Primavera

by Francesca Lia Block

Tempted by unfulfilled dreams, Primavera flees her home in Paradise to seek the pleasures of the magical city of Elysia, only to discover a seductive trap that may never let her go. Original.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance, Teen, Mythology

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

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

[Malcolm Logscribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a much more successful fairy tale than Ecstasia, though you do need to read that one first for this one to work (I think).

Usual problems with thinness and whiteness, so if you're not thinthinthin and white (and feminine, delicate...), you may find this book dehumanizing. There are some people who aren't entirely human, bird-women and centaurs and things, and then there are a bunch of fauns described with black features - wide noses, full lips, etc - and they get breast descriptions instead of speaking lines. Other than possibly Dionisio (who fathered a palepalepale child who looks nothing like him and who does nothing but lie around for most of both books), that's what people of colour get in this universe.

I was again bothered by the desert=wasteland stuff, but it was more successful here as a metaphor. This time I really got sucked in, and while I couldn't quite let go of the question of what the garden-folk ate for protein, what powered the manufacture of glass in Elysia, where the sugar came from, it did sweep me away.

The journeys and connections were gorgeous. The return to hell worked perfectly for me, and was handled beautifully at the end, the adults' realizations. Some of the jewels were a bit much, distracted from the flow. Arcadie was ouch, and... I think it worked and I'm sad because it didn't go as I wished it had. Beautiful web of connections.

The friendships work better for me than the romances. I would like more deep, burning friendships and fewer all-important romances - Block's romances leave a lot to be desired for non-teenagers - lots of spark, fire, feeling, completion, not a lot of connection on any level other than intuition. Her friendships feel realer - Arcadie and Primavera could have run away and had their own story, and I would have drunk it like wine.

And I've been wanting some gay ladies in her stories. I don't know whether that's because I'm tired of all the bonedeep yearning to be for men (cool than there are gay fellows, but it still feels like even the men in Block's stories fall for the people Block herself falls for, who are not my type, so... an entire universe where EVERYONE falls for them and I don't exist?), or whether I just want romance and kisses without the silly arbitrary clouds of Blocklove - a romance that tastes like her friendships.

This is better than I'm making it sound. A family tears themselves away from beautiful, electric hell. Their child claws her way back to her history, to what worked its way into her parents, away from her starving family who are innocently and desperately cannibalizing her. Love, blurring, separation, autonomy, magic, sex, helplessness. Stories, family, ageing, burden. Trauma and trauma and trauma. Baubles, flowers. Children. Damage, inheritance, weakness, glass and music, wine and oil. Oasis, return. Death.

Not a perfect book but one that has a lot.

I skipped all of the songs. Block should have pulled a Delany, taken the songs/poems for her prodigy character from a real poet. Her prose poetry is lovely, but her regular poetry is much less effective.

[Ronni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is 18 years old, but the story is eternal. A Persephone story update, mixed with a bit of dystopia, and a ton of Block at her best. Makes her dangerous angels seem warmly, cozily safe.

[Margaryta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with Ecstasia, the predecessor of Primavera, and I just had to read the next installment to find out what happens next. This book doesn't disappoint. As usual, Block's writing is full of beautiful, whimsical imagery, things that are so delicate and charming one minute and dangerous the next, and yet they still keep that terrifying beauty within them. It is an aspect to her writing that never disappears.

I understood Primavera's choices and as a character could really connect to her. She is beautiful and gifted yet Block didn't forget to still make her fragile and imperfect, reminding the reader of her humanness and just how prone to mistakes she is, just like everyone else.

The story is paced perfectly. Although Primavera had left her parents to go back to Elysia the reader is still reminded of them at specific intervals in time, being shown how they are struggling and how their desert paradise world is collapsing. Everything is tied together, from beginning to end. The progress and change is also easy to notice compared to the lush lives and young wild years of all the Ecstasia members in Elysia. Another side is shown. While the book Ecstasia focuses a lot of Under and the city itself and all its beauty here we are shown the other parts of Block's magical world, the darker and not so pleasant corners of it. We are shown characters and the relationships they form with Primavera are very touching and strong. They aren't the kind that form on the whim and for no good reason whatsoever. They feel logical, in a sense.

What I especially loved was the ending and the visible metamorphosis that Primavera had undergone. She is one strong character although not without flaws. It's pretty much impossible not to fall in love with her and feel, in some way, connected.

I loved this book, from beginning to end. It's a beautiful companion novel that stays true to the theme of womanhood and magic and love and wraps it all up beautifully while, at the same time, the ending leaves you with a small smile on your face as you know the cycle will continue for years to come and you can't help but conjure up your own details and write the rest of the history for the beautiful world of Ecstasia.

[Karissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This seems to be the sequel book to Ecstasia, although I struggled to find any info on that anywhere. I haven’t read that book, but this story stood on its own fine. It’s written in Block’s very beautiful, yet somewhat ambiguous style. Reading Block’s books always feels a bit like floating through a dream: beautiful, magical, a bit blurry, and sometimes hard to focus on.

This is the story of Primavera who leaves paradise to visit the city her parents used to live in, Elysia. Along the way she stumbles across as much death and horror as she does beauty and magic and ends up struggling to find her way back home.

There are definitely references to mythology in here...both to the Orpheus and Persephone myths. Paradise suffers greatly when Primavera, their Spring, leaves. One of the characters seeks out the drug Orpheus, which allows her to see her dead loved ones but eventually ends in her death.

Many magical creatures show up throughout the story and lend it a very fantasy feel.

My main complaint is the one I always have with Block’s works...they are super sweet but sometimes a bit hard to digest. The story isn’t very cohesive at times and wanders. I still ended up enjoying it though because the writing style is beautifully descriptive and does a great job with imagery.

Overall this was okay but not great. I do love Block’s beautiful imagery but struggled some to stay focused on this ephemeral story. I’d recommend if you are a fan of Block’s writing style or if you like ambiguous but beautifully written fantasy.

[Tabitha Vohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful and Disturbing.

As always, Lia Block's writing is as lyrical as it is raw. This novel seamlessly blends Greek myth with a coming of age tale set in Los Angeles, complete with themes on homosexuality, drug addiction, sex trafficking, ageism, child abuse, unrequited love, suicide...did I leave anything out? Oh yea, and rock & roll.

It's "hard times in the city", yo, and while I was riveted the entire time, I was equally taken aback by the blunt, deviant sexuality that is explored in the book. After reading "Beyond the Pale Hotel", this shouldn't come as a surprise with Block's work; yet, I was astounded that this novel was marketed towards a middle school audience. Mothers and daughters sold to masturbating giants as sex slaves would have been too much for me as a pre-teen. WAY to much!

Thus, I leave this novel a little squeamish in the stomach, still wanting to read its predecessor nonetheless, and thanking God above for the precious innocence of my childhood, which was spent playing Barbies, not being one.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Primavera" is an absolutely beautiful book that takes many elements of Greek mythology and modernity and interweaves them into the Persephone myth. Primavera wants to escape her parents and the utopia she has created, but to do so, she must face the horrors of civilization in Elysia. Mixed in with the story are songs, mini poems that describe what is going on in the plot and inside Primavera. The writing is brilliant, like a kaleidoscope of images and sensory detail: "There were bright things in Elysia, not bright like here--stars--but blazing electric bright--the taste of brightness in your mouth, sweetness--not like here--the sweetness of flowers--but a sweet taste of sugar like electric star fire." If you like fairy tale rewrites or mythology or the current urban fantasy genre, you will love this book.

[Rachel Whelan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like and early 2000's Livejournal rambling about "fairies" put to print, a disjointed, hippie, Burning Man of a book. The "songs" are so over-dramatic and repetitive in their imagery, and FLB has a loose interpretation of what a plot is. Occasionally the perspectives shift into first person between different characters, but apparently they all think in very similar voices. There are arms-length references to mythology, but then too many other fairie tale ideas are brought in, resulting in a mess of concept without a strong enough sense of direction.

[Chandni · Rating 1 out of 5]

As soon as I realized this was a sequel to Ecstasia, I knew I was in trouble. Normally, I love Francesca Lia Block's writing, but the plot for her earlier works is really lacking. This book was just as much of a slog to attempt to read as Ecstasia was and I didn't care about Primavera just like I didn't care about any of the characters of Ecstasia.

[Zoë Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Now it is as if she is imprisoned in a garden of her own making, lost in a tangle of redolent blossoms, and only when she has seen the city without gardens will she know this place for what it is."

When Primavera sings flowers grow, bringing to life the desert that she, her mother, her father, her uncle and her uncle's beautiful boyfriend Paul (who Primavera may be in love with) live. Primavera by Francesca Lia Block brings with the title character craving experience and adventure, outside of the safe haven she's lived her whole life. So when a stranger leaves her a horse-headed motorcycle Primavera leaves for the big city of Elysia, where the elderly are forced to live Under, out of sight, and where her parents once played as the famous band Ecstasia. There is a reason her family left Elysia though, the city is toxic and although Primavera finds glimmers of light, a young boy who grows feathers from his head, a girl who looks like Primavera's long lost sister and a half-man, half-horse named Pyre; it is not long before she realizes she went searching for something she already had and it may be too late to leave.



Primavera alternates narrators, telling the story from each family member's point of view, showing how Primavera's mother and father feel about her leaving. Although the story is whimsical, many of the themes like growing up and falling in love with somebody you can't have, are universal. Primavera is considered a young adult novel, in many ways it is what I wish Ruby, Block's co-written adult novel, would have been. The story is so rich and interesting I actually think it would have been better if Block had filled in some of the details and made it into a longer, more adult novel. Interestingly, Primavera is actually the sequel to Ecstasia, which is an adult novel. Both books are pretty rare and hard to track down, so I decided to order my own copy of Ecstasia from Amazon (for free, thanks to Swagbucks) and I look forward to seeing if it excels where Primavera falls slightly short. ****

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently, my teenage self preferred this to Ecstasia because I had that one rated four stars and this one five originally. Now, it's definitely the other way around. Don't get me wrong, this book is still beautiful! One thing I think it does better than Ecstasia is flesh out the world surrounding the city of Elysia. In the first book, it almost seems like there is Elysia, Underground, or the desert and no other options exist. Here, we're introduced to some of the places in between, as well as some of the more fantastical creatures that occupy those places, and it really helps enrich the overall experience.

This book is full of interesting contrasts, as it initially sets up this magical flowering utopia where Primavera lives (which in many ways seems like an even more exaggerated version of Weetzie Bat's more grounded utopia) only to then smash it to pieces by revealing just how bleak and desolate the world she has been shielded from her entire life really is. The opposing ways in which Block describes these settings really help establish just how different they are. On the other hand, it does occasionally feel like this book is trying to do a bit too much and juggle too many different perspectives. Where Ecstasia felt a bit like a puzzle in a good way, this book sometimes feels scattered and busy.

Also, I feel like it relies a bit too heavily on depicting extreme violence against women. Like Ecstasia, a major aspect of the plot is the main female character being captured and held against her will, but it lasts longer and feels a lot uglier here, which I think is by design, but it got a little much for me. So, in that sense, Ecstasia feels more easily rereadable. But, taken together, this duology is definitely a personal bright spot in Block's oeuvre that largely stands the test of time and remains hugely underrated in general.

[Justina · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I feel the need to kinda praise this book for a moment, because it is nothing like I have ever read before… Not even for a FLB book. I am used to her imagery and poetic prose within her dark fairytale novels, but this is something more. This book is like a dream that I have forgotten long after waking up only to remember months later. Primavera , our protagonist, sets out on a surreal journey of self discovery. She was raised in a desert unlike any other, lush with greens, animals, vegetation, love… She is able to sing life into the atmosphere, growing flowers with her voice. But she yearns for something more, outside of the realm of her upbringing, the only place she had ever known: The Desert.

She sets out on a journey upon a motorcycle given to her by a desert stranger in exchange for one of her songs. Despite her family’s opinions and worries about the dangers which lie in Elysia, a city they have long since fled, Primavera decides to go anyway. Along the way she encounters playful yet scary characters like River, the bird boy, The lost boy styled gang of beach boys with sharp teeth who beg for her songs, The Giants who get off on reciting nursery rhymes, bonfires, mermaid carcasses, and the graffiti grime of a city: Neverland.

Not keeping off track for too long, she ventures to Elysia, exploring the carnivals of the city of mirrors, circuses and carousels, nightclubs, bright lights and superficial youth. She sings of paper flowers here, and the synthetic town she once craved is now starting to suffocate her. Twists & turns down to Underworlds and back make her realize what she once had.

Will she ever get back to the Desert Land?

I absolutely LOVED this book and it is SO worth the read if you want to spoil your senses!

[Swankivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Also re-issued with its prequel; we no longer have to comb shelves for rare books or pay hundreds of dollars to read it! Primavera is one of my favorites of her work. Told mostly in first person from Primavera's point of view, this is a magical novel! Primavera is the daughter of Calliope and Dionisio, and they live in a desert paradise. Feeling alienated by unrequited love and smothered by the flowers that spring up when she sings, and by her mother's constant knowledge of her thoughts, Primavera goes off to find her fortune in the city her parents fled, Elysia. On her journey she encounters a strange boy with bird ancestry, and when she gets to Elysia she meets a relative, with whom she descends to the Under to pursue eternal beauty. Death finds them instead, and her friend is robbed of her life while she is robbed of her magical voice. She is later imprisoned by a demonic man who collects half-beast women for his own sick pleasure, and she is made his unwilling slave. Also imprisoned there is a horse-man named Pyre, with whom Primavera finds her true meaning. She and the family she left find out what she means to them and to the desert, and through her journey they discover what being whole is all about.

[Julie Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Primavera, the girl with the magical voice that can make flowers appear, is the daughter of Dionisio and Calliope. They live in the desert, where her parents and their friends Paul and Rafe practice with their band, but she is feeling penned in by having a mother who always knows her thoughts, and she wants to know more about the land of her ancestry--her family is of Elysia, where supposedly, no one grows old. (Really, everyone goes voluntarily or is pushed to the Under at the first signs of aging, and the illusion is preserved.) Primavera ventures into the town and finds not beauty but Death, and allies with people who have animal ancestry. The half-horse man Pyre may be her salvation, but they must escape the demonic man who has enslaved them.

It's got a coherent storyline despite its dreamlike prose, and the alternate-world industrial fairy tale mythology feels very fresh. The characters are a bit distant sometimes, but that makes them feel like legendary princesses rather than the cardboard cutouts I sometimes complain about. It's a really gorgeous book that will appeal to people who want just a drop of mythology flavoring in their modern enchantedness.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a few years, but I really admire this book. As poetry -- and poetry is 100% what it wants to be -- it's somewhat lacking to my taste (too lax, obvious, not enough bite), at least on the level of the line. Still, it sticks in my head to this day, digs deep into archetype and dream, and makes a strong effort to understand and embrace all of life, ugly and beautiful and everywhere in between (questions the nature of beauty -- retells myths -- I really need to read more Block).

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francesca Lia Block's writing is luminous, but never more so than in this reimagining of the Persephone myth. From a desert paradise where Primavera grows up with the gift of singing flowers to life, to the dark and glowing streets of Elysia, to Under and beyond every detail is a feast. But it isn't just sparkle and flash. It is a deep allegory that speaks to the problems of our world today, and gives us a glimpse of how we can join all its broken pieces together again.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written coming-of-age story that is a perfect example of contemporary magical realism. This book hides inside it a universe of centaurs, mermaids, bird-women, and wonderfully crafted characters. I would recommend this to mature individuals, as dark themes exist such as drug use and rape.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is my favourite F.L.B. story, it is so magical and terrible and lovely...

[Katie Kaste · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the continuation of “Ecstasia.” Primavera is a restless young lady who lives in paradise. Like all people she needs to find her own path to paradise. She journeys all across the country to find what she thinks she needs. Her voice brings flowers, but is that what she wants. Block seamlessly integrates poetry into the magical realism of her writing.

[Stephanie Gates · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, maybe I’m not the right target for this book any longer, but it almost feels as if there’s a really good story buried beneath all the dross that Block stuffs into this quasi-retelling of Greek mythology. With the wasted potential so evident, it left me wanting more, or maybe a different storyteller, anything than what we received in the end.

[Caity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully poetic and dreamlike. The settings are super surreal but the story feels a bit disjointed.

[Lydia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this is the first book that I have not been able to finish. So bad.

[Camano Hobbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisiting an old preteen favorite. Think I probably understand it better then I did at 12/13, but damn I had good taste in books.

[Crystal Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Young Primavera lives in a paradise, soft, lush, suffocating. She longs for hard, brittle adventure. So, into the desert and the cities she rides.

The story of Persephone in a post apocalyptic world where radiation has created mutant centaurs and mermaids and Primavera, who when she sings, makes the world bloom flowers.

A classic journey from innocence into adulthood with all the attendant descents into the abyss and climb into the sun. What’s interesting about this version is that we not only read Primavera’s perspective, but that of her parents Calliope and Dionisio's and of several other characters.

The prose is strewn with razor candy flowers and wounded Rivers, plucking their own feathers in the city of the lost. Not really a light read, but if you’re in the mood for dense rich, brew up a pot of tea and enjoy.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the writing style in this book. The characters are very interesting. The details of the story are great, but the overall image was not the kind of thing I enjoy. I like a book with lots of suspense and surprises. This story has sort of a boring frame in my opinion, But if you like fantasy, then you should read this.

[Josie · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Attempted re-read in March 2016]

Aaaaaaand that's the last of my FLB books gone! I can't believe they've sat on my bookshelf gathering dust for over TEN YEARS. (Did I ever read them more than once?) Goodbye, pretentious and repetitive YA. Hello, four inches of shelf space!

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading this book back in high school, many years ago, fell in love with it and promptly lost it. I found it again, actually I stole it from a library (at the time it was out of print) and have been waiting to resume reading ever since.

[Laurie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems to me that it is very obviously one of her first books. I didn't regret reading it, I liked it, but at times it was just a little...too much? It seems that these days she realizes that a healthy dose of realism spliced in can much better achieve her purposes.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sequel to 'Ecstasia' (though I read them in the wrong order anyway). Not just a sequel for the most part this is a retelling of the same events through the eyes of another character. Rather pointless, then.

[Tine Katrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is one of my favorite Block books. I often have some trouble with keeping up with the story, understanding what is really happening all the time. Even though I still like them, it was nice to always get what was happening, for a change.

[Bridgett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really identified with the lead character's struggles in this book which is probably why I liked it so much.