Published: May 1st 2004 by Scholastic
Source: Library
Grade rate: A
Left on her own when her family is lost in a terrible disaster, fifteen-year-old Green is haunted by loss and by the past. Struggling to survive physically and emotionally in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden. But in destroying her feelings, she also begins to destroy herself, erasing the girl she’d once been as she inks ravens and bats into her skin. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters with a ghostly white dog and a mute boy that Green relearns the lesson of love and begins to heal as she tells her own story.
My Review
Green Angel is the first book by Alice Hoffman that I have ever read and I regret not finding her sooner. This short little book is, in short, a gem.
When Green loses her family, she loses herself as well. Her sister Aurora and Green are opposites in everything and they both seem to almost have mystical powers. As the land heals itself, Green is slowly healed by the power of love, friendship, and duty. She has the help of a neighbor, a few animals, and of Diamond, a young man in search for his family. The book is about re-discovery, renewal, growth and grief.
The plot is beautiful in both its simplicity and in the way it’s carried out. Alice Hoffman is a masterful writer that knows how to build lovely sentences that entices the reader to feel. I will certainly pick more of her books as soon as I have the chance.
Green Angel is a short, striking and poignant book that I really enjoyed and I plan to go to the library soon and pick up Green Witch its sequel.
About the cover: I love the cover, the birds, the roses, the books, everything in it represented in the book itself.
Alice Hoffman uses a fluid like prose that is both easy and enjoyable to read. This is a story of a girl which finds her world in shambles. Along the way she begins to become sort of a darker character, until in the end she begins to find that her true self can not be hidden.
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