Green Heart (2012) actually comprises two short novels - Green Angel (2003) and Green Witch (2010). However, I read them both together and as such, shall review them both together too.

Fifteen-year-old Green is orphaned when her family is killed by a fire that devastates the entire city. Green Angel is the story of her coming to terms with her loss in the wake of her ruined home: through the animals she slowly nurses back to health, and the silent Diamond, a mysterious boy who turns up at her door one night, to whom she has given her heart. Green Witch is a story in which Green learns about love, as she waits for her beloved Diamond who has gone to search for his family to come back to her. Along her journey, she encounters a few witches - who turn out to be wise women who have lost much in the fire and have much to teach her about love.

This was truly one of the most beautiful YA novels I've had the pleasure to read in a very, very long time. Hoffman's writing style is lyrical, poetic, and even somewhat haunting. It's the kind of story that slowly meanders it's way through your heart, wending and winding to touch you unexpectedly. Her writing style reminded me a little of Susan Fletcher's Corrag, which I found to be really beautiful too. Granted, this particular type of writing will not be everyone's cup of tea; some may find it too poetic (is there even such a thing??) with a storyline that takes it's time to get anywhere. But me: I liked it that I had the time to savour each sentence and phrase that helped me almost become Green; I liked letting myself be hypnotised by the lyrical language, being led deeper and deeper into her dreamscape of somewhat folk-tale proportions.

If Green Angel is about coping with loss, Green Witch must be about knowing love. These two heavy lessons are subtly woven into the folkloric tale. Overly didactic and preachy it is not though, and Hoffman does a splendid job of handling such deep and profound subject matter in a manner that would make the more discerning teen think deeper past all the angst, and the adult ponder at the (oxymoronically) deeply simplistic essence of these two tough topics.

That's not to say that Hoffman's presentation of loss, love and ultimately, hope, is as straightforward as differentiating black from white, but rather she took me on a lush discovery through Green's eyes, and I learnt as she learnt. I felt that the text was rife with symbolism, each element meaning so much more than what it appears on the surface. For example, each witch that we were introduced to in Green Witch was an embodiment of a certain aspect of love - which made it all the more meaningful to me, since I've witnessed Green's journey of self-discovery and I've been touched too, by the encounter. I'll admit that this book tugged at my heart strings, almost moving me to tears several times with its innocent profundity and sheer loveliness.

The only tiny thing that kept me from rating this book a full 5 out of 5 was the character development of Green. Yes, I enjoyed seeing through her eyes and just being her, spending time in her enchanted, devastated world, so much so that I wished I could have spent more time with her.

This is totally a non-conventional dystopian and coming-of-age piece of literature, but it's an absolute joy to read and I would recommend this book to anyone with a niggling desire to grapple with the tougher things in life and a couple of hours to spare. Also, for anyone who has dreamt and wants to keep dreaming, because I felt like I had just woken up from an achingly lovely dream when I'd gotten to the end of the book.

“I dreamed of vines and grass, apples and emeralds, rain and white night-flowers that bloomed with white centres. I dreamed of everything I’d lost and all that I’d found and everything in between.” - p.111


Next read: The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman

Labels: Book Review, Dystopian, Fantasy, Young Adults

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Many things have caught my fancy in my twenty-four years of life in this world - hydrangea and calla lily posies, tea, blackberries, exploring Azeroth and beyond, and furry sneaky cheeky felines are but some of them. Nothing beats the feeling of being on the cusp of a Great Adventure, nevermind if the actual distance travelled is more like twenty miles rather than a hundred. There is, in my opinion, always more out there to be learnt, and there will never be enough time for me to ever do it all. When I'm not working like the good, obedient, compliant citizen that I am, I may be found with my nose deep in a book, sipping a cup of tea, running around free with some Elves or Worgen, attempting to build my empire and protecting it from the barbaric hordes, or out sourcing for worthy additions to my painstakingly put-together wardrobe. More relevantly to this blog, the literary genres that most captivate me are dystopian, fantasy, historical, post-modern and modern. I may read the occasional crime or realist novel, but I almost never can complete an auto-biography or romance fiction. I am contactable either by leaving a comment on one of my posts, or via email: kelly.ang [AT] gmail Please feel free to leave your own comment in return - I am very nice and would love to hear from fellow book-lovers :)