Rating: 
Summary: A Tale of Blind Love...
Review: Meet March Murray. She's a wife and a mother of a teenage girl, Gwen. They return to March's hometown to attend the funeral of her housekeeper and friend, Mrs. Dale. Shortly after arriving there March runs into her former boyfriend and first love, Hollis. After their first encounter in twenty years we see March's life spiral totally out of control. She is consumed by her passion for this man. She calls her husband and says she's not returning home to California. She stops looking after herself, her daughter and her friends. No one can reach her. Whatever Hollis says is okay with her...she is overtaken by this blind love. March is in a dark place...a relationship where there is violence and bitterness. She no longer thinks for herself. Her only role is to please Hollis. Alice Hoffman's novel is a story of the darkest side of love...if you can call it that. I found the story to be disturbing and I was hoping that March would wake up and realize what was at stake here both for herself and her daughter. The ending was what I expected but I did find it satisfying. The characters were real and the writing was wonderful. This is my first foray into the world of an Alice Hoffman novel. It won't be my last.
Rating: 
Summary: depressing.......
Review: I thought this book was pretty well-written, but the subject matter was depressing and very sad, and the characters unlikable. It gave me an uncomfortable and somewhat disgusting feeling after reading it, which stayed with me through to the next day. Also, I found it kind of odd that every one in the book was beautiful, handsome and/or had been in their youth. Not my kind of story!
Rating:
Summary: just plain dark
Review: I'd give this a 1 for character development, but a 5 for writing style, so it averages to a three. Hoffman writes her characters beautifully -- I felt as though I was inside March, and I despised Hollis. I particularly felt akin to Gwen, because she is the character I understood the most. However, she was the only character I understood. I I wished I had known more about March and Hollis when they were younger, then maybe I'd understand who they were when the novel begins. Since I didn't, I felt like I was simply observing these sad, morose creatures completely screw up their lives. And since I didn't know why, I felt very unsymathetic towards them. And therefore, I just couldn't enjoy the book.
Rating:
Summary: a disappointment
Review: ...I found Hoffman's characters to be unlikable, as well as inconsistent. The use of the word "f***" throughout the book did much to give me a feel (as well as some nausea) for the heartlessness of hero/villain, Hollis, but when the word came in the voice of the heroine..., March, it rang opposite her romanticized view of her relationship with Hollis. ...I didn't have any sympathy for Hollis, where I fell in love with Heathcliff. And no character in "Here On Earth" seems to be better off in the end for having made it through the novel. Many relationships severed, but few lessons learned...
Rating:
Summary: Poor!
Review: I have read some of the reviews for this before writing my own. I am surprised that people think this is a knock-off. Not because the was a great and original story, but because it was so poor one would have thought a knock off from a classic would have be better. Anyhow, I didn't like this book at all... every character horrible. The scenes provided nothing but doom and gloom. This was cast somewhere in Mass, which I despised her using my great state for such a horrible peice of "work". If you have to read this, don't bother buying it. Save your money and go to the library.
Rating:
Summary: Not an original work
Review: I'm glad to see that several others agree with me...Hoffman needs to credit Bronte for the plot and characters! As soon as Hollis comes to live with the Murray family, it is obvious that this book is a shamless knock-off of Wuthering Heights. It's not the worst book I ever read, but if you haven't read Wuthering Heights, do yourself a favor and read it!! It's time better spent.
Rating: 
Summary: Blatant Wuthering Heights Rip Off!
Review: Character for character, plot for plot, "Here on Earth" is a blatant rip off of Charlotte Bronte's "Wuthering Heights". I was shocked and very dismayed to discover that a modern author with so many books to her credit would do such a thing! There is no mention ANYWHERE of the 'similarities', much less an acknowledgment of the novel as an 'adaptation'. It amounts to nothing less than PLAGERISM of a timeless classic. The author should be embarressed (I was embarressed for her while reading it.)
Rating:
Summary: Read Another!!
Review: There are so many other, better books to read than this one!!!! This is not a horrible, terrible, very bad book - BUT - it also is really not very good. Having said that, the beginning starts off well enough but page by page I lost interest. The only reason I finished it was because I thought something big and interesting would happen - IT NEVER DOES. This is a strange book and I am puzzled as to why this was one of Oprah's picks - it was profound or especially well-written. Try some of her other picks - I guarantee you will like them better!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Realistic heart-breaker
Review: This book revealed a very poignant life of a young woman as she overcomes the obstacles before her. It was definitely not uplifting. . .but was inspiring. It really makes you feel like your life really isn't that bad.
Rating:
Summary: March Murray is a little bit of all of us.
Review: March Murray reminds us all of the vulnerability of our emotions. Alice Hoffman takes us on a journey of choices, and chooses for us the ones we probably would have chosen if we were March, and haven't we all been at some time? Read the book and find out.
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