Rating: 
Summary: Dreary, intense, tiring, emotionally draining, & wonderful
Review: This book has been on my shelf for sometime and I just haven't gotten around to reading it, until yesterday... As a lifetime resident of New England, I could not help but feel as if the author has a twisted view of what small town life is like. The constant description of the cold made me frustrated yet it was fitting for the situations. It was the characters that kept me reading. I felt attached to March and her daughter Gwen in a way that I have rarely felt before. March's inability to function "in love" was so sad and scary to me that I was rooting for her to break the speill the entire time. Gwen was the character that most had my attention. She was a perfectly confused teenager and put into such an unhealthy-yet-good-for-her-in some ways situation. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone. Yet there were things that bothered me, for example, the weather-always cold (which it is in the late fall-winter but enough is enough, we get the symbolism already) AND why did no one blink an eye when Gwen was dating her first cousin? Am I the only one that finds this odd?
Rating: 
Summary: Help me understand...Please!
Review: I read this book based on Oprah's recommendations, but also because I was intrigued by the many mixed reviews posted on this site. After reading the book, the strangest thing happened; I just didn't know how to feel about it! Did the author intend for this book to be bad, just to force readers to stop and think and debate about its merits? The story was interesting, but the characters lacked...I don't know...everything? The whole background was dark, foreboding, and frankly, quite scary. Is New England really so bad, or just the town in which these feeble characters lived? Every single character in this book was moronic, immature, and full of self-pity. I hated them all! I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the rabbits to which the author referred at least fifty times. What's up with the rabbits? Do they rule the town? I found them quite frightening!
Rating: 
Summary: I dont know if I will ever enjoy another like this.
Review: This book made me feel like I was in this town. I actually wished I was Gwen. The characters were so real , the feelings and emotions gave me shivers . I couldnt put this book down. My eyes burned at night from reading until 3am. I found myself hiding at work to read this as much as I could . I gave it to my best friend and she did the same, and I didnt even tell her that I did the same before she did. Iwould recommend this to anyone and I have to all my friends and each one who has borrowed my book has loved it as much as I.
Rating:
Summary: Eh..
Review: This book came highly recommended, and I ended up highly dissapointed. The characters were uniformly unsympathetic, the plot, while compelling was mired in inessential description and a subtle undercurrent of moralizaiton.
Rating: 
Summary: She really let me down
Review: This was the first book by Alice Hoffman that I've read. And I was enticed to try it by Oprah's review of it on her show. People who saw me reading it, told me it was the best Hoffman book the've read to date. So, I was initially encouraged. However, I wound up not liking the book at all. And I read every bloody word of it. The characters weren't all that charismatic or interesting. Hollis was a jerk, but March was an even bigger jerk for leaving her husband for him. Shortly after finishing the book, I saw "Wuthering Heights" for the first time in ages. And there were a lot of similarities in the movie plot--you know, poor scamp Heathcliff initially being brought to live with Kathy and her family at Wuthering Heights. Being taunted at and beaten by her brother, who years later becomes an alcoholic supported by the now-worldly Heathcliff. Now that was a wonderful film based on a wonderful novel by Emily Bronte. But Alice Hoffman's modern-day version of it doesn't have the spark or the characters to sustain it.
Rating:
Summary: The Horse Was the Best Character
Review: I have steadfastly been losing faith in Oprah's Book Club selections but this one really cinched it for me. The only remotely intriguing person in this fiasco of a novel was already dead (Mrs. Dale), the cast of characters was completely one-dimensional and the one thing that kept me from tossing this book into the fire where it belonged was the hope that my favorite character-Tarot the Horse-would go to California with Gwen. But that little bit of sunshine was too much to ask from this altogether morose and grisly tale. March is the most irresponsible example of a wife and mother I've ever witnessed and her actions are not at all credible. Richard was a spineless doormat. What husband would not even raise his voice in anger if his wife of 16 years had reckless sex with a maniac in front of his child??? And why all the women would swoon over a beast like Hollis escapes me. Hank is the village idiot and the townfolk are half-wits. These people were not the least bit believable or real. I seem to be the only one who was profoundly disturbed with the description of Hollis' horse-killing, which gave me nightmares. This book is wholly unworthy of any praise; its premise is a rip-off (Wuthering Heights), the writing overdone and the overall tone and mood is too relentless. There is no crime against a dark setting and unlikable characters, however there should be at least a single person worth an emotion here besides a horse.
Rating:
Summary: The most disappointing of Oprah's books!
Review: I felt sorry for only one character at the end of 'Here On Earth' and that was that poor horse. Imagine him having to put up with that lot of ugly, mean and depraved people. Were we supposed to care for the stupidity of March? We never once got to understand why she put up with the horrid man. Love? Oh, please! This is the first Alice Hoffman book I have read and I can tell you will definitely be the last!
Rating:
Summary: SHE'S DONE IT AGAIN!
Review: SOMEHOW, ALICE HOFFMAN ALWAYS MANAGES TO MAKE THE IMPLAUSABLE SEEM PERFECTLY REALISTIC. HERE ON EARTH IS NO EXCEPTION. HOFFMAN'S USE OF THE LANGUAGE, GIFT OF STYLE AND STRONG SENSE OF TIMING MAKE THIS NOVEL DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN. I AM AN EXTREMELY PICKY READER AND HOFFMAN IS ONE OF A SMALL HANDFUL OF AUTHORS WHO NEVER DISAPPOINT ME. EVEN THOUGH CERTAIN ASPECTS OF HER CHARACTERS ARE FREQUENTLY DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE IN THE WHOLE, THE OVERALL EFFECT IS PERFECTLY PLAUSABLE. HER BOOKS USUALLY HAVE AN ELEMENT OF THE SURREAL OR MAGICAL IN THEM AS DOES HER WRITING; SHE PUTS HER READERS UNDER A SPELL SO THAT THEY CAN ACCEPT WHAT SHE WRITES. HOFFMAN'S WRITING MADE ME FEEL THAT I WAS IN THE TOWN, IN THE HOUSES, IN THE COMMUNITY OF CHARACTERS SHE GATHERS TOGETHER. I WAS NOT A READER BUT A PARTICIPANT IN THE UNFOLDING STORY. I WOULD NOT AGREE THAT THIS IS HER MOST AMBITIOUS WORK TO DATE (AS MANY PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS HAVE NOTED) BUT IT IS CERTAINLY NOT TO BE MISSED. IT IS WELL THOUGHT OUT, SKILLFULLY WRITTEN AND CAPTIVATING.
Rating: 
Summary: Sexy, a good summer read.
Review: This book is not boring and I enjoyed it more than any other Oprah selection I have read. It teaches a good lesson about all one cannot see.
Rating:
Summary: This is a 90's version of "Wuthering Heights".
Review: I had "deja vu" reading this book - it really does read like a modern version of "Wuthering Heights". Still, it's a terrific read, as are all of Alice Hoffman's novels. END
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