I love Alice Hoffman and again her writing is sensual and magical. The narrator is not the most likable of characters but as we learn her story we can understand why she has turned her guilt into coldness. Her behaviours are odd and hurtful to those around her and as she perverts her own pain. A lot has been said about some of the fantastical elements of this book, with statements like "unrealistic", "couldn't happen", "doesn't make sense". To this I say of course, but have you ever heard of magical realism? It's not meant to be taken literally, and it's full of symbols for you to decipher.

Releasing at BookCrossing Meetup. If not picked up will travel to CoCo's Bistro in Princeton.

Picked this up at meetup at Rhizome. Magical realism, eh, vanbiohazard? We'll see.

This was the first of Hoffman's books I've read so I didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed all the facts about lightning and the fictional effects which flow through the plot. It is easy to be so self centered that everything that goes wrong must be your fault. We are reminded about the logic of fairy tales several times, but also that life isn't exactly like a fairy tale. And which fairy tales? Anderson's or Grimm's? Descriptions in this book are wonderfully vivid and I loved the orange trees, probably the only thing in Florida that is described positively. I liked the cat Giselle and the two moles, too. And, yes, magical realism.

Taking this to Second Meetup. Someone will have to take it because we haven't anywhere to leave books in this location.