Rating: 
Summary: Don't even think about reading this book!
Review: I've found that the books with the best premises are the ones that can disappoint me the most. This book could have given its readers insight into all-consuming love....after all, good books give us perspective and make us think. Instead, it founders in its own pretentiousness. By the time I made it to page 30, I had tripped on two different ridiculous metaphors that made me wonder if I could make it through the book. (I would quote them, but I drove the book straight back to the library when I was done.) I was compelled to keep reading in the hopes that I would learn something about love and about my own life. DIDN'T HAPPEN. With one of the dumbest endings in modern literature, one-dimensional characters, and an awful caricature of "small-town Massachusetts life" which connects townspeople only by sex, this book is just god-awful. I will stay far away from Alice Hoffman's books in the future (but I will continue to take Oprah's advice...her picks have brought me great joy otherwise!).
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed!
Review: I couldn't wait to read Here on Earth after having read several of Hoffman's other books. Boy, was I ever disappointed to find I knew what was coming at every turn of the page at the start of the book. It was as if I were rereading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte -- just different names (although Hollis and Heathcliff do start with the same letter and both housekeepers last names started with D!), a different setting, and a different time -- too many similarities for me to overlook. How disappointing! I didn't even take the time to finish the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: When I first starting reading this book, I thought, "Okay this is going to be grueling." It turns out that the book was fantastic. I absolutely could not put it down. The events in this book are somewhat ficticous, but some of them really occur in everyday life. It shocked me when Hollis and his high school sweetheart got back together. It was even more surprising when they kept talking about his ex-wife and how she passed away. What aggravated me the most about the mother was that she allowed her daughter to date her close cousin and allow herself to cheat on her faithful husband while he was in another state. I was very happy with the ending and am glad the lady made the decision she made. Things like this happen every day, some woman sometimes don't have the courage to face their problems.
Rating: 
Summary: I am pleased.
Review: I am pleased at my book and I thank all who wrote that they enjoyed it. I am glad that I can write a book, that so many of you enjoy. Thanks again, Alice.
Rating: 
Summary: Left me wanting more...
Review: I have loved Alice Hoffman novels for some time now. I love how she uses metaphors as though they were fact. Her writing flows, and the reader can get caught up in the plot and characters. Here On Earth, however, left me wanting more. I really didn't care much for any of the characters, because I didn't know much about them or their motivation for their actions. Even though I don't consider myself simple-minded with the need to have everything spelled out for me, I feel as though I was missing many important details. The book was mesmerizing at times, and at times struck uncomfortably true notes. It looked at life in a rather unsettling, real way that maybe I just wasn't in the mood for when reading it. Sometimes I read to escape just a bit from reality, and this book wasn't good for that. I'll still read Alice Hoffman, though. There's something about how she writes that gets to me.
Rating: 
Summary: A very disappointing book!
Review: I had high hopes for "Here On Earth." It is an Oprah's Book Club Selection and received praise from the Washington Post Book World, and The New Yorker (to name two). I found the characters to be unbelievable and underdeveloped. I didn't have a clear picture of who March,the main character, was. What motivated her? What kind of person was she? What did she think and feel? I found myself sympathizing with the horse, Tarot, more than with the human characters. I was annoyed with the dialogue. I found it to be trite, and unreal. Some of the responses by adult characters were so immature that I would expect to hear them spoken by sarcastic teenagers. I thought the plot was simple and only mildly enjoyable. I was somewhat curious as to how the conflict would be resolved, and this motivated me to read the book through to the end. I give "Here on Earth," a somewhat generous 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Wuthering Heights redone
Review: Has anyone else noticed that this book is a copy of the Wuthering Heights storyline but turning Healthcliff into a wife beater? Very inconsistant characters and a real rip off of the original. Just read the original again-or for the first time if you haven't read it yet-
Rating:
Summary: disturbing
Review: At first, I thought the book was rather good, but when the guy starts going crazy, it made me upset. Not really my cup of tea.
Rating:
Summary: mundane and prosaic, befitting "life on earth"
Review: The best thing about this novel is that it is relatively short. Anyone who thinks this is "haunting" or "noir psychologically" really should broaden and deepen their range of literature. Pick up some Hawthorne or Poe or Lovecraft....but here I am, falling into the quagmire of using this space as a chat room -- which it isn't. For me, the central mystery here is greater than any in the novel's plot per se: Why was this amateurish book published in the first place? Its characters are mere two-dimensional cut-outs pasted on a thinly-drawn New England setting. Its central narrative features are 1) inexplicable and/or nonexistent character developments and 2) an oddly incestuous confusion between the characters' words/thoughts and the author's voice/persona. Perhaps an occasional elegance of phrasing or some trace of original language use might have redeemed this novel, but even these minimal literary traits are absent. Ms. Hoffman, please recall what your narrative comp prof once told you (and what you've no doubt parroted to workshop attendees): Use language to let us know how the characters feel and think rather than just telling us they're happy, afraid, etc. Also, once you've determined an omniscient author's point of view, be consistent with it. My guess is that those wily publishers knew that anything w/ "Alice Hoffman" on the cover would sell during the Christmas season. How right they were. Fortunately, I found my copy abandoned on the bus; I would return it -- if I didn't consider such an act to be littering....
Rating:
Summary: READ "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" INSTEAD.....PLEASE
Review: At the end of the first chapter I knew what I was in for. This book is a terrible version of Wuthering Heights, one of my absolute favorites. It's not loosely based, its an updated version that didn't need to be written.
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