Review: Green Angel

Item: Green Angel
Rating: 4
Author: Amanda Marie

Posted March 7, 2015 in Reading, Review / 0 Comments

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman
Series: Green Angel #1
Publisher: Scholastic (2003)
Paperback (116 pages)
Rating:
Reading Challenges: 2015 Alphabet Soup, 2015 Birthday Month, 2015 Color Coded, 2015 Re-Reading, Read 2015

Synopsis

This is how it happened.
Left on her own when her family dies 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 darkness into her skin. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters that Green can relearn the lessons of love and begin to heal enough to tell her story.

Find the book: Goodreads

I once believed that life was a gift.
I thought whatever I wanted I would someday possess.
Is that greed, or only youth?
Is it hope or stupidity?first four sentences of Green Angel

This book is split into five parts. Each part shows a change in Green’s character.
Part 1: Heart – This is how it happened
Part 2: Soul – This is what I dreamed
Part 3: Treasure – This is who I loved
Part 4: Rain – This is what I lost
Part 5: Sister – This is the story I tell

This novel tells the story of a fifteen year old girl called Green. The story begins when Green’s family goes into the city for market day. Green is left behind to tend the garden. Upset, she does not say good-bye. That was the last time she saw them as a fire destroyed the city that day. Green is left alone with her younger sister’s little dog, Onion.

The world is clouded in ashes and embers. The whole world has changed. So Green is forced to change and adapt to a very different world than she had ever known.

Though this is a short book, I love the story. Green learns to survive, to live with her grief. She changes and then has to discover who she really is.

I picked this book out at a book fair in grade school. I have reread it so, so many times since then. I really love this story.