<![CDATA[The Ice Queen]]>

false <![CDATA[The Ice Queen]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172449324m/177515.jpg 177515 16 A solitary New Jersey librarian whose favorite book is a guide to suicide methods is struck by lightning in Alice Hoffman's superb novel, The Ice Queen. Orphaned at the age of eight after angrily wishing she would never see her mother again, our heroine found herself frozen emotionally: "I was the child who stomped her feet and made a single wish and in so doing ended the whole world -- my world, at any rate." Her brother Ned solved the pain of their mother's death by becoming a meteorologist: applying reason and logic to bad weather. Eventually, he invites our heroine to move down to Florida, where he teaches at a university. Here, while trying to swat a fly, she is struck by lightning (the resulting neurological damage includes an inability to see the color red). Orlon County turns out to receive two thirds of all the lightning strikes in Florida each year, and our heroine soon becomes drawn into the mysteries of lightning: the withering of trees and landscape near a strike, the medical traumas and odd new abilities of victims, the myths of renewal. Although a recluse, she becomes fascinated by a legendary local farmer nicknamed Lazarus Jones, said to have beaten death after a lightning strike: to have seen the other side and come back. The burning match to her cool reserve -- her personal unguided tour through Hades -- Lazarus will prove to be the talisman that restores her to girlhood innocence and possibility. Hoffman's story advances with a feline economy of language and movement -- not a word spared for the color of the sky, unless the color of the sky factors into the narrative. Among the authors who have played with the fairy tale's harsh mercies (e.g. Margaret Atwood, Angela Carter), Hoffman has the closest understanding of the primal fears that drive the genre, and why, perhaps, we never outgrow fairy stories, but only learn to substitute dull, wholesome qualities like personal initiative or good timing for the elements that raise the hairs on our neck and send us scrambling for the light switch. --Regina Marler 4030673 2005 The Ice Queen total:2626|5:371|4:852|3:970|2:352|1:81| 2626 8958 3602 415 1 2 false false Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 07 09:57:51 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 11 18:05:12 -0700 2008
This book. It was never ending! The style of the writing was dull. Yes, some of it did have a poetic twist about it, but really? It was depressing. That's pretty much all that can be said for it - the author can force the reader into depression. When I read the main characte...more...]]> 4 2 false false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri May 11 12:16:37 -0700 2007 Thu May 17 13:38:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false true Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jan 09 05:39:08 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 02:31:47 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 06:10:14 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 09 01:04:13 -0700 2007
This story opens with a selfish...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Feb 22 04:17:10 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 22 04:18:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jan 13 12:55:30 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 13:06:00 -0800 2009
(p. 79) "But those roses sent by Lazarus Jones were so sharp a person could cut herself and draw blood...more...]]> 1 0 false true Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 27 05:39:41 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 07:11:54 -0800 2008 1
The main character is a bitter and twisted librarian. She has go...more...]]> 2 0 false true Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Nov 08 18:05:09 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 08 18:05:09 -0800 2009
The ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 29 06:38:07 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 06:38:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false true Mon Oct 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 03:50:56 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 04:15:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 09:57:15 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 09:57:50 -0700 2009 I just read this really great book by Alice Hoffman. It's titled The Ice Queen.

From the get-go I was hooked. Hoffman has the knack for creating a narrative that is compelling. The main character, who remains nameless through the whole book, is a woman obsessed with death. As a youn...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Aug 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 08:37:57 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 10:47:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jul 17 10:04:52 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 17 10:05:15 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Nov 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 21 23:29:16 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 10:23:50 -0800 2009 2 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:33:06 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:33:06 -0800 2009 A few critics enjoyed Hoffman's foray into the fairy tale genre, calling it a stunning feat of storytelling that breathes new life into the fable's ancient themes of reward and retribution. But others concluded that Hoffman (Blackbird House **** Nov/Dec 2004) strayed too far "into the woods"...

more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 10:22:02 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 10:34:56 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Sep 23 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Mar 22 11:07:27 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 17:49:05 -0700 2009
From dust jacket:

"Be careful what you wish for. A woman who was touched by tragedy as a child now lives a qu...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 23 00:45:21 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 12:44:29 -0800 2009
Well, sure, it's ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jan 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 09:54:05 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 09:59:11 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Jul 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 23:41:55 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 16 18:13:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=177515