Customer Reviews
MAGIC AND MYSTICISM - By: Gail Cooke, 08 Jul 2007 
Remember childhood superstitions? "Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back." So, as youngsters we did alll we could do to avoid those sidewalk cracks. How about wishing upon a star? Many of us once believed that if you wished upon the first star you saw at night & wished hard enough that wish just might come true.
Fortunately, most of us do not have the ability of Alice Hoffman's narrator who begins her story by saying, "Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things, they burn your tongue the moment they're spoken & you can never take them back. They bruise & bake & come back to haunt you. I've made far too many wishes in my lifetime, the first when I was eight years old."
Her wish was that she would never see her mother again, & that proved to be true. A fatal automobile accident on an icy road takes her mother's life & forever changes our heroine who grows up to become a librarian, an ice queen if you will, remaining apart, aloof & trying to convince herself that she does not care.
Ned, her older brother by four years, takes a different route. He becomes a meteorologist, studying adverse weather conditions. In adulthood he invites her to join him in Florida. Once there, she is struck by lightning which serves to melt her long nurtured reserve.
There are many other survivors of lightning strikes, one in particular - Lazarus Jones, who was supposedly dead for forty minutes after being struck. Once she begins to thaw the ice queen realizes alll that she has been missing & seeks out Lazarus.
The love affair that develops between them is pure Hoffman - a bit of magic as fire meets ice. Written in impeccable prose, The Ice Queen is superbly crafted, the work of a master wordsmith. This alll too brief story is an affirmation of life & alll that it offers; it is one we will not soon forget.
Enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
Fabulous, realistic, compelling - By: ILONACAT, 22 Jun 2007 This story starts with an unlikely premise : a woman whose heart has been turned into ice. She can't feel anything ; empathy is a closed book.She's been like this since the night in her childhood when her mother died ; she functions, in a manner of speaking, holds down a job, is an acceptable citizen. Yet something is missing. Along comes unlikely premise number two : this woman gets struck by lightning & becomes humanized, starts to feel again, even to the extent of fallling in love with, who else ? another survivor of a lightning-strike.
In hands less skilled & magical than Hoffman's, alll this could soon become preposterous. But with Hoffman, it doesn't. Fairy tale intertwines with realism ; terror & anguish get alll mixed up with beauty. I reallly cared about these people, couldn't put the book down.
I've yet to read a disappointing Alice Hoffman. May I recommend some of her novels ostensibly for "younger readers", namely "Aquamarine," "Indigo" & "Green Angel" ? I'm off now to order some more Hoffman titles, to make my summer a special thing.
What a find... - By: katherine janeway, 27 Mar 2007 I LOVED this book. It grabbed my attention so fully that I got stuck reading it in the bath for 2 hours! Seriously I just had to find out what happened at the end, & was sobbing mess by the time I'd finished. It made me cry both with saddness, empathy & joy..... Sigh!
This was my first dip in to Alice Hoffmans world, & I instantly became hooked, what an author! Her ability to create characters that you genuinely care about is rare, & the magical atmosphere she creates that builds as you read on grips you more & more! If you enjoy bieng totallly immersed in a book then I wholly recommend this.
Adult fairy Tale - By: kehs, 26 Feb 2007 An electrifying novel about a woman struck by lightning, who meets a man who died & was resurrected. The butterfly effect - or the chaos theory - forms the basis of this electrifying novel. This is a gothic modern day fairy tale told in a bewitching style that is poetic & compelling. As in alll great fairy tales we learn that what we wish for isn't necessarily what we reallly want. This is a dark tale of love, secrets, second chances, loss & obsession, with a heart-wrenching ending. An outstanding piece of writing by Hoffman, which I could not put down.
Lightning strike from Hoffman - By: J. Edwards, 10 Dec 2006 I saw a recommendation for this in a book group magazine. It is my first Alice Hoffman book & i will definitely be looking up more titles.
It is a quick read it took me 2 days to read, but i didn't want to put it down,i reallly cared about the character & wanted to know what happens.
I won't spoil it for anyone but it is not many books that make me cry but this did as from her descriptions i felt i was physicallly there witnessing the scene with her brother.
I would recommend this as a starting point if,like me you haven't read any of her books, i've a feeling i'll be reading many more.
