The Ice Queen - Alice Hoffman

Rating: 4 1/2

"Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back. They bruise and bake and come back to haunt you. I've made far too many wishes in my lifetime, the first when I was eight years old. Not the sort of wish for ice cream or a party dress or long blond hair; no. The other sort, the kind that rattles your bones, then sits in the back of your throat, a greedy red toad that chokes you until you say it aloud. The kind that could change your life in an instant, before you have time to wish you could take it back."

This is the story of a girl who makes a wish, one that leaves her devastated with loss. She grows up with a heart of ice, her life cold and unfeeling, until one day she stands by her kitchen window and is struck by lightning. She survives, but is forever changed, and not just because of the injuries caused by the strike, her irregular heartbeat, headaches, her loss of the colour red. A series of events and meetings are set in motion until she finally meets Lazarus Jones, her opposite, a man whose very touch scorches, the fire to her ice. Through their passion they learn each other's secrets, the very truths behind their desires, and their hopes for a second chance.

Alice Hoffman's protagonist is unnamed. As if naming her would give her something, some tangible quality that the reader would recognise. Instead, she represents desire, all the wishes we could ever make, however ill- or well-meaning, and their potential consequences. She represents the search for love, the search for happiness, and ultimately hope. Her story is moving, precisely because of her coldness, because she cannot feel. This ice is certainly why I was drawn to her. This need for something just out of her reach. Something intangible. Something I really cannot express in words.

I loved the references to Grimms' fairy tales throughout the story. Perhaps Hoffman's Ice Queen sees her own life as one of these dark, atmospheric tales, and inevitably sees her own unhappy ending. A very modern take on Hans Christian Anderson's Ice Queen, with an interesting segue into the world of lightening strikes and survivors. A great deal of food for thought.

When reading reviews of this book, I found that "haunting" was often the word used to describe it. Haunting...certainly a word to use for this gorgeous novel. A story of friendship and family, of heartbreak and hope, of love and loss. The Ice Queen is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time, and only my second of Hoffman's work. I shall definitely be seeking more of her evocative style of writing. And the butterflies...again I don't have the words!

A heartbreakingly beautiful fairy tale for adults.

Other blog reviews:
Nymeth @ things mean a lot
Naida @ the bookworm
Rhinoa's Ramblings