Rating: 
Summary: Wow
Review: I can't comprehend anyone not falling head over for this book. This is one of a handful I can read every year and have it grab a hold of me even more strongly than the first time. It's a simple message - that love is messy and complicated and that judging someone for falling in or out of it or sticking with someone for no apparent reason is simplistic and naive. Love changes. It grows or withers away or hits you over the head when you least expect it. It can haunt you.
Especially touching if you have ever known a damaged soul. March and her father were right not to just dismiss Hollis as a loser as others apparently had his entire life. The only problem was whatever had happened in his past had already done too much damage (as Alan and his friends would continue to do.) It had turned his soul to stone. And as the novel shows a person without a soul can be very dangerous indeed. The fact that Alice Hoffman makes us hate and feel for him at the same time just shows what a wonderful writer she is.
One of the best.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting take-off on an old classic
Review: Some people seem to be offended that Hoffman would dare use the plot of "Wuthering Heights" so blatantly for one of her novels, but I found it fascinating for just this very reason. What WOULD have happened if Heathcliff had gotten Cathy back? This "rewrite" of that wonderful classic into a modern setting and that unmistakeable Hoffman-like language is intriguing to say the least.
That a happily married woman can once again become snarled into an old erotic relationship and can't get out is a highly-charged story all in itself. That her daughter, who seems on the fast track to becoming a slut, finds peace through a horse, balances the first lurid story out beautifully.
For me the novel is a good study of how erotic attraction can blind a person, and just how worthwhile true friendship in a relationship is.
Still my favorite Hoffman novel (that I've read) so far is "Turtle Moon."
Rating: 
Summary: Better Hoffman Books Than This
Review: Flat characters, predictable storyline, plodding chapters--a frustrating and unsatisfying read. Unless you are a dedicated Hoffman fan, I recommend skipping this book. Instead, I highly suggest "Blackbird House," which better reflects her skills as a storyteller.
Rating:
Summary: March Rekindles A First Love!
Review: When the lady who raised March as her own dies suddenly, March returns to her hometown after about 19 years for the funeral. Her belligerent teenage daughter Gwen accompanies her on the journey, but once there, the stay becomes longer than they planned.
March rekindles an old flame with Hollis, her old boyfriend of years ago. Hollis never did fall out of love with March to begin with, and so he has been sitting back, waiting, and hoping all these years. When the two do meet up, sparks fly of course, but there is the problem of back home and what to do about her loveless marriage before March can move on in her life. And not only that, but many people in the small town of Massachusetts have spread rumors about what a bad man Hollis is. March isn't sure what to believe of anyone. So she'll have to see for herself.
A great read for the most part, and I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Love vs. Marriage, Choices and their consequences
Review: I bought this book over a year ago intending to read it. I am an avid Vampire book fan, but the plot to this book interested me. I picked it up 2 days ago and I could not put it down. It takes a long time to learn in life that every choice that you make has a consequence. That when you do what you believe you need to do for yourself without thought for any others, that there may be people around you affected by your choice. Sometimes you can not even see what you are doing to those around you. There was no point in this book where I felt that March was pathetic. I saw her in the same way that Judge did, she has been sleepwalking. Her inner arguments rationalizing her behavior and behavior of others is something that she truly believes. She also believes in a little boy and continues to search for that same little boy in who is now a man.
Gwen's strength and ambition is uncanny, she in an admirable character that you believe in throughout. Hank is a man, the kind who learned from his family situation and who - regardless of all that ever happened - always paid his respect.
Can anyone truly dislike Hollis? I found myself searching for him in his adulthood - the same way that March did. Hollis truly is the victim. I hope I didn't give too much away, I am originally from the same area in New England that the book is set in, and the weather and lifestyle played a huge part in the story overall. I kept waiting for something really bad to happen. But what did happen (without spoiling the plot) was incredible from a literary standpoint. Where do some people gain peace? Does Peace exist in life? What are relationships all about anyway?
Highly reccomended.
Rating:
Summary: My vote is "awesome"
Review: After virtually thumbing through the other reviews listed here, I can see that a potential buyer is left with a 50/50 rating. Is this book awesome or does it suck?
Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is a good read. If you have had a "what would have been" experience in your life, wondering what happened to so-and-so and if you could go back in time would you have made another decision, in regards to love, then I think you will enjoy this book. Yes, there is some tragic-ness in it. But such is life. I didn't draw a line to Wuthering Heights but now that I see it mentioned, I can see the parallel. If you enjoy love stories that aren't traditional but rather human, this book is for you too.
Because I have been a person who had thoughts about my past and because I am not into fairy-tale romance books, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Here On Earth. I felt it to be well-written and worth the time, energy and money I invested to buy and read it.
I write this review because I also believe that you, another reader, will too.
Rating:
Summary: B-o-r-i-n-g!
Review: I came across this book at a garage sale, and because it said it was one of Oprah's Book Club selections, I couldnt wait to read it. Ugh. I struggled through, and thought it was the worst thing I've ever read. The whole concept was boring, the writing was boring, and I'd say...'dont bother'. I am one that has to finish something once started..so this was torture. I kept thinking that its going to get better, and the only halfway decent part was at the very end. I thought this story was most unbelievable. Dont waste your time and money!
Rating:
Summary: Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Review: I found this book to be a great psychological thriller, sad but great. When March and her daughter Gwen take a trip to the mother's childhood home of near Boston, little do they know what's ahead of them. The man she once loved just isn't the same
as he used to be. I'd recommend this book to one and all:)
Rating:
Summary: Painful but strangely moving
Review: I picked up this book at a local charity store, having enjoyed Hoffman's style in other of her novels. I read it twice in about a week, and found its description of an abusive relationship painful, but reading Hoffman's prose is like swimming in the river. You step in, and are immediately caught up in its turbulent flow of emotion. I kept thinking, I know this story. I've read this before, haven't I -- but not in this form, not from this perspective. It's odd, all the characters live in this remote area with its dreadful weather, and everyone knows each other, and two characters from one family marry two characters from the other prominent family in the area, and the poor orphan from lowly background gets adopted but never loses his low self-esteem, and people KEEP DYING YOUNG. Seems so Victorian, I mused.
It wasn't until I was reading a different book, where the characters were discussing Wuthering Heights, that I recognized it. The characters were commenting that Hareton was going to make it, because he used both his head and his heart -- and the penny dropped. Hareton is Hank. AHA! And Heathcliff is Hollis, of course... Here On Earth is what might have happened if Heathcliff had got his Cathy back, at least for a time.
Did no one get this? NO ONE??!? I've read several reviews of this book, and so far I haven't read one that mentions it. It's hard for me to believe that book reviewers are so little versed in their classics that not one of them recognized this updating of the Bronte classic (with, admittedly, some twists). One reviewer calls Hollis "Heathcliff-like", but the whole setup is Wuthering Heights.
This book is not a great casual read, but I found it interesting that a good story is still a good story, even disguised. It all depends on the treatment, of course. Shakespeare lifted other people's stories all the time, and made them definitively his. Hoffman's prose is surprisingly lovely, given the subject matter.
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