Official Review: The Angel with Burnt Wings

prarich · Post by **prarich** » 14 Jul 2014, 00:06

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Angel with Burnt Wings" by Scarlett Jensen.]

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This is a story of Alice, the protagonist’s life in prisonland, narrated in the first person form, bringing in several analogies with Alice’s life in Alice in Wonderland. Based on true life happenings, it takes the reader through a major part of Alice’s life, in which she transformed from a little innocent girl, to a criminal in prison. The author tackles a very serious problem of the society, by correlating it with mythology. There are several emotions depicted through the entire story, that makes the reader see the human in the girl who is a criminal for the rest of the world.

The story divided into 17 chapters, moves slowly but steadily, and takes the reader through various phases of Alice’s life, starting from her early childhood and teenage, to the time she completes are life in prison. Early incidents of parental conflict and sexual abuse, send Alice into various forms of self –destruction, prostitution and later on crime. She falls for a man , a gangster, who dominates her, and she becomes his moll, because her low self-esteem makes her want to please him all the time. She is an accomplice to several crimes, and finally ends up serving a 15 years sentence in jail. Hereafter, the author correlates her life in prison to Alice’s life in wonderland, wherein she lands herself in jail, the black hole, and being left alone, she has to find her own way out of it.

While in prison, Alice writes several letters to her mother, letters that depict her guilt, shame and despair on her misdeeds, and above all, the need to still be loved. She travels the painful journey of a hostile, depressed and angry girl, working with psychotherapists, to find her lost self back. It is a journey of deep introspection, in which Alice finds not only herself, but also her lost confidence and self-esteem. There are several connotations to things said by poets and psychologists such as Carl Jung, who explain how troubled children or young adults, swing between their alt and self, to solve the problems in their lives. The author pens down life’s teachings and realizations beautifully in various places. For example, “To win the battle for survival in Prisonland you must be flexible and change accordingly to reach the golden key to the door of freedom outside. Nothing lasts forever. We have this one life to make the best of, and time stands still for no one. I learnt that we will have set-backs in life, many disappointments and frustrations. I have to move beyond them or deal with them. I learnt that people will let you down. They will hurt you and betray you, not just strangers or enemies, but even those who are near to you will do the same. You need to stand when life and people try to knock you down. I have learnt to be discerning and to listen, which was an activity that did not come easily to me. Not being able to trust, feel safe and comfortable, and believe in myself is to this day still one of my drawbacks.”

The story ends on a positive note, that brings in feelings of hope, love, dreams and happiness, to not just Alice, but to the reader as well. The book has been written keeping in mind those victims who need rehabilitation, who need to move out from the grasps of a life full of crime, abuse, shame and guilt, and also for their families who suffer along with them. It is obvious that the author has researched the lives of such people deeply, before writing this book. She has found relevance in Mary Baxter’s books, and the Bible, from where Alice draws her strength and hope to move on in life.

However, despite being written beautifully, the story gets confusing at various points. The author writes about Alice’s life at the end of her sentence, and then again goes back to her life in the first few days of her sentence. Just as the reader feels that the story is progressing, it goes back in time. The connotations are too detailed and complicated in many parts of the book, while they do have meaning, and are quite profound, they may be difficult to comprehend by victims or families, of such circumstances who read this book. Also, at times, the author seems to be explaining and justifying the criminal/ self-destructive acts of such victims, laying a lot of the blame on their families who are not able to give the kids a secure childhood. For the reasons above, I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.

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Scarlett Jensen · Post by **Scarlett Jensen** » 20 Aug 2014, 01:08

I refer to the second last sentence of the review above. "laying blame on their families who are not able to give the kids a secure childhood".
The above is a generalization. The theme of the book does not accommodate fixed resolutions or declarations. Thus it should rather read:

"Kids who commit self-destructive acts or crime are vulnerable and parents should be vigilant to identify such behaviour in order to procure them a secure childhood."

Families are not describe as the cause (blamed) but are regarded to be the safety net every kid requires.

Scarlett Jensen:Author of The Angel with Burnt Wings