Customer Reviews

Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

All in all an enjoyable continuation of the Weetzie Bat series, but I could have used more of the initial characters. On the other hand, using the younger characters does make the book more accesible to teenage readers.

I would have to say that this is another great work of art from Block, i havn't seen or read anything like it since Catcher in the Rye!It is beautifuly detailed, and has a superb use of words that tells their own story along with the book.It is so enchanting and mezmorizing that you wont want to put it down!It pulls you in with the words and squeezes you until you burst with rays of light!It makes you look deep inside yourself and see who you really are and were. It describes LA through a teenage personality with smoking and drinking and always getting into messes,It has everything that a book should have; love,drugs,sorrow,jealousy... it will amaze you and make you want to read it over and over again... i strongly sugjest having this book, along with the rest of the series: Weetzy Bat,Witch Baby, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop, which i have all read. Get it ! You'll LOVE it!

In Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys the story arc in the Dangerous Angels series continues. What started with Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby continues in this book with the kids now teenagers and the adults in the household all out of town filming a movie in South America. Naturally Cherokee, Witch Baby, Raphael Chong Jah-Love and soon even Angel Juan, who makes a reappearance, run into trouble.

In a lot of ways I think this book is the most distinctly YA novel in the series. It focuses on the younger generation and problems unique to youth: self image, relationships, finding yourself, growing up.

At the start each of the four characters feels inadequate in one way or another. When they perform on stage they freeze up, when they try and initiate a relationship with someone else they feel rejected or aren't even brave enough to make the attempt, they feel bare, defenseless and powerless in an overbearing world. Coyote, a Native American friend of the family, steps in and offers to help Cherokee create gifts from nature (wings from feathers, goat pants from goat fur) to give each of the four teens outward strength from material things to solve inward problems. Naturally these objects are magical in nature, and naturally they unintentionally result in more problems then they solve.

The rest of the book covers the uncomfortable, dizzying and at times exhilarating descent into a world of late night jams and eventual sex, drugs, smoking, drinking and all night parties. This is where the book had most of its power. To show these things in both the positive (exhilarating, powerful, ego enhancing) and the negative (exhausting, damaging to health both mental and physical, losing control). This is something teens can see and relate to from a source they will listen to as well.

By the end of the book the teens must learn to pull their strength from inside themselves instead of their material trappings and learn how to help each other step back from the edge of self destruction. A powerful and poignant YA novel. Highly recommended.

A creative story about a girl named Cherokee. She's in a band but all of the members are having self image issues making them not sound so great. She goes to her friend Coyote for help and strength for he is magical. He helps her friends find inner strength but their power corrupts themselves and endangers their lives. She comes to Coyote for more help but he can't help, it is all up to Cherokee to save her friends lives. Francesca Lia block is one of my most favorite writers for her style is so unique and poetic and this story is a good example of that.

This being the fifth book I've read by Francesca Lia Block, I thoroughly enjoyed it as I do with all of Block's books I've read. Although, "Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys" was definitely a little more on the depressing side compared to her other books.

"Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys" is about how Cherokee, With Baby, Raphael, and Angel Juan have to live on their own while the adults are gone making a movie with My Secret Agent Lover Man. Coyote is supposed to take care of them, but he doesn't help much.

I really liked this book because of how it deals with the four young teenagers growing up and learning about some scary things the hard way. When the four start a band call the Goat Guys, the experience opens up a door full of drugs, alcohol, sex, fame, and love in all of the wrong places. This is where the depression comes in. It was hard to read about how these teenagers' lives just kept going down and down. Cherokee tried to help, but by giving everyone in the rooms gifts that Coyote helped her make, she only opens up the door of trouble even more. Throughout the book, Cherokee struggles to keep everyone together in the happy family they once were.

i'm a huge francesca lia block fan and i was actually rather disappointed by this book. it seemed like it was forced as opposed to flowing like the rest of her books... i also found witch baby rather forced, although i loved weetzie bat and baby bebop. i suppose everyone has their bad days, or weeks or however long, though.

Francesca Lia Block's books aren't exactly set in the most idyllic atmosphere. Her books are set in New York City or Los Angeles, and sex and drugs are always undertones of the story. But somehow, Block's description of the big city seems to suggest a completely different atmosphere, one of nature and beauty. That and the awesome characters of the stories penetrate the harshness and business that potentially resides in these cities otherwise. Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, for all it's drugs, sex, and disturbed emotions, remains the most heartfelt book I have read this summer. But it must be noted that if you want to read this, you'd better read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby first. Those two will give you a sufficient introduction to the characters. I think there's another book in between Witch Baby and CGG, but I haven't read it :). This, I think, is a book for the Francesca Lia Block fan to cherish.

Any work by Francesca Lia Block has always managed to fill me with satisfaction and joy. Every one of her books is beautifully creative. This one in particular comes in the middle of her Weetzie Bat series and is just as wonderful as each other book in the collection. It has a focus on musical magic and teenage problems (such as love, drinking, smoking, etc) that just about everyone can relate to and understand. Pick up the whole series (5 books) and read them -- you won't regret it.

This book is about four teenages, two boys and two girls who have a rock band. They all are really good in the band which is call Cherokee bat and the goat guys. There band expands and they start playing at clubs and jigs. Through out there experiment problems occur and have to be solved. They all learn a lesson through there journiee of becoming a popular rock band.
I liked this book because I made me learn lessons about how not to be greedy. I didn't like this book because I couldn't read it that well because the weird names made it confusing. Overall I give this book a 7 out of 10!

When the adults in the house are away. Cherokee Bat, Witch Baby, Rapheal Jah-Love, and Angel Juan are left under the care of Coyote. To keep themselves occupied they start a band that gives them much more than they bargined for. Staring Cherokee as the main charecter, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, it tells about her need to help people and her want to be special. But when things spiral out of control Cherokee is forced to grow up too fast.

If you're a fan of the past two books in the Dangerous Angel's series you'll like this one. Though it's a little more simple than the other two, and a little less fairy tale like it's still carries the spirit and beautiful language that Block is so famous for. I'm definatly gonna finsh up the series by reading the next two.