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The Third Angel
In The Third Angel, Hoffman weaves a magical and stunningly original story that charts the lives of three women in love with the wrong men: Headstrong Madeleine Heller finds herself hopelessly attracted to her sister’s fiancé. Frieda Lewis, a doctor’s daughter and a runaway, becomes the muse of an ill-fated rock star. And beautiful Bryn Evans is set to marry an Englishman while secretly obsessed with her ex-husband. At the heart of the novel is Lucy Green, who blames herself for a tragic accident she witnessed at the age of twelve, and who spends four decades searching for the Third Angel–the angel on earth who will renew her faith.
Brilliantly evoking London’s King’s Road, Knightsbridge, and Kensington while moving effortlessly back in time, The Third Angel is a work of startling beauty about the unique, alchemical nature of love.
Brilliantly evoking London’s King’s Road, Knightsbridge, and Kensington while moving effortlessly back in time, The Third Angel is a work of startling beauty about the unique, alchemical nature of love.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
1482 people are currently reading
7700 people want to read
About the author
Alice Hoffman
117 books25.2k followersAlice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The World That We Knew; The Marriage of Opposites; The Red Garden; The Museum of Extraordinary Things; The Dovekeepers; Here on Earth, an Oprah’s Book Club selection; and the Practical Magic series, including Practical
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,699 reviews
February 15, 2020
Finally! Finally I read this and finally I'm writing my review (finished this over a week ago). I've yet to read an Alice Hoffman book I didn't adore. I had been wanting to read this one for so long, kept grabbing the audio from my library, returning it, doing this over and over. Finally, I listened to this one and just couldn't stop.
The Third Angel tells a story where three different stories in different times are told, but somehow linked together. All bringing into the story the Third Angel, the angel who walks the earth. Each story was so unique. I really enjoyed the first and third stories, and while I enjoyed the middle one, I felt it started to drag just slightly and mind did begin to wander. There is a bit of magic in the story, classic Hoffman. And birds. I've read a number of books by her, and there is always a common theme running through them. I've found birds in some form always showing up. The other is red heads, which I didn't recall here.
I grabbed the audio and just loved it. Nancy Travis did the narration and she did a wonderful job. I was so pulled into this story at times and wanting to hear more. I wouldn't say this is the strongest book of Hoffman's I've read. But one that I'll remember and happy that I finally got to it. Now, to patiently wait for her upcoming book! Yes!!!
The Third Angel tells a story where three different stories in different times are told, but somehow linked together. All bringing into the story the Third Angel, the angel who walks the earth. Each story was so unique. I really enjoyed the first and third stories, and while I enjoyed the middle one, I felt it started to drag just slightly and mind did begin to wander. There is a bit of magic in the story, classic Hoffman. And birds. I've read a number of books by her, and there is always a common theme running through them. I've found birds in some form always showing up. The other is red heads, which I didn't recall here.
I grabbed the audio and just loved it. Nancy Travis did the narration and she did a wonderful job. I was so pulled into this story at times and wanting to hear more. I wouldn't say this is the strongest book of Hoffman's I've read. But one that I'll remember and happy that I finally got to it. Now, to patiently wait for her upcoming book! Yes!!!
June 10, 2008
Alice Hoffman is a literary goddess. I loved this book. The writing is absolutely gorgeous and it's one of those novels that I end up reading the last page and then starting over again. Stories of three interconnected women at crossroads in their lives are woven together in really wonderful ways. As always with Hoffman, there's a touch of supernatural and very interesting, human characters. (As an aside, I had lunch with the author - and 20 other people- a couple of years ago and she is just as fantastic as you'd expect. I want to be her when I grow up.)
March 11, 2013
This book is very special to me. Not only because it was written by my favourite author, but because I found it in a small bookshop somewhere in Dublin, Ireland.
I deal with hundreds of people every single day. At work, at uni... even at home, while chatting online. Sometimes I wonder about them... I wonder if we were meant to meet, meant to run into each other, meant to exchange a couple of words. I am not exactly sure whether I believe in fate or not, but sometimes I just sit and wonder... and I can't help but wonder if they do the same.
Yet again I found myself crying at the end. This book is everything. I don't believe I will ever grow tired of saying how much I love Alice Hoffman and the way she writes. She writes with everything she has, with every single emotion a human being is capable of feeling. I always get lost and it's always so hard to find myself, sitting on my bed, the back cover of yet another brilliant novel staring at me. It's not easy to let go. Sometimes I find myself wishing her novels would last forever.
This is a story about love, about hope, about believing, about second chances. This is yet another story about life, about the living. And it's brilliantly well done. I just wish I could put in words what I am currently feeling...
Alice... thank you. Your books remind me of how human I am, remind me of how great it feels to feel. Thank you. So much.
I deal with hundreds of people every single day. At work, at uni... even at home, while chatting online. Sometimes I wonder about them... I wonder if we were meant to meet, meant to run into each other, meant to exchange a couple of words. I am not exactly sure whether I believe in fate or not, but sometimes I just sit and wonder... and I can't help but wonder if they do the same.
Yet again I found myself crying at the end. This book is everything. I don't believe I will ever grow tired of saying how much I love Alice Hoffman and the way she writes. She writes with everything she has, with every single emotion a human being is capable of feeling. I always get lost and it's always so hard to find myself, sitting on my bed, the back cover of yet another brilliant novel staring at me. It's not easy to let go. Sometimes I find myself wishing her novels would last forever.
This is a story about love, about hope, about believing, about second chances. This is yet another story about life, about the living. And it's brilliantly well done. I just wish I could put in words what I am currently feeling...
Alice... thank you. Your books remind me of how human I am, remind me of how great it feels to feel. Thank you. So much.
December 18, 2011
Where do I start?
The book begins with a protaganist so unlikable that I nearly gave up four pages in. Self-absorbed, hideously disloyal, self-pitying and narcisstic, I couldn't have cared less what happened to her and was mightly relieved when we moved onto our second female heroine.
Freida is entirely more likeable and at this point in the story we begin to dig deeper into the ghost story that lies at the heart of this book. My interest was peaked and yet - and yet I found myself skim-reading. The writing, though competent, seemed laboured and twee. I wanted to know what happened to Michael Macklin, but I was happy to skip huge chunks to get there.
Then we find ourselves with Lucy. Another likeable character yet the plot begins to feel dreadfully convoluted. Three generations of a family, all with curious similarities. I can cope with a healthy dose of magic and mysticism in my books - hence I chose this, but here it just felt unlikely. I never managed to suspend disbelief and found myself rolling my eyes at certain parts.
Finally we get to the heart of the ghost story and it was confused and unsubstantial. Lucy's traumatisation seemed very real, yet I'd found out what I needed to know and so there was very little left to keep reading for. I'm afraid I gave up ten or so pages before the end - something I have only done twice before with a novel.
Would there have been a stunning ending that would have changed my opinion had I read on? Perhaps, but I'm afraid I'm never going to bother to find out.
Dreamy, dreary, depressing and dull.
Sorry.
The book begins with a protaganist so unlikable that I nearly gave up four pages in. Self-absorbed, hideously disloyal, self-pitying and narcisstic, I couldn't have cared less what happened to her and was mightly relieved when we moved onto our second female heroine.
Freida is entirely more likeable and at this point in the story we begin to dig deeper into the ghost story that lies at the heart of this book. My interest was peaked and yet - and yet I found myself skim-reading. The writing, though competent, seemed laboured and twee. I wanted to know what happened to Michael Macklin, but I was happy to skip huge chunks to get there.
Then we find ourselves with Lucy. Another likeable character yet the plot begins to feel dreadfully convoluted. Three generations of a family, all with curious similarities. I can cope with a healthy dose of magic and mysticism in my books - hence I chose this, but here it just felt unlikely. I never managed to suspend disbelief and found myself rolling my eyes at certain parts.
Finally we get to the heart of the ghost story and it was confused and unsubstantial. Lucy's traumatisation seemed very real, yet I'd found out what I needed to know and so there was very little left to keep reading for. I'm afraid I gave up ten or so pages before the end - something I have only done twice before with a novel.
Would there have been a stunning ending that would have changed my opinion had I read on? Perhaps, but I'm afraid I'm never going to bother to find out.
Dreamy, dreary, depressing and dull.
Sorry.
February 4, 2011
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.
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.
July 22, 2021
Leitura que inaugurou de forma auspiciosa o meu mês de Julho. Levezinha, constituída por 3 partes, protagonizadas por 3 mulheres em 3 tempos diferentes. Tudo está ligado entre si e a trama vai crescendo em interesse, conquistando-me no fim.
Não é nenhuma obra-prima, mas deixou-me feliz. E isso, por si só, já é muito!
Vídeo de opinião no cantinho do costume (a partir do minuto 01:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJ47...
NOTA - 08/10
Não é nenhuma obra-prima, mas deixou-me feliz. E isso, por si só, já é muito!
Vídeo de opinião no cantinho do costume (a partir do minuto 01:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUJ47...
NOTA - 08/10
August 14, 2008
This is Hoffman's first book I've stopped reading before I was done.
I got about halfway through it, maybe even more, and I just decided I wasn't *enjoying* it at all.
The characters are hard to sympathize with. But the most offputting thing to me was her lack of an active environment. Her books usually take place in small towns, where the town...the buildings, the history...become almost like another character in the story. I just didn't get the same feeling from this urban London setting.
I will, of course, still keep reading other Hoffman books. Every author has a bad day.
I got about halfway through it, maybe even more, and I just decided I wasn't *enjoying* it at all.
The characters are hard to sympathize with. But the most offputting thing to me was her lack of an active environment. Her books usually take place in small towns, where the town...the buildings, the history...become almost like another character in the story. I just didn't get the same feeling from this urban London setting.
I will, of course, still keep reading other Hoffman books. Every author has a bad day.
August 19, 2024
This is a really gorgeous book, in which the author skillfully weaves together three different stories of three different women, in three different time periods. Specifically, there is an event that takes place in 1952, and the book is basically about how this event affected each woman-and her relationships-either directly or indirectly. As always, the different characters are all linked by life circumstances and choices and sheer serendipity. This author is a favorite of mine, and she never fails to charm me with the lush storylines, the characterizations, the intricate ties that bind the characters, and the sprinklings of magic.
This book is a beauty.
This book is a beauty.
April 13, 2017
Muito bonito! Três historias, em três épocas diferentes que se interligam entre si, cada uma fazendo as outras crescer um pouco. Personagens interessantes e bem desenvolvidas, escrita apelativa e de fácil leitura. Recomendo!
July 19, 2022
After finally deciding upon a 3* rating, I feel that I should read this book again to get the full understanding of this tragic but beautiful tale and then I am sure it would bounce up to a 4. Full of symbolism with the angels and the heron, I was hoping for a book that spoke to me like "The World That We Knew". Sadly, this book did not but Alice Hoffman can still write the most wonderful books and Nancy Travis did a fantastic job as narrator of the audiobook version.
**Weird book question for anyone: am I the only one that got the impression in the 3rd part (when Lucy is on the train with her father traveling north) that the young man "John" that speaks to her on the train is a young John Lennon?
**Weird book question for anyone: am I the only one that got the impression in the 3rd part (when Lucy is on the train with her father traveling north) that the young man "John" that speaks to her on the train is a young John Lennon?
August 13, 2016
This book was a considerable departure from her stock cookie cutter settings mixed with enchanting magical quirkiness, which I have become addicted to. Even so, this is my favorite Hoffman book so far...very moving, a bit more complex and utterly gorgeous prose.
December 8, 2009
Just finished reading this story of three women, in three different decades, each in love with the wrong man, involved in a love triangle. It was a very different feel for me than many of Hoffman's other books, but was equally as descriptive and thought provoking, keeping her right up there as one of my favorite authors. The stories are interwoven, and characters appear in two, sometimes three of them. Plus, the three women all interrelated in a abstract sort of way: MAddy Heller, who loves her sister's fiancé, Frieda Lewis (mum of the aforementioned fiancé) who in her youth was in love with a drug addled rock star, and Bryn Evans (aunt of Lucy Green, who grew up to be the mother of Maddie Heller) in love with her "dangerous" but charming ex-husband, even on the eve of her wedding to another man. It also is the tale of those left in the wake of disastrous love: young Lucy Green and Teddy Healey (the doomed fiance). It is a a ghost story, a story of love lost and unrequited, of mothers' love and of the mystic Blue Heron, and his wife. Each layer that unwraps, only to interweave somewhere else in the story, is beautifully crafted, filled with both sadness and hope.
There were, as usual for Hoffman some descriptions that took my breath away,
You can see that the ideas that create a backbone for Hoffman's story; truisms, such as "love has nothing to do with the here and now", which helps both Maddy and her sister overcome loss. Or words from the night clerk at the Lion's Gate Inn in London: “Love is ancient and mysterious and you can’t mess with it. If you do it just backfires and you meet with disaster. That’s a fact.”
This didn't have the magical realism aspect of Practical Magic, for instance, but had a certain magic of its own. I'll be honest that there were some parts very difficult for me to read, simply because there is a lot of loss and a lot of cancer in the story, but I managed. Perhaps it was the Third Angel helping me. AS we learn in Freida's story, Frieda's doctor father takes her with him on his house calls and tells her there are three angels. The Angel of Life is with them on most nights they visit the sick. The Angel of Death rides with them on hopeless cases. The Third Angel doesn't even appear to be an angel. "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". See what I mean?
I do want to read the children's book that was created by MAddy's sisterm though, The Heron's Wife, that tells a different, but complete tale if it is read backwards.
There were, as usual for Hoffman some descriptions that took my breath away,
You can see that the ideas that create a backbone for Hoffman's story; truisms, such as "love has nothing to do with the here and now", which helps both Maddy and her sister overcome loss. Or words from the night clerk at the Lion's Gate Inn in London: “Love is ancient and mysterious and you can’t mess with it. If you do it just backfires and you meet with disaster. That’s a fact.”
This didn't have the magical realism aspect of Practical Magic, for instance, but had a certain magic of its own. I'll be honest that there were some parts very difficult for me to read, simply because there is a lot of loss and a lot of cancer in the story, but I managed. Perhaps it was the Third Angel helping me. AS we learn in Freida's story, Frieda's doctor father takes her with him on his house calls and tells her there are three angels. The Angel of Life is with them on most nights they visit the sick. The Angel of Death rides with them on hopeless cases. The Third Angel doesn't even appear to be an angel. "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". See what I mean?
I do want to read the children's book that was created by MAddy's sisterm though, The Heron's Wife, that tells a different, but complete tale if it is read backwards.
May 10, 2016
Three different stories that are interesting. A little harder to remember it is three different stories on audiobook especially if you are distracted when the stories switch.
August 11, 2025
knyga, kuri prikaustė, ir verta filmo, kaip ir kai kurie kiti autorės romanai, virtę Holivude pripažintais filmais. daug nesitikėjau iš šios knygos, tačiau apsigavau - tai nėra paskiros trys meilės istorijos, tai tarpusavyje susijusios istorijos. skaitant negali nukreipti dėmesio, nes čia gausybė detalių, istorijų ir taškų: kodėl žmogaus yra vienoks ar kitoks, apie silpnybes ir vertybes. persipina laikmečiai ir - Žiupsnelis mistikos, visi personažai labai ypatingi ir įdomūs.
December 28, 2019
3 capítulos, 3 histórias diferentes mas interligadas quer por personagens em comum quer por um local em comum. Quando terminamos de ler o último capítulo ficamos com uma vontade louca de reler o segundo e o primeiro capítulo, por esta ordem, porque pequenos pormenores que na altura não pareciam importantes, agora fazem todo o sentido.
September 27, 2022
3.5 Stars
Three stories that all interlace through time. I like the idea and it was a good read; deep, thought provoking, and anyone with age can relate to what live has given you. If you're feeling reflective, this would be a good book to read.
Three stories that all interlace through time. I like the idea and it was a good read; deep, thought provoking, and anyone with age can relate to what live has given you. If you're feeling reflective, this would be a good book to read.
April 21, 2008
"People say there's the Angel of Life and the Angel of Death, but there's another one, too. The one who walks among us."
He could tell she was listening.
"He's nothing fierce or terrible or filled with light. He's like us, sometimes we can't even tell him apart. Sometimes we're the ones who try to save him. He's there to show us who we are. Human beings aren't gods. We make mistakes."
In this novel, Alice Hoffman tells the stories of three women entangled in unrequited love relationships. Each woman's story plays out very differently, however their lives are interconnected in surprising ways. Divided into three sections, Hoffman's novel begins with The Heron's Wife, the mildly disappointing (and rather slow moving) story of Maddy and Allie who are sisters in love with the same man. In Lion Park, Frieda finds herself falling in love with an unattainable rock star who is staying in the hotel where she works. The frantic, stream-of-consciousness feel to this part of the book began to draw me in more strongly than the first story, and I began to build interest and momentum for the rest of the book. In The Rules of Love, Bryn (while preparing for her upcoming wedding) turns to an unlikely 12-year-old girl for help reuniting with her former husband. The Rules of Love was compelling as Hoffman plays out the splendid story of Lucy and her father's desperate attempt to heal both her body and psyche after a traumatic life-changing experience. These tragic stories are each connected by this young child, Lucy, who will spend her life searching for 'the third angel'.
Long ago, I was a big fan of Alice Hoffman. While still living in Virginia, I read (and enjoyed) Practical Magic and Local Girls, and I was a big fan of Here On Earth when it was an Oprah Book Club selection. But, it has been years since I have read anything by this author, and I have a hard time remembering anything specific about any of the novels I have read. The Third Angel, like the others, might turn out to be just as forgettable. But, for the meantime, I remember it and I enjoyed it. The stories were increasingly impressive as I worked my way through the book and, after a disappointing beginning, I finally closed the book feeling satisfied.
He could tell she was listening.
"He's nothing fierce or terrible or filled with light. He's like us, sometimes we can't even tell him apart. Sometimes we're the ones who try to save him. He's there to show us who we are. Human beings aren't gods. We make mistakes."
In this novel, Alice Hoffman tells the stories of three women entangled in unrequited love relationships. Each woman's story plays out very differently, however their lives are interconnected in surprising ways. Divided into three sections, Hoffman's novel begins with The Heron's Wife, the mildly disappointing (and rather slow moving) story of Maddy and Allie who are sisters in love with the same man. In Lion Park, Frieda finds herself falling in love with an unattainable rock star who is staying in the hotel where she works. The frantic, stream-of-consciousness feel to this part of the book began to draw me in more strongly than the first story, and I began to build interest and momentum for the rest of the book. In The Rules of Love, Bryn (while preparing for her upcoming wedding) turns to an unlikely 12-year-old girl for help reuniting with her former husband. The Rules of Love was compelling as Hoffman plays out the splendid story of Lucy and her father's desperate attempt to heal both her body and psyche after a traumatic life-changing experience. These tragic stories are each connected by this young child, Lucy, who will spend her life searching for 'the third angel'.
Long ago, I was a big fan of Alice Hoffman. While still living in Virginia, I read (and enjoyed) Practical Magic and Local Girls, and I was a big fan of Here On Earth when it was an Oprah Book Club selection. But, it has been years since I have read anything by this author, and I have a hard time remembering anything specific about any of the novels I have read. The Third Angel, like the others, might turn out to be just as forgettable. But, for the meantime, I remember it and I enjoyed it. The stories were increasingly impressive as I worked my way through the book and, after a disappointing beginning, I finally closed the book feeling satisfied.
June 29, 2015
3.75 stars.
The Third Angel is about three women in love with the wrong men. Maddy Heller is in love with her sister's fiance, Frieda Lewis has fallen for a musician who will never choose her over his perfect fiance Stella, and Bryn Evans is set to marry another man whilst still in love with her ex-lover. We also meet Lucy Green and see how she connects all three different stories.
My second Alice Hoffman read! I love how this has a different tone with the first Hoffman novel I read so although I just recently finished my first Hoffman read a few weeks ago, reading this one still felt new and refreshing. What I really liked about this novel was its subtle addition of magical realism, just like her other novel/s. Great technique, great execution. So far I'm really liking Hoffman's style, I really hope I get to find a copy of Practical Magic soon.
What I didn't love about this novel was that some stories were more memorable than others. The first one was quite interesting but shallow at times and lacking in direction, the second one for me was the least memorable and least interesting. Although the third one is definitely my favorite and, for me, had a solid plot and solid characters.
I like how all 3 different stories connect. I enjoy going back to the first story and rereading some of the parts that now make more sense because of certain details revealed in the third story. And other stuff like that.
Overall, a good read!
The Third Angel is about three women in love with the wrong men. Maddy Heller is in love with her sister's fiance, Frieda Lewis has fallen for a musician who will never choose her over his perfect fiance Stella, and Bryn Evans is set to marry another man whilst still in love with her ex-lover. We also meet Lucy Green and see how she connects all three different stories.
My second Alice Hoffman read! I love how this has a different tone with the first Hoffman novel I read so although I just recently finished my first Hoffman read a few weeks ago, reading this one still felt new and refreshing. What I really liked about this novel was its subtle addition of magical realism, just like her other novel/s. Great technique, great execution. So far I'm really liking Hoffman's style, I really hope I get to find a copy of Practical Magic soon.
What I didn't love about this novel was that some stories were more memorable than others. The first one was quite interesting but shallow at times and lacking in direction, the second one for me was the least memorable and least interesting. Although the third one is definitely my favorite and, for me, had a solid plot and solid characters.
I like how all 3 different stories connect. I enjoy going back to the first story and rereading some of the parts that now make more sense because of certain details revealed in the third story. And other stuff like that.
Overall, a good read!
"She thought that some people were like stories rather than whole books-- at least those you never saw again. With people like that, you never knew what the real ending was."
February 5, 2014
I opened the cover of this book expecting to fall in love immediately. That has been the case for every other Alice Hoffman book I've read. Sadly, that's not what happened.
Somehow, Hoffman's usually fluid style fell by the wayside in this book. Not only are the chapters choppy, but the writing itself is, too.
She did this. She did that. The thing was this way. She liked the thing. The thing was good.
I considered that perhaps this style was a mechanism to convey a state of mind or an urgency, but that just didn't come across to me, so it may just be that I missed the point, but it certainly made it hard for me to read this book.
I also feel like the concept of the Third Angel didn't really come across very well or add much to the story. It felt forced and really not very useful to the story itself.
All that being said, by the final third of the book, the writing smoothed out and I was pulled into the story. I guess a messy start is better than a rushed or poorly constructed ending, so I wouldn't call this a failure at all, but it just doesn't stand up to her other work and I found myself disappointed.
Somehow, Hoffman's usually fluid style fell by the wayside in this book. Not only are the chapters choppy, but the writing itself is, too.
She did this. She did that. The thing was this way. She liked the thing. The thing was good.
I considered that perhaps this style was a mechanism to convey a state of mind or an urgency, but that just didn't come across to me, so it may just be that I missed the point, but it certainly made it hard for me to read this book.
I also feel like the concept of the Third Angel didn't really come across very well or add much to the story. It felt forced and really not very useful to the story itself.
All that being said, by the final third of the book, the writing smoothed out and I was pulled into the story. I guess a messy start is better than a rushed or poorly constructed ending, so I wouldn't call this a failure at all, but it just doesn't stand up to her other work and I found myself disappointed.
May 22, 2008
Three women, three different eras, all in love with the wrong man. Bryn is set to marry an appropriate match, but is still completely in love with her con-man ex-husband; Frieda runs away from the prospect of a university education and falls in love with a wannabe rock star; and Maddy is head-over-heels for her sister’s fiancé.
Loving is easy – the outcomes are more complicated. Hoffman’s characters struggle with who they are; who they feel the should be; and no matter what decisions they make, there will be hurt and disappointment. Set in three generations of England, each woman is connected to the others through a seedy London hotel. “The third angel” has a lot of well-written explanatory narrative from each character, which some readers will find enchanting and some boring.
Loving is easy – the outcomes are more complicated. Hoffman’s characters struggle with who they are; who they feel the should be; and no matter what decisions they make, there will be hurt and disappointment. Set in three generations of England, each woman is connected to the others through a seedy London hotel. “The third angel” has a lot of well-written explanatory narrative from each character, which some readers will find enchanting and some boring.
September 10, 2018
In The Third Angel, I was reminded of how much I love Hoffman's writing, as it is quite beautiful, lyrical, and thought-provoking. I can just get lost in her writing. The Third Angel tells the story of 3 different women, who are all in love with men that they really should not love. The 3 are mostly unconnected, although Hoffman weaves the stories together to a small degree in that they are set in different generations yet all cross somehow. And I loved that it was set in London, just a fun setting.
Maddie and Ali's story was my favourite, then Frieda's. What made this even more enjoyable was listening to the audio narration by Nancy Travis--she is brilliant!
Maddie and Ali's story was my favourite, then Frieda's. What made this even more enjoyable was listening to the audio narration by Nancy Travis--she is brilliant!
August 13, 2008
I have read quite a few of Alice Hoffman's books, my favorite being Pratical Magic. When I started this one, my first impression was that is wasn't as good as some of the others. Now that I have finished it, I did think is was really good (though still not my favorite.) The theme is pretty much the same as most of Hoffman's books - the love-obessed. There are alot of characters in different time periods, and sometimes I found it hard to keep them straight. It's worth reading to the end, though, and I won't say why.
August 23, 2019
There was good love and there was bad love. There was a kind that helped raise a person above her failings and there was the desperate sort that struck when someone least wanted or expected it. p2
The Third Angel is a complex tangle of love of the desperate sort. If you prefer a chronological narrative, you might want to start with the last section and read up to the first, where AH brilliantly begins, presenting us with the fallout available to the contemporary doomed lovers, only dimly aware of their links to the past.
My prior reading of AH's first few novels had been slightly disappointing. I loved her beginnings but it seemed to me that their promise thinned and the endings were arbitrary. Here she has woven a rich epic that spills over the edges with a marvellous ghost story. The loose threads still dangling at the finish are faithful to life which has no tidy ending and indicative of the many strands that make up this splendid tapestry.
Every person who passed by was most likely a writer, or at the very least, a story waiting to be told. p205
The Third Angel is a complex tangle of love of the desperate sort. If you prefer a chronological narrative, you might want to start with the last section and read up to the first, where AH brilliantly begins, presenting us with the fallout available to the contemporary doomed lovers, only dimly aware of their links to the past.
My prior reading of AH's first few novels had been slightly disappointing. I loved her beginnings but it seemed to me that their promise thinned and the endings were arbitrary. Here she has woven a rich epic that spills over the edges with a marvellous ghost story. The loose threads still dangling at the finish are faithful to life which has no tidy ending and indicative of the many strands that make up this splendid tapestry.
Every person who passed by was most likely a writer, or at the very least, a story waiting to be told. p205
October 26, 2022
Wow! Alice Hoffman never disappoints. This might be one of my favorite books ever.
It's the 90's and we start out with a second born sister, who never feels good enough. She constantly compares herself to her older sister, and she never feels like she measures up. So, as a result she does something hurtful.
Then we in the 60's with the daughter of a doctor, Frieda. She grew up thinking her father wad perfect, then finds out he was only human.
Last, we are in the 50's with a little girl, Lucy Green. She has lost her mother, then witnesses something terrible.
It's amazing how these three stories intertwine. The author did such a great job. You never know how your life will effect another's. I got teary eyed multiple times during the book.
At the end the author says it can be read beginning to end, or part 3 back to part 1. I may end up reading it again.
It's the 90's and we start out with a second born sister, who never feels good enough. She constantly compares herself to her older sister, and she never feels like she measures up. So, as a result she does something hurtful.
Then we in the 60's with the daughter of a doctor, Frieda. She grew up thinking her father wad perfect, then finds out he was only human.
Last, we are in the 50's with a little girl, Lucy Green. She has lost her mother, then witnesses something terrible.
It's amazing how these three stories intertwine. The author did such a great job. You never know how your life will effect another's. I got teary eyed multiple times during the book.
At the end the author says it can be read beginning to end, or part 3 back to part 1. I may end up reading it again.
April 26, 2021
I wasn’t super into this throughout the first section, and I worried I’d misremembered and picked up the wrong book. But the second and third sections are really where it comes together, and it’s just all such a beautiful, heart wrenching story.
Taking place in the same London hotel three separate times and three separate women, this book is about falling in love with the wrong person, the troubles with yet ultimately importance of female relationships, and the connections you can form with seemingly inconsequential strangers. The way Alice Hoffman is able to weave these three stories together is so profound and really gives off this sense that even bug cities like London can be quite small and each move you make can affect your destiny.
Taking place in the same London hotel three separate times and three separate women, this book is about falling in love with the wrong person, the troubles with yet ultimately importance of female relationships, and the connections you can form with seemingly inconsequential strangers. The way Alice Hoffman is able to weave these three stories together is so profound and really gives off this sense that even bug cities like London can be quite small and each move you make can affect your destiny.
April 19, 2018
The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman (Fiction) Hoffman's book is another telling of her lovely stories about the lives of three young women whose lives intersect over three different decades. Each has her own story of a major change in her life that revolves around a particular room in a hotel in London.
Each of these three women has become involved with the wrong man. Each has her own story, yet over the decades they are interconnected to each other.
Alice Hoffman does a wonderful job of mixing a little of the metaphysical in her novels. She does not disappoint in The Third Angel. There is a haunting, supernatural phenomena, and seemingly unrelated events yet turn out to be significant.
I highly recommend this book. This is not a romance novel, but a story of three women's lives that eventually change for the better.
Each of these three women has become involved with the wrong man. Each has her own story, yet over the decades they are interconnected to each other.
Alice Hoffman does a wonderful job of mixing a little of the metaphysical in her novels. She does not disappoint in The Third Angel. There is a haunting, supernatural phenomena, and seemingly unrelated events yet turn out to be significant.
I highly recommend this book. This is not a romance novel, but a story of three women's lives that eventually change for the better.
January 11, 2024
3.5 stars
March 19, 2017
i inhaled this book, like i always do with alice hoffman's books. her mind is so magical and i'm thoroughly immersed into her stories every time i read them.
i loved how ah weaved all of the women's stories into each other. you weren't sure exactly how they were all connected until the end and i was surprised by a few things i wasn't expecting. if you're looking for a story of love (and love gone wrong), loss, and just a touch of magic, you've come to the right book. :)
i'll always remember the three angels and how important they are to us all.
i loved how ah weaved all of the women's stories into each other. you weren't sure exactly how they were all connected until the end and i was surprised by a few things i wasn't expecting. if you're looking for a story of love (and love gone wrong), loss, and just a touch of magic, you've come to the right book. :)
i'll always remember the three angels and how important they are to us all.
June 16, 2012
Alice Hoffman was recommended by a friend. I read The River King and enjoyed it, so I decided to try another of her novels. I chose The Third Angel because it had the highest rating among the Hoffman novels that were available through the NC digital library. I didn't like it as much as The River King but still feel it is an excellent book. Perhaps my fondness for The River King is due to the fact that it was the first of Hoffman's books I read.
Hoffman writes about love, but not in a way that carries me into a standard, predictable story. She makes me think and she weaves supernatural aspects into her plots in a way that makes them as realistic as the rest of her plot lines. In The Third Angel she speaks about the angel of life, the angel of death, and a third angel: “The one who walked among us, who sometimes lay sick in bed, begging for human compassion.” This third angel comes to us readers in a few forms throughout the story including a blue heron, who is a character in a children's novel written by Allie, one of the characters in the first part of the book, and a ghost that haunts “The Lion Park Hotel,” an English inn that is the setting for much of the book.
The Third Angel is written in three parts. The first part is the story of two sisters, Maddy and Allie, who have a complicated relationship based on love and jealousy. The next two parts go back in time to cover the stories of Frieda, Allie's mother-in-law and of Lucy, Allie and Maddy's mother. All the stories are about relationships these women experienced that didn't work out the way they'd hoped. I liked the choice Hoffman made to have each part of the novel step back a little further in time.
There were times when the characters in this story made choices that I cringed over, especially Maddy in the first part who betrays her sister in a way that was particularly cruel. Hoffman clearly wanted me to forgive Maddy, but I had more trouble doing that than Allie did. I imagine other readers felt the same. In the second part Frieda gives something of her talent to a man who doesn't deserve her sacrifice and in the third part Lucy, who is a young girl at the time of her story, attempts to help a couple get together and has to deal with the consequences.
The Third Angel is a story about the complications of life. I recommend it for people who want a book that makes them think.
Steve Lindahl, author of Motherless Soul
Hoffman writes about love, but not in a way that carries me into a standard, predictable story. She makes me think and she weaves supernatural aspects into her plots in a way that makes them as realistic as the rest of her plot lines. In The Third Angel she speaks about the angel of life, the angel of death, and a third angel: “The one who walked among us, who sometimes lay sick in bed, begging for human compassion.” This third angel comes to us readers in a few forms throughout the story including a blue heron, who is a character in a children's novel written by Allie, one of the characters in the first part of the book, and a ghost that haunts “The Lion Park Hotel,” an English inn that is the setting for much of the book.
The Third Angel is written in three parts. The first part is the story of two sisters, Maddy and Allie, who have a complicated relationship based on love and jealousy. The next two parts go back in time to cover the stories of Frieda, Allie's mother-in-law and of Lucy, Allie and Maddy's mother. All the stories are about relationships these women experienced that didn't work out the way they'd hoped. I liked the choice Hoffman made to have each part of the novel step back a little further in time.
There were times when the characters in this story made choices that I cringed over, especially Maddy in the first part who betrays her sister in a way that was particularly cruel. Hoffman clearly wanted me to forgive Maddy, but I had more trouble doing that than Allie did. I imagine other readers felt the same. In the second part Frieda gives something of her talent to a man who doesn't deserve her sacrifice and in the third part Lucy, who is a young girl at the time of her story, attempts to help a couple get together and has to deal with the consequences.
The Third Angel is a story about the complications of life. I recommend it for people who want a book that makes them think.
Steve Lindahl, author of Motherless Soul
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