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Title: The Angel Carver by Rosanne Daryl Thomas ISBN: 0-446-67054-5 Publisher: Warner Pub. Date: 01 January, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.99

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: INTERESTING STORY -- COMFORTABLE STYLE
Comment: THE ANGEL CARVER is a well-written, entertaing novel -- and several of the characters are very endearing (particularly Jack, Lucille and Leopoldine). The author's style is very conversational -- most of the book reads like an oral history, or a talk with an old friend. Thomas is obviously very fond of her characters, but not to the point of painting them in an unbelievable light.

Jack -- 'the shoe man' as he is known in his neighborhood -- is a study in complete devotion. His wife, who left him unexpectedly years before, is still at the center of his heart and his world. His pain at her leaving has remained with him, and he has nurtured it rather than reject it or try to 'get over it'. His life goes on, but she is in his thoughts every day -- and there is always within him a grain of hope that one day she will return. In his spare time, he carves exquisitely beautiful wooden angels -- an entire room in his apartment is devoted to them. They are his secret -- no one knows about them, until Lucille enters his shop and his life, like a gentle breeze of fresh air.

Lucille is at frayed ends in her life. She has no direction, she has no hope of a career -- but she has dreams. On a whim, she decides to color her hair blonde, after seeing a postcard photo of Marilyn Monroe. After this first change, she begins to see that she and Marilyn bear other resemblances, and she begins to accentuate and 'show off' these similarities. She enters a Marilyn look-alike contest and is spotted by Buddy, a computer graphics expert at an advertising agency. She sees Buddy's interest in her as an escape from her to-now humdrum existence, a ticket to fame and fortune. Buddy sees a bit more in her than she realizes.

The character of Buddy is one of the most heartless, mean-spirited, manipulating people you could ever hope (not) to meet. The subsequent and incresing control he begins to exercise over Lucille's life is frightening -- even moreso in that it's all too possible and occurs too often in the world. When Buddy's obsessions collide with Lucille's ambitions and Jack's love and devotion, the tension and suspense build and build until the inevitable climax.

I found most of the novel very compelling -- and, as I mentioned, I especially liked the characters of Jack and Lucille, as well as that of Leopoldine, the housekeeper of one of Jack's neighbors. Buddy was completely reprehensible -- but a necessary element in the story. The chemistry between the characters, and the events imagined by Thomas make for an enjoyable read. The only problem I had was that the ending seemed a little pat, a little rushed. This small disappointment certainly wouldn't keep me from reading another work by this author.

Rating: 4
Summary: Eloquent.
Comment: My interest in angels and Rosanne Daryl Thomas (initially under the pseudonym "Prince Charming")ininitially brought me to this book, and I'm glad it did. The story of "Lucille," a Marilyn Monroe look-alike and "Jack," the lonely cobbler with a strange hobby of carving angels is brought together by Buddy, a figure colder than, and just as heartless as stone. Thomas creates an almost magical little world in which the three characters operate. Her writing style lends to the fairy-tale-esque atmosphere, and the ghosts of the past, that is, Marilyn Monroe and Jack's long lost wife, seem to move in every shadow. The intensity with which Thomas describes the angels makes them appear on the pages, making the story that much more real and sophistocagted. Through this detail are pulled into the neurotic spiral the characters revolve in. My only quam with the book is the high voice in which the story is told with, throughout. A variation in tone would have helped to hold the reader to the story more closely, but instead there is a tendancy to drift away from it. Overall, however. Thomas constructs a tapestry that gives us a little modern day magic to hold on to.