Author: Francesca Lia Block
Publisher: Harper Collins
Rating: WORTHY!
This is a novelette (a novel is typically considered to be 40,000 words or more, a novella runs from 17,500 to 40,000 words, a novelette 7,500 to 17,500, and a short story is under 7,500 words according to wikipedia) set in a parallel world version of Los Angeles which is here sometimes idealized as Shangri-LA (as opposed to Hell-A, its alter-ego!). It revolves around Weetzie Bat who is apparently very young but who has the lifestyle of an older teenager with the addition of substance abuse and some very inadvisable sex thrown in.
Weetzie's dad, Charlie Bat, and her mom, Brandy-Lynn, are still in the picture, but separated. Her dad lives in New York, because he despises the shallow movies of LA and wants to write serious plays in NYC. Her mom is still in LA, a retired actress, who plays very little part in Weetzie's life.
Weetzie's best friend is Dirk, who is gay. His grandmother Fifi gives Weetzie an old lamp, which contains a genie as it happens. Weetzie doesn't realize this until she rubs the lamp one day and said genie appears, ready to grant his last set of three wishes before he heads off into retirement. When she fails to get world peace and an infinite number of wishes, neither of which he's allowed to give, Weetzie wishes for true love for herself and for Dirk, and also a for a lovely house for them all to live in. She gets all of this, but these wishes are not granted without some issues attached.
The house comes by way of the aged and sick Fifi dying and leaving her house to them. Dirk soon encounters a surfer dude who is gay and is as attracted to Dirk as the letter is to Duck (which curiously is the surfer dude's name - although amusingly, the surfer dude's description sounds almost exactly like Weetzie's, except for their gender!)
Weetzie's wish (for a boyfriend whom she terms "My Secret Agent Lover Man" aka Max) takes a little longer to materialize, and comes in the form of a guy who is a movie producer. He continues to make movies starring Weetzie and her friends, but her wish to have children seems to be thwarted by My Secret Agent Lover Man, because he doesn't want children, so Weetzie and the boys, Dirk and Duck, cook-up a scheme to all sleep together and no one will know whose child it is, but it will be all of theirs
They end-up with a beautiful girl whom they name Cherokee, and My Secret Agent Lover Man leaves Weetzie in a fit of jealousy over her means of getting this child, but eventually returns to visit her in the hospital after the delivery (no it isn't via stork!). When all is forgiven they return home together, but shortly afterwards, a Lanka Witch (a really tall, slim woman) named Vixanne, who is part of the Jayne Mansfield appreciation society (which is merely a cover for a witch coven) shows-up right around the time My Secret Agent Lover Man gets sick. It turns out that he had an affair with the Lanka Witch, who delivers her own child - right to their doorstep, thereby completing their family.
This new addition is named Lily, but ends-up being referred to as Witch Baby. By now their family has grown rather large, with their two dogs, Slinkster Dog, and his bitch Go-Go Girl, and their pups Pee Wee, Wee Wee, Teenie Wee, Tiki Tee, and Tee Pee, along with other friends: a Rastafarian named Valentine Jah-Love, his love: Ping Chong, and their child: Raphael Chong Jah-Love
Yes, it's that kind of a novel, and I didn't feel any great urge to continue on with this series (yes, it's a series!), but I did like the goofiness of this novel. I found it an entertaining and a worthy read.
