Pretty Dead

by Francesca Lia Block, C. Nubile (Translator)

I fuochi devastano Los Angeles assieme al cuore nero di Charlotte Emerson. Tutto brucia, si consuma e ritorna: l’eterna solitudine, il ricordo del fratello ucciso da una febbre assassina e traditrice, la ricomparsa del suo primo compagno dalle mire oscure, l’attrazione per l’ingenuo, forse troppo ingenuo Jared, la possibilità di nuove amicizie sempre destinate a durare poche albe, pochi tramonti… Sangue nelle vene, acido. Unghie che lacerano, macchiate di nero. Drappi rossi in un’antica villa. Un secolo di distruzione vissuto con i propri occhi. La vita è bella, ma la morte ti rapisce. Perché Charlotte è più che morta. Charlotte Emerson è una vampira. E il suo cuore di eterna peccatrice appartiene a Los Angeles.

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Romance, Supernatural

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2008

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

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am sad.

I know that this is nothing new. An invisible wall of despondency surrounds me. I could rival any teenager with a slew of Gothic poetry. (Bring it on, Bella… I can take you.)

Anyway, this wall… it keeps people at bay. There are certain words that they will not use around me. (Like saying to a blind man ‘But, don’t you see?’) Mostly I am okay with this. It saves me from thinking, I can play a role, it eases people, and I feel safe. The problem is that other stuff, the stuff that I want to get through, is also kept at bay. Like that feeling you get when you are reading and a certain passage makes you shudder (people say ‘someone is walking on your grave’.) I miss having words bring tears to my eyes. This will come back, I hope. It‘s just that sometimes, it’s not soon enough.

Take for instance, Francesca Lia Block. When I was 20, I devoured her Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books series. I sat on subway platforms and saw the Hollywood Hills; I imagined that the broken girls sitting under weeping willows had guardian angels. I saw my future self, with children who wore taffeta gowns and combat boots to school because they wanted to, whose innocence and genuine trust would take on the big bad world and win. What’s this called? Hope? Inspiration? I can’t remember. (Instead, I have My Chemical Romance Tees and 10-year-old daughters who haven’t believed in Santa in years, but just decided to fill me in.)

Anyway, Francesca used to give me this. I poured through her work, I felt the wonder and to use the cliché, had a spring in my step. Oh, to be so young. I guess I was hoping that this still rang true, I realize that I’m a lifetime away from that girl that used to see Harry Houdini’s mansion when she thought of Hollywood. I’m jaded, guarded, I believe in the Miracle Mile now.

However, these are just words strung haplessly together and I’m evading the review… per usual. If you’ve stuck with me this far, you might as well continue.

Francesca decides to take on the V word. I’m sure she’s written about it before. Before Bella and Edward, when it was still just a flighty subject written by women in long flowing gowns. I just can’t recall a whole book on the subject. She is still in the Hollywood Hills, her girls are still broken and looking for rapture, her boys are still beautiful and lost. The words still flow and I can still see the desperation in their dancing and their sunset on the beaches. L.A. is still the wonderland that it was in 1990. (But, I’m different.) I wish I could still be that girl, I wish that I could still feel that awe. I wish that it only took a book, taffeta and combat boots to make me believe.

I am sorry Francesca, I let you down.

[AH · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty Disappointing.

As I read Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block, a thought got stuck in my head. Why would you go back and relive high school if you were immortal? If you already had a nice home, a fancy car, and nice clothes, why would go back to that awkwardness? Yes, I know they did it in another YA book about vampires, but at least in that book, the characters tried to fit in, in their own special ways.

The main character Charlotte seems to stick out like a sore thumb. She has it all – a beautiful beachfront home, lovely original artwork, money, a fancy car, and beautiful designer clothes. So much emphasis is on materialistic things. It literally felt like every sentence began with “I was wearing a dress by _________(fill in the blank with your favorite designer). Once or twice, I wouldn’t mind, but the incessant talk of designer clothes became tiresome.

Then there is the rather disjointed feeling of the book. Part of the book is written as kind of a journal of Charlotte’s early life as a vampire and a procurer of “food” for her maker. This could have been really fascinating, after all Charlotte lived through some very interesting time periods. Instead it felt like a primer on fashion through the ages.

The book is relatively short and a quick read. It just left me a little unsatisfied because I had heard such great things about this author.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty Dead just plain ole' sucked. Sorry, but I don't have any better way of expressing it. I thought Charlotte's relationship with her brother, Charles, was confusing at the least. A couple of statements seem to imply that she felt more of a romantic love than a brotherly love towards him. It was creepy. They swam naked together. She compared Charles' and her boyfriend's bodies. Seriously, something was not right there. Aside from the creepy "in love with my brother" theme going on, the "real" love interest was baffeling as well. Here in the real world, I would have called Charlotte a rebound girlfriend to Jared not a true love...it seemed to be more about sex than anything else. I didn't really get the connection. Ok, yea there was that nice little conversation where he told her how he sees her and he was spot on. But there was nothing more to it! And then there's William...I didn't really understand him. I never did understand the reason why he followed Charlotte for so long. It it just because he was obsessed with her? Also all of the references to brand labels got to be a little excessive...it became exhausting. I didn't like the characters, the plot, the new "rule" that Block introduced to the vampire world (the one that allows the vamp to turn back to a mortal!) I didn't understand how Charlotte couldn't remember killing Emily? Was it supposed to be William's compulsion? I am unable to think of one redeeming quality that Pretty Dead possessed.

[Bre · Rating 1 out of 5]

I admit, I closed this book after like 3 pages. I am sick of this author's characters looking EXACTLY the same. Have some flaws already.

Jutting, curved hip bones.
Swan neck.
Plump lips.
Perfect breasts.
Long, lean limbs.

Mostly quotes up there. I just... This was me giving the author another try and I couldn't get past that. Maybe I'll give the book another try but after however many books of hers I've read, I am tired of all the main characters being skinny perfect things. The one time she wrote a 'flawed' character, the book was a quest for this 'fat' girl to be 'thin'.
I guess I am just not into that shallow of character development. I've read books like that before and they leave me feeling disgusted at the end.

[Commodore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm guessing I'll always have a soft spot for Francesca Lia Block. I liken it to Jack Kerouac: either you found this author at the right time in your life and he/she really spoke to you, and so for the rest of your life you look on their works fondly, even if you grow up enough to see the flaws that are there, or you didn't.

So yes, this book isn't the best book ever. It's not even the best among Francesca Lia Block books. There are parts where things aren't quite properly explained, Charlotte is the most perfectly perfect who ever perfected, and Jared may or may not be the reincarnation of Charlotte's twin brother (which didn't really bother me). But I loved it all the same.

One review I read before picking up this book said that it, "didn't bring anything new to the vampire genre." But given the last time the teen vampire genre was given a major shakedown, we were all "treated" to vampires that sparkled and a heavy-handed abstinence message. And for all of Edward's "No, I won't change you, being a vampire is the worst," Meyer gave them no real flaws, and thus no reason not to aspire to be them. Charlotte does have everything, but you get a sense of her desperate loneliness, and that a life of wandering around with William, looking at pretty things and watching destruction in equal measure, was really sad and unfulfilling. I liked the divide between artists and vampires, how one could be an object of creativity as a vampire, but not make anything themselves. That is a truly sad position to me.

I'd buy the book, but I wish I could find another cover. One without that stupid visual, which I think is more CW than FLB, and one without a promo from that dreadful Cassandra Clare.

[Trin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I was excited to see a Teenage Vampire Book in which the female half of the romantic pair has fangs. Block certainly goes in a different direction than most of the books in this genre--Pretty Dead is darker, and a whole lot sexier. But it's still not particularly good. There's nothing empowering or even all that interesting about Vampire Charlotte; she became a vampire at the teeth of a controlling douche who still rules a great deal of her thoughts, and she became rich by seducing an older guy and then waiting for him to die. (I'd make a cheap Anna Nicole Smith joke, but I guess that'd be tacky now. Rats.) And while Block can certainly spin some sensual prose, it feels meaningless to me. Careless. Just as this book's characters are careless: it's like reading Daisy Buchanan, Vampyre. (Stop with the Vamp Darcy idiocies, publishers, and have a go at that!) For example: toward the end of the book, a bunch of people die in an explosion that Charlotte has a chance to stop, but she--and the reader?--apparently isn't required to care because the main characters get their happy ending. Yeah. Guess what? I no longer care about you, dead girl.

[Trisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm...this was an interesting concept, but I didn't like how it was executed.

So, the idea that a vampire might be able to go back and become human again. Interesting, I thought. Charlotte seems to be going through that transition as she gets her bearings living alone and being closer to humans than she has in a long time.

But the writing. It's flowery and arts-y. Like a long winded poem, only more detached and confusing. The chapters are more like diary entries, only lacking emotion but just windy breezy weird ideas all thrown together with sudden sporadic dialogue.

I don't understand why Jared liked her.
Charlotte talked about her breasts more than anyone else in the whole book.
William is never fully developed and is, instead, this convenient typical "bad guy" - I think he might even have a manic laugh.
Emily. Did we ever understand her? She was never flushed out except as just someone else that was jealous of Charlotte's things. Funny, they were both so jealous of each other.

meh. I gave an extra star for the cover - I do love it.

[Lisachan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Francesca Lia Block writes stories I always want to read in a way I absolutely despise.

This was a waste of time -- thankfully a little time, but still. Improbable, flat, shallow to the point of obnoxiousness, the only relevant cliffhanger towards the end is absolutely nullified by the constant justification of the MC who, I suppose, is too pretty and well-dressed to be guilty of anything, or ever being in the wrong, for that matter.

The only redeeming quality, together with the short number of pages, was the little hint at the depth of the relationship between Charlotte and her twin brother Charlie. However, it was only a hint, and I suppose most of my emotional attachment to the few sentences in which Charlotte describes what it feels to have lost her brother comes from the fact that I, too, have lost mine recently, and am still mourning.

There's not much other than this. Actually, there's probably literally nothing other than this.

[Shirley :] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Emerson used to be a normal girl. One who would run through the fields and play with her twin brother Charles. Though a deep connection they shared was that they communicated by mind and feelings. They were inseparable and loved each other endlessly. But one day Charles dies with Rheumatic Fever. Charlotte never speaks and never acts like herself since then. One night though, Charlotte meets the "notoriously handsome" William Stone Eliot. But what Charlotte doesn't know as she meets him is what he his. She knows that something about William is deeply nerving. But she cannot find words to say what he is. Vampire. She begins to feel attraction and jealousy for William. He too falls for Charlotte. Her blonde hair, full lips, blue eyes and long legs make her his perfect prey. William turns Charlotte into a vampire after she asks him. She doesn't realize how impulsively she decided this. Without thinking of how'd she spend an eternity with sorrow and pain because she is without her Charles and everyone who she seems to find a way to love, dying, and she keeps living. Until she meets Emily. A girl who helped Charlotte find herself and notice the beauty everything posses. Everything that alive. Everything thats living. Everything that dies. But when Emily passes, Jared beings to notice Charlotte. Weirdly, because Jared was Emily's boyfriend until she died. Jared notices Charlotte. Her beauty within, her way of walking as if lived many year, her long words and her loving and caring actions. Charlotte begins to fall in love with Jared because he speaks to her as if he knew her life. Speaks to her as if he knew who Charlotte was more than she did herself. He speaks to her, her human side, but still loves her how she is and what she is. But suddenly William is back in Charlotte's life after many years of no encounter with him, after many years of leaving William because every time he is around something horribly wrong always happens. But this time William isn't alone. He has turned Emily. And Jared knowing Charlotte's secret want to be immortalized by William to be with Charlotte forever. But Charlotte does not want that for Jared because she knows he doesn't understand the suffering it brings. But Jared becomes brainwashed to a point where Charlotte realizes one of her great mistakes. That it was Charlotte herself that killed Emily because of how jealous she was of Emily being a human and having Jared there that truly loved her. Something Charlotte was afraid but yearning to have. Jared now knowing this began to look at Charlotte as a monster. Something she was portrayed as. They never spoke after that for a long time because Charlotte felt in deep sorrow thinking Jared would forgive her mistake and look past the beast that took over and at her, her true self. Until one day Jared came to apologize to Charlotte and Charlotte realized because William had turned Emily into his vampire now, Charlotte was now human. Something she regretted abandoning. Her humanity. It was back and although she knew herself that her mortal life was to end one day she did not care for she possessed the beauty and name of a human not a monster.

I liked this book a lot because of the vivid pictures I formed in my head from the clear details and beautiful wording. I recommend this book to teens and anyone who likes vampires or books of deep, true passion. I liked how the author described every person and scenery and wrote the worded meanings beautifully. My favorite quote is, " (...*will write it in a moment*) "

[~Tina~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is a lot of potential in this book. The writing is very well done but this plot line and it's characters are very strange and confusing.
In short, This book is weird and not for me.

[Lillie Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charlotte Emerson is devastated. Once a care free teen, twin to Charles, but when he succumbs to rheumatic fever, she loses him... lost to her forever, lost to her parents, and to those who enjoyed his essence. She's sick and tired, sick with his lost, tired of the pain. When into her live walk the mysterious William Stone Elliot, he offers takes away the loss and to gives something else in return.

William Stone Elliot, made vampire, has long sought the one to accompany him on his travels through the destruction created by mankind; his art, his muse, his desire. As bombs fall over Paris he remarks "Isn't it beautiful." He sees artistry in destruction. Is Charlotte the one to walk through death with him?

Now Char is irrevocably tied to William who made her what she is today. Pretty Dead.

Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block is a book of what it's like to wake up a teenage forever. Forever Pretty. Forever Dead. Forever the Pretty Dead. No way to move forward, no way to go back, and after innumerable years as an immortal, Charlotte would like a chance at being human, to undo what's been done. William is what happened to Charlotte when her brother, Charles, died, when she thought she would die too. When her parents wanted to die, who forgot she existed. But, instead of death, William brings another kind of life, immortal life. William views life (death and destruction) as art, it's always a work of wonder and beauty, what the mortals will inflict upon themselves. What they will inflict upon the mortals. And Will's greatest work of art is Charlotte. Only she doesn't want to be anymore.

Pretty Dead is the tale of what happens when a vampire doesn't want immortality anymore. When she wants to turn back the clock. When she wants to grow up, live life, be normal. It's also the story of a girl jealous of what another has, and when she offered the opportunity to take her friend's place, she does. Francesca Lia Block is a new author for me, but this won't be her last book I read. I was impressed with her take on vampirism, if the clock can be turned back, and what if anything can make it happen. There's this intricate relationship between the characters, Charlotte is hiding from William, and hiding what she is. Emily is hiding the facts of her life and what she wants to be, what she wants to have, under the guise of Charlotte's best friend. Jared is hiding from life, especially life after Emily. If you want to try a different type of YA paranormal romance, try this one. It's a quick read, approximately two hours cover to cover. There's some action, emotion twisting loss, and realization of what life's all about. It's a read YA lovers will not want to miss. If you'd like more information about Ms. Block or her books, please visit her website.


I received my copy of Pretty Dead in a contest held by Bitten by Books. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover drew me in, even though I feel as if vampires have been overdone lately and far too often I find myself reading the same story with a different title. But this novel is eloquently written and not your run-of-the-mill teen vampire love story. Throughout the entire novel Charlotte's grief and depression can be felt. I find myself filled with sympathy for her loss. Otherwise the book falls emotionally flat.
It is not often that you get to hear of a vampires past. Sure, they've lived 100 years, but what was the Holocaust like? In Pretty Dead Charlotte shares the horrors of the past with you. It sounds incredible to live for eternity, but this novel reminds you that humanity and love are more important. I do wish that there was more on the fact that Charlotte was a vampire. You could exchange the word vampire for immortal and you'd practically have the same story. Overall this one falls short for me.

[Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

before reading: I suspect FLB + vampires = hilarious. But will it be worse than Twilight?

Comparison to Twilight: This doesn't seem to have the overt ideological problems of Twilight, but it was also a less engaging read than the half of Twilight I read, and had plenty of small details that were problematic. It also didn't really give any developed vampire mythology, but was just about a few random vampires (but they were somehow at the root of many of the worlds greatest tragedies). FLB seemed to be trying to make a statement about teenage girlhood (two meanings of "the V word" on page 73) or about the similarities between vampires and artists, but honestly all I got out of it was that vampires are really annoying.

Typical FLB things that bothered me:
1. Naming the designer of a piece of clothing does not describe how it looks (or only does to a very limited audience)! And I just didn't buy that the vampires would want to wear the trendy clothes of every decade, or the way FLB made Charlotte describe her own appearance.

2. Block kept writing little things about how powerful teenage girls are, but then basically says that Emily can't process her rape and remain a living girl? I guess becoming a vampire is better than suicide, but if those are the only two choices the character had what is the choice FLB is presenting to the real kids who are reading this? Besides that, Char can only be really freed from the man who thinks he made her by a. falling in love with a boy and b. sacrificing another girl to replace her with her maker--how is this empowering?

3. Racial/cultural exotification--being multiracial is what makes Jared beautiful (though he's "embarrassed" by it), and of course when William ties Char to a bed he uses a ripped kimono and she calls him master in Japanese (in response to Hiroshima)

This review isn't well written/hasn't covered everything I think about the book, but I'm not going to waste more time writing this than I did reading the book.

[Zoë Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

"By becoming artists we monsters can sometimes be redeemed. We can give instead of devouring."

Pretty Dead is the story of Charlotte Emerson a girl who has everything a person could want, designer clothes, a gorgeous house, a slim body- she is the object of envy and desire. Charlotte is also a vampire who has been mourning her twin brother Charles' death for over a century during which she has been frozen at nearly eighteen. Charlotte has flawless skin and nails which never break until one day they do and she realizes she may be getting what she has always wanted- a chance to be human again.

Pretty Dead is Francesca Lia Block's jump on the vampire bandwagon, and one of the young adult books I checked out at my latest library visit. When I was about fifteen Block was one of my very favourite authors, epitomized by her storytelling in books like Echo, and half a decade later I was curious what she'd written since. I didn't realize til I got the book home that she'd decided to try her hand at the vampire genre.

Although Pretty Dead is not exactly Twilight rehashed, although there are some similarities (and the book was published in 2009, so it was definitely written afterwards) such as the fact that Charlotte drinks animal blood, as well as a vampire-human romance. Despite the definite Twilight inspiration, Block manages to put her own spin on the genre, and her main focus is on the immortality aspect of vampirism not the bloodsucking. The major problem I had was that- vampires aren't the only immortals, and I felt like making Charlotte a vampire meant that the basic premise of the book felt overdone and unoriginal, a fact which overshadowed the lovely writing Block is known for.

Block's writing is defined by phrases like "It’s amazing how beautiful destruction can appear. If we don’t judge it, don’t put value on it, it’s just color and light and motion. You can think of it as a kind of art." Her writing is decadent and lyrical, a layered beauty which in the case of Pretty Dead barely hides the fact that underneath something is missing- a true connection to the main characters and an original premise.
**

[Mandy Brouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to best start this review, but my very first reaction, even after reading the first PAGE of Pretty Dead, was "wow. Really? Wow".

Francesca Lia Block's writing astonished me. I was almost unprepared to read this book. I'm going to copy out the first paragraph because after I read it my mind shifted gears, knowing I was about to read something totally different:

Teenage girls are powerful creatures. I remember; I was once one of them. They are relentless and underutilized. They want what they want, and they will do what they must to get it. Love, possessions, beauty, food, sweets, friends. Unless they are crushed so hard as to give up. But then they are just as relentless, only seeking different things. Detruction, annihilation. Unless they can find a way to birth something beautiful out of themselves. In this way teenage girls and Night's children are not that much different, are we?

Pretty Dead is a book about vampires unlike any other teen vampire novel published now. It has a classic Anne Rice sensibility; old world vampires and the weight of the universe. But it's also about true love, it's magic, and centuries-old boredom, brother to destruction. Sadly, the cover is misleading. This story has real weight to it, and the cover is too light; it has this cute candy-sweetheart look, where the story has this deep passion and intensity. The story is also surprisingly erotic, definately for an older reader. It's a powerful read.

Read the rest of this review on my blog: http://eoseventeen.blogspot.com/2009/...

[Krys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sigh, oh Francesca Lia Block... you had me at wine and seductions of young, impressionable beauties with satin ball gowns and Portishead. I always am impressed with Block's writing ability and her nuance, particularly in how she couples words and imbues them with about ten different meanings. Eventually I want to read everything that Block writes, and I am slowly working my way through it all... must make a point of reading the Weetzie Bat books soon... mental note. I've written it on the internet...so it must be so.

So why the four stars if I liked it so much? Well, even though I liked it and I can't identify anything particularly, glowingly wrong about "Pretty Dead" I can't quite give it a perfect rating. I wasn't crazy wowed. It was good, I enjoyed the writing, I enjoyed the stroy. It was just...just.

The story itself is a vampire story, one of those through the sprawling ages, present at every major world/cultural event kind of vampire story. It actually reminds me a touch of Virgina Woolf's "Orlando" in places...the continuing immortality...the changes that Charlotte goes through... the angst...very Orlando-esque. And, in typical Block fashion it rounds itself off in a very comforting way.

It's good, it's just doesn't have that extra "Oh my gods gush!" factor. Still, an under perfect Block book is still lightyears ahead of many others. This won't disappoint the vampire fans looking for a new book

[Greta is Erikasbuddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty Dead was a story about a girl vampire. And not just ANY Girl vampire.... Actually, it was a story about a girl vampire who's pretty much moving backwards and can't figure out why. Instead of dining on pouches of blood she's starting to eat regular old people food.

This book wasn't the best by FLB that I have read. I read a review that said someone must have told FLB that vampires were in so she had to write one too.... well, I agree....I think this was written just because of popularity and not because something inside FLB told her to. Probably a publisher or an agent thought it was a good idea. I for one don't think that FLB's heart was in it. It wasn't magical.

The story was good but I think it could have been better. I guess they all can't be winners :)

I can't wiat to read her next book but this just wasn't something I would want to read again and again.

The cover's pretty, though :)

[Ashley Rieflin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conceptually beautiful, I feel that this story was unfortunately rushed. I have always loved FLB, but her past few tales were too short for their own good. Pretty Dead offers a unique twist on the vampire legend and some of the passages are as beautiful as FLB's old tales. However, she rushes through the story and the reader is unable to really connect with the characters in order to fall in-love with them and relate to their conflict.

I really wish that FLB could go through this novel again and emphasize the scenes, the emotion, and the characterization. "Pretty Dead" could have been much longer and much more potent.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Francesca Lia Block is like standing in front of your grandma's jewelry box and putting on every necklace and all her rings. Mmm, charm bracelets! And what are these green beads! And yes, please, the big pearls, whether they are real or fake. In fact, I get the distinct impression that writing Francesca Lia Block is a lot like standing in front of grandma's jewelry box and loading it all on. The clothes! The houses! The beautiful boys and the beautiful girls!

Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/200...

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading Francesca Lia Block.
This one is a vampire story, and reminded me a little of the movie 'only lovers left alive' - it's got lots of luscious descriptions of clothes, food and pretty boys and has a decadent velvety feel to it.
I also liked how the death of Kurt Cobain is considered one of the major events of the last 100 years... (which is probably true).

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐⭐⭐

PRETTY DEAD by Francesca Lia Block

Charlotte is a vampire, but now something is happening. She's more human that she used to be---she can almost feel the blood flowing. Morality hasn't been a worry in almost a century...but it is now. 
PRETTY DEAD is a quick read. I sped through this YA novel in just a few hours. I don't know how to describe it. Yes, it was interesting, but it was just there. The story-telling wasn't all that great---but that chapter about Charlotte's time when she was first becoming a vampire was much more interesting. This novel is neutral in a way: not bad, not good. It's a pallatte cleanser of sorrs when you don't want to focus too much, think too much, etc. 

[Laianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Pretty Dead came highly recommended by some of my favourite authors -- including Cassandra Clare, author of the bestselling Mortal Instruments series -- it seemed "pretty dead" to me. Yes, that was my creative pun of the day. =P

The book follows Charlotte Emerson, a supermodel-richbitch in all the ways that matter. I guess she's supposedly a "vampire" for some of the book, but the dilemma is that over the course of the story, she finds herself becoming more and more human as she falls for her dead best friend's human boyfriend.

I loved Charlotte's backstory -- I would have loved to hear more about her twin brother Charles, for instance, who died when they were fifteen, or her years with William, her cruel and deadly sire -- but what we actually get is chapter upon chapter of endless angsting over Emily (her dead friend), Jared (her dead best friend's depressed boyfriend who is now in love with Charlotte), William (the bloodthirsty sire mentioned above), and Charlotte herself. She complains about being beautiful, she complains about being rich, and she complains about being able to live forever.

This girl, put quite frankly, is a bona-fide Rosalie Hale. Never a fan of the Twilight books, I have to say, this personality was unappealing to me from the get-go. Instead of exhibiting relatable emotions, we are subjected to a flat character who cannot go one paragraph without complaining about something. Charlotte comes across as almost one dimensional in her actual personality, and only interesting when she makes a witty comment or sticks up for herself in some way.

But seriously. First, all she wants is to become a vampire. Then all she wants is to become human. Then when her supposedly evil ex-boyfriend William makes her human without telling her (a GIFT to her, despite his apparent cruelty!) she whines about how he's taken Emily and might take Jared too.

It's like COME ON. Enough with the moping and whining, already!

I could go on and on about some parts of this book, but I'll now go on to the one relationship I actually enjoyed.

Though Jared claims to have always loved Charlotte (come on, how many times have we heard that one before?), and William's motives for dragging her after him for nearly a century are unclear even at the end of the book, it is the Emily/Char relationship that I found most fascinating.

At first, I thought Charlotte was in love with Emily. The clues all seemed to point to that, and Emily's reactions seemed to indicate that she might feel similarly, but then BAM comes Jared, in love with Charlotte but settling for Emily and all that subtext crashes down horribly.
I still wondered though, up till the very end. How would that be, if Char had run away from William because she was a lesbian, and Emily, her lover, had died, before she could confess her feelings? How would it be that Charlotte had wanted Emily as her child instead of Jared, and appreciated her friend enough to love her like that? I think it would have been awesome, and would have at least explained Charlotte's weird disdain for all men appreciating her beauty.

The ending, I thought, was perfect -- Charlotte living on her own in a nice apartment with dirty human hair and writing a book for Jared -- but that is the only thing keeping my rating at three stars and not lower.

I feel like for the most part, the main character was unpleasent to deal with, slow on the uptake, unappealing, and weird in a bad way. Maybe she was supposed to be like this, but if that were the case, I would have liked to at least see her be a little less helpless and a little more interesting.

Yeah. I'm not realyl sure what else to say except that I wasn't pleased. It was a real letdown, how much I didn't enjoy this book.

Another angsty novel jumping on the twilight/vamp-crazed bandwagon? Yesss...

(Though, I'd still rank it above Twilight if it came to that. in case you were wondering.)

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

People pity me, but mostly they feel envy. I have all the luxury and freedom a girl my age could want.

Something is happening to Charlotte Emerson. Like the fires that are ravaging the hills of Los Angeles, it consumes her from the inside out. But whether it is her eternal loneliness, the memory of her brother, the return of ger first love, or the brooding, magnetic Jared - she cannot say. What if it's something more . . .

Something to do with the sudden tear in her perfect nails. The heat she feels when she's with Jared. The blood rushing once again to her cheeks and throughout her veins.

For Charlotte is a vampire, witness to almost a century's worth of death and destruction. But not since she was a human girl has mortality touched her.

Until now.


My Review

Charlotte Emerson is a vampire. Has been for almost a century, in fact. She's not close to anyone, except Emily. But when Emily dies, Charlotte doesn't know what to do with herself. Charlotte spends more and more time with Emily's boyfriend, Jared, and confides in him the stories of her life, both as a human and a vampire.

Francesca Lia Block is a critically acclaimed writer, and I can't deny that her prose has a certain lyrical quality to it, almost liquid. However, it seems as though the focus of Pretty Dead is on the beauty of the words rather than the story itself. The novel is almost the bookish equivalent of modern art - the beauty is in its simplicity, and it can be difficult for the everyday observer to appreciate. Personally, I had a hard time following this story. The narrator jumps around constantly, one minute focusing on the present day and the next minute recalling a moment a hundred years back. I also couldn't get over how Charlotte was cavorting with her supposed best friend's boyfriend when Emily had only been dead for a couple of weeks at most and she and Jared had been dating for quite a while. I just couldn't buy that Jared could flip from one girl to the next so coldly.

One thing I did love about this story, though, is that it brought me back to one of my favorite vampire stories of all time: Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. I studied this in a class on vampires back in college (seriously), and it was a real eye-opener. Carmilla is filled with hints of lesbian eroticism, something for which the populace of the Victorian era was apparently clamoring. The flashbacks in Pretty Dead of Charlotte and Emily's friendship are reminiscent of this theme. This similarity is, to me, Pretty Dead's saving grace.

This is a lovely story, but it needs the right audience. I don't think it's something everyone will like, but if you lean towards artsy novels, films, etc., then this could be the book for you.

2.5 stars

http://amandasbooksandmore.blogspot.com/

[Swankivy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book about a lonely vampire was a little different from most of Ms. Block's other work in that it had a very straightforward storyline and spent comparatively little time admiring the visuals or waxing philosophical. Charlotte being tempted into undead life by an attractive older man during a time of great sorrow was understandable. She'd just lost her twin brother and didn't want to feel, and here was this man willing to show her the world and fill her with something. I also could really feel the ache she must have had when she realized becoming a vampire forced her to observe disaster without being swept away in it, forced her to no longer have the artistic and emotional drives she once had, and forced her to be tied to a man she apparently didn't love, but felt bonded to because he wouldn't die like the rest.

That said, there were a couple things I didn't really connect to in the book. Most of the time when a nigh-immortal character waffles on about not being able to die, I have little patience with it, and except for the fact that Charlotte's artistic connections were hampered by being undead (which must have been hellish), there seemed to be not many drawbacks to being a vampire in this world, which made it difficult for me to see why she let her jealousy of mortality consume her (especially after less than a hundred years). Another thing I didn't care for was that recounting decades Charlotte had lived through was focused so narrowly on what people were wearing as the defining factor of the era (along with some comments about music). That and the litany of disasters that she and her vampire maker William observed were the only real sense I got of time passing, and I get tired of how often Ms. Block obsesses over what people are wearing. And finally, it was kind of unclear to me how/whether a vampire who has made another vampire can unmake the same person. This wasn't explained. It just was. (Charlotte's connection to Emily and to Jared was more recited to the reader than felt, in my opinion, also.) I enjoyed reading the story, but Charlotte posed for her spot as the protagonist more than she acted it, which disconnected me from really loving it.

[Cortney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very much a "good new last" type of person, but for this one I am putting the good first and the "not so good" last.

I enjoyed this story, I LOVED the concept and ideas behind developing this plot, the details provided I enjoyed, the story of Charlotte's past was brief, but fantastic. I found Charlotte to be a very likable character, depressed and at a loss, but I LOVED her, I could feel her struggle, what she wanted/desired, and how alone she felt.

The "Not so Good":
I wanted it to be longer, more in depth. Scenes between Jared and Charlotte could have been drawn out, I wanted more of a relationship developed, but I loved the idea for the relationship. I wanted to hate the villain, but there really wasn't much to hate. I understood what the author was implying, and how ruthless the villain was, but I didn't feel it. This could have easily been a 300-400 novel, and I would have read every word of it. I just found myself wanting more throughout the entire story.

Emily and Charlotte, I wanted them to be closer, I wanted to know more. I was slightly surprised by the ending only because I didn't know enough about Emily to come to the conclusion that the author did. I knew she had a roll, but based on the rest of the story with Jared, I didn't feel there was anything other than the introduction of the characters.

Charlotte's history that she wrote to Jared, I would have loved for that to have been slightly more in depth, it felt rushed. maybe divide out chapters based on the e-mails/letters that she wrote him.

Again, I loved this and if it would have been longer and more in-depth it would have easily been a 4.5 for me, but this will have to settle for a 3.5 due to the lack of depth that I really, really wanted out of this!

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by LadyJay for TeensReadToo.com

Charlotte Emerson used to be a teenage girl. She loved writing, clothes, and her brother, Charles. Charles meant everything to her - he was her world, her reason for living. Rheumatic fever took him too early, leaving Charlotte heartbroken and lost.

Enter William, a dashing young man who offers Charlotte a life of immortality; free from worry, disease, and old age.

Charlotte is exquisite as a vampire; her beauty is unparalleled, but she longs for something more - a companion - someone who can replace her Charles. She finds this in Emily - a teenage girl who has endured so many things. Emily wishes to be turned, but Charlotte refuses to damn her for all eternity.

Inevitably, Charlotte loses Emily. She also begins to lose something else...

I have loved Francesca Lia Block ever since the Weetzie Bat books came into being. Block's use of language and expression creates an incredibly beautiful, yet haunting universe for her characters to mingle in. It is like this in all of her novels. The words flow like liquid across the pages.

With PRETTY DEAD, Block has joined the ranks of other great authors by putting her own twist on vampire mythology. Lovers of the undead will devour this novel...make sure to pick it up!

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like FLB, sometimes. I loved the Weetzie Bat stories and I've loved some of her other work. But this? This feels like a book written to go along with the trend of vampirism in YA fiction, and it's fine, but that's all.

The things I enjoy about FLB's writing are here, but they are echoes of themselves. Normally I come to her books for the magic, the sensuousness, the opportunity to become involved in the wardrobes and beautiful food and sensory experiences of beautiful girls. It's silly, but sometimes it does ring true and sometimes it works, like in Weetzie Bat. In this story, the perfect, beautiful girls felt two-dimensional, the men even more so. The trademark FLB descriptions of the character's clothing and food choices didn't feel decadent and magical, they felt forced and out of place. This can happen with some of her novels, and I feel it happened here. It felt predictable and false.

That said, I read the whole book and I sort of enjoyed it. I just found that I was kind of really conscious of her writing tics, and that I didn't invest in the story or the characters very much. I think this book failed on some important levels.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so disappointed in this book! It had a lot of signature Francesca Lia Block elements - the lush language, unrealistically beautiful protagonists, idealized romance - but it seems like she stopped there. The storyline didn't make much sense, didn't tie up at the ends. I grew up loving FLB's Weetzie Bat books and her other earlier works, although I have aged out of that demographic and also become more critical of some of the more problematic aspects of her work,* so I'm probably less likely to give her new works glowing reviews. Still, I feel like this book really does mark a low point in her writing career.


*Cultural appropriation, an idealization of thinness that isn't really justifiable in books geared toward teen girls, tokenizing of queer characters (the Gay Best Friend might have been a breakthrough in the 80s, but we can do better than that in 2013). I would still totally recommend a lot of her books despite these problems, but it's worth being aware of.

[Melissa Vazquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really short book. I love Francesca Lia Blocks style of writing as well which makes this book so unique. But, I would have loved for there to be a part two or more to the book. I like the concept of Charlotte turning back into a human after being vampire for so long. I would have liked for there to have been a twist, such as her brother having been turned into a vampire and not revealing himself until the end. That would have been awesome. Ah well! Still a good book!

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I'm officially too old to read Block's YA novels. I can no longer stand the product name-dropping descriptions and general emptiness. I got through her previous books because they held a sense of wonder and her alternate LA was a wonderful place to be, but this one just felt like a vampiric YA novel by Bret Easton Ellis.