Rating: 
Summary: Resurrection
Review: From the first lines of this novel, you know that you are in good hands--the hands, the eyes, the soul of a poet. Alice Hoffman is a master storyteller, her language sumptuous, her stories captivating, her messages clear and vital, if not always happily-ever-after.Turtle Moon is about the dead coming to life. We discover one character after another--Julian, Keith, Lucy, Arrow--to be among the walking dead, shut out, by their own design, from all that is rich and true in life. Dead man, dead boy, dead woman, dead dog walking. In the course of this novel, all receive new opportunities, and all--however reluctantly--return to the world of the living, the feeling, the loving, the trusting. As with most Hoffman works, there are attention-getting subplots, touches of mystery, flourishes of magical realism, the occasional symbol--perfectly poised, subtle yet clear--and vivid description to spare. Hoffman writes to celebrate the miracles, the madnesses, the daily sorrows, the tentative victories that come with being alive. Living, she insists, is always better than going through the motions. Turtle Moon has everything--even a ghost living in a tree--waiting for, well, just waiting. This is Hoffman at the height of her powers.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't live up to my expectations
Review: I decided to read this book based on the fact it got such glowing reviews, and also the fact that I had just read "Local Girls" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, I doubt if I'll ever read Alice Hoffman again. The characters in the book were completely unsympathetic and uninteresting. Many of the characters were underdeveloped. The main character, Lucy, was completely unbelievable. I found myself thinking many times, "Yeah, right, a real mom would NEVER act that way!" The only reason I give the book two stars is that I like Hoffman's style and use of words to paint a picture. If you're going to read a Hoffman novel, go with Local Girls.
Rating:
Summary: Alice Hoffman, a sure thing
Review: I was looking for something that I knew I could pick up and get right into. I found it in "Turtle Moon" It's one of Ms Hoffman's earlier works and I like it as much as "Here on Earth"
And better than "Blue Diary"...Worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Dramatic Mystery
Review: TURTLE MOON is all a mystery should be. It is scary, seductive, sensual, complex, and logical. Furthermore, it has a supernatural element. I found TURTLE MOON totally enjoyable, although I wished at times the narrator would have slowed her pace.
Rating:
Summary: Heart Wrenching Novel
Review: If I had to name my three favorite authors, Alice Hoffman would be right up there with Diane Chamberlain and Chalotte Vale Allen. In Turtle Moon, Alice Hoffman has done a masterful job of showing how a young boy, perceived as "the meanest boy in Verity" is anything but! This mean boy rescues a baby from a murderous father and goes on the run with him. An unforgettable novel about the healing power of love and the folly of making assumptions based on appearances and innuendo.
Rating: 
Summary: A Moon Above the Rest
Review: Abandon your stark reality. Leave behind your job, your hobbies, and your responsibilities for about 250 pages and come to Verity, FLorida, where, "Every May, when the sea turtles begin their migration across West Main Street, mistaking the glow of street lights for the moon, people go a little bit crazy," Enjoy May. In Alice Hoffman's "Turtle Moon" we are presented with a town so full of hopeless outsiders and restless natives that each character has a story to tell and each finds his/her place among this compelling surrealistic story. With solid characters which possess histories beautifully illustrated and detailed, human relatioships are explored enough to provide a certain insight into such mortal meddlings but not an excess of such so as to drown the work in sentimentality. When a woman is murdered and her infant daughter missing, suspicions arise around a 12 year old hoodlum who disappears at the same time. The rest of the narrative follows the mother of this pre-teen and a police officer set to track him down. Under the May moomlight events proceed and things emerge from each person in the town yet the book keeps from falling into a meldramtic saga. In direct contrast, Britain's periodical, the "Independent on Sunday" claimed Hoffman's work to be a ". . . psychological thriller. . . " but this is wrong, too. Instead, "Turtle Moon" lies between the two concrete terms, effectively combining an almost dreamlike trance with suspensful conflicts. The hazy atmosphere in which most of the novel takes place can be compared to Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" in way of the surrealist nature that surrounds some of the characters. While no one within the pages stands to be immortal, an angel falls in love and an unfavorable man cries stones in his childhood. An important point to mention here is that none of this could take place if it weren't for the setting of Verity and the impressive protrayal which almost causes you to feel the heat and humidity radiating from the Florida sky. Perhaps one fault to be found in this work lies in the suspicion that the plotline becomes a little too coincendental toward the end which can lead us to believe that Hoffman is perhaps acting in excess as she tries for a climactic finale. However, the fact remains that if it weren't for coincedences, there wouldn't be much of a book in any case, so a little forgiveness can be issued here. As an escape book written for women by a woman, things work well in "Turtle Moon". Characters develop, plot intrigues, and setting haunts us if for nothing more than approximately 250 pages. But then again, isn't all we need?
Rating:
Summary: Sublime and rare as Key Lime Pie Done Right
Review: My favorite Hoffman book so far. Sometimes magical realism gets a little too cloying for my taste, but Hoffman cuts the sweetness with a little acidity and tang. As a Florida native, it's nice to see a writer really get the sense of place right. Even though Verity is fictional, it's so compellingly described you half believe you've seen that exit on the Florida Turnpike.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite books!
Review: I read Hoffman's HERE ON EARTH and was so moved by it. I felt it was a story that could happen to anyone. Next, I read THE RIVER KING and was soooo disappointed. But I didn't give up. TURTLE MOON does not have one extra word! The writing was concise and superb. I hate excessive description and love that Hoffman is smart enough to let us use our imagainations to build scenery and decide how the characters will look. I was riveted and read it in only two days. I categorize it as a "comfortable" book--it is easy to get into, there's not a ton of exposition and the characters are interesting. I found myself constantly wondering what could possibly happen next. The perfect novel. I will definitely try Hoffman again.
Rating:
Summary: Simply MAGIC!!!!
Review: I don't know how I missed this book in 1992--I must have been living under a rock!!! I highly recommend it. This story takes place in Verity , Florida, where more divorced women live than in any other town in Florida. Verity itself is one of the characters, it seems: hot, sultry, sweat-soaked. Hoffman's descriptions make you feel the unrelenting heat, see the ripples of heated air, and hear the insects buzzing lazily in the humid air. There are many wounded souls in Verity, among them Bethany Lee, on the run, with her baby girl, from a custody battle; Lucy Rosen and her 12-year-old son Keith (referred to throughout the book as the meanest boy in Verity), who seems to hate everyone and everything; Julian Cash, the unusual police officer who has become a self-styled expert at finding/tracking people with the aid of his two dogs; and the Angel, Julian's cousin, a ghost who lives near a tree in front of the Burger King. I love Hoffman's unique vision and her descriptions. One should not read her books looking for solid reality/realism. Nor should her books be read by those looking for a hyped-up story. She lets her characters' actions speak for them in a way that allows the reader to feel their pain and anguish---and their hope. We see the light within each character. As always, Hoffman mixes realism with fantasy "...he cried so hard that when he finished there was a pile of tiny pebbles at his feet". Or "The air all around the town limits is so thick that sometimes a soul cannot rise and instead attaches itself to a stranger, landing right between the shoulder blades with a thud that carries no more weight than a hummingbird." I loved this---Lucy's thoughts regarding her son: "There is, after all, strong brown soap for poison ivy, iodine for cuts and bruises, mud for bee stings, honey for sore throats, chalky white casts for broken bones. But where is the cure for meanness of spirit?" A memorable book!
Rating:
Summary: Magical, like most of Hoffman's work, but...
Review: Like many others, I started with "Here on Earth," and I loved it. I went on to read many more of Hoffman's books, and I have enjoyed all of them. "Turtle Moon" is no exception. The characters are woven together nicely, the only problem being that some of the characters are beautifully-developed while others are hardly developed at all. This leaves the novel feeling rather inconsistent, although it is always enjoyable.
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