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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the first Alice Hoffman novel I have read, having chosen it at random at the Airport. It gripped me from the first page. It describes a journey from childhood thoughtlessness to extreme loneliness and isolation as an adult. It creates a character we can believe (and sometimes empathise with). To survive, she denies all feelings towards both her fellow man and animals. But in the end she is 'rescued' through helping another - and through learning that love "changed your whole world. Even when you didn't want it to." This book is great. Read it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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 and becomes humanized, starts to feel again, even to the extent of falling in love with, who else ? another survivor of a lightning-strike.
In hands less skilled and magical than Hoffman's, all this could soon become preposterous. But with Hoffman, it doesn't. Fairy tale intertwines with realism ; terror and anguish get all mixed up with beauty. I really 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" and "Green Angel" ? I'm off now to order some more Hoffman titles, to make my summer a special thing.
In hands less skilled and magical than Hoffman's, all this could soon become preposterous. But with Hoffman, it doesn't. Fairy tale intertwines with realism ; terror and anguish get all mixed up with beauty. I really 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" and "Green Angel" ? I'm off now to order some more Hoffman titles, to make my summer a special thing.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the first book by Alice Hoffman that I have read. Perhaps I was drawn to it because I have always enjoyed fairy-tales, and this seemed to be one for adults; maybe I was drawn to it because, after a failed love affair, I wanted to try and discover something about that elusive element in my life. Having now finished the book, I remain touched by it.
The story is about a young girl, the narrator, who makes a wish one winter night when she is angry at her mother. That wish, she feels, is the reason why her mother suffers a tragic accident and dies. She is the Ice Queen - she has a splinter of ice in her heart; death becomes an interest, bordering on obsession. Then, one day, this Ice Queen is standing by her window when she is struck by lightening. She is not killed but suffers side effects - her left side is paralysed and she loses the ability to see the colour red. But it is this experience which brings her into contact with another survivor, Lazarus Jones, a man who is her opposite; instead of ice he seems to be amde if fire. They meet and start a passionate love affair - an affair which has to be conducted carefully, else he burn her. But as their relationship develops, she discovers that just as she has her secrets, so too does Lazarus. The question behind the story is, do these secrets define them, or are people more than just the secrets they possess?
I think because of the very nature of this book, it is not surprising that it is not full of laughs out loud - there are moments which are deeply painful to read. However, there are moments in the book which reach out and touch your heart. The reason why I think it has stayed with me, and probably shall for a while, is that Hoffman's writing is very powerful. While I was niave to think I could come to this book and find all the answers to the suffering that is sometimes called love, she does write quite profoundly. Real life is never like the fairy-tales we all grew up with; the happily ever after where they end fails to see that this is often just the beginning of a love story. Hoffman also shows that sometimes reality and fantasy can mix or become entangled, life is rarely clear cut. Perhaps that is why people love fsiry-tales so much, because they touch or world and our lives more than we truly realise. . .
I would recommend this book - just not directly after a break up of a relationship, perhaps!
The story is about a young girl, the narrator, who makes a wish one winter night when she is angry at her mother. That wish, she feels, is the reason why her mother suffers a tragic accident and dies. She is the Ice Queen - she has a splinter of ice in her heart; death becomes an interest, bordering on obsession. Then, one day, this Ice Queen is standing by her window when she is struck by lightening. She is not killed but suffers side effects - her left side is paralysed and she loses the ability to see the colour red. But it is this experience which brings her into contact with another survivor, Lazarus Jones, a man who is her opposite; instead of ice he seems to be amde if fire. They meet and start a passionate love affair - an affair which has to be conducted carefully, else he burn her. But as their relationship develops, she discovers that just as she has her secrets, so too does Lazarus. The question behind the story is, do these secrets define them, or are people more than just the secrets they possess?
I think because of the very nature of this book, it is not surprising that it is not full of laughs out loud - there are moments which are deeply painful to read. However, there are moments in the book which reach out and touch your heart. The reason why I think it has stayed with me, and probably shall for a while, is that Hoffman's writing is very powerful. While I was niave to think I could come to this book and find all the answers to the suffering that is sometimes called love, she does write quite profoundly. Real life is never like the fairy-tales we all grew up with; the happily ever after where they end fails to see that this is often just the beginning of a love story. Hoffman also shows that sometimes reality and fantasy can mix or become entangled, life is rarely clear cut. Perhaps that is why people love fsiry-tales so much, because they touch or world and our lives more than we truly realise. . .
I would recommend this book - just not directly after a break up of a relationship, perhaps!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Strange Ethereal Story full of wimsical musings.
I read the reviews for this book and couldn't wait to read it. I had just finished a really good series and was at a loss what to read next so anticipated The Ice Queen would fill... Read more
Published 9 months ago by ScarlettWebb
poor style
I feel I must've read a different book from most of the reviewers here. Got about 30 pages in and gave up. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Err Wells
A wonderfully lyrical, dark and fantastical read
It was the cover that drew me to this book, and I'm so glad it did. From the very first page I was hooked in my Hoffman's eloquent style and story-telling ability. Read more
Published 17 months ago by D Kurtagic
A fairy tale
I am a big fan of Alice Hoffman's books. I have read almost every one of them.
I really liked "The Ice Queen", but it is not my favourite by her. Read more
I really liked "The Ice Queen", but it is not my favourite by her. Read more
Published on 3 Aug 2009 by Ingrid
Hope in HeartBreak
With "The Ice Queen" I felt I got my money's worth because of three main aspects: stunning imagery, not a wasted word & an original story. Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2009 by Sara
"Be careful what you wish for" ...
... so starts this unputdownable book. A quirky modern fairy tale taking its inspiration from the Brothers Grimm. Read more
Published on 31 Dec 2008 by Annabel Gaskell
A magical and haunting modern fairytale
This is a captivating modern fairytale about one woman's journey through tragedy and pain, towards truth, freedom and happiness. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2008 by Miss E. Potten
MAGIC AND MYSTICISM
Remember childhood superstitions? "Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back." So, as youngsters we did all we could do to avoid those sidewalk cracks. Read more
Published on 8 July 2007 by Gail Cooke
What a find...
I LOVED this book. It grabbed my attention so fully that I got stuck reading it in the bath for 2 hours! Read more
Published on 27 Mar 2007 by katherine janeway
Adult fairy Tale
An electrifying novel about a woman struck by lightning, who meets a man who died and was resurrected. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2007 by kehs
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