Love in the Time of Global Warming

by Francesca Lia Block Narrated by Julia Whelan

Overview

A stunning reimagining of Homer's Odyssey set in post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles, written by A master storyteller.

Her life by the sea in ruins, Pen has lost everything in the Earth Shaker that all but destroyed the city of Los Angeles. She sets out into the wasteland to search for her family, her journey guided by a tattered copy of Homer's Odyssey. Soon she begins to realize her own abilities and strength as she faces false promises of safety, the cloned giants who feast on humans, and a madman who wishes her dead. On her voyage, Pen learns to tell stories that reflect her strange visions, while she and her fellow survivors navigate the dangers that lie in wait.

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.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

A post-apocalyptic setting awash with danger brings an exhilarating twist to Block’s signature mashup of rock-and-roll urchins and high literature. After an earthquake and tidal wave destroy much of Los Angeles, Penelope—now going by Pen—sets out to find her family. In the course of a journey that explicitly parallels the one described in Homer’s Odyssey, Pen navigates the blighted landscape with a crew of three other searchers. Sharing shards of their pasts with one another, the travelers form strong new relationships—including a romance between Pen and tough Hex, who has the word “heartless” tattooed above his heart, and whose sexual journey fits neatly with Pen’s. Eventually they arrive in Las Vegas (the contemporary stand-in for the land of the dead) where Pen confronts the evil genius behind her world’s destruction. Literary-minded readers will enjoy teasing out the allusions to Homer—and possibly even The Wizard of Oz—but knowledge of the classics is not a requirement to be swept up in the tatterdemalion beauty of the story’s lavish, looping language. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laurie Liss, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

This Halloween, bypass the usual vampires and werewolves of teen fiction for what lurks between the covers of Francesca Lia Block's brutal, beautifully written 'Love in the Time of Global Warming.' Those fanged and furry creatures are but a sugar rush compared with Block's genetically engineered giants as she treats us to a dystopian tale tricked out in her signature lush prose.” —The Washington Post

“The dreamlike quality of the writing, typical of the author's works, functions well with the fantastical elements of the story, which is solid and dense in its descriptions. This is an excellent title for students who have read Homer's Odyssey as well as readers who enjoy a mix of fantasy and reality.” —School Library Journal

“The result is original and, no surprise, gracefully written. Magic is no stranger to Block's world, nor is her signature poetic sensibility. And love, in its many varieties and forms, is celebrated, as always.” —Booklist

“Literary-minded readers will enjoy teasing out the allusions to Homer—and possibly even The Wizard of Oz—but knowledge of the classics is not a requirement to be swept up in the tatterdemalion beauty of the story's lavish, looping language.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Block's trademark magical realism works best in a brief, dreamy journey such as this one, even if the destination is uncertain . . . Mishmash or no, there's something encouraging about seeing four queer kids on an epic journey across the post-apocalyptic American Southwest.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Block writes about the real Los Angeles better than anyone since Raymond Chandler.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Hers is a voice so unique that nobody will ever be able to imitate it.” —Cindy Dobrez, Chairwoman of the committee that awarded Block the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005

"[A] compelling apocalyptic survival story with four LGBTQ teens." —Common Sense Media

"Francesca Lia Block is the imaginative bestselling author of Weetzie Bat; she brings a radiant, illuminating world of death, destruction and adventure in her novel Love in the Time of Global Warming. . . . Block will make you see, smell, hear, taste and feel Pen’s story, and she will surely wisp you away into an inspiring, fantastical, Dali-esque dream world that you with never forget." —Teenreads

"Francesca Lia Block has made a trademark of twining myth and reality so snugly it’s difficult to figure out where one ends and the other begins. . . . This is a fine adventure story. . . . You’ll be thinking about it for days afterward." —Bookpage

"Told in Block’s distinctive whimsical style, Love in the Time of Global Warming stands out as a uniquely poignant allegory of self-acceptance. . . . The camaraderie between these four queer teens searching for a home together amid the rubble is palpable." —TOR.com

"This a beautiful book. . . . [Perfect] for teens that have grown out of fairytale books but would still like to escape the real world, and also for queer teens, because they may be able to see themselves reflected in the heroes of this story, which is how it should be." —GayYA.org

Village Voice on Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books

Magic is everywhere in Block's lyrical and resonant fables. At once modern and mythic, her series deserves as much space as it can command of daydream nation's shrinking bookshelves.

The New York Times Book Review on Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books

Ms. Block's far-ranging free association has been controlled and shaped . . . with sensual characters. The language is inventive Californian hip, but the patterns are compactly folkloristic and the theme is transcendent.

Chairwoman of the committee that awarded Block the Cindy Dobrez

Hers is a voice so unique that nobody will ever be able to imitate it.

School Library Journal - Audio

★ 11/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Imagine the world ending as a result of earthquakes followed by tsunamis and flooding, wiping out most living things. Combine it with Homer's Odyssey, and you'll have Block's novel (Holt, 2013). Los Angeles has been destroyed, and 17-year-old Penelope has lost her family in the apocalypse. Like a female Odysseus, she takes off into the wasteland to find them. Along the way, she joins forces with three other teens, all with their own problems. They encounter danger at every turn in the form of sirens, witches, and genetically created flesh-eating giants, along with the lunatic who conceived them. Despite their trials, Pen and her friends find that hope and love can be found in this bleak new world. Throughout the book, the characters quote The Odyssey and many of their adventures mirror the classic story. Block's beautifully written tale is fantastically magical and her characters are sympathetic and quirky. Julia Whelan does an outstanding job narrating, giving each character a unique voice and personality, while not detracting from the dreamlike quality of the writing. A terrific purchase, especially where the classic is taught.—Julie Paladino, East Chapel Hill High School, NC

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—The earth shakes, a wall of water comes, and everyone Penelope loves disappears, leaving her alone. She can see nothing but ruins around her pink house by the sea in Los Angeles. Her family was swept away by the water. Her father had warned of impending danger, and though her mother thought he was paranoid, his emergency provisions keep Pen alive. Weeks later, men break into her house, but Pen escapes with their van. She sets off on an Odyssey-like journey in search of her family. On the way, she encounters giants, sirens, a witch, a girl who may be magical, and companions to aid her in her quest. Through flashbacks, she reveals that she had been struggling with feelings for one of her closest girlfriends. Now, as she, Hex, Ez, and Ash speed toward Las Vegas, Pen finds strength she's never known and love she didn't expect. Pen is a thoughtful character who develops at a reasonable pace. Her flashbacks reveal a close family, good friends, and love for her younger brother. The dreamlike quality of the writing, typical of the author's works, functions well with the fantastical elements of the story, which is solid and dense in its descriptions. This is an excellent title for students who have read Homer's Odyssey as well as readers who enjoy a mix of fantasy and reality.—Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ

OCTOBER 2013 - AudioFile

Narrator Julia Whelan gives her voice a dreamy quality that fits this retelling of THE ODYSSEY. Seventeen-year-old Pen offers a female perspective of the classic journey, this time set in the American Southwest in the weeks after an environmental disaster separates Pen from her loved ones. Whelan's performance is expressive enough to allow listeners to keep track of the characters, and she has mastered the intonations of teenage girls. On the other hand, her pace is slightly slow, sometimes disengaging the listener from Pen's search for her family in a strange new world. This dystopian tale, which has elements of sci-fi and magical realism, will appeal most to teens and adults who are familiar with Homer and Greek mythology. C.B.L. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Block's latest can't decide if it's allegory, tribute or classical fairy tale. Is Penelope the last person left alive in the world? The floodwaters that slammed through her Los Angeles neighborhood took her mother, father, brother and even her dog. While she journeys across the ravaged land, myth-loving readers--such as Penelope herself, who reads Ovid for fun and tells her friends stories about "Odysseus, Aeneas, and Achilles"--might notice familiar themes. (Despite the title's nod to García Marquez, the direct Homeric references dominate.) Penelope blinds a one-eyed giant in a chapter called "The Cyclops," escaping by calling herself "Nobody." In the Lotus Hotel, she meets addicts high on euphoric juice squeezed from flower petals. The parallels to The Odyssey become even more obvious when Penelope meets a sexy young man in black motorcycle boots whose favorite book is The Odyssey itself and who entertains Penelope by reading from the section of Homer's epic about the Lotus Eaters. The continuing allusions, sometimes explicitly remarked upon by Penelope and the fellow adventurers she gathers along the way, are unsubtle but not entirely clear. But that may not matter so much: Block's trademark magical realism works best in a brief, dreamy journey such as this one, even if the destination is uncertain. Mishmash or no, there's something encouraging about seeing four queer kids on an epic journey across the post-apocalyptic American Southwest. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169932720
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	08/27/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

1

 

THE EARTH SHAKER

 

THE ROOM WAS SHAKING and I thought I knew what it was because I had been born and raised in a city built on fault lines. Everyone was always dreading something like this. But we never imagined it would be of such force and magnitude.

I called to Venice, the most beautiful, smartest, sweetest (and he would want me to add most athletic) boy in the world, “I’m coming! Are you okay?”

I imagined his body lying under boards and glass, pinned down, but when I got to him he was just huddled in the bed in the room papered with maps of the world, wearing the baseball cap he insisted on sleeping in (in spite of the stiff bill), trembling so hard I could barely gather him up in my arms. My dad came in and took him from me—my brother’s legs in too short pajama pants dangling down, his face buried in my dad’s neck as Venice cried for his fallen cap—and I got our dog, Argos, and we all ran downstairs. My mom was there, crying, and she grabbed me and I could feel her heart like a frantic butterfly through her white cotton nightgown. We ran out into the yard. The sky looked black and dead without the streetlight or the blue Christmas lights that decked our house. I could hear the ocean crashing, too close, too close. The world sliding away from us.

The tall acacia tree in the yard creaked and moaned, and then my ears rang with the silence before danger. My dad pulled us back as we watched the tree crash to the ground in a shudder of leaves and branches. My tree, the one I had strung with gold fairy lights, the one that shaded parties made for teddy bears and dolls, the tree in whose pink-blossomed branches Dad had built a wooden platform house with a rope ladder. That was where I went to read art history books and mythology, and to escape the world that now I only wanted to save.

I was holding Argos and he wriggled free and jumped down and ran away from me, toward our big pink house overgrown with morning glory vines and electric wires strung with glass bulbs. I screamed for him and my mom tried to hold me back but I was already running. I was inside.

The floor was paved with broken glass from the Christmas ornaments and family photos that had fallen. (A tall man with wild, sandy-colored hair and tanned, capable hands, a curvy, olive-skinned woman with gray eyes, an unremarkable teenage girl, an astonishingly handsome boy and a dog that was a mix of so many odd breeds it made you laugh to look at him.) My feet were bare. I reached for a pair of my mother’s suede and shearling boots by the door, yanked them on, and stepped over the glass, calling for my dog. He was yelping and growling at an invisible phantom; his paws were bleeding. I picked him up and blood streaked down my legs.

I turned to open the door but a wall of water surged toward me behind the glass pane and I put up my hands as if to hold it back, as if to part the wave.

And then I fell.

That’s all I remember of the last day of the life I once knew.

 

Copyright © 2013 by Francesca Lia Block

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