Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, dark and unforgettable
Review: As I began to read this book, I was struck by how descriptive Alice Hoffman's writing is. By reading her words, she transported me into someone else's life in a way I found quite breath-taking. The story starts off like many romance novels. It tells a story of a woman traveling back home after the death of her caretaker. Its there she runs into the love of her life and begins an affair with this man though she is married to someone else and her daughter is there with her.This is where the story is somewhat frustrating. As March begins to become consumed by passion for Hollis, she doesn't care about anything or anyone anymore. Its a sad story in which a woman is nearly destroyed by her blind love. Since the author flashes back to her first meeting with Hollis, its easy to see where a young girl's first love can be the one thing she clings to in life. I disagree with one reviewer who said there was poor character development. I think this is exactly how Hoffman wanted her characters to be. A first love is often the only love a woman will remember later in life. There is no love as sweet nor as dangerous when confronted with your first love later on. One thing I especially enjoyed was the way the story ended up veering unexpectedly into a really dark world. If anything this book is able to tell that love isn't anything like what we believe it to be in fairy tales or in dreams. And sometimes those we love are not the people we think they are at all. A truly beautiful dark novel that drew me in. I would highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good, yet somewhat familiar.....
Review: I thought that this book was very appealing in both its content and subject matter. However, I just finished reading EMily Bronte's Wuthering Heights for my English class (I had read Here on Earth about three months earlier) and I realize now that Here on Earth is just a modern adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Hollis IS Heathcliff. For all readers of Here on Earth who are fans of historical fiction, I highly recommend Wuthering Heights.
Rating:
Summary: Every Woman has a secret eternal love.
Review: Every woman has a secret true love that couldn't realized. And when years pass and become older start to think about that old love. Great story. It was put in black and white what many women feel and don't dare to tell.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful story every woman should read
Review: Not only should every woman read this book but have their late teenaged daughters read it before there's a "Hollis" in their life! I found this book moving and powerful and disturbing all at the same time. I got so wrapped up in it from page 1. Although some of it was very predictable (like a train wreck), it didn't prevent me from staying up to finish the book in one sitting. The basic story of the a woman trying to capture what didn't work in the past is a story that too many woman today live through. Although March was married and although she and Hollis would never in this lifetime EVER be able to have a loving and trusting relationship....March goes for it anyway without any regard to the cost of her loving husband and fragile daughter. The ensemble characters add to the story but it clearly is based on March and Hollis and how you can't go home again.
Rating:
Summary: A Dark tale of Love, Passion and Violence
Review: This book was very dark and haunting, but almost a little too dominating at the end. It very much diminished March's character when she's completely under Hollis' control.....it kind of makes people think that women are weak.
Rating:
Summary: Shallow
Review: I found beggining of this book great, mysteries and interesting, but as the story go by it just loose it. I found many things unsaid; like why Hollis turn that way, what was Gwen like before she came. Description of the characters is shallow and I was very dissapointed when I ended book. Practical Magic is much much better.
Rating:
Summary: standard melodrama or convention breaker?
Review: It seemed like our book group was pretty split on this book. It was a simple read and a simple story. It read quickly. Some liked the fact that Hoffman took the conventions of a romance novel and played with them to create something more thoughtful. March and Hollis are a couple that you initially believe are meant to be together, but it becomes clear that certain kinds of love simply destroy those involved. One member talked of why he liked the book. "In the end I really liked the book, although I can't point to exactly why. Fate, destiny, choice, love, hate, control and tolerance all rolled into a simple story. I like how the author didn't tie all the loose ends up, didn't give you all or even many answers, didn't even come out and ask the questions." We brought up many of the themes of the book in our discussion. What is love? What were the different kinds of love that we saw? Why did the three generations deal with love differently, the youngest turning her back on good love, the oldest putting up with infidelity for years? While some saw believable characters, I thought many of the characters followed the conventions and stereotypes of a melodrama too closely. I did not buy into the story being told because I did not believe in the characters. Without that, there is little a writer can do to save the story. And yet, many of the group liked the book quite well.
Rating: 
Summary: IT REALLY DESERVES ONE STAR!!!
Review: The book started of with a beautiful writing of a nature scenes. The background and the flash back does giving some charm for readers...BUT When I justed START to like this book I was very disappointed. I was almost falling asleep when I read this book. It was BORING... At least I finished it because I PAID FOR THE BOOK. (shouldn't have) Maybe as the story develop the author couldn't think of anything else to write so she just do what ever to finish the book. P.S. "Here on Earth" is a very predictable story.
Rating: 
Summary: Here On Earth
Review: Alice Hoffman is no doubt an awesome writer. I had no choice but to feel the anger, love, and entrapment that she so discriptively wrote about. But I also think that the book left something to be desired. I wish Hoffman would have given a better explaination in the end. It was almost as if the characters would have been standing around asking what now just as I was.
Rating:
Summary: Oprah, be embarassed!
Review: This drivel steals all of the worst traits of Wuthering Heights: unlikeable characters driven by sick sick motives into a well of self pity and melodrama. I can't tell you how much I disliked this book. I wish it were possible to give zero stars. Self-imprtant and self-indulgent people abuse each other and make huge moral missteps in this irritating trip to dysfunctional land. If you're looking for a wonderful book, skip this one -- and Wuthring Heights, too. Read Charlotte Bronte's fabulous Jane Eyre.
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