Reader Reviews

      Angelica was one of the best books I have read in a long time! I have been looking for a good book for years now. I keep trying the best sellers at Barnes and Noble and am always dissatisfied, so I was thrilled to find Angelica.

      The book is beautifully written with a compelling storyline and positive messages. What a turn-on to find a good book!! I look forward to reading more of Jude Berman's books.

          -- submitted by Janine Ibbotson

---

"I can't remember dying. It happened so quickly. So quietly. Like the moment of midnight passing into the morrow. Like a rainbow, its colors already faint, fading into the clouds." Thus begins Angelica, an exquisite novel about love, oil painting and transcendence that takes place in eighteenth century Venice, Rome, London.

Throughout the novel I was pulled toward the romance that Angelica had with Goethe, yet there was an undercurrent or overview redolent with love of The Beloved, not just of one man. I half expected a religious epiphany or an enlightened Master to sweep her away --- lifting her to the exalted inner loft of the Self, an abode so familiar to her, yet out of reach.

Or was it?

This is not only a book about light but it is written from light--light and mystery and love ooze from the novel. Jude Berman's writing dawns on you like the early morning itself subtly drawing you in. And like the morning you're uplifted by it. Angelica captivated me from the first sentence to the last words. That it is based on a true story makes it all the more riveting.

          - submitted by Lyn Malone

---

Review at Knowbetter.com for Angelica
Written by J. Crispin-Ripley

(excerpted--Read the full review at Knowbetter.com)

....The novel is filled with lucid prose that wraps around the skeleton of Angelica's life: her loves, disappointments and passions. It is an exploration of the creative spirit and the immortality that can be bestowed on mortals. Is it allegorical? Perhaps in part, but not consistently. Angelica is a book that defies category and deifies Art. This reviewer did not find it "unputdownable" but more something that one reads a chapter at a time, goes "hmmm" and does put down. It does get picked up again, however--frequently.

But if Angelica is not a historical novel, what is it? To some extent it is related to the "novel of education" (Entwicklungsroman) or "novel of development" (Bildungsroman) in the tradition of works such as Hermann Hesse's Magister Ludi, which is also concerned with the intellectual and spiritual odyssey of its title character. Unlike the protagonist of Hesse's novel, however, Angelica concludes that a life of spirit is not only worth living, but perhaps is the only sort of life that is. Is the book philosophy then? Religion? Inspirational? Well, yes and no to all those--it is a bit of each but does not truly fit anywhere, other than on a PDA, e-reader or bookshelf. It is a work that produces more questions than answers. Which is probably as it should be. Questions that can be answered are not worth asking, are they?

Angelica isn't a novel everyone will like but anyone interested in the creative process should give it a chance. While one is entitled to be sceptical regarding much of what is said, it is said so well, and with such intense, quiet passion, as to be both intriguing and thought-provoking. Few books like that exist and Books Unbound is to be commended for publishing this one.

---

At Books Unbound we encourage you to write feedback for our authors. We have created a "Reader Review Form" for you to use.
Click here to find it
If you'd like to leave a review or book specific comment,
we encourage you to do so!