Green Angel is a brief, haunting, modern fairy tale by prolific novelist Alice Hoffman. The protagonist, Green, lives with her parents and younger sister on a farm outside an unnamed city where they sell their produce. Always considered the quiet one with the knack for gardening, Green is left behind to tend the crops on one trip. Resentful, Green climbs the hill on the farm overlooking the city and witnesses its catastrophic destruction by a mysterious fire bombing.
In what follows, Hoffman illustrates the process of dealing with trauma and grief through the mind of a terrified, lonely 15-year old girl. Each day Green loses herself more in the armor she literally and figuratively builds around person while discovering a valuable talent for survival that helps keep her and those around her alive.
It's been a long time since I've read a book through in one sitting, and I so relished devouring this one. It's a gem of a book, and a powerful parable on the humanity of grief. I can't wait to read the sequel Green Witch.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Shiver
Shiver, a novel by Maggie Stiefvater, reminded me once again that you can’t judge a book by its cover, especially in recent times as publishers have ventured into more sophisticated covers for all manner of young adult books. In the case of Shiver, once glance at the artsy, bi-tonal print on the jacket and I assumed it was a more contemporary, realistic novel. Color me surprised to find it was in fact a werewolf novel, very much in the style of the Twilight series.
Grace has been fascinated by the wolves who live in the woods behind her house ever since being attacked by them as a girl. She feels a particularly strong bond with the strange, yellow-eyed wolf who comes close to her each winter and seems to communicate with his sad stare. When the popular son of a big-wig lawyer is killed by the pack the townspeople rally to take the pack out. Grace cannot help but run to her wolf’s rescue, but in saving him she learns his secret. Enter the desperate, angsty love story, ala Twilight, only this love story’s tension comes not from the “will he or won’t he kill her” question but the “will he or won’t he turn back and leave her forever” question. While some of the story feels a little clichéd and overdramatic, fans of paranormal romance will like the balanced storytelling technique where we get both and Grace and Sam’s perspectives (sort of like Meyer’s Breaking Dawn only more effective, in my opinion). I also thought Stiefvater’s more lyric writing compared favorably to Meyer, though the love story didn’t feel quite so epic to me. However, whether you’re Team Jacob or Team Edward, you’ll definitely want to dive into this tale of werewolf love to see if wolf love can conquer all.
Grace has been fascinated by the wolves who live in the woods behind her house ever since being attacked by them as a girl. She feels a particularly strong bond with the strange, yellow-eyed wolf who comes close to her each winter and seems to communicate with his sad stare. When the popular son of a big-wig lawyer is killed by the pack the townspeople rally to take the pack out. Grace cannot help but run to her wolf’s rescue, but in saving him she learns his secret. Enter the desperate, angsty love story, ala Twilight, only this love story’s tension comes not from the “will he or won’t he kill her” question but the “will he or won’t he turn back and leave her forever” question. While some of the story feels a little clichéd and overdramatic, fans of paranormal romance will like the balanced storytelling technique where we get both and Grace and Sam’s perspectives (sort of like Meyer’s Breaking Dawn only more effective, in my opinion). I also thought Stiefvater’s more lyric writing compared favorably to Meyer, though the love story didn’t feel quite so epic to me. However, whether you’re Team Jacob or Team Edward, you’ll definitely want to dive into this tale of werewolf love to see if wolf love can conquer all.
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