Hoffman, Alice

Average customer rating:

Rip Off of "Wuthering Heights"
Not exactly a love story
Terrible!
Here on Earth
Had I known I was purchasing..........

Here on Earth (Oprah's Book Club)
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425169693

Amazon.com

In this first-rate "tape turner" Hoffman once again proves her powers as a storyteller. Dialogue rings remarkably true in this reading by Susan Ericksen, which also brings out the incisive details and keen observations on nature, both human and otherwise, that Hoffman carefully deploys in this masterful narrative.

When March Murray travels East with her teenage daughter to attend the funeral of the beloved housekeeper who looked after her when she was growing up, March's past comes rushing up to meet her. The present is quickly dominated by the lurking presence of her former lover, Hollis, who has patiently awaited her long overdue return. The tale is populated by those for whom love brings more sorrow than happiness: a woman afraid to commit to a relationship, a husband in love with someone other than his wife, two young people who fall for each other only to find they are close relatives, and the self-destructing love of Hollis and March. While love has the power to transform those who fall under its spell--devotion to an old racehorse turns March's daughter, a sullen teenager, into a strong young woman--the love March herself suffers robs her of nearly all sense and goodness. Hoffman deftly weaves her characters' stories against a vivid New England landscape where the past always has a grip on the present. And the listener is left at the end both satisfied and longing to hear more. --Anne Depue

Book Description

The bestselling author of Turtle Moon and Practical Magic tells her most seductive and mesmerizing tale yet--the story of March Murray, who returns to her small Massachusetts hometown after nineteen years, encountering her childhood sweetheart...and discovering the heartbreaking and complex truth about their reckless and romantic love.

"A sound addition to an impressive body of work."--Boston Globe

"Sumptuous prose."--Denver Post

"Here on Earth is Hoffman's twelfth novel, and the spell she casts is stronger than ever."--Orlando Sentinel

* Includes a Reader's Guide

The New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection...with a Reader's Guide included.

Customer Reviews:

Rip Off of "Wuthering Heights".......2007-06-11

Do yourself a favor: read the beautifully written classic "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte instead of "Here On Earth". The first is a work of genius; the second is a BLATANT rip off without the talent !! There is a slight difference in plot,a "what if" question one which every "Wuthering Heights" fan probably wondered, but that's it. Note the dedication page : "To E.B." I think Ms. Hoffman should have paid a TRUE homage to EMILY BRONTE , and the original story WUTHERING HEIGHTS. How can you basically take someone else's idea and not give them proper credit or homage????

Not exactly a love story.......2007-05-21

I've read many of Ophra books and generally you cannot go wrong, but this was a frustrating book in a lot of ways. It begins by talking about how scary a certain part of the town is. Maybe it's going to be a ghost story. Then it talks about a family, not exactly happy where the daughter, who becomes the main character doesn't particularly like her friends, hates her brother and adores her lawyer father. Maybe it is going to be a coming of age story. It goes on where Dad brings home a juvenile delinquent who sculks about but eventually begins sleeping with the daughter. The brother and his bully friends stalk the jd, tie him to a tree, beat and abandom him. Maybe it's a story about hard life and hate crimes. That is getting closer. The two young lovers, the daughter and the young boy become obsessed with each other and then the dad dies leaving an old will which gives the evil son everything. (I guess the author didn't realize that a testator cannot disinherit by fiat, but that's another story.) The brother sends the young boy to live in the attic, where he and the sister are having plenty of sex and becoming more obsessed than before. The boy leaves and makes a ton of money in various illegal ways, but doesn't stay in touch. The girl waits for him by her window for several years before marrying and moving to California. One of the characters, who I think isn't given a large enough role to care about her, dies and the young girl, who by now is a woman with a teen age daughter, returns to the spooky town. The young boy, who has grown older and bitter has returned to the town to buy up most of the property. He marries, beats and maybe or maybe not, kills his wife. The old girlfriend and he meet once again and renew their obsessive relationship. The story evolves into a stupid woman being brutalized by a psychopathic man. The brother becomes the town's drunken failure. Most of the characters are despicable but they all get their comeuppance. Pretty predictable.

I realize that this is an oversimplication, but the book really doesn't deserve more.

Terrible!.......2007-05-11

I was stuck with this audiotape on a long trip, otherwise I would not have bothered to finish it. Dull plot, flat characters, and uninspired prose characterize this book. Annoying writing, too, like continuously calling one character "The Coward" instead of by his name. As an exploration of abuse and doomed love, this falls way, way short.

Here on Earth.......2007-02-25

I found this book to be very boring. The main characters were not very interesting with the exception of the daughter. I just never really felt very invested in the plot. It was a very slow and forgettable read for me. It was also a bit too simple for my tastes, it belongs in the young adult genre.

Had I known I was purchasing.................2007-02-10

.........a romance novel, I would not have picked up this book. However, as romance novels go, this wasn't too awful. Character development sucks, I think we're supposed to guess at the attitude/mood of the characters when they speak, dialog is rare though. But still, Hoffman does have a nice quality in her sentence structure.

I remain surprised at the choices the Winfrey woman makes for her book club. I can see Here on Earth as a read for sad, lonely, depressed teenagers. Maybe. I wonder if even teens would enjoy it.

Average customer rating:

A ghost story
A Pleasant Surprise
a pleasant, easy read
Get the tissues....
Good beginning, slow ending

Skylight Confessions: A Novel
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316058785

Book Description

A stunning new novel about three generations of a family haunted by love from the bestselling author of Practical Magic and Here on Earth. Arlyn Singer believes in destiny and in love. But fate seems to be playing a trick on the night when John Moody knocks on her door to ask for directions. Opposites who cannot understand each other, they are drawn to one another even when it's clear they're bound to bring each other grief. Their marriage is dangerous territory, tracing a map no one should follow. It leads them and their children to the Connecticut countryside, the avenues in Manhattan, the blue waters of the Long Island Sound, all in a search for family and identity. There is Sam, the brilliant explosive artist who is drawn to self-destruction and dreams. Blanca, the beautiful loner who tries desperately to protect her brother from his destiny and lives her own life in a world of books. And Will, the grandson, who is left a legacy of broken pieces he needs to put together, an emotional and mysterious puzzle made up of people who don't know the first thing about love. Here is a family so real, so tragic, so devoted it is as if they have written their own riveting history--a quest for love and truth. Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules. SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS is a luminous and elegant work of true originality. No one who reads this novel will ever forget it or look at their own family in quite the same way.

Customer Reviews:

A ghost story.......2007-06-04

This book had a very strong start and ended in disaster.
I wish I had known beforehand that this is a ghost story. I would never waste my time on stories based on ghosts and magic realism. If I long for some magic I would go back and re-read all the Harry Potter books. At least Harry Potter is a world full of magic separated from our Muggleworld.
These 2 worlds collide in this novel.
Hallucinating about acquiring 2 wings and climbing a glass building trying to fly, happens only if you are a certified schizophrenic.
However, the fellow who spent all his life trying to fly, like a subspecies of human beings in Connecticut in this story, was not a schizophrenic in this novel. Leaving us confused about what the author was talking about. Just give me a break! The author has had excellent reviews on previous novels. This 2-star review does not prevent me from trying some of her other good novels. If I stumble on one more ghost, Alice Hoffman would be history for me. By the way, people who abuse narcotics such as morphine, have small pinpoint pupils, not dialted pupils as it is stated in this book. This mini medical fact, however, did not influence my rating of the book.

A Pleasant Surprise.......2007-05-14

This is the first Alice Hoffman book I have read, and took it along on my last holiday. I started reading it while waiting to board the plane at the airport, and after the first 10 or so pages I thought I had made a mistake in taking it along as I really didnt think I was going to enjoy it. However I stuck with it for the only reason that I had nothing else to read, and I'm glad I did. By the time I reached 50 pages in to the book I had really begun to care about the characters, and once the plane landed having almost finished the book I was fully engrossed! So I nearly missed out on a book that in the end I thourougly enjoyed, and as a result have made a new rule with myself not to give up before the 50 page mark! I have since headed to the library and picked up Here on Earth which is next in my pile. As for Skylight Confessions, if you like a story with depth and feeling, this one comes reccommended.

a pleasant, easy read.......2007-05-12

This was a book club selection which is why I read it. The story was a bit far-fetched in parts but you do grow to care about the characters, dysfunctional as many of them are. It reads very quickly and I recommend it for light summer reading.

Get the tissues...........2007-04-29

Looking for the world's most maudlin tear-jerker ever? Here you have it--- The Bridges of Madison County on steroids. Mediocre and contrived.

Good beginning, slow ending.......2007-04-25

Like many people have written here, I'm a huge fan of Alice Hoffman but I found this book to be disappointing. It started off very strong and I thought it was a page turner. However, it turned into a drag of a story and much too depressing and without merit. The story of the son was just maudlin and I felt, totally unrealistic. I was waiting for more magic and more life but I found this tale to be a dying story. It's like it started with so much hope but just failed to deliver, in my opinion. Alice Hoffman, we will wait with great expectations for more of your old charm.

Average customer rating:

Delicious
Rambling but excellent "wild child" tale
Enthralling, captivating, magical...
Loved it!
Missing something.

Second Nature
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425146812

Book Description

A New York Times bestseller, Second Nature tells the story of a suburban woman, Robin Moore, who discovers her own free spirit through a stranger she brings home to her perfectly ordered neighborhood. As Robin impulsively draws this beautiful, uncivilized man into her world-meanwhile coping with divorce and a troubled teenage son-she begins to question her wisdom and doubt her own heart, and ultimately she changes her ideas about love and humanity.

Customer Reviews:

Delicious.......2006-10-30

Alice Hoffman is a master at taking an entirely bizarre and improbable situation and make it seem like something that could happen to anyone at anytime. She has a spare and yet fluid way of writing that is faintly magical and yet entirely believable. I have read most of her books but I think this is my favorite (this and "Turtle Moon"). What Hoffman does better than anyone else is create characters who are loaded with flaws and faults and yet are somehow amazingly lovable.

Stephen, the central character of this story, is a man who was raised by wolves. Don't we all know someone like that? And yet, with her deft hand for counterbalancing toughness and vulnerability, Hoffman makes him seem like the guy we have all been waiting for. I'm not a fan of the popular genre of books that are identified as "romance" --- for me Hoffman is the consummate romantic. Her characters are utterly unique and entirely ordinary with that one curious little twist. Stephen, as designed by Hoffman, is the original "sexy beast". Read slow and savor.

Rambling but excellent "wild child" tale.......2006-08-19

A modern wild "child" tale of a man, Stephen, raised by wolves brought back into society by a gardener, Robin. They quickly fall in love as he adapts to life among humans. The story deals with the relationship between Stephen and Robin, her son Conner, her grandfather Old Dick (a crotchety old man), her brother (the psychologist originally asigned to his case) and his ex-wife, and Robin's exhusband, an arrogant alpha male, Roy. The book is well-written, though often long and tedious about how he adapts to human life, and the human beings' relationships juxtaposed with those of the wolf pack. While the book shows the difference between the "cultures" of the wilderness and civilization, it also highlights the similarities. Human beings have adapted cool logic and intellect and a complicated sense of morals in order to try to remove themselves from the "wilderness", but it becomes strickingly obvious that there isn't much difference. Ironically, this is when Stephen--suspected of thoughtless crime--must leave human civilization. A thoughtful modern fairytale, but it rambles in an attempt to be mainstream. Grade: B+

Enthralling, captivating, magical..........2006-06-24

SECOND NATURE is not your typical love story--which means, of course, that it's very typical Alice Hoffman fare. The novel centers on Robin Moore, a divorcee with a teenage son and a failing landscaping business. Robin feels empty and dissatisfied with her life--until she impulsively decides to bring the "Wolf Man" home with her from the psychiatric hospital where her brother works.

The nurses call him the Wolf Man because he was raised by wolves, had been living with his pack since he was three years old and a plane carrying him and his parents crashed deep in the wilderness of northern Michigan. Years later, he's discovered in the woods by two hunters, near death, his foot caught and mangled by a steel trap. When Robin sees him in the hospital, he awakens a yearning in her, and she takes him home with her, to the timeless island her own family colonized at the turn of the century.

The Wolf Man's name is Stephen, and over the next three months, under Robin's diligent tutelage, he begins speaking again, and even reading. Soon after, he and Robin begin a passionate affair, one that awakens both of them to a new level of awareness--and awakens Hoffman's readers to a new awareness of human nature itself.

But then a little girl is found dead on the island's shore, her throat neatly slashed, and when the community learns of Stephen's true identity, all fingers point to him as the murderer. All at once, Stephen and Robin are forced to face the fact that the fairy tale they're living in just can't translate into the real world. Love, the most powerful of all human emotions, cannot conquer Robin's fear or Stephen's wild nature.

SECOND NATURE is not your everyday modern love story, but it definitely is a meditation on love in all its forms: love between the young and between the elderly, love that is all-consuming, passionate, tortured, breathless, animalistic, platonic, doomed from the start. Hoffman is the master of telling a magical story that her readers will still believe--in fact, we'll eat up anything she says, just because she says it so beautifully. Her prose is so otherworldly, so beguiling and authentic, you just can't help but be entranced. Her characters remain incredibly real even in their magic-laced world--but I've found that I don't really read Hoffman's books for the characters. I pick up her novels to learn something about myself--to learn what it really means to be human.

Reading a book by Alice Hoffman always requires suspending your disbelief. In SECOND NATURE, readers are required to do this quite extensively; we're asked to believe that a man who's lived with wolves since he was three somehow develops an advanced vocabulary and grasps adult concepts and etiquette in a matter of months. Completely unrealistic, right? Well, yes, but readers who are deterred by this are missing the point. Hoffman's novel is about how we react when we're in a relationship we know can never last; it's about how we sometimes receive fulfillment from the most surprising of places.

While SECOND NATURE is not Hoffman's best work, poignant insights into humanity and the author's seductive, masterful prose make this dark, magical love story worth the read.

Loved it!.......2006-03-29

I've read alot of Alice Hoffman's books and I'd have to say that this is my favorite! I just couldn't put it down! I cried and laughed and brought it everywhere I went! Just loved this story!

Missing something........2005-12-11

This was the third of Hoffman's books I've read. I'm drawn to her books because of her writing style. Her writing is enchanting and draws you into the books. However, I'm always disappointed by her stories and characters. I think they fall suprisingly short for such a talented writer. As for this book, it was okay. Not something I'd choose to read again. I didn't find it hard to get into, but I think her characters where a bit flat and the story line the same. It felt like there was something missing.

Average customer rating:

Extreme examples of intolerance
Ariel's Review
Timeless Conflict
Important history lesson
A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Honor Award Winner for Teens

Incantation
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316010197

Book Description

From a New York Times bestselling author comes a journey of loss and rebirth with a startling premise inspired by historical fact. Estrella is a Marrano: one of the Spanish Jews living double lives when those who refused conversion risked everything. Estrella's discovery that her family secretly practices the ancient way of wisdom known as kabbalah leads her to her true self and true love-but also to a devastating confrontation with unimaginable evil, unleashed by the betrayal of a friend. With themes of faith, friendship, and persecution, Alice Hoffman's tragic and beautiful novel resonates profoundly in our times.

Customer Reviews:

Extreme examples of intolerance.......2007-06-22

The author of this book also wrote "Practical Magic", which became a movie. Set in Aragon, Spain of 1500, this novel of historic fiction features a coming-of-age girl who discovers that her family is secretly Jewish. The extreme intolerance of the time and place is vividly brought to life with the story. Estrella tells the story of jealousy and betrayal of her best friend. Given incentives by the government to turn Marranos over to the police, the average people of this small town point fingers of guilt at Catholic church members whose ancestors were Jews forced to convert. The marranos did their best to maintain their ancient traditions in secret, but were reviled as witches, their medical texts and surgical tools destroyed. The horrors of the Spanish Inquisition are brought home here, and the reader will get a much clearer picture of conditions faced by Jews throughout history that will serve as an example of social intolerance. The story was compelling. A middle school student won't be put off by the violence of the book, but may be intrigued and further study history.

Ariel's Review.......2007-05-29

INCANTATION

Spain in the 1500's, the era of inquisition was a period of time where all Jews where forced to convert to Catholicism or where sentenced to death if they refused. Incantation is about a catholic sixteen year- old- girl by the name of Estrella deMadrigal. Estrella's life was at its peak. Her best friend Catalina is as close as can be, she is surrounded by the warmth of her family and she feels the anti-Jewish riots that sweep through her town leave her life untouched. When two life changing events step in, Estrella's life crumbles. A family secret that she was completely unaware of is reviled and if ever announced to the public would make the difference between life and death. Will love overcome friendships? And will secrets become fatal?

Opinion

I would recommend this book to almost everyone. Someone who enjoys history and who is interested in mysteries, love, friendship, and secrets I think would really enjoy the book Incantation. The book contained so many emotions and life changing events it just kept you interested and surprised. Many parts in the book were extremely moving, it made you just wanted to keep reading so you could find out what happened next. Incantation is an amazing book I absolutely loved reading it and I hope everyone gets a chance to!

Timeless Conflict.......2007-04-05

A historical backdrop sheds light on a little-known chapter in Jewish history while conflicts and a love affair with a neighbor add more ingredients to this moving story.

Important history lesson.......2007-04-03

This book provides an important lesson in the history of religious persecution. Beautifully written and written to appeal to young adults (as told from the point of view of a young girl), the book teaches what happened to the hidden Jewish "Ladinos" during the Inquisition. Descriptions get pretty gruesome in the end, so not for someone with a light stomach. But very hopeful and a reminder to all of the importance of remembering those who perished in past oppressive societies. Remembering well is the best prevention of future abuses.

A 2007 Association of Jewish Libraries Honor Award Winner for Teens.......2007-01-28

Amidst book burnings, trials, public burnings, and murders, sixteen-year-old Estrella DeMadrigal, living in Spain in 1500, learns that her family is part of a secret community of Jews who converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution. Hoffman's writing is lyrical, moving, and profound. And, despite the historical setting of the narrative, young adults will relate to the timeless nature of Estrella's conflict with her best friend and her love affair with her neighbor. Shedding light on a dark, and not always known, chapter in Jewish history, Incantation is highly recommended for public, school, and Jewish libraries.

Average customer rating:

Maybe 3 and 1/2 Stars
Fairy Tales and Mermaids
Wonderful Story
Aquamarine
Love it!

Practical Magic
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425190374
Release Date: 2003-08-05

Amazon.com

For most adults, fairy tales are among the childish things we've put away. Alice Hoffman, however, feels differently. Practical Magic starts out as a tale of Gillian and Sally Owens, two orphaned girls whose aunts are witches--of a mild sort. For the past two centuries, Owens women have been blamed for all that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town, ever since their ancestor arrived, rich, independent, and soon accused of theft: "And then one day, a farmer winged a crow in his cornfield, a creature who'd been stealing from him shamelessly for months. When Maria Owens appeared the very next morning with her arm in a sling and her white hand wound up in a white bandage, people felt certain they knew the reason why." The aunts are daily ostracized by the same upstanding citizens who sneak to their house at night for magical love cures. To the sisters they are for the most part benevolently absent, though their bell, book, and candle routine makes life a torment for Gillian, beautiful and blonde and lazy, and Sally, who's all too responsible. But when one of the aunts' cures works too well, ending as a curse, the dangers of real love become all too clear. In Hoffman's world being bewitched, bothered, and bewildered is no mere metaphor--and neither is desire. The elbows of one enamored man pucker a linoleum counter, another walks around with singed cuffs. It's difficult to catch the author's power in brief quotes. She needs space and increment to build her exquisite variations of vision and reality, her matter-of-fact announcements of the preternatural. Practical Magic again and again makes one recall the thrill of hearing at bedtime, "Now will I a tale unfold..." --Kerry Fried

Book Description

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women had been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. And Gillian and Sally endured that fate as well; as children, the sisters were outsiders. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, but all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared brought them back-almost as if by magic...

Customer Reviews:

Maybe 3 and 1/2 Stars.......2007-05-08

I picked this book up expecting to get lost in a magical world (maybe something like Harry Potter!) but this book failed to deliver on that front. The magic was underhanded and unorganized. However, with that said, this was still a good read. Examining the dynamics between two generations of sisters was interesting, and the writing moved along comfortably. Overall, it's worth reading, but don't expect to be mesmerized!

Fairy Tales and Mermaids.......2007-04-05

Some women will do anything to get what they want, and this story of a mermaid who wants to date a man will capture your heart.

Wonderful Story.......2007-03-13

I absolutely loved this book. As many others have said, it is as different as night and day from the movie. Even the basic plot and character development are completely different. I, however, LOVED both versions.

WARNING: There is a short scene, just past the middle of the book, that is highly sexual. It really took me by suprise. This wasn't a problem for me, but I thought it should be mentioned in case anyone is considering buying this book for a child or someone else who could be offended by sexual material.

Aquamarine.......2007-01-11

I really liked this book a lot. It is a fantasy book about a mermaid. Best friends Haley and Claire go to the capri beach club every day in the summer. one day they found a mermaid in the pool. Her name is Aquamarine. They try to get her back to the ocean where she belongs, but she refuses to. She won't go back until she goes on a date with the guy she likes, Raymond. Hayle and Claire try to set them both up on a date in time before Aquamarine turns into dust from being on land too long.

Love it!.......2007-01-06

This is a great story written so well with love, lust and magic. The greatest theme throughout was; "be careful what you wish for" and what happens to women who would do anything to get a man. Great moments of those struggles we have between loving our siblings and wanting to bury them in a patch of lilacs.

Blackbird House: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Average customer rating:

mesmerizing
A house, a (sometimes white) blackbird, the color red, a span of over two hundred years, an interestingly-connected collection
Good Stuff!
Magical Tales Of A Cape Cod House
Makes me want to buy a pair of red boots!

Blackbird House: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345455932
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With “incantatory prose” that “sweeps over the reader like a dream,” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Hoffman follows her celebrated bestseller The Probable Future, with an evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse, certain that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots
arrives to change everything; Maya Cooper, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late. From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, family after family’s lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love but by the lives they lead inside Blackbird House.

These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

From the writer Time has said tells "truths powerful enough to break a reader’s heart” comes a glorious travelogue through time and fate, through loss and love and survival. Welcome to Blackbird House.</p>

Download Description

With ¿incantatory prose¿ that ¿sweeps over the reader like a dream,¿ (Philadelphia Inquirer), Hoffman follows her celebrated bestseller The Probable Future, with an evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet: Violet, a brilliant girl who is in love with books and with a man destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut as big as a horse, certain that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots
arrives to change everything; Maya Cooper, who does not understand the true meaning of the love between her mother and father until it is nearly too late. From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, family after family¿s lives are inexorably changed, not only by the people they love but by the lives they lead inside Blackbird House.

These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

From the writer Time has said tells "truths powerful enough to break a reader¿s heart¿ comes a glorious travelogue through time and fate, through loss and love and survival. Welcome to Blackbird House.</p>

Customer Reviews:

mesmerizing.......2007-06-05

Beautifully written stories that work as a novel about generations of people living in the same house. Lovely motifs weave their way through the years. Great read.

A house, a (sometimes white) blackbird, the color red, a span of over two hundred years, an interestingly-connected collection.......2006-11-29

A schooner and its passengers encounter a horrible storm in the first story of this collection by Alice Hoffman, author of the Oprah Book Club selection, Here on Earth, as well as almost two dozen other novels. It's hard to find fault with Hoffman's Blackbird House, either in its writing (good) or its plot (great). The well-thought out connections between successive stories create an ordered web about life in and around rural Massachusettes. My favorite, The Conjurer's Handbook, is about a man who falls in love with a Jewish interpreter and guide named Dorey while touring a camp in Germany. The interactions between strong, capable, Dorey and her love's stubbornly independent grandmother, during a visit of less than a day, are marvelous. Those few pages, along with the recurring links between characters and stories, make this a wonderful choice both for those who love short stories and for anyone who hasn't yet given short stories a try. Those who enjoy these short stories, will probably also like those of authors Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood.

Good Stuff!.......2006-08-14

I've read several of Alice Hoffman's books, and have, for the most part, enjoyed them. BLACKBIRD HOUSE is one of my favorites, mainly because the story is weaved through centuries of history, but also because of the magical element that this mysterious Cape Cod cottage has. In short, it's a fun story to read and dream about a house that has inhabitated all types of fascinating people.

Magical Tales Of A Cape Cod House.......2006-08-09

From Revolutionary times to the present-day, the lives of inhabitants of a Massachusetts house are examined with compelling awareness. Alice Hoffman weaves tales of acute happiness and profound sorrow, each rewarding in its own right. Together, they combine for a loosely-constructed novel of the changing events in the life of a house. Vivid images of blackbirds, pear trees, sweet peas, the color red and more unite these stories with an undeniable charm.

"The Edge of the World", a tale of seaman John Hadley who originally built the house in the 1700's as a gift for his wife Coral. The sailor and his two sons are lost at sea and the grieving widow and mother slogs on with only her field of sweet peas and the ghost of her son's pet blackbird to sustain her.

"The Witch of Truro," a lyrical story of red boots, pear trees, and a love story that is one-of a kind. After a horrifying event, Ruth Declan becomes a charity case for neighbors who sell her into servitude to a blacksmith named Lysander.

"The Token," features Garnet, one of the book's most endearing characters. Her love for her sister Ruby and even for her seemingly uncaring mother, Ruth of the previous story, is heartwarming and uplifting.

"Insulting the Angels" introduces Larkin, another lovable character who finds fatherhood in a most unusual way.

"Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair" acquaints the reader with Violet, a physically scarred young woman who falls in love with a professor. She carries his child while he falls in love with her sister.

"Lionheart" picks up with Violet, now a mother of seven, living in Blackbird House and doting on her firstborn son, Lion. His life is charmed and, as the author tells us, he was not like anyone else and he never would be.

"The Conjurer's Handbook" is the story of Lion, Jr. who is raised at Blackbird House by his grandmother and takes a Jewish wife while abroad. Can the granddaughter-in-law ever win the love of Violet and will Violet ever accept her? This reads like a fairy tale, a wonderful, magical happy-ever-after story to cherish.

"The Wedding of Snow and Ice" is set in 1957 and televisions and canned soup have appeared as staples at Blackbird House. Grace Farrell is caught in the crossfire of impending women's liberation but it is her son Jamie whose visit to the next door neighbor's to shovel the sidewalk and deliver homemade soup that is the focal point of this haunting tale.

"India" is set in the 1960's and 1970's when a young hippie couple purchase the house and raise their two children, Kalkin and Maya. The very back-to-nature parents have given birth to children who have no interest in their mother-earth upbringing but prefer to woof down hamburgers and watch "Dallas" on tv. How one escapes and one comes to terms with her roots makes for a riveting read.

"The Pear Tree" is the story of the Stanley family. Unlike the families before, they only use the home as a summer getaway. For that reason, they never fit in with the community and their son Dean is a loner whose tragic life plays out at Blackbird House.

"The Summer Kitchen" is the story of the family of Katherine and Sam, a couple drowning in sorrow. Their lives are centered around Emma, a young daughter dying of leukemia. Their son Walker is jealous of the attention lavished on Emma and rebels in typical ten-year-old fashion.

"Wish You Were Here," the final story is perhaps the weakest. It picks up the tale of Emma more than twenty years later when she inherits Blackbird House from her parents. Emma has had an empty and unhappy life, but can she find happiness at last? Readers will also be treated to what Walker has accomplished with his life.

Makes me want to buy a pair of red boots!.......2006-06-14

Makes me want to buy a pair of red boots!

This is a good example of why Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite contemporary writers. Chocked full of her trademark magic symbolism and whimsy, "Blackbird House" is a poignant observation of the interconnectedness of humanity. Told in short story format, this novel weaves a tale of the many lives that pass through one house. Some lives are tragic, others inspirational, all touching. I only deducted stars for the ending story (which I felt lacked cohesion with the others).

For lovers of the short story format, this book will not disappoint.

The Probable Future (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Average customer rating:

Good, but not great. . .
Magic in Real Life
A magical book that pulls you in and holds on tight
the magic of our realities
I wish I wrote this book...

The Probable Future (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345455916
Release Date: 2004-06-01

Book Description

The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people’s dreams as they’re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles to cope with her disturbing clairvoyance, the unthinkable happens: One of her premonitions lands her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide. The ordeal leads Stella to the grandmother she’s never met and to Cake House, the Sparrow ancestral home full of talismans and fraught with history. Now three generations of estranged Sparrow women must come together to turn Stella’s potential to ruin into a potential to redeem.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not great. . . .......2007-05-24

I loved the history of the Sparrow family and the in-depth descriptions of nature really helped set the scene, but I had a hard time getting into the book overall. In fact, I started it three times before I finally read it all the way through. It is a good story, but I had a hard time caring about the characters, especially Jenny.

Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it? Maybe.

Magic in Real Life.......2007-04-05

The age of thirteen is a magical age for girls, especially those in the Sparrow family. Read about the power of premonition that comes to one girl on her 13th birthday.

A magical book that pulls you in and holds on tight.......2007-01-03

This is the first Alice Hoffman novel that I have ever read, and it most likely won't be the last.
The story surrounds the quiet town of Unity, just outside Boston. The Sparrow women that have resided there for many centuries have all woken to a remarkable gift on their 13th birthday. One was able to stay under water for long periods at a time, and another, Rebecca, was unable to feel pain. Stella Sparrow Avery wakes on her 13th birthday with a gift that is both a blessing and a curse: the ability to see a persons probable future, how they will die. The story holds a few main themes including the importance and impact of mistakes, forgiveness, and using what is in your power to change your own future.
Hoffman writes with beautiful lyricism and I found myself hypnotised by the story and her writing. There were many complicated plot threads but the author manages to write with detail while making her words seem so simple and effective. It was a real pleasure to read and I would highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in life stories with a unusual magical twist.

the magic of our realities.......2006-12-17

I loved this book. I read a lot and haven't been so engaged in a novel in a long time. Alice Hoffman paints pictures of depth and beauty, in a way that seems natural and effortless...the mind just follows her down her winding paths. As she says herself, the characters come to a life of their own and name themselves. These were very real characters to me. The sublties of changes in our perceptions about ourselves and others as we grapple for understanding and connections in life were portrayed in a magically interwoven tale much like real life itself. This book helped me to see the magic hidden in my own 'real' life. I gave it to all my grown children. A story of family and the possibilites of change.

I wish I wrote this book..........2006-03-30

I'll tell you reading some of the reviews on this site, I thought, wow, this is a hard audience to please! Hoffman has so many plot lines, and all of the characterization felt deep and well-thought out. But the thing is, I didn't stop to notice this during the book, because I was just into the story.

I disagree that Will Avery was unbelievable. Everyone knows a slacker in life who works so hard to get away with not working. I also loved the magical elements -- and how it made you think, you know, being mortal -- not such a bad thing.

Really great read!

Average customer rating:

Wonderful characterizations; sad and hopeless story
a haunting story
quite depressing
Mystical
Review of Fortune's daughter

Fortune's Daughter
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425168700
Release Date: 1999-12-13

Book Description

This novel from the bestselling author of Practical Magic and Turtle Moon tells the story of two women--one young, unmarried, and far from home as she awaits the birth of her first child, the other a mother who lost her daughter long ago...

"One of the best novels to come out of the United States in a decade."-- Annie Dillard

"An intimate, lovely novel" (People) from the New York Times bestselling author of Here on Earth.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful characterizations; sad and hopeless story.......2007-04-20

Alice Hoffman writes so beautifully, even of tragedy and deep sadness, exposing raw emotions and mystical feelings of her characters. I have very mixed feelings about this book - on one hand, the author's amazing talent makes a strong impression. This was a story of loneliness and I'm left with a rather empty sense of wondering what happened after I read the final page, as the story seemed to end rather abruptly without neatly tying up many loose ends. Every book I read these days seems to be about dysfunctional families and abusive/controlling men....I think I need to find more upbeat and hopeful reading material.

a haunting story.......2006-07-07

This is the fourth of Alice Hoffman's books that I have read in recent months, and I found Fortune's Daughter to be a beautifully written portrayal of two women coping with longing, loss, and letting go. Unlike many novels where romances drive the plotline, in Fortune's Daughter, the central relationships are between mothers and daughters -- real mothers, both through birth and adoption, and surrogates chosen by lonely young women in need of support. Hoffman's judicious use of magical realism heightens the emotions and vividly expresses the inner life of her characters. Highly recommended.

quite depressing.......2003-10-09

When I first started reading the book I did not know what to expect but I felt the book got worse as I read more and more. I found the book to be quite depressing none the less. The story is about a young woman named Rae and a fortune teller name Lila. Rae had run away from home and an early age with her boyfriend Jessup. When Rae tells Jessup that she is pregnant he decides that he is not ready to be a father and leaves his pregnant girlfriend so he can pursue his job in the movies. Lila the other character is a tea leaf fortune teller who had a rough time growing up. She became pregnant at an early age by her boyfriend who like Jessup left her. She did not tell her parents she was pregnant until her mother found out when Lila's water broke. Lila's parents would not even take her to the hospital because they were too ashamed of her and called Lila's cousin who was a nurse to help with the pregnancy. Lila's parents made Lila give up the baby for adoption and after that Lila fell in to depression. Lila is sent to her aunts to live with and meets her future husband Richard. These two women cross paths and build a relationship. Rae reminded Lila of how she was at that age, young, unmarried, and pregnant. Rae becomes depressed and ends up hurting her marriage because she is in search of her lost child. She hallucinates that she sees her daughter and so she has somewhat of an invisible daughter she believes is there. The end left me kind of disappointed because I wanted to know more of what would happen to these two women. I think Alice Hoffman writes in great detail and has a nice descriptive artistic flow to her writing. I still honestly found the book to be depressing because of Rae's dysfunctional relationship with Jessup and then Lila's depressive attitude. Details of Lila's labor I found were quite graphic and painful for me as the reader. Even her depressing incident of slitting her wrists was very disturbing. I would not recommend this book unless someone really is interested in disturbing and depressing stories or into fortune telling then you may enjoy it.

Mystical.......2003-05-02

Fortunes Daughter is about Rae, a young, unmarried girl who is awaiting the birth of her child and Lila, a fortune-teller with no interest in the future who lost her child when she was a young, unmarried girl.

Rae and Lilas lives, fates and futures intertwine as each tries to make peace with the past and become a better person for the future.

Not knowing the what the book was really about, Lilas fortune telling, visions, nightmares, spirituality stuff was different then what I would normally read. I didn't like how Lila was so emotionally torchered all her life and never fully found peace.

Without spoiling the storyline, I can say that as an Adoptive Mom I REALLY didn't like how one element of the book was treated. At all.

All in all, it was an OKAY read. I read it in a weekend and like all of Hoffmans other books, she pulls you in with her ability to turn everyday events into enchanting words.

Review of Fortune's daughter.......2002-10-29

Fortune's daughter was a novel that I found myself reading as often as possible. Each woman's story was touching and realistic. I could feel the emotions that Rae went through when her boyfriend left her pregnant and lonely. I cried for Lila as she revisited her painful past. This book was very well written and tied two woman together who needed each other whether or not they were ready to admit it. They were able to find strength in each other when no one else understood what they were going through. The outcomes of their situations were suprising and touching. I would definitly recommend this book to my girlfriends.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful and Compelling
Girl Power
Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Brief But Compelling...
Insanely compelling

The Foretelling
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316154091

Book Description

Now available in paperback, The Foretelling is a transformative story that asks many profound questions, for which there are many answers. Rain is girl of the Amazon tribe of women warriors, born in a time of blood and fear. As the future leader of her people, she must seek and hold fast to her inner warrior. What she encounters along her poignant and harrowing path toward her destiny-a kind young man, a strange, recurrent prophecy, and a condemned baby brother-lead her, against odds, to forge mercy, love, and peace.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful and Compelling.......2006-07-15

My name is Doug Hiser, author of the 2006 novel,The Honey Bee Girl. I have been reading and collecting Alice Hoffman books since I discovered Turtle Moon. I have read them all and The Fortelling is my favorite. I loved her narrative and moving story. In some ways it reminded me of Clan of the Cave Bear and also of mystical ancient cultures that we see only in dreams. Alice Hoffman's prose is the main reason I fell in love with her books. She is the magic realism of writing the way Michael Parks is of the dreamlike reality of art and Frank Frazetta is the master of fantasy painting. The Fortelling is a short work of literary genius accessible to everyone. She has deep intense knowledge of the emotions and feelings that most people can only guess about. Discover her writing through this compelling work and then find your way into her other books. You won't be disappointed. Doug Hiser

Girl Power.......2006-06-08

One of Alice Hoffman's few YA books, this story of an Amazonian princess will capture you like no other read. The ways of the women warriors are brutally intense, and for the first time are questioned, by Rain, who vies for her mother's attention but still attempts to defy the ways of tradition. The characters are strong, each of them contributing to the choices made by Rain, for good or bad.

The Foretelling is a gripping book from beginning to end. Your care for the young princess grows as you learn more and more about her destiny, and her will to change the fate of her people to peace. Her strong connections with horses and bears seem spiritual, and make this story of pain and violence almost gentle and compassionate. I guarantee everyone will enjoy it.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too.......2006-04-17

In this intense yet complicated fantasy story, Rain attempts to gain her mother's notice and acceptance by being the best of warriors in their Amazonian tribe. The product of a rape when her mother, Alina, wasn't much more than a child herself, it is hard to gain the Queen's approval. Although Rain knows that she's been raised by Deborah, the wise priestess, to one day be Queen herself, she also pays attention to Deborah's promises of a much grander destiny.

Rain doesn't totally understand the Queen's desire to so thoroughly destroy her enemies, even though her own cousins, Astella and Asteria, are two of the fiercest warriors in the tribe. When Alina takes Penthe as her companion, and Penthe's daughter Io seeks to be Rain's sister, matters become even more complicated. Rain wants nothing more than to ride her horse, Sky, to garner her mother's approval, to earn the place as rightful Queen that will someday come upon her.

On her first journey alone, Rain comes upon a bear cub, which she takes back to camp. She names him Usha, and together with Io the two girls raise the cub as if he were a horse. Although Rain and Io soon discover the mistake of doing so, it's too late--Usha is killed in battle, and Rain still doesn't have the love and acceptance of her mother.

THE FORETELLING is a coming-of-age story set in a fantastical land of the Amazons. Rain is a compelling character who, although she tries so hard to be vicious and fierce like her fellow tribe-members, always leans more towards peace for all men and compassion towards her enemies.

Not to be missed by lovers of fantasy stories!

Brief But Compelling..........2006-03-22

This book is short and that's unfortunate because I think the story could have been made longer but regardless it was a very compelling story. I liked how it was written and Rain I instantly loved as a character. Amazon women I have always heard of and reading about them was really interesting and fun.

The characters were strong, the dialogue was always short and to the point, and the story telling itself in Rain's eyes kept you hooked. I also read Practical Magic and that's how I got to know the name Alice Hoffman and I'm glad I did because both Fortelling and Practical Magic were worthwhile books.

Insanely compelling.......2006-03-16

My first contact with this book was through an excerpt printed in an issue of Writer's Digest. It was a total of seven paragraphs from chapter one, enough to introduce me to the character named Rain and the haunting, lyrical way in which she reveals her people and their way of life to the reader. Enough to leave me itching for more of the story, to the point where I went out and bought it right then and there.

Most books don't do that, or if they do, you bring it home and then realize that it's really not as gripping as you'd thought it would be from that little snippet. The Foretelling doesn't disappoint, though--it moves along at a steady pace that fits the story being told like a glove, while sparing no room for elaborate description. This is the story of a girl who was an Amazon Queen-to-be, told exactly as she might have told it herself, and I'd recommend picking this one up for the first time when you have a chance to sit down and read the whole thing from cover to cover.

Average customer rating:

I pity the poor trees
A Girl Named Green
green angel
Green Angel
green angel

Green Angel
Alice Hoffman
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0439443857

Book Description

Left on her own when her family dies in a terrible disaster, fifteen-year-old Green is haunted by loss and by the past. Struggling to survive physically and emotionally in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden. But in destroying her feelings, she also begins to destroy herself, erasing the girl she'd once been as she inks darkness into her skin. It is only through a series of mysterious encounters that Green can relearn the lessons of love and begin to heal enough to tell her story.

Customer Reviews:

I pity the poor trees.......2007-06-05

sacrificed to print copies of this book. I get magic and mysticism and allegory. I get warnings about violence and waste and evironmentalism. This book just never got to the point. I kept hearing a plaintive whiney voice that never said anything substantial.

I am a big Hoffman fan, a great fan of "holocaust" themed novels, and continue, in my 60th decade, to enjoy YA fiction...this was a total waste of time. I didn't even pass it along in our established family book chain. It is reposing, I am sure to collect much dust, in a Cape Cod rental cottage book case. My only hope is that at the end of the summer some 9th grader desperate to complete his/her reading list will be happy to find it, and need to waste only a little vacation time to read this.

A Girl Named Green.......2007-04-05

Tragedy sets upon a girl named Green when her family goes into town without her, and a huge fire burns the town. Green then settles into mourning her loss.

green angel.......2007-03-26

Dulce
3/26/07
Book Review

"Green Angel" by Alice Hoffman was about a girl named Green and how she felt sorry about herself because she didn't go with her parents or her sister in the city were they could sell their vegetables. Once Hoffman said that the city was on fire and that Green's family did not come back I got more interesting and I wanted to keep on reading further so I could find out if her family was going to come back sooner or later or if they weren't even going to come back at all. All that was left was the ashes, days and days without sunlight because of all the ashes that were left from the fire that happened in the city. When they didn't come back for a long time that's when Green started to feel more lonely and alittle depressed. Green started to tattoo herself with ink all over her body and she started thinking about her sister and how she missed her more then anything.
In my opion I thought that it was a good book because I wanted to keep on reading more so I could figure out more information about why she felt sorry for herself and why she missed her sister more then her dad or mom.

Green Angel.......2007-03-26

Dulce
3/26/07
2nd Pd. RCA

"Green Angel" by Alice Hoffman was about a girl named Green and how she felt sorry about herself because she didn't go with her parents or her sister in the city were they could sell their vegetables. Once Hoffman said that the city was on fire and that Green's family did not come back I got more interesting and I wanted to keep on reading further so I could find out if her family was going to come back sooner or later or if they weren't even going to come back at all. When they didn't come back for a long time that's when Green started to feel more lonely and alit depressed. Green started to tattoo herself with ink all over her body and she started thinking about her sister and how she missed her more then anything.
In my opion I thought that it was a good book because I wanted to keep on reading more so I could figure out more information about why she felt sorry for herself.

green angel.......2007-03-26

Review: Green Angel
By Amanda

"Green Angel" was not the best book I've read in my years.
It really didn't have much point to it. Most of the time the main character Green did was complaining about how much she hated her life even though nothing much happened. Well, her family did get lost in the town when the fire happened. But she didn't even know that they actually died or not, she just assumed that they were dead and didn't even go looking for them. Also the whole tattooing thing was soooo pointless. Just another thing that showed she was feeling sorry for herself.
Another thing I didn't understand was the boy she was involved with for a while, his appearance in the book was really pointless, he only did things in the garden. And pretty much my summarization of the book is that it was REALLY BAD.
I didn't like this book one bit, I would give it a two out of ten.
I wouldn't recommend this book to others its not one of those books that makes you want to keep reading, you know?, it was pretty predictable. This author really should have plotted it better. It just really skipped around and things and went to points that we readers really didn't need to even know about.

Authors:

Authors

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