Rating: 
Summary: A Wonderful Read!!!
Review: This book tells about a city in Florida, Verity, where more divorced women from New York reside. First you are
introduced to many of the town's citizens, from the woman who works at the Hole In One, to the meanest boy in Verity who kidnapped a baby girl. Soon we find out how they are all connected. And when a murder occurs the search begins to find the killer.
The story centers around a specific family; a mother and her son. It sees them through to the end. I was surprised by
how much I liked this book, But then I like all of Alice Hoffman's work. I ended up giving Turtle Moon 4.5 stars:)
Rating: 
Summary: Rich, haunting murder mystery totally satisfies the listener
Review: "Turtle Moon" was one of the best surprises I have had the pleasure to read. The story of a young mother and her troubled pre-teen son looked interesting on the cover jacket, but I was unprepared for the tremendous descriptive writing style of Ms. Hoffman. The reader/listener truly gets lost in the lives of the characters due to Alice Hoffman's lyrical and insightful characterizations. You feel the sticky heat of Verity, Florida, the bravado and fears of young Keith, Lucy's need for independence, Julian's quiet southern determination and even the loyalty and intellegence of his dogs, especially the bond between Keith and Arrow.Who are these characters, and what is the mystery of the gumbo limbo tree? The answers unfold in an old fashioned mystery coated in southern molasses. Lucy is escaping a bad marriage and has come to Verity, Florida to start a new life. So is the young mother in her apartment complex that turns up brutally murdered on a hot May night. Her infant daughter is discovered by Lucy's son Keith, a surly adolescent who cannot wait to return to his father once school is out. The two hide out in the woods surrounding Verity, surviving on garbage and food left out by the young donut waitress, who is planning her own escape from Verity. Julian Cash is a Verity police officer with haunting past of his own. He both investigates the murder and searches for the missing children. This brings him into a very close relationship with Lucy. Lucy's search for answers brings her back to New Jersey, where she fled her marriage. It is there that she discovers the truth behind her murdered neighbor and cements her new realtionship with Julian. Julian brings Keith and the infant to the woman who raised him, which gives the reader even more insight into his character. "Turtle Moon" is a gripping story leaving the reader hungry for more Alice Hoffman. Sandra Burr gives a masterful performance on the Brilliance Corporation reading. For a follow up, I would suggest Hoffman's "Here On Earth", written in the same rich descriptive style.
Rating:
Summary: a good read.
Review: A book full of interesting people, a story that grabs you and doesn't let go until the end, and so well written i could feel the sticky southern heat even in the middle of winter.
Rating:
Summary: A book for the heart and soul first, the intellect second.
Review: Alice Hoffman almost invariably describes her characters just below the skin, first. You know them right away, and who they are, even before you know what they look like. The purely physical world has it's place in the corner, rarely in the spotlight. Alice has an amazing way of seeing into the genesis of a character, and sharing her unique vision with the reader. This book is, to me, her best. And I have read them all. The plot, which is the least of it, slides and skips along effortlessly, with a rewarding payoff at the end. But even without that, this book is most definitely about the journey, not the climax. And speaking of that, I made love to officer Julian Cash, the main male character, between the pages of this book, along with, well, whatever her name was.(who me? jealous?) And I literally dreamt about him the night I finished reading. I can honestly say that I have never before fallen in love with a character in a novel. I can never say that again.
Rating:
Summary: Thriller touched by magic and better for it
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: A character-driven story with an intriguing mystery
Review: Hoffman is known for her use of magical realism, or a tendency to weave supernatural elements into the everyday world. She does this through use of her rich, lyrical prose and fantastical, almost mythical characters. While the latter is less evident here than in some of her other works (although an angel appears several times as a minor character), this book does showcase Hoffman's detailed and descriptive writing style. Usually, I don't enjoy books with as little dialogue as this one, but to compensate, Turtle Moon offers complex characters whose interwoven histories draw one into the story, an intriguing mystery involving the murder of a young single mother. Although I have disliked some of Hoffman's other novels, I enjoyed this one enough to continue sampling her work.
Rating:
Summary: A character-driven story with an intriguing mystery
Review: Hoffman is known for her use of magical realism, or a tendency to weave supernatural elements into the everyday world. She does this through use of her rich, lyrical prose and fantastical, almost mythical characters. While the latter is less evident here than in some of her other works (although an angel appears several times as a minor character), this book does showcase Hoffman's detailed and descriptive writing style. Usually, I don't enjoy books with as little dialogue as this one, but to compensate, Turtle Moon offers complex characters whose interwoven histories draw one into the story, an intriguing mystery involving the murder of a young single mother. Although I have disliked some of Hoffman's other novels, I enjoyed this one enough to continue sampling her work.
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: To be honest? A sappy, amateurish novel.
Review: I found this to be an immature and unbelievable novel, young and girly. I couldn't believe in the characters or in the storyline, and I can't imagine trying another Hoffman novel after this flop. I don't mean to offend anyone here, but I think this story is best suited for people who enjoy the "romance" genre. There's nothing at all wrong with that, but I expected something different and something more literary.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Review: I'd read so many good things about Alice Hoffman in the reviews here and that this book was "one of her best." I was terribly disappointed. From the start, the introduction of the characters was overwhelming. I got the point that there were many divorced moms flocking to Verity but then - wham - I was slammed with detail after detail of several different women who, after three or four of them, I lost count - and interest - of who was who. Following chapters started out with "she" and I had to read on and refer back to previous chapters to figure out who the character was supposed to be. Don't misinterpret this to mean I don't enjoy lots of characters; simply the women start off so similarly that it was distracting to keep track when the new chapter doesn't give you clue as to who is now in the spotlight.
I did not find the characters all that interesting or realistic. I just didn't find much depth to them. The final straw for me came when the "Angel" got his own chapters. Maybe some people find the fantasy angle enchanting, but I thought it was just plain hokey. Also, the love scenes between Lucy and Julian seemed out of place and repetitive.
Overall I am allowing one extra star to my review as credit because my expectations were so high. If I had just picked the book up knowing nothing and having read no reviews perhaps I would not have such disappointment. I love Jodi Picoult's novels and Ms. Picoult raves about Hoffman, which is the reason I investigated the reviews in the first place. I just did not find this book as spectacular or interesting as other readers have.
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