Here on Earth

Rating:
Summary: Dark, haunting, twisted, and dissapointing
Review: This book started out OK, then got mildly interesting, but from page 64 (in the attic w/ Hollis) on it just got worse and worse. Who wants to read about characters who are totally irrational though they act normal,and make bad decisions. I just wanted to yell at March every time she went crawling back to Hollis. It's a book of addictions. Alan is addicted to alcohol, March is addicted to Hollis, Hollis is addicted to sex, watching people through windows, and being in control.

Rating:
Summary: Oprah let us down this time
Review: I love most of Oprah's picks, but I REALLY disliked this one. I was disgusted by the main character's actions, which made the book very difficult to get through. I didn't understand why she behaved as she did, and I think you have to be as caught up in her crazy love as she is to want to wade through this book. I also thought Hoffman really soft-pedaled the issues of abuse the book raises. Our heroine decides to get away in the end-- and she does, with no consequences. Good for her, although she is a fictional character, and you can read every day in the newspaper what happens to REAL women who try to get out of abusive relationships. This was a disappointment, all around-- a bodice-ripping Harlequin romance that glorifies abusive relationships and their costs.

Rating:
Summary: I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Review: I read this book in 2 days, never wanting to put it down. I lived in that story. I could feel those people around me, I could picture everything. While I was reading, I was also listenin to the Counting Crows...unplugged...Everytime I hear this cd, I think about this book, and the lives in it, and everything that went on. How some lives were destroyed, and some were destroyed even though it was always thought to happy...I can't even explain how this book was by far the best book I had ever read.

Rating:
Summary: depressing
Review: I was very disappointed by this book. This was the first selection from Oprah's book club for me and I was left feeling very unsatisfied at the end. What lessons, if any, were learned by any of the characters? Hollis died, for what? This was not a moving story at all. Nothing but pain, regret and bad choices by the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Yuck
Review: Thus far, I am on page 35 and I don't think I can stomach too much more. It all began on page five with "the light is so lemon-colored." (All of the page references are to the 1997 hardback edition) Then on page 11, we move to "the sky was the color of a velvet ribbon," followed by on page 13 "the sky was always the color of ashes." I waded through to page 34 where I was set upon by this description of a white horse falling to its knees. "It falls like snow, like a drift which can cover you completely." Yuck! I think I'll return it to the library tomorrow.

Rating:
Summary: Wuthering Heights is a better story!
Review: It came as a great relief to me to look through the other customer comments and see that I am not the only one who saw the striking similarities to Wuthering Heights. I counted at least 12 basic plot lines that parallel WH. The major differences betweent the two books is that WH is much better written. The characters are developed in greater depth and there's more thought given to the story. Also, in WH the heroine is attracted to and destroyed by her lover, but for reasons more substantial than just sex. It struck me as completely unbelievable that a woman who was supposed to be as strong and intelligent as March could become a blithering idiot because a guy was good in bed. If you want a great tale of a mutually destructive relationship, which negatively impacts the lives of many, read Wuthering Heights. Here on Earth is much easier to read, but put in the extra effort and read the "original". It's worth the work.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and dreary modern Wuthering Heights
Review: I have read all of Hoffman's books and Second Nature, Turtle Moon, and Practical Magic are in my top ten of books by any author. When I read this book I had not yet read the reviews or interviews so I was unaware that the author was deliberately updating Wuthering Heights. It was rather annoying at first. I also did not like many of the characters the way I usually do in Hoffman's books. This book does create an atmosphere of place and character that brings the reader into the story. I frankly couldn't put it down because I had to find out what would happen to the people in the story.

Rating:
Summary: It was a quick read with wonderful and luminous writing!
Review: This book was difficult to put down. I loved her words, her images of magical happenings and her characters. The story was surreal, but real. It was my favorite of her three books that I have read. I would recommend this book highly.

Rating:
Summary: Very difficult to read
Review: I am sure that the plot, content, and outcome of this book are very good, BUT trying to read a book written in the present tense is very difficult for me. I am having the toughest time getting through it! I have seen it pop up on all kinds of "recommended" book lists, but the tense in which it is written overides any desire to finish it.

Rating:
Summary: Not only well worth it, but SHOULD be read!
Review: In Alice Hoffman, I have found a new sister. This is the first book I have read of hers, and I was unable to put it down. Her descriptive writing puts one inside the picture, and you find yourself feeling, smelling and seeing the colors in her world. She writes as a woman thinks, bringing to the written word questions of importance usually hidden deep within. What is true love? What is love worth? Okay, so I might be obsessed by relationships, analyzing each and every one, a curse unbidden. Hoffman offers up a full plate of characters, each with his/her demons, but she also shows us the power and strength we have within each of us to deal with them. I can't believe I found her so late. The good thing is, she's written a number of books. On to the feast!