Love in the Time of Global Warming

So first of all, I think it helped going in knowing that this book would be weird. That was something I saw repeated over and over from reviewers—that they enjoyed it, but it was strange. I agree this is a strange one; the writing and events and the way it all blends together was very dreamlike. There's some really gorgeous, lyrical imagery, obvious Odyssey parallels (that the characters are aware of and comment on), and even the characters themselves have a dreamy, ephemeral-type quality to them.

And you know? I liked it. The lyrical, imagery-heavy writing reminded me a bit of Elliot Finley Wake's style (except, you know, YA), and it was great to see a diverse cast in a post-apocalyptic YA, from the protagonist Pen, who is bi, to the love interest Hex, who is trans, to their two other companions who also turn out to be queer guys, it was really fun to read.

My only critique is the ending felt a little too...neat, I suppose. Things came together easy after the main confrontation, which is okay, but it felt a teensie bit anti-climatic to me. That said, I still really enjoyed it overall, from the adventure-y plot, to the Odyssey-like mythology, and the lyrical writing, I definitely recommend Love in the Time of Global Warming for a quick, adventurous read with a cast you won't easily forget.

Diversity note: As mentioned in the review, Pen, the protagonist is bisexual, the love interest, Hex, is a trans boy, one of the two companions is a gay Black boy, and the other is a boy who likes boys (though I'm not sure if he's gay, bi, pan, etc.).

Strange, ethereal retelling of The Odyssey in a post-apocalyptic world, focusing on a teenage girl in search of her family. I can see how the choppy back-and-forth structure, lack of internal logic, and sometimes implausible characters might be bothersome, but I was able to somewhat turn my brain off and enjoy the lovely, lyrical prose. Penelope was an enjoyable narrator, especially in her fierce love for her little brother, whom she, with a big sibling's single-minded focus, considered the most beautiful and worthy person alive.

All in all, a weird but quick and enjoyable read.

2.5/5 stars

This YA novel was a fairly loose retelling of The Odyssey, and it didn't work all that well for me. I thought the writing was lovely, but I didn't particularly care for the story as Block told it. I thought it was difficult to follow, and there were certain plot elements that seemed to be added more to have something to say about a “hot topic” issue than to really further the action of the plot. I will read more by this author, but probably not more in this sequence.

I.... don't know??? I maybe didn't totally get it? I read [b:Dangerous Angels 14565 Dangerous Angels (Weetzie Bat, #1-5) Francesca Lia Block https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1166639454s/14565.jpg 990480] a few years ago and I liked it. I think what's weird to me about this is it's partly magical realism, where there are just magical butterflies and visions and whatever, just because, but then it's partly dystopian sci-fi where she's tried to explain it with science and cloning and genetic modifications??? But then if you're explaining some stuff that way, then what's the science for the magic butterflies??? They're just magical magic or??? Versus in the Weetzie Bat books it's just all kind of vaguely magical with no ~science.~ IDK, this might not bother another reader but for me I just kept getting pretty hung up on that.Also: in college I had a history professor who told me not to use so many block quotes, because everyone just skims past those. And she was right. I feel the same way about blocks of text in italics. Like, a third of this book is in italics and my instinct was always just to skim past it. Couldn't they have come up with some other way to set that apart? Maybe just chapter titles? Or a non-italic, different font?? That's a petty quarrel, but still: irritating.Uhh but that said, FLB's a beautiful writer, and her characters' fluid sexuality and gender is still great, and I think this book will be beloved by a lot of artsy teenagers.

I'm not a fan of retellings of Greek myths, but I am a huge fan of Francesca Lia Block, and this one feels like the old-Weetzie Bat style of storytelling than many of the titles she has put out lately. Pen is a beautiful character, as is Hex. The villains could have been explained a little more, but that is excusable. Pen's quest was a little too laid out for her (here is a map! and a truck full of food!). I would have liked a little more....story. What happened with Beatrix? With the mother? Ash and Ez were a little interchangeable. It's not perfect, but it's a great little dreamy read.