the other Weetzie Bat books would rise to the level of the first in my reassessment of them as an adult, but this is one I would definitely read again and likely find just as delightful. (Also, like Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, many of the plot elements and the general vibe of this book reminded me so much of the Ecstasia/Primavera duology, which I suppose makes sense considering they were all written around the same time. It makes me hope even more that those books hold up on reread as much as I'm expecting them to.)
May 8, 2013
“Missing Angel Juan,” In my opinion, this is a good book. A tangly-haired, purple eye girl named Witch Baby that lives in L.A. is deeply in love with a guy named Angel Juan. Angel Juan once left to New York to find himself and to play his music, but after he left Witch Baby got into a depression. She wouldn’t eat or go out of her room. All she would do was think of her love Angel Juan. Her stepmother “Weetzie” once told her to look for Angel Juan, she told her about an apartment she had in New York and that she could stay there, there would be some people that would take care of her. Witch Baby without thinking it twice decided to go ahead and look for Angel Juan in New York. When Witch Baby got to New York there was a guy and a girl who welcomed her, they were her neighbors, they just lived in the apartment down stairs, they gave her some grocery an the keys of the apartment. When she got to the apartment she thought it was cold, it was pretty empty, then she heard or saw someone I can’t remember. It was an old man not any type of man though it was a ghost. He was Weetzie’s dad. Witch Baby wasn’t scared of him, in fact they kind of became friends, and he helped her look for Angel Juan. When they were looking for him they didn’t found him, but they found some clues. The clues were; an empty tree house in a park, a postcard on the street, and a mannequin of him in a diner. One day Witch Baby was sitting outside of a restaurant, it was pretty dark and then randomly a guy who was kind of cute went up to her and offered her to go in and have a cup of coffee with him, Witch Baby accepted. There she saw a mannequin that looked just like Angel Juan, Witch Baby had the feeling that Angel Juan was in danger. After that she fall into a deep dream. When she woke up she was in a room full of mannequins that were exactly like Angel Juan, Witch Baby knew Angel Juan was there, so she looked for him, and she eventually find him. Know they both had to defeat the guy who used him to make mannequins, that guy was the same guy that offered Witch Baby a cup of coffee, and he wanted to use With Baby too. They eventually did get rid of him and they both left to the apartment, so many days passed and Witch Baby didn’t even know. She spends New Year’s Eve in New York then left to L.A. Angel Juan stayed in New York, but he promised to stay in touch with Witch Baby. Witch Baby was now in peace after knowing were Angel Juan was. This book thought me that some people are willing to everything for their loved ones.
January 13, 2009
Witch Baby always felt out of place. With her tangled up hair and purple eyes and anger, she was never as soft and gentle as her almost-mom Weetzie, or her half-sister Cherokee. Only Angel Juan could ever make her feel like she belonged. So when he tells her he’s leaving, that he needs to go to New York and be on his own, she can’t understand, and runs away. When she wakes up and realizes she didn’t get to say goodbye, she decides she’s going to follow and look for him.
When no letters follow his first postcard to her, she becomes even more frantic, and knows she has to go. She asks permission to stay in Charlie Bat’s apartment, and sets off for the city.
Upon arrival she metts Meadows and Mallard, two kindly gentlemen who take care of Charlie’s apartment during the year. They take her to dinner, but as it turns out, they’re Ghost Hunters, and are off to Ireland. Witch Baby would wallow in her aloneness, if not for the appearance of a spectral Charlie.
With his help, Witch Baby wanders the city, usually searching for Angel Juan, sometimes sidetracked by her Ghostly Grandfather, but almost always gaining a new appreciation for life.
In the end, she follows her heart, which leads her to Angel Juan, and to some realizations about the dangers of the way she wants to cling to him and keep him to herself.
When no letters follow his first postcard to her, she becomes even more frantic, and knows she has to go. She asks permission to stay in Charlie Bat’s apartment, and sets off for the city.
Upon arrival she metts Meadows and Mallard, two kindly gentlemen who take care of Charlie’s apartment during the year. They take her to dinner, but as it turns out, they’re Ghost Hunters, and are off to Ireland. Witch Baby would wallow in her aloneness, if not for the appearance of a spectral Charlie.
With his help, Witch Baby wanders the city, usually searching for Angel Juan, sometimes sidetracked by her Ghostly Grandfather, but almost always gaining a new appreciation for life.
In the end, she follows her heart, which leads her to Angel Juan, and to some realizations about the dangers of the way she wants to cling to him and keep him to herself.
July 18, 2014
Missing Angel Juan has left me with not a lot to say. I don't know why, but this particular installment of the series failed to move me in the way that its predecessors did.
Witch Baby's odyssey through the streets of New York in search of her lost love, Angel Juan, is full of random encounters with eclectic people, lyrical writing, and intriguing twists though. It's worth the read, especially if you've traversed the entire Weetzie Bat series as I have.
I think I would have enjoyed it more if the other characters had played a more prominent role. Witch Baby is mild (to say the least) compared to her antics in the book that is her namesake; it was difficult for her to carry this entire story on her own. Her relationship with Charlie as her metaphorical Jimminy Cricket (is he there? is he not there?)is sweet, but again, had difficulty in holding me interest for so long.
That being said, perhaps it was that her experience in NYC seemed mild and protected compared to the pain that she was supposedly trying to overcome. I would have felt more invested if she hadn't been on a chaperoned tour the entire time.
Anyway, still love love love every and anything that Lia Block writes. Give it a try if you want a tempered coming-of-age journey with beautiful writing and a sweet ending.
Witch Baby's odyssey through the streets of New York in search of her lost love, Angel Juan, is full of random encounters with eclectic people, lyrical writing, and intriguing twists though. It's worth the read, especially if you've traversed the entire Weetzie Bat series as I have.
I think I would have enjoyed it more if the other characters had played a more prominent role. Witch Baby is mild (to say the least) compared to her antics in the book that is her namesake; it was difficult for her to carry this entire story on her own. Her relationship with Charlie as her metaphorical Jimminy Cricket (is he there? is he not there?)is sweet, but again, had difficulty in holding me interest for so long.
That being said, perhaps it was that her experience in NYC seemed mild and protected compared to the pain that she was supposedly trying to overcome. I would have felt more invested if she hadn't been on a chaperoned tour the entire time.
Anyway, still love love love every and anything that Lia Block writes. Give it a try if you want a tempered coming-of-age journey with beautiful writing and a sweet ending.
September 2, 2014
After reading a post in agentfroot's journal the other day where she mentioned this book, I ended up with it on the brain for a while. Finally I gave in and took it off of the shelf and read it to my husband, beginning to end, last night. And made an interesting discovery. This is a book to be read aloud. A lot of books aren't. Salman Rushdie, for instance. I tried to read one of his books to Andrew a month or so ago and I could barely make myself finish the chapter. The book is now disappeared, somewhere, and I will not be attempting to finish it. But Angel Juan is just perfect for reading aloud. It was a nice way to spend an evening. :)
For those of you not familiar with Block, the Weetzie Bat series is kind of a bizarre modern faerie tale. It's magical realism transported to LA with AIDS and plastic flamingos and disease and christmas lights and magic and despair. It's written for adolescents, and all five books are short, devourable in a single sitting. People usually adore her or are driven batty by her. You should check her out and figure out which one you are.
For those of you not familiar with Block, the Weetzie Bat series is kind of a bizarre modern faerie tale. It's magical realism transported to LA with AIDS and plastic flamingos and disease and christmas lights and magic and despair. It's written for adolescents, and all five books are short, devourable in a single sitting. People usually adore her or are driven batty by her. You should check her out and figure out which one you are.
November 15, 2014
Missing Angel Juan is the fourth Weetzie Bat book. It's told from Witch Baby's point of view, and it wasn't my favorite. Witch Baby is just a dark character. She was hard for me to connect with. In this book, she travels to NYC to find Angel Juan, who had gone there to find himself and his music. While there, she stays in Charlie Bat's apartment.
Just like with the first three Weetzie Bat books, Missing Angel Juan is written very lyrically. We see the entire story from Witch Baby's point of view, and she's seeing things. Like Charlie Bat's ghost. There's also a very dark part near the end... and I'm still not 100% sure what happened because of the lack of details, and because Witch Baby sometimes sees things not as they are.
Missing Angel Juan is also a love story. Witch Baby needs to find Angel Juan because they are in love. She talks about almost being able to sense him because they're so close. So I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a romance. It's a quick read, and the language is quite lovely.
Just like with the first three Weetzie Bat books, Missing Angel Juan is written very lyrically. We see the entire story from Witch Baby's point of view, and she's seeing things. Like Charlie Bat's ghost. There's also a very dark part near the end... and I'm still not 100% sure what happened because of the lack of details, and because Witch Baby sometimes sees things not as they are.
Missing Angel Juan is also a love story. Witch Baby needs to find Angel Juan because they are in love. She talks about almost being able to sense him because they're so close. So I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a romance. It's a quick read, and the language is quite lovely.
July 27, 2014
Witch Baby doesn't love easily--or maybe she loves too easily and it destroys her. When her beloved boyfriend Angel Juan leaves Los Angeles, she feels she has to pursue him to be complete, and so she gathers up the money she has and ventures out into the world, with very little besides roller skates and a camera. She finds the ghost of her almost-grandpa, Charlie Bat, and finds his presence comforting and illuminating on her quest to be part of her boyfriend's new world.
Block's magical realism has a unique appeal in any book she writes, but in this one, there's a connection that was missing from most of her other books. It's written in first person present tense, unlike the others, so we feel a little closer to Witch Baby and her strange perspectives, framed through her eyes and camera lens. The shift in perspective made everything a little more intimate, and I appreciate seeing this side of Ms. Block's writing.
Block's magical realism has a unique appeal in any book she writes, but in this one, there's a connection that was missing from most of her other books. It's written in first person present tense, unlike the others, so we feel a little closer to Witch Baby and her strange perspectives, framed through her eyes and camera lens. The shift in perspective made everything a little more intimate, and I appreciate seeing this side of Ms. Block's writing.
May 30, 2018
When I was in my late teens, this was my absolute favourite book. I was a fan of the whole Weetzie Bat series, but Missing Angel Juan was #1 in my heart. It's still one of FLB's absolute best.
Witch Baby doesn't really fit in with the rest of her whimsical family. With her wild tangled hair and fits of melancholy, she feels like a big bummer who is bringing the rest of them down. The only person who makes her feel whole is her boyfriend, Angel Juan, who leaves glittery L.A. to grimy NYC to work on his music. Heartbroken, she stops eating and leaving her room. When he stops writing her very suddenly, she is sure that he is in danger and follows him.
The book falls firmly into magic realism territory, as do all of Block's stories. As a curly-haired often-sad person, I loved Witch Baby very much. It's gorgeously written, with amazing descriptions that turn whole cities into character's of their own.
Witch Baby doesn't really fit in with the rest of her whimsical family. With her wild tangled hair and fits of melancholy, she feels like a big bummer who is bringing the rest of them down. The only person who makes her feel whole is her boyfriend, Angel Juan, who leaves glittery L.A. to grimy NYC to work on his music. Heartbroken, she stops eating and leaving her room. When he stops writing her very suddenly, she is sure that he is in danger and follows him.
The book falls firmly into magic realism territory, as do all of Block's stories. As a curly-haired often-sad person, I loved Witch Baby very much. It's gorgeously written, with amazing descriptions that turn whole cities into character's of their own.
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