There was a different world in 1970’s America. Plenty of average, run of the mill teenagers were growing their hair long, doing drugs, preaching peace, while some joined underground organizations bent on revolution and world salvation, their ears ringing from the reports of Vietnam and civil rights. The world, it has been said, was never to be the same, despite older generations’ desperate attempts to preserve life as they knew it.
Margaret Quinn had a quiet, rural Pennsylvania life; structured, simple, and average. Simple, that is, until her daughter Erica runs off with her boyfriend, Wiley, to travel across the country to join the underground movement of the Angels of Destruction whose goal it was to destroy the known world and recreate it in their vision. Erica disappeared without a trace, and left to her own devices Margaret slowly loses her composure and her grip on life.
Ten years later, the appearance of a ragged orphan on her doorstep one freezing cold night brings a new sense of purpose to Margaret’s life. But is this child, newly renamed Norah Quinn and passed off as Erica’s daughter, sent to live with her grandmother while her parents mended their relationship, an answer to Norah’s prayers? Readers follow a trail of mystery and tragedy throughout this work, all the while seeking answers to the same questions that plague the characters: Who is Norah Quinn? Where did she really come from? What has become of Erica during the past ten years? Is it possible that Angels walk among us, guiding our path through life and helping to atone for our sins?
The imagery and style of this book is beautiful. Paragraphs worth of descriptive material are so vivid and filled with wonderful comparisons that it is hard to remember one is reading a novel. The characters, as in any great work, appear so well crafted that it wouldn’t have been surprising to see them appear from the pages and walk about on their own accord. The story itself is fresh, creative, and portrayed extremely well. Divided into three sections, readers get a wonderful blend of back story and new action, and the story benefits greatly from this.
It’s hard to find much to fault in this book, and the only improvement I could even think to suggest would be that some conclusions were a little too loose for my liking. Two pivotal characters disappear fairly abruptly and without much explanation. The rest of the story is so well written that it’s easy to accept these instances as part of the natural fabric of the tale. However, Angels of Destruction is such a complex tale that I needed a day to digest what I had read, which gave me time to realize that I felt pieces of the puzzle were missing. It’s a bit unsettling to come to that conclusion, and I wonder if maybe that wasn’t the point Donohue was trying to make. If it’s possible for anyone to understand the puzzling sense of loss Margaret Quinn experienced without losing a child under such circumstances themselves, perhaps these loose ends accomplish such a feat.
4.5 of 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment