Book Review: House of Dolls by Francesca Lia Block
So, FLB is kinda kooky. Generally good, but kooky. We know this. And for all her Weetzie Bat street cred, she's also written a fairy/satyr-based dating guide, so let's not start handing out free passes just yet.
House of Dolls, an offering for younger readers, is a wispy (about 60 pages of scant text) middle-reader-level story centered on the social and romantic life of several dolls in a rich girl's dollhouse. That girl, Madison Blackberry, acts as a malevolent, capricious god toward the dolls. She never displays any awareness or belief as to their sentience, thus bringing chaos and fear into the dollhouse. It's kinda like the Velveteen Rabbit on Opposite Day.
The dolls, gifted with names like Wildflower, Rockstar, and Miss Selene, mostly endure Blackberry's cruelty and neglect by dressing up, having tea parties, and pursuing genteel courtships with a boy doll called Guy, as well as a stuffed bear. But their lives are disrupted severely when Blackberry plays her draft card, and sends the men off to "war" (which in real life means she shoves them into a shoebox and stuffs it in a closet, Texas-funeral style). The girl dolls must then endure a lonely life on the homefront while confronting some of their darker dreams.
The story also shows some of Blackberry's life in a hard-edged Manhattan penthouse. Various family members display a range of poor relationship skills (mirroring the world of the dollhouse), and it isn't until Blackberry's grandmother, the original owner of the dolls, sets her and her family straight that young Blackberry can stop taking her emo rage out on the dolls, and improves their living conditions like a good god should.
The whole story reads like a fairy tale, complete with fairy tale princess tropes and the frequent use of "explanation by fiat." This should surprise no one, because the emo fairy tale is FLB's signature move. In style, it's actually too similar to Weetzie Bat. Because House of Dolls is intended for younger readers, the story is slightly less dark and definitely less sexualized than most of her work. But the bare-bones style (in keeping with classic FLB writing) doesn't allow for a lot of plot or character development, and this is unfortunate because the subjects FLB addresses will be best understood by a slightly older crowd who might appreciate a bit more meat in their plot (say 6th to 8th graders, or even early high schoolers), but the text seems geared toward younger readers. I just can't picture a reader knocking down something by Gail Carson Levine (also a fairy tale writer for this age group), and then really enjoying House of Dolls. It's like expecting to be satisfied with a few Skittles for dinner when you're used to a solid portion of mac'n'cheese.
It's too bad, because House of Dolls isn't a terrible story. It just feels like it was shoehorned into a format and marketing niche that it wasn't originally intended for. The original hardcover list price was something around $16 (which yes, I realize almost nobody pays). But for that kind of price, I'd want a full collection of stories, not just one. The book does feature illustrations by Barbara McClintock, which may distract from the sparseness of the plot.