Hachette Audible Audio, 2005
5 unabridged cds
6 hrs.
224 pgs.
Rating: 4
Publisher Weekly starred review
1st line: Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact."
Setting: a Florida college town, present
One-sentence summary: A woman who has led a self-imposed solitary, invisible life (an "ice queen"), gets struck by lightning, which leads to her allowing herself to slowly melt.
Wow. Incredible writing. The first half - at least - was terribly depressing. But mesmerizing, I couldn't stop listening. Then, the second half. Still beautifully written, sad, depressing, but mesmerizing. Nancy Travis was an exceptional reader for this book. What a picture these eloquent words painted.
Our unnamed protagonist, ever since making a child's self-absorbed wish when she was eight and then feeling it tragically came true, has become a self-made ice queen. She is unhappy, makes crazy-wrong choices, and seems to stumble through an uninteresting life. After any years as a librarian in a small New Jersey town, she moves to Florida to be near her brother, Ned, and his wife Nina.
And then she is struck by lightning. She loses the color red. She hears constant clicking in her head. She has to reteach her left side to move correctly. And she becomes even more entranced with death. She seeks Lazarus Jones, a man who was said to have been struck by lightning, died for 45 minutes, and then "come back."
So much happens in this somewhat short book. Sometimes our protagonist (I can't really believe that we never learn her name!) drives me crazy. She is self-absorbed and single-minded about it. The people she meets, pushes away, befriends, and loves without realizing she is loving, are well-flushed out and enticingly interesting. Her brother Ned and his wife, Nina. Her friend, Renny. Her New Jersey cop lover and her Florida orange-grower, lightning-survivor lover... even her cat, Giselle. Interesting twists and turns, paths and fairy tales, butterflies and rain, fire and ice.
No comments:
Post a Comment