Here on Earth

Rating:
Summary: Awful!
Review: One of the worst books I have ever read. This book is just a recycled version of Wuthering Heights. I struggled just to finish this boring and bland novel. Please save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Are you crazy?
Review: Are you crazy? That is the question I'd like to ask all of the people who gave Here On Earth a bad review! I will admit that I did not give the book 5 stars because the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into. I read approx. 30 pages and then put the book down for about 3 months. I then started reading it again and was pleasently surprised when I could not put the book down. I read the remainder of the book in less than 2 days. Alice Hoffman did a wonderful job expressing the needs and desires of the characters. Chapter after chapter I was left wanting more. I will also admit that I wanted to know what happened to all of the characters at the end of the book, but I also wished that it had not ended. Don't listen to all of those who have ripped on the book. This is second book that I have read by Alice Hoffman and I am looking forward to starting my third! Oprah knew what a great book this was when she added it to her book club.

Rating:
Summary: This had some great potential
Review: I just finished "Here on Earth", and am usually an avid fan of Oprah's Book Club (Stones from the River is by far her best pick). Having never read anything by Alice Hoffman, I wasn't sure what to expect here. She's a very descriptive writer, which can be enjoyable, however, her character development was virtually non existent. Yes, I hated Hollis, and was REALLY frustrated and disgusted by March - but it would have made all the difference if the author gave us SOME insight as to why these people behaved the way they did. The ending left TOO much to the imagination...am I the only one hoping that someone would take poor Hank to California with them? What happened to March, Gwen, Sister, Tarot? Any clue would help.. All in all, "Here On Earth" had some real potential to be an outstanding novel.. but it just left me feeling totally empty. Its almost as though Hoffman got tired of writing and just ended the book abruptly. It was a page turner, I must admit...I just really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: The abundant praise that this book has received should be ignored by anyone with good literary taste. Hoffman's writing style attempts to be poetic, but instead her prose is so crammed with flowery expressions that it is merely childish and annoying. Her observations about life lack true insight, and her characters are weak and one-dimensional. I am embarrassed that I ever purchased and attempted to read this horrible book--please use more common sense than I did and don't join the other readers who made "Here on Earth" a bestseller.

Rating:
Summary: Is Zero Stars possible?
Review: Man, this was one terrible book. I can't believe Oprah let this book be publicized. I have loved all the other books she recommends... But this was just Wuthering Heights made even more boring. Too bad... I wasted my money...

Rating:
Summary: A complete waste of my time
Review: Oprah, Oprah, what were you thinking putting this book on your list. The characters were bland, unbelievable, and not even remotely likeable. I'm on page 150 and I can't bear to go on. I've never stopped reading in the middle of a book, but this might have to be a first. People, save your money. You will gain nothing from this book. I wish I could get my money back.

Rating:
Summary: come down to earth
Review: I could not believe Alice Hoffman's unoriginal retelling of Wuthering Heights, which is basically all this book amounts too. The theme has been done... and done considerably better than this superfluous attempt. Not only is the use of present tense extremely annoying, but the way Hollis obtained March's and Allan's land was unbelievable. It was a fact that women could not own their own land when Heathcliffe took Earnshaw's property in WH; however, in Here on Earth, it is unbelievable that a lawyer would not think to rewrite his own will after his daughter was born and certainly after his wife died. I was shocked to see that Michael Douglas (who does he see himself as: Hollis?) had bought the rights to the book... jeez, look out for another Hope Floats soon.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Sad Story...
Review: This book brought back so many memories for me. At 15 my friend was psycologically and physically abused by his father. We became very close because I felt the need to protect him and be there for him like March did with Hollis. It was a friendship that developed into romance eventually. He went into the marines when he was 19 and I went off to college. We wrote off and on but eventually quit. I have always wondered what would have happened if we would have gotten back together and I think this book may have answered all my questions. I think it is best to leave the past in the past and go on with your life!

Rating:
Summary: Such unappealing characters I just couldn't care
Review: Not bad writing, but I just couldn't care about either of the main characters. I kept thinking, "grow up and get over it already." The secondary characters were more interesting and seemed to have more subtle nuanced relationships -- a book about them would have been more interesting.

Rating:
Summary: A Journey to Melancholia
Review: March and Hollis, the main characters in this novel by Alice Hoffman, exmplify the sometimes all too familiar reality of what becomes of those who find themselves trapped in a memory...a moment which transcends the passage of time. This story speaks to the reader through the errors of human ways, and offers challenges to what is accepted as conventional wisdom and morality. Though this tale possesses a haunting quality of sadness, the key issues are readily identifiable...internalized...personalized. For these reasons, we read on in search of hope. In doing so, we create our own epilogues.