Customer Reviews

Pretty Dead

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It feels like someone went up to Francesca Lia Block and told her, "Vampires are hot right now. You should write a book about vampires!"

And there doesn't seem to be much inspiration beyond that for Block's latest novella, a tale of vampiric angst and luxurious misery called "Pretty Dead." While her prose is as luscious and vivid as ever, the story itself is a paper-thin hodgepodge of vampire cliches -- you've got the wangsty wealthy vampire, the sinister and hedonistic ex-lover, and some rather boring humans who dream of being immortal.

Charlotte is a vampire, living a life of glamour and beauty in modern L.A., and locked in the flawless body of an eternal teenager. But when her friend Emily dies (apparently of suicide), Charlotte finds herself changing -- she breaks a nail, develops a zit, and finds herself perspiring. At the same time, she finds herself drawn to Emily's grief-stricken boyfriend Jared, who has figured out what Emily really is (she uses lots of sunscreen! She must be a vampire!) and wants her to turn him.

And at the school she currently attends, she encounters a face from her past: William, her former lover and maker, who seems to be followed by widespread disaster wherever he goes. Charlotte looks back on her long life with William -- how he seduced her away during her mourning for her twin brother, and how they traveled through countless decades of change, fashion, and immortal numbness that has slowly left her hollow. But William has one last shock for his former lover and protege...

Francesca Lia Block has a way with words, and "Pretty Dead" is no exception. She washes the entire book in jewel-toned words ("a rim of darkness like the blood-red trimming a pale rose") and an atmosphere of sorrowful hollowness, and darts like a bird between mossy forest glades, ballrooms, luxury-encrusted mansions, the fiery streets of war-torn Paris, and the glitzy nightlife of Los Angeles. She also seems to have acquired a dress fetish -- there's loving descriptions of all Charlotte's designer clothes throughout the last century.

Unfortunately, the plot is as flimsy and pale as a spiderweb. It's basically a standard "wangsty vampire mopes about being immortal while falling in love with a human" story with some rather predictable plot twists; moreover, the entire melodramatic ending feels cheap and contrived. Block inserts some interesting ideas into the story (such as immortality destroying one's ability to feel), but those ideas just sit there -- they never seem to be expanded into something deeper.

Perhaps the biggest problem is Charlotte's transformation from a vampire back to a human... we never really find out how or why. It's a nice aversion of the usual vampire/human romance trope, but it needs to make some sense.

And Charlotte is pretty much your standard "good" vampire -- she spends the entire book wangsting about how horrible it is to be an immortal "pretty monster," but she doesn't really do anything to improve her life. She's also the most passive vampire I've ever read about. And though we see how William became a vampire, it's never explained how he turned into a raving hedonistic sociopath. And Jared is basically a pretty body with no personality -- we never hear why he wants to be a vampire, or why he's so enamored of Charlotte.

"Pretty Dead" is a web of pretty words stretched over a fleshless skeleton -- Francesca Lia Block had some promising ideas, but the underbaked characters and limp plot just end up being another "woe! I'm such a sad vampire!" clichefest.

Charlotte Emerson is a vampire that is trapped for eternity in the body of a beautiful teenager. Everyone she loved when she was human died a long time ago. Charlotte will forever mourn them. Now, after the suicide of her only friend Emily, she feels more alone then ever. Her Porsche, Holly Wood mansion and designer clothes provide her little comfort. Soon Charlotte finds herself falling in love with Emily's boyfriend, Jared, who reminds her of her dead twin brother, Charles. As her love grows, Charlotte discovers she is reverting back to a human. For the first time in over one-hundred years, she is able to cry. Unfortunately, Jared is not content with being a human; he begs Charlotte to make him a vampire.

"Pretty Dead" is the latest in a long line of bizarre, provocative novels written by Francesca Lia Block. Once again, the theme is loneliness. Loneliness that is endured by teenagers who yearn for a love that will last forever. The teenager in "Pretty Dead" is Charlotte Emerson who happens to be a one-hundred-year-old vampire. For her, vampirism is a living hell on earth. The wealthy, exotic lifestyle she has shared with her creator, William Stone Eliot, has provided little compensation. A life without true love is meaningless.

Think "An Interview With The Vampire" for teenage girls. Anne Rice would be pleased by the similarities. Charlotte resembles Louis de Pointe du Lac who forever mourns the deaths of his wife and child. Like Charlotte, he detests killing humans for food and finds comfort by pretending that one of the undead (in this case, Claudia, a vampire child) represents the human child he lost. William resembles Lestat de Lioncourt who enjoyed killing. However, in "Pretty Dead," the reader learns that William, who is obsessed with mass destruction, is much more diabolical and evil than Lestat.

Charlotte is a teenage girl's fantasy. She has everything the world can offer, supplied by an older, handsome William who is the ultimate Sugar Daddy. However, she is not happy and probably never will be as long as her happiness is based on material possessions and relationships that can end at any moment. While walking through Sears, I once saw a young girl's T-shirt that read: "Only A Vampire Can Love You Forever." Not true. Even vampires can be destroyed. What is Francesca Lia Block trying to tell us in "Pretty Dead?" Love is a precious commodity that should be treasured in the here and now because it can be so easily taken away?

Once again, Francesca Lia Block has provided not only an entertaining novel of fantasy and horror on the surface but also a deeper social commentary about the struggles of today`s youth. Beautifully written, "Pretty Dead" reads like poetry as does her other novels which deal with teenagers searching for friendship, love and acceptance. In her previous novel, "The Waters & The Wild," a young girl, Bee, suspects herself of being a changeling - a faerie who was exchanged with a human baby; Bee and her friends are all social outcasts who fantasize that they are actually supernatural creatures. Together, they find strength and acceptance.


Joseph B. Hoyos

Charlotte has lost many people over the years and, oh how many years it has been. When she is finally on her own she has to find someone to fill up her emptiness, but who is there? She has everything anyone could want, except a lover, except mortality.

This book was short and sweet, maybe a little too short. Unlike Block's earlier works this book seem to be lacking that poetic edge, that twists your stomach in knots and makes you cry out as if you were one of her tragic characters. This book was simply a small glimpse into the life of Charlotte Emerson. It was a good story for what it was. You got to see how she dealt with a very small section of her very long life. A sneak peak into what could have been a much longer novel. The characters were mostly undeveloped, though it seemed to be on purpose. You didn't really feel for any of them because you never got a chance to connect to them. I was quite excited when I found out that the lovely Francesca was doing a vampire novel but after reading it, I was left feeling disappointed. This is not a novel, it is a snippet; An epic poem without the hero. If you want to tick this one off your list then go ahead and read it but don't add it to your pile.


First Line:
"Teenage girls are powerful creatures."

Favorite Line:
"my darling in the red dress"

Francesca Lia Block is my favorite author. She has been since I picked up by first book written by her (Violet & Claire) back in middle school. I haven't seen much of her work mentioned around the book blogging community, but when I do, it always puts a smile on my face.

Her writing has always been magical and this doesn't change one bit in Pretty Dead. The story starts off by telling the reader about this girl, Charlotte, who isn't really a girl after all. Not a living one, at least. She speaks about the people that surround her and how she can sense their jealousy. They've always thought she was perfect on the outside and they admired all of the treasures she had, when the truth was that she would trade it all just to be mortal again.

When she loses the closest friend she's had in about a century, a part of her seems a little off. Over time, she notices that she broke a nail, she's perspiring, and she has a menstrual cycle for the first time since she was changed. Charlotte grows closer to a boy named Jared, who is actually the first person to realize who- or what- she is.

The story keeps your interest and pulls you along for the ride through a look at Charlotte's life, before, during, and after her years as a vampire. You begin to realize how easy it was for her to fall for this charming devil named William Stone Eliot, especially after she felt that she had nothing more to live for.

Definitely recommended if you're interested in vampire romance or the beautiful and graceful writing styles of FLB.

Review from The Hollow Cupboards- [...]

First and foremost, this is NOT another vampire novel. This is a love story, through a century of fashion, music, architecture, friendships and losses. This is a story of grieving, after the suicide of a young girl - the story of the vampire girl and the human boy who have survived her. This is a story of fear - fear of the unknown, of death, and of the people we cannot ever leave. Francesca Lia Block is as elegant and beautiful as ever in writing her take on the current vampire trend. And, you know what? It is ethereal and disorienting and nothing like anything else in the genre. Pick it up. Read it. Fall in love.

This book was a deliciously sad gothic tale of loss, love, power and friendship, all seen through the eyes of Charlotte Emerson, a vampire.

The tragic story of Char's life before she was changed, mixed with her current life, and also her memories of history and its more memorable events, that she witnessed first hand, weave into a wonderful story that I personally found difficult to put down.

Not a long book by any means, but I'm certainly glad it jumped out at me from the libr...moreThis book was a deliciously sad gothic tale of loss, love, power and friendship, all seen through the eyes of Charlotte Emerson, a vampire.

The tragic story of Char's life before she was changed, mixed with her current life, and also her memories of history and its more memorable events, that she witnessed first hand, weave into a wonderful story that I personally found difficult to put down.

Not a long book by any means, but I'm certainly glad it jumped out at me from the library shelf

It's hard to summarize Pretty Dead too much because not only is it short (208 pages) but much of what's in the summaries published on a lot of book sites, doesn't happen until the story really gets going. I mostly went into reading it knowing two things: Francesca Lia Block wrote a vampire book and my friend who's favorite writer is Block basically got the book in the mail and sat down and read it until she was done (and adored it).

If you'd like a little more info (but not as much as Amazon has): Charlotte Emerson is tall, gorgeous and lives by herself in a mansion full of designer clothes, artifacts and furniture that nearly anyone would envy. In fact, that's her problem, that everyone envies her.

She's been around nearly a century but she's incredibly lonely. She might have what any girl would want, but it also stops 'any girl' from ever being her friend, too.

Except for one.

Now, though Charlotte has to deal the loss of that one friend, the sudden feelings she has for a certain boy--feelings she hasn't had in years, and the changes she's experiencing (the tear in her nails, the blood suddently rushing to her cheeks again).

Somethings happening to Charlotte, but what?


Told in flashbacks that fill you in on Charlotte's one friendship and her life as a human and then the present where sophisticated, well dressed Charlotte's life just might be coming undone, Pretty Dead is super enjoyable.

I can't think of anything to compare Pretty Dead to and though I want to say Charlotte might have been friends with someone from Buffy, I think that's actually wrong and some part of her and her life just reminds me of Drusilla (minus that craziness)...I might be super wrong on that, though, so don't let it put you off and just read the book?

It does jump around a bit and a few times it was hard to figure out just what or who was being talked about (or doing the talking), so that's all I'd take off from the book for.


9/10 stars

Charlotte Emerson seems to have it all. She has designer clothes, a gigantic mansion in LA, and more money than she could use in a lifetime. The only thing she doesn't have is the thing she wants the most: to be human. She became a vampire a hundred years ago, just after her twin brother died, and she has regretted the decision ever since because of her empty, lonely existence. Recently, her only friend Emily killed herself, leaving Charlotte alone with her riches that provide little comfort. Emily's boyfriend, Jared, starts to come around to find out about his girlfriend's mysterious friend and Charlotte falls in love with him. As her love grows deeper, she discovers that her vampire perfection is slowly fading. She develops blemishes, sweats, and blushes, things she hasn't been able to do since she became a vampire. However, their relationship isn't enough for Jared. He wants more than anything to become a vampire. What is happening to Charlotte and can she convince Jared that with immortality comes unending suffering?

I've been a fan of Francesca Lia Block's for a long time and I'm pleased that she still writes awesome teen fiction. Her lyrical, poetic prose has always drawn me into her stories and made them memorable. I've reread some of my old favorites and I still enjoy them as an adult. I was a little surprised when I heard that she wrote a book about vampires. It seemed a little out of her normal range, but I don't think it's fair to fault an author for branching out. The novel turned out to be just as good as her others. The language she uses really lends itself to the vampire Charlotte, who has lived in hollow decadence for a century.

Charlotte was my favorite character. I liked that as the story went on, there were flashbacks into her past to show how she was when she was human and when she first became a vampire. These interludes into the past just added to the story and gave Charlotte depth. Her transition of states of mind through each stage of her life was believable. As a human teenager, her happiness and idyllic life gave way to grief and suffering, leading her to want to escape by becoming a vampire. Although her existence seems enviable because of her eternal youth and wealth, it's really an inferior existence to being human. Vampires are just glorified parasites and every painful memory still plagues her through her long life. She grows tired of feeding off of people and wants to life a peaceful life.

I'm glad that Francesca Lia Block gave vampires her own unique twist. Although vampires are done to death now, Block manages to make an eternal being relatable to teens because of loneliness. I think everyone has been lonely at one time or another and everyone wants to experience love. Also, many think that material wealth can make them happy, but it's really the relationships and our loved ones that make our lives rich. I would recommend this to fans of vampire novels and Block's previous works.

When you first pick up Pretty Dead, and read the description on the back of the book, it sounds totally enticing. When you start reading it, it is so much more. This is a must read for those who love the undead. Pretty Dead was a unique twist on the lives of vampires. The first half of the book I found to drag at times, but the second half picked up pace, and took you along for a ride!

Right in the description of description of the book you hear how Charlotte may get a second chance at life, I was curious how Francesca Lia Block was planning on doing that. I definately did not expect how she ended up pulling it off - what a shocker!

Charlotte had such a river of emotions - she felt anger towards her maker, her love towards Emily and Jared, grief towards the loss of those she loves. Charlotte writes her history to share with someone, and I loved that. You got so much incite into her past life, and how she is now. It was my favorite part of the book. Charlotte was such a great character, but I wish readers got to know Jared and William a bit better. You hear from them, but I felt you never really get to know them. Jared, for example, is a major character, but you don't learn much about him except for what's happening right now in his life.

I haven't read anything else by Francesca Lia Block, but after reading Pretty Dead I know what I'll be checking out next.

I enjoyed this book, it was a quick and easy read. However.. after I finished reading it I had no feelings about it. I like a book that lingers in your mind, this one did not do that.

It's entertaining and gives you something to read for a couple days.. that's about it.