Love in the Time of Global Warming

By Francesca Lia Block

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 of Love in the Time of Global Warming is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Aug 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9780805099027

Francesca Lia Block

Francesca Lia Block, winner of the prestigious Margaret A. Edwards Award, is the author of many acclaimed and bestselling books, including Weetzie Bat; the book collections Dangerous Angels: The Weetzie Bat Books and Roses and Bones: Myths, Tales, and Secrets; the illustrated novella House of Dolls; the vampire romance novel Pretty Dead; and the gothic werewolf novel The Frenzy. Her work is published around the world.

Reviews for Love in the Time of Global Warming

[ekanderson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love a good mythology book. I also love a good retelling of a classic. In her latest, Francesca Lia Block manages to blend the mythology and themes of The Odyssey with a story of survival in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.On the day the Earth Shaker came, Penelope was in her family's pink house in a nice neighborhood in L.A., feeling average teenage feelings -- love for her friends, annoyance at her brother, and the slightest bit of resent toward her parents (who were both paranoid about chemicals in health products and the possibility of natural disaster). Now calling herself Pen, trying to shed the identity that she had Then, she is forced to leave her home when marauders come. She is surprised when one of the men doesn't attack her but tells her to run, take his van, and leave.Pen's first stop is a big box retail shop, where she raids the aisles for supplies, shocked to find it hasn't already been looted. But soon she discovers the monster who has taken up residence at the store. A half-blind giant. Fighting for her life, Pen takes out the creature's other eye. She now knows there is no going back to Then. And she goes on, her only hope finding her family. And along the way, she finds others. First of all, Hex, the beautiful boy at the Lotus hotel. He has secrets of his own, but Pen needs an ally. With only a tattered copy of Homer's The Odyssey and a sliver of hope to guide them, they have a whole new world to navigate.In a style that is Francesca Lia Block's alone, LOVE IN THE TIME OF GLOBAL WARMING is heartbreaking and true and beautiful in a way that only this author can write. It is not only a story that parallels the Odyssey, but that approaches the popular trope of dystopia with a touch of magical realism. With characters who are both dreamy and strikingly real, a voice that must be heard, and a landscape that feels frighteningly true to a possible future, this is a book that can't be missed. I'd love to see this one with some shiny stickers on its cover come award season.

[usagijihen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It never fails to amaze me how much better my mentor gets with each book she releases. Seriously. I'm feeling stupid for putting off (though there were circumstances, to my credit) reading this for so long, and I finished it in one sitting. Blending her trademark lyrical magical realism style along with a post-apocalyptic setting and a semi-retelling of "The Odyssey", "Love in the Time of Global Warming" is a wonderful book that makes one fight to survive, and to evolve - yet not lose one's heart doing it. I can't recommend this one enough, guys - and yeah, I'm slightly biased because this is my mentor we're talking about, but at the same time, it's definitely one of the best of 2013.Once again, what was very sneakily (and yet masterfully) done by Block was her way to incorporate her own real life issues (google "save the faerie cottage" while you're reading the beginning of the book and the talk of foreclosures) and at the same time make this prose emotionally accessible to all. If you're an American, you know someone who's lost a house, almost lost a house, or suffered in some major way since the start of the Great Recession. This book makes that topic accessible to the YA crowd that's within the marketable age range of the readership, and makes it understandable to all. In "Elementals", it was the topic of her mother's fight (and defeat) with cancer. In "Global Warming", it's the topic of the battle of the banks, which gets mentioned numerous times. I was in her classes during both periods of writing, and I had no idea both were going into both books. So it feels like all of that stress, though painful, really pushed Francesca to grow, to conquer, and like our heroine Pen, not to lose her heart or her power to love while doing it.That being said, Pen is definitely a sympathetic heroine. Sensitive, sexually confused, devastated by the loss of her family, friends, and of her beloved city of Los Angeles (quite possibly the entire country or even the world) to the Earth Shaker, Pen takes quite a few hits, both emotionally and physically in this book. While not as quite as aggressive as Odysseus in "The Odyssey", Pen learns to fight, and she learns how to be a real person again in the face of Kronen's terrible Giants in this wasteland (and all of the land on the path to Las Vegas). What I loved the most about Pen was her fear - her fear of becoming a Giant, of losing herself completely, of losing her new friends/lover completely, of losing her humanity, and of not being able to find her family alive. Though on her journey throughout this book, like "Odyssey", it's one big character development arc for the entire main cast, including Kronen, our biggest antagonist. You see the most development in Pen, though the rest of the main cast does develop a fair amount before our eyes, and that's quite satisfying. The fear kept Pen on her toes, and while that can get tiring (fight or flight responses require a huge amount of energy), the emotional payoff? Absolutely brilliant.The sensory language is of the caliber I've come to expect from Block is still on par with everything I've read from her so far - and if anything, because of this strange new post-apocalyptic landscape, is more heightened than ever. We have double worldbuilding going on - internally (emotionally/within memories) in our main cast, and externally (the actual setting) as well, and that's never easy to do. Block's always been able to do both, as both have almost always existed within her broader bibliography as a whole. So, FLB fans, nothing to worry about there.If you've read more of her work, you'll notice Block's fascination with Giants, mythology, magical realism has reached its height in this semi-retelling of "The Odyssey". In her other books, she's related Giants with fear and anxiety (usually about body image - though in this book there really are giants), of sugary foods as possibly poisonous (in this book they really are poison), and of ecological destruction as a place where we can't come back (that, I can't spoil for you - you'll have to read it for yourself in this book). All of that culminates explosively in this book, and it'll be interesting to see if she continues her pattern of musing on these various repeating subjects in future books. I hope she does.Final verdict? Definitely one of my faves of 2013, "Love in the Time of Global Warming" kicked me in the feels, let me catch my breath, and then kicked me in the feels again. And it's never heart so good. "Global Warming" is out today from Henry Holt/Macmillan Children's in North America, so definitely be sure to check it out when you get the chance!(posted to goodreads, shelfari, librarything, and birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com)

[hrose2931 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow, this is the first apocalyptic fairy tale like book I've ever read. Well, it had fairy tale like aspects. And Greek mythology. And mad scientists. And magic. How about everything but the kitchen sink. Though that was probably in there as well.Pen is the main character, a young girl in high school, wrestling with who she is, a fierce love of her family and her dog, best friend to two girls that she loves dearly, so smart that she reads the encyclopedia for fun. She is like a mother bear protective of her little brother. She wants to protect him from anything that could hurt him in this world, yet she is not a killer, or even someone that could hurt another. She doesn't even kill bugs. She loves art and likens a lot of things she sees to famous artwork that she's seen thanks to her mother taking her and her brother to art galleries. She is special, but doesn't know how special, until she needs it.Venice- Pen's little brother. He has dreams of the world ending and monsters coming for him. He hides from them in his mind. He's smart and tries to be tough, like boys are supposed to be. He is tough. He's special too.Hex- He becomes a sort of leader of Pen's new family when she goes to hunt for her family. He does what must be done. He's a singer, a fighter, a leader and smart.Ezra- Rescued by Pen and Hex. He's a brilliant artist and a mean chef. He provides good company on their journey.Ash- A gifted musician, and very beautiful with dreadlocks and lighter than paper bag skin, another person picked up to join the Odyssey to find Pen's family.Kronnen- The bad guy. Evil genius. Cause of the apocalypse. Don't need much more than that.The World- It starts with "The Earthshaker" and then the wave. The earth suffers several severe earthquakes and then several tidal waves. Pen is saved because she ran back inside holding Argos, the dog, before the wave could claim her. But it got her family and Argos. And the world is silent. For a long time. Her father thought something was going to happen and he stocked up on food and water. She doesn't see anyone else.She's afraid she might be the only one still alive. The air is ashy. There are fires. And the water has risen.Everything is crumbling. It is apocalyptic and unlike most stories, there is no one around to marshal the troops and take charge. There aren't enough people left to marshal. No government in charge. Nothing.The Story- The first half of the story begins with the destruction of the world and Pen looking back on her life with her family and her friends. Then she gets a chance to escape and she goes on an Odyssey like journey. She even picks up a guy, Hex, who reads from the Odyssey. Their "trials" mirror those of Odysseus' on his trip home from Troy. That is to a point. Then, maybe it's my interpretation that I can't see the relevance in the second half, it bears no more resemblance to The Odyssey. Yet, love and hope, almost unbelievable hope lives in Pen's heart and is rewarded for her faith.What I thought-I will say the writing is incredible. I've never read anything by this author but I am truly in awe of her powerful writing. I could feel Pen's feelings as she sat in her pink house near the sea and marked red lines on the wall to count the days since "The Earthshaker". I felt that lonely without Block ever having had to write that word. She showed me lonely. That's a gift. I definitely recommend this novel. I had a good time trying to match the parts of the story to what I knew (not much) of The Odyssey. Is it sad that I know more about The Odyssey from reading MG and YA novels than because I have actually read The Odyssey itself? I have to admit that I felt as if I was reading two different books. The Odyssey part was really working for me. And then I felt like the last part was just rushed and very un- Odyssey like. I thought the formula was working. I liked the ending, but either the book should have been longer and should have followed The Odyssey formula or there should have been a longer second part to the story. The ending just came too quick.But what it all came down to was faith and hope can be found in even the worst of places. So you'll find if you see where Pen (Penelope which was Odysseus' wife's name) finds hope. And faith. Tiniest of places. And now that I think about it, if Pen had had to wait for ten years like Odysseus and his wife and his son did, I wouldn't have liked the ending. So maybe it's good Ms. Block didn't follow that part of the Odyssey.Anyway, I'd recommend this novel to just about anyone. I'd say it hits fantasy, apocalyptic, paranormal, Greek Mythology, family relationships, LGBT, magical realism, romance. Haven't hit your genre? Sorry, then just read it because of the great writing. It isn't contemporary and there aren't issues per se, there's really not enough people left to preach their brand of morality. It's definitely for an older reader as there is some violence, some sexual acts (not gratuitous), and some language.I received an ebook of and Advance Reader's Copy of the novel from the publisher. This did not influence my review. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Homer's Odyssey retold in a post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles setting. I've never been a huge fan of Block's magical realism and stream-of-consciousness narratives but she does have an enviable talent for creating some of the most extraordinarily beautiful imagery.

[clear_tranquil · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is absolutely gorgeous. I loved every single word of it!

[hoorayforreading · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Pen floats around in a dreamlike, post-apocalyptic world. The book has a magical realism quality to it. The character names, such as Argos, Penelope, and Kronen, and the siren are a nod to Homer's Odyssey, but the story doesn't really feel like the Odyssey. The butterflies and the Tibetan goddess, Tara, are enjoyable.

[mamzel_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For such a short book (240 small-sized pages) this book is packed full with magic, genetically modified giants, apocalypse, earthquakes, tsunamis, survival, an evil scientist, Odyssey references, and regular old teenage angst. Pen (Penelope) lost her family in a flood. Lucky her father was farsighted enough to stock the basement with survival necessities. Pen escapes being attacked by marauders with the help of a stranger who gives her his van stocked with supplies and who tells her to go to Las Vegas to look for her mother. Along the way she meets other young people and they form a gang to support each other. They run into giants, a mystical girl by an oasis, and characters straight out of the Odyssey.I found this book very confusing but stayed with it to its end. The similarities to Homer's story were fun and Pen proved to be a strong adventurer unlike her namesake who stayed home waiting for her guy to return.

[krau0098 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I got a copy of this to review through the Amazon Vine program. I have read some books by Block before and she’s been kind of hit or miss for me. I did really enjoy this book. It was beautifully written and very dreamlike with excellent imagery.This book follows Pen in the wake of a post-apocalyptic disaster. As she journeys to find her family she runs into other unlikely characters and realizes her journey through this wasteland is mirroring the story of Homer's Odyssey.This book was written in a somewhat dreamlike quality (that is very typical of this author) and made for a beautiful read. There is a theme of finding love in unlikely places and some magical realism too.Pen is an interesting character. In the beginning, after the disaster she lives in her house alone. She is paralyzed by fear and just hangs out in what is left of her house hoping that some of her family will show up. Then when some guys stop by to loot the house she is faced with a new fear as she hears them talk about how pretty she is and what a prize she would be. Then, through unexpected kindness, Pen is given the chance to flee in a van which she does. From there on out things get pretty strange.From that point on Pen fights biological experiments (giants), meets intriguingly mysterious characters, and is forced to use both her savvy and wits to survive one bizarre experience after another.This world is magical and beautiful and completely unbelievable. This is the type of book that I love, but I think some readers will hate. The scenes are dreamlike, the descriptions are wonderfully detailed and sparkling, and you never know what will happen next. Things don’t necessarily make sense, but they are not supposed to….a lot of what happens here is allegory. Some things are very ambiguous as well.I am not even going to discuss the validity of the reason for the apocalypse that happens in this book. It is silly and magical, beautiful and not at all viable. But as I said that’s not the point here. Block also doesn’t allow herself to be restricted by any type of societal structure or norm. There are many GLBT relationships, scenes with drug use, and a number of other crazy things. The characters find the disaster of love lost to be more devastating than lack of food or drink, that’s just the kind of book this is.Overall I really loved this book. I loved the beautiful writing and the way Block finds beauty in disaster. I loved that this followed the Odyssey (loosely) and that there are many quotes from it throughout. I love the imagery as well and how Block makes the scenes and characters come alive. I love that you can never predict what will happen and that things are magical, fantastic, ambiguous, and completely unbelievable.I would recommend this book to fans of Catherynne Valente’s books; this book has a similar dreamlike and ambiguous quality to it as Valente’s work. I would also recommend to fans of Block’s other novels. This is a beautiful read.

[goorgoahead · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been aware of Francesca Lia Block's writing for a while, and even own at least one of her other books (The Rose and the Beast) but have never actually gotten around to reading anything of hers. I'm kicking myself now, because Love in the Time of Global Warming was a fantastic adventure.

Block has a beautiful, lyrical style of writing which works very well with the half-fantasy, all-apocalyptic world she's created for this book. The plot draws very heavily on the Odyssey, a fact which the characters are well aware of. Pen and her new friends frequently read from a copy of the Odyssey, and in a way use it to inform them on their journey along the way. It sometimes makes the parallels a bit heavy-handed at times, but ultimately I think I liked the meta level of awareness that the characters had. It also makes understanding the book on a deeper level somewhat easier to readers who aren't as familiar with the Odyssey. I remembered the broad strokes of it, but the helpful little reminders in the text made it easier to not miss the point. Overall, I loved the parallels, and spent a lot of time going DANGER DANGER NO DON'T while reading, when it appeared like Pen and company were going to walk straight into a trap.

This book is unlike most other dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels that you've read. Block's writing style makes everything seem somewhat ethereal, like it's all a dream world. Everything felt surreal, in some sort of land just beyond magical realism but not quite full blown fantasy. I think some reviewers didn't necessarily like that -- a look through Goodreads shows that it seems like some people wanted things to be more concrete and fleshed out -- but it really worked for me. Block's writing really created the atmosphere in which this story could thrive and work in remarkable ways. I was reminded a lot of Marcus Sedgwick's Midwinterblood, which had a very unusual voice and tone that made the book really outstanding for me. It may not be to everyone's tastes, but to me, it was magnificent.

Block has created a fantastically diverse cast, in age, race, gender, and sexual orientation. Pen, Hex, Ez, and Ash are all people who were different, who were othered in their lives before the great Earth Shaker, to some extend or another. Some come from abusive backgrounds, some struggle with their sexuality, etc. Even Pen, who seems to have a picture-perfect life with a close, loving family, struggles a bit with who she is. These four find each other at a time when they needed each other the most, and help each other grow and change on their journey. Pen goes from being a fairly scared girl, hiding from the outside world, to someone who will literally fight and bleed for her friends and her family.

I thought this was an outstanding book, though perhaps not to everyone's tastes. It was fairly short and I read it over just a couple of days of commuting to work, so I'd recommend giving it a chance. There are some sexual situations, violence/gore, and cursing, so probably not great for younger teens.

[a_reader_of_fictions · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Let it not be said that I don't read with an open mind. There's a lot of talk on Goodreads and in the book blogging community about "hate reading" and whether or not one should do it. Deciding to read Love in the Time of Global Warming might have seemed a questionable choice, because I absolutely loathed with every fiber of my being the first and only Francesca Lia Block book that I read: Weetzie Bat. However, if I didn't risk possibly hating this one and feeling stupid for wasting my time or being deemed a "hate reader," I wouldn't have gotten to experience this amazing book. Even going into a book fearing the worst, there's a chance that you will be unexpectedly swept off your feet, and I've seen this happen to pretty much every blogger I know. So, surprisingly enough to me and to Bekka of Pretty Deadly Reviews who convinced me to read Love in the Time of Global Warming, I kind of loved this book.My issue with Weetzie Bat was that the book read like I'd been unwilling forced into some sort of drug trip, which is not my thing in the slightest. The book is crazy and the writing annoyed me to no end. Love in the Time of Global Warming is definitely incredibly odd and a little bit crazy, but, for some reason, one I can't really put my finger on except to say that it just sort of comes together perfectly, this one worked for me.The writing, while still more poetic and off the wall then I generally like, is this lyrical prose that fits perfectly with the story. Block makes excellent use of imagery and achieves a style that hearkens back to Homer's Odyssey while still being totally her own, which I really admire, because it's so tough to achieve.What I really love about Love in the Time of Global Warming is that it's this genre mash up of awesomeness. Block blends together mythology, science fiction, post-apocalyptic, and magical realism into a book that should come out an incomprehensible mess, and may for some readers, but combined to be this brilliant, strange utterly unique little book for me.There's this real blend of science fiction/post-apocalyptic with the retelling elements. While some aspects are explained with science, like the giants, others are where the magical realism comes into play, like the lotuses. Personally, I love magical realism and the way that it brought everything together and really made this retelling possible in a world no longer populated by gods and goddesses in our cultural imagination.In no way is Love in the Time of Global Warming a strict retelling, but Block manages to bring in quite a few of the major plot elements, and they're clearly recognizable. Even better, Block doesn't have the tendency to go on and on in endless descriptions like Homer does. Also, Block takes a story that's very patriarchal, with the only women vile seductresses or waiting at home for their men, and makes it an LGBT love story with a heroine, slyly named Penelope in a nod to the one awesome woman in Homer's work, instead of a hero. All of the main characters have LGBT leanings and they're all messed up, but ultimately likable people with more to them than what initially meets the eye. In some ways, the apocalypse is what frees them to be who they are, because the end of the world really puts life into perspective.My only reservations are these: one personal and one more analytical. On a personal note, I didn't feel any real emotional connection, this not being so much a character-driven story. In fact, I'm amazed I liked it so much given that I'm such a character-based reader, however the writing and story really resonated and struck the perfect tone. Analytically, there was a little plot line about Pen's parents that I didn't really think was entirely necessary. I didn't remember this from The Odyssey, but apparently another account (as in not written by Homer), explains this little addition. While I can see why she did that, it felt rather out of place since not much really happened with regards to this small twist.If you appreciate genre-bending novels, particularly those with magical realism, I urge you to give Love in the Time of Global Warming a try. It's a strange, unique book and won't be for everyone, but Francesca Lia Block has woven together something magical here.

[mirandalg14 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a bad combo of you can't put everything into one book and some so-so writing. You can sometimes have one of the two and it will still work, but the two together just drag it down. I had a hard time with the relationships-they seemed really contrived to me and were missing a natural feeling. Overall, not enjoyable for me, and I doubt I will read any more.

[needmoreshelves · Rating: 2 out of 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.

[angelacinva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this fantasy revisiting of The Odyssey in a Post-Apocalyptic Los Angeles! The audio is quite well done, too.

[thebacklistbook · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This one was intriguing enough to keep me reading. that's about it though. I didn't really invest in any of the characters. ultimately won't be continuing with this series.