The Third Angel: A Novel
by Alice Hoffman
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.89 You Save: $23.11 (92%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Third Angel: A Novel
Book Review: A Good Summer Read
Summary: 5 Stars
If I fast-forward 50 or 60 or 100 years, I envision The Third Angel being taught in a literature classroom in which the professor is discussing a literary technique called Hoffmanism, where an author writes her book so that it can be read either front to back or back to front. It is the character Allie in The Third Angel who discusses that she wrote her best-selling children's book, The Heron's Wife, in that way. And it is author Hoffman who so eloquently does it in The Third Angel. Based on the reviews by Amazon readers, I can see that some readers want to relate to the characters, and some readers just read for beautiful prose. The Third Angel delivers on both accounts. I plan to re-read it next summer, only next summer I will read Part III first, then Part II, then Part I.Book Review: BRILLIANT STORY
Summary: 5 Stars
Alice Hoffman is one of the finest writers of these times.Her books have received many awards from magazines and newspapers.
Now, in "The Third Angel" Hoffman writes a very original story that covers the lives of three women who love the wrong men. Maddy Heller is attracdted to her sister's fiance.
Bryn Evans and Frieda Lewis are the other characters in this book who also are involved with the wrong men.
Lucy Green who is at the heart of this story, blames herself for an accident that she witnessed when she was twelve years old. Now she has spent four decades looking for the "third angel" on earth who will renew her faith.
This is a brilliantly written story about unique love.
I enjoyed it very much.
Book Review: This Angel Misfired
Summary: 1 Stars
A man who sleeps with his financee's sister on the eve of their wedding. A drunk, drug addicted would be singer who steals the lyrics of his muse's songs and then marries another. These are the sort of men who populate the three loosely connected novellas that make up this novel. The problem is there is nothing interesting about these guys or the women who love them who are moody, self-centered, beautiful and self-destructive. I didn't care one wit for any of them. What saves this novel somewhat is the last story of a young girl who is unwittingly used to further a love affair and is traumatized by the unexpected events that occur.Book Review: Not the best of Alice, not the worse
Summary: 2 Stars
I was not aware the book was going to have three separate stories. It was difficult for me to transition as I wanted more development in the first one. I enjoyed the second story the most. But I did not finish the last novella. I just lost interest. It is quite disappointing as Alice Hoffman had been one of my favorite writers. I think it was just on too many unsavory characters. By the time I got to the last book, I felt as if they all got what they deserved...heartbreak. I really did not see anyone as the
"third angel". It was a shame, as the book seemed to hold so much promise.
Book Review: Solid Storytelling
Summary: 4 Stars
This novel is actually a collection of three, interrelated, stories told in reverse chronological order. The first third is a complex tale of sibling rivalry, revenge, reconciliation and, ultimately, understanding. The second and third stories in the book are almost a back story explanation of the first. (That is putting it simplistically, but having read the book almost two weeks ago, I can recall in detail the first story and have difficulty recollecting the second two.) The first story is a solid five star effort, the second two probably three and a half stars.