Customer Reviews

The Third Angel: A Novel

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This book can break your heart. Alice Hoffman writes with delicacy and compassion about life and death, about loving someone with such desperation that nothing else matters. She writes about how people must forgive themselves.

The three chapters in this book are set in different times, and have different characters. The stories, all centered in London, move back in time from 1999 to 1966 to 1952. All three are interconnected, and it's not until the end that the whole picture becomes clear. All involve hopeless, betrayed love.

In the first, "The Heron's Wife," a young woman has an affair with her sister's fiancé. "Lion Park" is about a young woman seduced by a drug-addicted rock musician. "The Rules of Love" involves a precocious 12-year-old girl who innocently causes the violent death to two people in a lover's triangle.

Many themes weave throughout the book -- love, weddings, abandonment, birds, rabbits, the power of the written word... and in the end, atonement.

An extraordinary doctor explains about the Third Angel. There is the Angel of Life and the Angel of Death, neither of which can be controlled. The Third Angel, however, walks among us. He's the angel that makes mistakes. Like all of us, he sometimes needs rescuing.

Alice Hoffman's latest novel THE THIRD ANGEL consists of three stories connected by the same characters and places over different periods of time, beginning with the most recent events and going backward: I, "The Heron's Wife," 1999; II, "Lion Park," 1966 and III, "The Rules of Love," 1952. The stories also hang together because the same themes run through each of them. Who is better to say what Ms. Hoffman writes about than the author, herself? In a recent reading, she told the audience that her books are always about love and loss. In "The Heron's Wife," Maddy falls in love-- she thinks-- with her sister's fiance Paul, when she goes to London for her sister Allie's wedding. In "Lion Park"-- the name of a hotel in London where much of the action takes place over the years-- Frieda, who later becomes the mother of Paul, falls for a rock star addicted to hard drugs although he is in love with someone else. Finally in "The Rules of Love" the twelve-year-old Lucy (later the mother of Maddy and Allie) gets caught up in a tragedy where another character is in love with a women who marries someone else.

Ms. Hoffman's characters in this novel fall in love with the wrong person, or with the right person but too early or too late. Then they may settle-- in the case of Frieda-- for a "nice man." Although love may be simple, it is not rational. The author also writes about the love of parents for children. As one character puts it: "You won't believe how much you'll love your child." Even though Hoffman's complex characters are flawed, seldom turning out the way their parents had hoped they would (sound familiar?), and may do bad acts, betraying those they love, they also often have redeeming qualities as well. They mend their broken lives and sometimes become that third angel, described so beautifully by Frieda's doctor father whom she remembers as a "very serious, lovely, practical man." In addition to the Angel of Life or the Angel of Death, one of whom would ride with him in the back of his car when he made house calls, there was the mysterious Third Angel: "'You can't even tell if he's an angel or not. You think you're doing him a kindness, you think you're the one taking care of him, while all the while, he's the one who's saving your life.'" He walks among us.

Ms. Hoffman is so good at creating events that remind us that, yes, this is just the way it is or the way a similar event in our own lives affected us: for example, the sudden shock and suffocating loneliness of learning that a person-- perhaps an old friend we have lost contact with or someone we once cared about deeply-- whom we thought was alive has been dead for months or even years. She writes as eloquently and movingly about death as anyone I can think of-- passages from Thomas Wolfe's LOOK HOMEWARD ANGEL and Alan Gurganus' PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS come to mind; and her writing is filled with a magic-- i.e., blue herons and white rabbits-- worthy of the best of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Although Ms. Hoffman's prose has not one unnecessary word or phrase, it is beautifully descriptive and often poetic. Consider this: "It was that silver-colored time between night and morning, when the sky is still dark, but lights are flicking on all over the city. It was quiet, the way it is in winter when snow first begins to fall."

If you are not careful, you will be undone by this novel for it gives a poignant picture of what it means to be human.

I have read all of Alice Hoffman's books and absolutely love her style. She seems to have a deep connection with the spiritual and is able to bring it off the page and into your heart. I found this book gripping and often hard to put down, however, it was a bit confusing with it going backwards. I think I would have appreciated it more if it was written in reverse order. I did love the explanation of the Angel of Life and the Angel of Death along with the "Third Angel" that walks among us. I found the three different (yet the same) story lines to be interesting and captivating. Ms. Hoffman was able to show us the humanity of the doctor in both the positive and negative. All in all I really enjoyed the book but I gave it three stars because I found the backward style confusing for me. It appears that most others did not, so perhaps it's just me.

I've given this book 4 stars for the beauty of the prose but must confess that I prefer, these days, to read books which uplift me and make me feel happy, rather than near perfect works which leave me feeling sad and hollow inside. There are three stories which interconnect through their characters and run backwards from 1999 to the 50's. The main theme is unrequited love and it all left me feeling miserable and empty. As good as this book undoubtedly is, I felt like reaching for the anti depressants after it ended.

"The doctor believed there were three angels," Alice Hoffman wrote in her 2008 novel The Third Angel, "The Angel of Life, who rode along with them most nights. The Angel of Death, who appeared wearing his funeral clothes on those visits when there was no hope. And then there was the Third Angel. The one who walked among us, who sometimes lay sick in bed, begging for human compassion." Hoffman's novel magically intertwines the stories of three women and their life's quests for faith, love, acceptance, and meaning.

We are first introduced to Maddy Heller, an American lawyer in London for her sister Allie's wedding to Paul in 1999. The themes of Maddy's life are misguided love, jealousy, and faith. Maddy is a very lonely, insecure woman who is desperately jealous of her sister. She never feels satisfied with her life. Maddy resents her father for leaving them when she was a child, her mother for loving her sister more than herself, and her sister for being "perfect." She falls in love with a man whom she knows does not love her back. She longs for him to call her, all the while professing that she has no faith in love or marriage. She has spent her life searching for something to believe in. A bundle of contradictions and raw emotion, Maddy is a realistic, complicated, and memorable character.

The second portion of the book deals with the story of Frieda Lewis, the mother of Paul. Frieda was present in the first chapter, but it is here that her character truly unfolds. Her story takes place in 1966 London. Frieda is the intelligent daughter of a country doctor who moves to London in search for something spectacular. She works at the Lion Park Hotel as a maid and falls for an up-and-coming rock star, Jamie. In the end, Frieda married another man because he was appropriate, and Jamie was killed in an accident. She wrote the songs that made Jamie famous, yet she is still alive and with her infant son because he rejected her. "[The Third Angel]'s the most curious," Hoffman writes, "You can't even tell if he's an angel or not. You think you're doing him a kindness, you think you're the one taking care of him, while all the while, he's the one who's saving your life."

The final portion ties the stories together flawlessly. It is the story of Lucy Green, the mother of Maddy and Allie Heller. The story takes place in 1952, when Lucy (a twelve-year-old) joins her father and step-mother in London to attend a wedding. She befriends a man named Michael Macklin at the Lion Park Hotel. He is the only adult who takes the time to talk to and understand the child. The reader will recognize his name from the two previous stories. In Lucy, we find the concepts of the need for acceptance and love, the desire to be heard, and uncontrollable grief for something you believe is your fault.

The themes of love and marriage run through all three story lines. But Hoffman does not romanticize them in the least. "There was good love, and there was bad love," she wrote. "There was the kind that helped raise a person above her failings and there was the desperate sort that struck when someone least expected it." Her concept of marriage is of a failed institution that does not necessarily work and certainly isn't "happily ever after."

Another important element in the novel is faith. All three main characters are searching for something to believe in.

The Third Angel is an excellent book with the power to break your heart and make you look into your own soul as it delves deeply into human nature and motivations. Alice Hoffman's novel is meticulously detailed and flows smoothly. Her characters are deep, believable, and so human. I enjoyed this book immensely. This was the first of Hoffman's novels that I have read, and from this experience I wouldn't hesitate to buy her books again.

by Jennifer Melville

for Story Circle Book Reviews

reviewing books by, for, and about women

I have been a lover of Alice Hoffman books for years and so when my semester ended for the summer (I'm 57 and have gone back to school) I went to the library and got two of hers so I could indulge myself in some non school reading. I am so disappointed, this book wasn't just boring, I hated it, I hated the characters, mostly, except Lucy. It was soooo depressing, so so so depressing. What was the point, I'd like to know. I don't get it. In my way is this book come anywhere close to being up to par for Hoffman. What a waste of time, both mine and hers.

This book was quite a disappointment. Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors and I expected a lot from this book, as I do of all her books. But right from the first page I knew there was trouble. I didn't like the voice of the first main character, Maddy. And as I learned more about Maddy (we do learn a little bit), the less I liked her character. I found her to be shallow, jealous, self-centered and very annoying. And what she does is despicable.

The book is sectioned into 3 parts focusing on 3 different women at 3 different times. You learn that all the women are interrelated in some way. Each section could be a novel on it's own, and probably should have been. I felt that Hoffman didn't develop any of her characters. She left them flat and in the cases of Maddy and Frieda, downright unlikeable. The only character I felt she did justice with was Lucy and unfortunately hers is the last section of the novel. All the stories are left wanting more. None come to any kind of satisfactory resolution.

And then there was the story of the Heron and the story of the Third Angel. These stories, meant to reflect in the characters, felt forced. Like an amateur writer trying to make her book 'deep' with metaphor. But Hoffman is no amateur writer so these stories just fell flat and adding nothing to the scope of the novel. Especially the heron story.

I know this is not how you are supposed to read a book, but if you want to get the most of this one, read it backwards: Lucy's section first, then Frieda, then Maddy. Or if you are a glutton for punishment, read it normally and then read it a second time. I really disliked the book so there is no way I am re-reading it.

If you are a Hoffman fan, skip this one. I wish I had.

Sometimes I think the whole concept of language and storytelling have spent centuries waiting around for Ann Hoffman to come along and use them. She is certainly one of the best wordsmiths the English Language has ever produced, one of the best storytellers too and she's at the top of her game with this one.

The Third Angel is three novellas which work backward in time, telling the story about interconnecting characters and a ghost. What happened back in 1952 affects what happens in 1966 and 1999. We get the last story first and the first story last.

The story opens with American Attorney Maddie Heller arriving at the Lion Park Hotel in London. Her sister Allie is getting married and her husband to be Paul who is ill. However, that doesn't stop Maddie from sleeping with him. Maddie is the bad sister. Children's author Allie is the good. The ghost in room 707, well he's just the ghost. In Maddie's defense, if there can be any defense for a woman who sleeps with her sister's intended, is that she's in love him. It's tragic for Maddie, what she has done can ruin her sister's life. Will it?

Maddie's story finished we move back to 1966 and Ms. Hoffman captures the time beautifully. She captures the story of Paul's mother Frieda beautifully as well. Frieda is an over educated maid in the Lion Park Hotel and she's besotted with a wannabe Jim Morrison type and she has his child and names him Paul, who will eventually grow up, get sick and marry Maddie's sister Alley. Again Ms. Hoffman has given us characters so true that they'll be in your head long after your reading of this book is done. She's done the ghost justice too.

Frieda's story finished, we move still backward in time to 1952 and join twelve-year-old Lucy, who will later in life give birth to Allie and Maddie. Her father and stepmother bring her across the ocean to London as they are going to the wedding of stepmom's sister Bryn who still has a thing for her ex-husband Michael, who is not the guy she's supposed to be marrying. Lucy carries messages back and forth between Michael and Bryn and it's because, whoops, better stop right here, but needless to say the ghost might not be a ghost yet. You'll have to get this book to find out more, but it'll be a good investment.

Ann Hoffman's characters, her ghost, her three angels, the rabbet who lives in the hotel and the city of London all invite you to crack open the pages of the best book you'll read this year.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Unrequited love and betrayal interlaces its way though Alice Hoffman's three-pronged contemporary ghost story. The Third Angel is about how life and death - and that shady place in between - can affect three people in remarkably different ways. A literal smorgasbord of finally wrought observations, Hoffman's characters are linked to the Lion Park Hotel in Knightsbridge, an argument in Room 707, and the shocking ramifications of an affair that went horribly wrong.

The book begins as Maddie grudgingly arrives in London from New York to attend to her sister, Allie's wedding. Recently the two sisters have grown apart, with Maddie quite dismissive of Allie's too-handsome fiancé Paul Lewis, surprised that her sister, usually so practical and smart had fallen for such a vacuous man like him. But attraction of course is a very strange thing; indeed it has a life of its own. When one night at dinner, Maddie looks over at Paul, she feels something go through her and there's a moment of doubt, the thud of the pulse, "the quick image of the disaster to come."

Maddie views heartbreak is a game and nothing more, a little flirting behind Allie's back, but when she discovers that Paul is dying of cancer, this unforeseen circumstance causes her to question her loyalty to her sister, and also for Allie to question her commitment to Paul. Meanwhile, Paul's mother Frieda Lewis is only nineteen when in 1966 she comes to London from Reading to work for four months at the Lion's Park Hotel. Frieda refuses to follow the path of her father, happy to pursue a measure of independence working as a maid rather than going to university to study medicine.

When she unexpectedly becomes infatuated with James, an ambitious pop singer, she identifies a kindred spirit, for James is also the odd man out. This vulnerable and brittle man has spent his life battling pain, lately snorting heroin with his wealthy girlfriend Stella to block out most of his troubles. But ironically it is Frieda not Stella who becomes James' promised muse, Frieda giving him an excuse to unburden his soul. Both of them end up bound to each other by equal parts adoration and affection, their mutual feelings proving to be much deeper and more urgent than either of them expected.

Only when the bookish and taciturn twelve-year-old Lucy Green arrives in London in 1953 with her father Ben to attend the wedding of Bryn, her step mother Charlotte's sister, does Hoffman's multi-layered narrative come full circle and we learn the mystery surrounding the events in room 707 and the significance of the drunken Teddy Healy and why he hangs around the hotel every night. It is Teddy and Lucy who have the most connection to the events that took place in 707, the eventual meeting signifying a total connection of thought and emotion. Part of the attraction of Lucy is that she's extremely aware for her age and she spends a lot of time wondering why people were put on the earth and how she might right the wrongs of the world.

All of Hoffman's characters are plagued by the irrationalities of love: Maddie and Allie are almost torn asunder by their conflicting desires for Paul; Frieda finds herself encapsulated by London of swinging sixties, with her thick black eyeliner, miniskirts, and blue jeans with hoop earrings, all to attract James, her one true love. Even Lucy, believes in love letters, in romance and in destiny, becoming a go-between for the dashingly handsome Michael Macklin when he asks her to deliver letters to Bryn, Charlotte's sister, the woman he's ultimately in love with.

Throughout the course of this novel, these people are forced to bear enormous personal loss, but they also discover the colossal power of love and acceptance where love often has nothing to do with the here and now and where the "third angel" of mercy and tolerance constantly watches over them. As Lucy's story brings the narrative full circle, many of the peripheral characters undertake a reevaluation of their lives, especially the broken-down Teddy Healey as he laments his actions on that fateful night and the woman he ultimately lost to death. Mike Leonard June 08.

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.