Luna's Reviews > Wasteland

Like most Francesca Lia Block books, I can see why people enjoy it and love it and want to get deep into it. And like most Francesca Lia Block books, this just goes straight over my head.

It's beautiful, yes, and it approaches incest in such a delicate way it could almost be seen as not being incest. Everything between Marina and Lex is unsaid. The only time incest is mentioned is when one girl constantly taunts the mourning Marina by saying 'incest is best.'

It's a very small book, my copy only 150 pages, and like most Block books, it has wide margins and a non-Times New Roman font so it's a very short read. It's filled like all Block novels with vivid imagery and touching pictures and lush LA surroundings. And it has complicated, seemingly platonic relationships.

My favourite thing about this novel is that even when it's revealed that Lex was adopted, Marina still views him as her brother. She was raised that way and she saw him in that light- Lex was her brother, full blooded or not. That's what grates me when TV shows reveal that certain people aren't related, so a sexual relationship is okay. No, those people were raised to see each other in a certain light. Removing a moral boundary won't change that history.

But ultimately, I couldn't enjoy this novel as I would have liked, as Block's writing doesn't suit me. I enjoyed the topic and her way of approaching it- it reminded me of Luna by Julie Anne Peters in its sympathetic portrayal, but it wasn't in my taste.