Review: Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

Title: Love in the Time of Global Warming
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Series: n/a
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company BFYR
Publication Date: August 27, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy.

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

So, this is my first ever Francesca Lia Block novel, which is surprising, considering her catalog.  I'm not sure how her other novels would fare with me, but if this story is any indication, I need to add them all to my TBR.  It wasn't just the phenomenal writing or the vivid characters that kept me enthralled with this book, though those things didn't hurt.

No, what most kept me coming back -- no, racing to finish dinner and kid's baths so that I could continue reading -- were the parallels between this novel and Homer's The Odyssey.  I have a profound love for that story and its epicness, one that's only grown since the first time I read it back in junior high.  I've often imagined myself as Odysseus, traversing a perilous landscape in search of home.  For Pen, home isn't necessarily a place, as her father often reminded her before the Earth Shaker.

As it often seems, it's only after one loses everything that the truth of the matter really hits them.  With the loss of her family, her friends, the life as she knew it, Pen has also lost herself.  We meet her right before she tragically becomes a lost girl, but even before that, it was plain to see that Pen was lost, and only through this epic journey of hers will she become the person she was meant to be.  I loved the use of flashbacks to tell her story, to show how her life was pre-tragedy, as well as how the author paralleled her story with that of Odysseus', including a lot of the same otherworldly elements from the original poem.

But I also loved the addition of some rather odd characters to help her on her journey to find her family...and herself.  You will need an open mind to truly understand the beauty of each of these characters, as each faces the reality of their LGBT identities and what it means in this wrecked world, if it even matters at all now.  I applaud the author and the publisher for including such astounding diversity in a young adult novel, and I hope it's well received.

This book is rather short compared to most of the YA novels I read these days, but that doesn't mean it's short on material or awesomeness.  The plot is quick-paced.  The action isn't relentlessly intense, but our weary travelers are always on the move, and they are often faced with danger on their quest.  The world-building, like that of the original tale, is stunning and magical, making it just as easy for me to envision myself as Pen on her journey as it was for me to imagine myself as Odysseus all those years ago.  I love how the author incorporated new and old into this story to make a retelling that is all her own.

Like I said, go into this story with an open mind and an open heart, and you'll have a better chance of fully appreciating what the author has done with Pen's tale of disaster and love.  Obviously, I recommend this for fans of The Odyssey, but it's also a great read for anyone who's a fan of the epic quest.  This story is more fantasy than reality, so I think a lot more can be forgiven than in the standard post-apocalyptic novel, and I think it makes the story that much more enjoyable.  But I'm also saying that as a major fan of fantasy novels who's had her fill of dystopian and post-apocalyptic books that refuse to cross -- or even toe -- the line.  If you're looking for something different, look no further.

Rating:  

Teaser & A 5yo's Thoughts  

About the author:

Francesca Lia Block was born in Los Angeles to a poet and a painter, their creativity an obvious influence on her writing. Another influence was her childhood love of Greek mythology and fairy tales.

She has lived in the city all her life, and still resides there with her daughter, Jasmine Angelina (about whom she wrote her book Guarding the Moon), her son Samuel Alexander, and her two dogs: a springer spaniel named Vincent Van Go Go Boots and a beagle mix named Thumper.

She left only to attend the University of California, Berkeley. She has often professed her love of Los Angeles, calling it a "Jasmine-scented, jacaranda-purple, neon sparked city," which she has nicknamed in her books "Shangri-LA."

Find Francesca:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook

Labels: beautiful covers, fantasy, francesca lia block, lgbt, love in the time of global warming, macmillan, post-apocalyptic, retellings, reviews, the odyssey