Rating: 
Summary: I RECOMMEND ALL WOMEN TO READ THIS BOOK
Review: THIS WAS AN EXCELLENT INTERPRETATION OF RECKLESS LOVE AND THE LIVES IT CAN DESTROY. I REALLY ADMIRED MARCH BEACUSE THROUGHOUT THE READING, I KEPT ASKING MYSELF WOULD I HAVE THE COURAGE TO RISK EVERYTHING FOR A PAST LOVE. HERE ON EARTH DEMONSTRATES THAT LOVE DOES NOT ONLY AFFECT THE TWO INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED, BUT ALSO THOSE SURROUNDING THEM. IT CLEARLY SHOWS HOW DYSFUNCIONAL THESE CHARACTERS ARE, AND HOW WELL THEY DISGUISE THEIR PAIN. TERRIBLE SECRETS ARE REVEALED, AND HEARTS ARE BROKEN, BUT THAT IS WHAT MAKES THIS NOVEL SUCCESSFUL. THERE WAS A POWERFUL MESSAGE BEHIND THIS LOVE STORY, BUT EACH READER WILL COME TO THEIR OWN JUDGEMENT ABOUT THE MEANING BEHIND THAT MESSAGE. I STRONGLY URGE ALL WOMEN TO TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS NOVEL WITH NOT ONLY WITH AN OPEN MIND, BUT WITH AN OPEN HEART.
Rating: 
Summary: Unlikeable characters in a blase setting
Review: I wish I had read the other reviews before I started this book. Then I wouldn't have wasted my time. There was no single character that was likable or interesting. The setting was dreary and I felt weighed down the whole time I was reading.I had some factual problems with the book. Allen wouldn't have gotten their father's entire estate since there are laws that allow for pretermitted children (those born after the will is written) to take a full child's share. The whole situation of March and Hollis being left in the care of Mrs. Dale and Allen is ridiculous. You'd think the school would have figured things weren't right when March fell asleep at school after long nights in the attic. Where was the town's child protective services agency? With her unsupervised background, it wasn't suprising that March wasn't fit for motherhood. She so easily gave up everything she had for an imagined bliss with a cold hearted pervert. After being an adult for 20 years she should have learned that sex and love are not the same thing. Richard was a wimp who didn't fight for his relationship with his parents or for his wife and child. He didn't even bother to take action when the phone was turned off and he couldn't communicate with them. Susie the reporter didn't even know as much as her mother (also a martyr along with Allen and Hank). Of this miserable cast of characters the only one who finally had any sense was Gwynn. Her drug and sexually oriented life was only changed when she started caring for a horse. At least she realized that inter-family love affairs are not the best way to go. That was certainly a more grown up decision than the adults in the book were capable of making.
Rating:
Summary: Pure drivel - couldn' t wait for the end!
Review: I've never purchased an Oprah book before, but over Easter when I saw the book review dinner I was compelled. In fact, rather than waiting to get back to the office to purchase it at a discount via Amazon.com, I ran out and bought it for full price. Foolish me. I believed the comparisons I heard from friends that this book would recall the same emotions I exerienced when reading "Bridges Of Madison County." NOT. Instead I was faced with characters whose dullness was dwarfed only by their stupidity. I found that midway through the book I was forcing myself to pick it up to go on (I can't believe ANYONE was compelled to read it in one sitting). The ending was an abrupt halt leaving several plotlines ragged and twisting in the wind. March was probably the dumbest heroine I've read about in a long time (not long enough though). Hollis' dark, desperate personality and intolerable behavior was overdone and unbelievable. Hank, the milksop son was a non-entity as far as I was concerned. About the only characters I didn't detest were Gwen and Susanna; both were women trying to remain true to their loved ones (the father and March) as best they could. Trust me - don't waste your time or cash buying this drivel. In fact, you can have my copy!
Rating: 
Summary: Intriquing, but.....
Review: I was drawn very much into the book for several reasons; however, was sorely dissappointed at the end .In the beginning, the story was contagious. It was such a teaser.I kept anticipating that any one of the characters would leap off the pages and do something that would surprise me, but they all lacked some zing, nor did I have sympathy for any of them. I must say that I was most dissappointed with the conclusion. It started to lead to a big ending with the possiblilty of a huge surprising twist, but it failed to do so. I kept thinking that somewhere near the end of the book the characters and the story are going to come together, but it never did.
Rating: 
Summary: If you want to read this book......
Review: save yourself some time and money and just read the summary at the beginning of this web page....It doesn't have much more to it than that.
Rating:
Summary: Severly disappointing!
Review: I started this novel with high hopes because I am an Alice Hoffman fan. I finished feeling disappointed and cheated. What I thought was going to be an inspiring novel about a feeling I have had myself left me feeling empy and unfulfilled. It seems Ms. Hoffman started this story with high hopes herself than didn't quite know how to capture the feelings of the characters and so turned Hollis into an obnoxious, abusive man and turned March into a totally unsympathetic character. Yes, love sometimes makes you blind to a person's true character and makes you turn a deaf ear to those you love most but March's total immersion into a man who could be so cold and cruel really alienated me from her. The ending was a cop out, an easy way to end a novel that made you feel like you had wasted time even reading the book. This book was a total rip-off of "Wuthering Heights" and my opinion is, if you can't improve on a classic, don't bother tryng.
Rating: 
Summary: A good study of emotions, but the plot falters at the end.
Review: Unlike many of the readers commenting about this book here, I think that the descriptions of the emotions experienced by March in this book were absolutely believable and on-target. However, I was disappointed that Hollis turned out to be such a horrible person in the end, since I think that the kind of love that the two of them experienced can be an extremely powerful and destructive force even if both of the people in the relationship are inherently good and truly care for one another. It would have been much more interesting to see the destructive effects of that sort of LOVE---rather than the stereotypical "this man is abusive and the woman puts up with it" stuff---and so I wish that the author had made Hollis more sympathetic and believable. Still, I have to give the author credit for a good attempt at capturing emotions that are so "crazy" and overpowering that it's hard for people who haven't experienced them to believe that they could actually exist. For a somewhat better novel describing the same sort of emotion, try "The Sea, The Sea" or (again with an unsympathetic man, however) "The Book and the Brotherhood," both by the incomparable Iris Murdoch.
Rating:
Summary: Read this book!
Review: This book haunted me, much like Deep End of the Ocean did. I can't say I have enjoyed all of Oprah's book selections but this is one I read in less than a day. Could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: YUCK
Review: If I could give this book a "0", I would. It is the not worth the time and I would not recommend it to anyone. It is trash and I am disappointed in Oprah for choosing this book. There is nothing relevant here. It is a poorly written rip-off of "Wuthering Heights". Alice Hoffman's publisher should be ashamed!
Rating:
Summary: I am sorry I took the time to read this book.
Review: My expectations for this book were high, after hearing Oprah's praise for a book every woman could relate to, about past loves. This novel is sadistic, abusive to both reader and characters, and a total waste of time and energy. There is too much spousal abuse in this country and we don't need to read about it for "entertainment." If you want to read a good romantic story, read "The Notebook" or read "Range of Motion" by Elizabeth Berg. Alice Hoffman has failed miserably on this one, this is not literature, this is trash.
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