The Ice Queen

By Alice Hoffman
Read by Nancy Travis

     Have you ever wondered what would’ve happened if that wish you made during a traumatic moment in your life really came true? In Alice Hoffman’s The Ice Queen, one woman finds out that it’s important to be careful what you wish for. As a basically invisible librarian, she made it a large part of her mentality to remain detached from the rest of the world around her. After yet another tragedy in her dark life, her brother moves her to Florida to be near him and his wife. While in the car having small talk about her brother’s obsession with meteorology and his latest involvement with a study about lightning, she wishes that she would be hit by lightning. She should’ve known that, considering her experiences with wishes in her past, she would get what she wished for. After going through physical therapy and reluctantly agreeing to participate in a group therapy study, she finds out about Lazarus Jones, a man who was struck by lightning and became a recluse. What made him so special? Perhaps the fact that he was recorded as being dead for the longest period of time after being struck by lightning, and with an obsession for death, how could the queen of cold be able to resist?

      This was an interesting listen. I love Hoffman’s writing, and I found myself chuckling at the witty sarcasm of the main character and crying at the moments that no reader could ever foreshadow. It’s an incredible read.

       Nancy Travis is the reader of this audio book. She’s a great actress and was awesome on the sitcom “Almost Perfect.” Her impeccable talent for vocalizing the confusing strain of human emotion gives the Ice Queen a three dimensionality that helps the reader become even more entranced by this unique story.

     I recommend this to anyone who is interested in a mind-numbing experience, but I will warn you that once you start listening to the first CD, you’ll wish you would never have to stop listening.