Rating: 
Summary: Definitely not Hoffman's Best
Review: I am a huge Alice Hoffman fan, and when I found this slim book hidden in the back of the shelf at the library, I expected it to be as wonderful as her other books. I was disappointed. The character of Rae seems very similar to March Murray in Here On Earth. She's someone who got into an obsessive relationship at a young age and was willing to throw everything away for it. Her boyfriend is very similar to Hollis. It just seems like the story of these two were the beginning outlines of Here On Earth, and Hoffman decided to recycle them. Here on Earth is a much better novel though-you feel more for the charcaters and understand their passion. You just don't really care about these two. Some scenes in this book are downright bizarre, and many seem unnecessary. I had a hard time forcing myself to finish this book, because it bordered on boring. read one of Hoffman's other books for some great writing.
Rating:
Summary: Another novel about women as 2nd class citizens...
Review: I need to change my genre of fiction at some point because I find that after a number of novels in which the protagonists are treated badly by the men - I get angry and have trouble seeing the value of the whole novel. This novel tells pieces of the lives of two women, unlike each other in many ways but bound to each other by coincidence. Rae is the young unmarried woman, pregnant by her abusive boyfriend Jessup, and Lila is the aging former fortune-teller who was forced to give up her child (by another useless man, her 'married' boyfriend) for adoption years ago and is haunted by it. The two come together when Lila is pushed into reading the tea leaves for Rae - and sees startling similarities in their lives. The book is really about Lila and her inner monologues, her pains, her love and her loss.
The writing in this novel is fine (the 3 stars are for the writing), the plot and interesting one, and the thread of mystical, "visions", and even the various tragedies, add to the lure of the book. But as I mentioned earlier, I am tired of reading books in which women are second class citizens, treated badly and of course suffer for it. Rae's boyfriend has no redeeming qualities, whatsoever and thus it is impossible for a reader with any brain to understand why she continues to seek him out. Not that we need to read Cinderella tales every day, but there is a good deal of true loneliness in this book, and not enough positive balance to make it worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: Readable, but I've enjoyed her other books more.
Review: I recently interloaned this book from another library, and although I thought that it was fairly good, I have read better books by the author. I was expecting to find out that Rae was really Lila's daughter, and that Carolyn had been keeping that secret from Rae. I also wanted to know more about what happened to the characters after the story ended.
Rating:
Summary: Needed just a bit of Pep.....
Review: This happened to be my first Alice Hoffman novel read.
I can agree with the other reviews which are tired of weak women in novels, because you surely get that here. But you will also get the story of Rae (unmarried but still strangely loyal) and Lila (a strange depressed woman) and how there lives mix and mingle, because frankly I never saw any great relationships anywhere in this book. While the writing in and of itself was not bad at all, I got a little bored of the dream sequences we are given, most very meta-physical and "witch" like, to get to know what is going on for the characters instead of true life. I also tired a bit of a strange conjured up 'spell child' which you never know if it is real or imagined by insanity. There is a lot of mystical magic woven into this story giving it a very surreal feel. This being said I am not turned completely off by Alice Hoffman, I am going to read another book before making my call, but unless you are paticularily interested in tea leaf reading or adoption issues, this may not the best book to begin your Alice Hoffman journey with, either.
Rating:
Summary: Needed just a bit of Pep.....
Review: This happened to be my first Alice Hoffman novel read.
I can agree with the other reviews which are tired of weak women in novels, because you surely get that here. But you will also get the story of Rae (unmarried but still strangely loyal) and Lila (a strange depressed woman) and how there lives mix and mingle, because frankly I never saw any great relationships anywhere in this book. While the writing in and of itself was not bad at all, I got a little bored of the dream sequences we are given, most very meta-physical and "witch" like, to get to know what is going on for the characters instead of true life. I also tired a bit of a strange conjured up 'spell child' which you never know if it is real or imagined by insanity. There is a lot of mystical magic woven into this story giving it a very surreal feel. This being said I am not turned completely off by Alice Hoffman, I am going to read another book before making my call, but unless you are paticularily interested in tea leaf reading or adoption issues, this may not the best book to begin your Alice Hoffman journey with, either.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story . . .
Review: This is the third book I have read by Alice Hoffman. While I don't think it is as good as Practical Magic and At Risk, it is a good book, and definitely better than Here On Earth. I can see by now that Alice Hoffman's novels are a bit haunting and mystical. She is a writer that, under most circumstances, has a haunting plot full of emotional welfare that hooks you in, and interesting, rich characters. To top it off, she paints beautiful pictures with her words. The only other writer I know who knows how to do it as well is Connie May Fowler. In Fortune's Daughter, you have a pregnant, lost young woman named Rae, and a fortune teller named, Lila, whose paths cross when Rae goes to get her fortune read. Rae, who left home to run off with a boy she loves, Jessup, finds herself alone and pregnant. She leaves her family behind, and Jessup leaves her behind, since he is selfish and isn't interested in being a father at the beginning of this book. Lila reads tea leaves and lives with her husband, Richard. Lila isn't really interested in fortune-telling anymore, and when she encounters Rae, she finds herself re-living her own painful past. She was disowned by her own family when she became pregnant herself with her boyfriend's child. She was alone, as her lover was absent and selfish (much like Jessup was), and she was made to give up her daughter after she gave birth to her in her own bedroom. A cousin, who was a nurse, acted as her coach, as her parents refused to send her to the hospital due to shame. Rae reminded Lila too much of herself when she was that age, and before she knew it, she was putting a strain on her marriage to search for her lost daughter. This is a very bizarre and haunting story, full of feeling of loss and deep sadness. It is a good story, but one that leaves you with a very sinking feeling after you're finished with the book. Nonetheless, an interesting read that is difficult to put down.
Rating:
Summary: A different cup of tea
Review: This was my first Alice Hoffman novel I have read. In reviewing her other books, it is obvious that she incorporates mystical and spiritual concepts in her writings. In this novel, _Fortune's Daughter_ the art of fortune telling through the use of tea leaves provide the inspiration for an original and sensitive story. The "reading" of these leaves that remain in the bottom of a cup of consumed tea allows the reader to be introduced to the characters in the book and their secrets that are so well revealed by this talented author. The fortune teller, Lila, is certainly not a stereotypical "old woman hag-like freak" that is so often portrayed in the movies. She is a beautiful wisp of a lady in her late 40's, married and living in the hills of Hollywood, California. Introduced long ago to the art of tea readings, she has a loyal following of clients and a fairly reliable income. Her passion, however seems fickle, and her past secrets and haunting memories begin to affect her readings. Everything in Lila's past that she has struggled to hide erupts when she is pressured to do a fortune telling for a distraught young girl, abandoned by her flakey, no-good boyfriend. When Lila looks into her cup and into Rae's tragic eyes, the unbearable similarities intwine them and makes their fates dependent on each other from that moment on. The plot lines are well detailed by other reviewers, so I shall not repeat the same in different words. I would like to comment on a few random impressions that I found interesting. One I had was that the "fortune telling" was not overdone, but appropriately utilized to ground and furthur the story line. Another is how the author uses the land to correlate with the character's personal issues and relationships to each other. For example, the infertile land behind Lila and her husband's house was referred to frequently throughout the book. Ms. Hoffman revealed the land to be nearly barren, and only with the greatest of efforts were the couple able to nurture plants to life. Tomato plants were thin, spindly, and rarely productive. The soil was said to be as if poisoned, leached of nutrients and unrevivable, no doubt a comparison to Lila. The only viable plant, a vine, (interestingly enough, a passion flower), had for so many years been neglected, it had become wildly overgrown. Tangled into a gigantic heap of a mess, it grew into a choking dying nuisance requiring abrupt removal. This comparison could apply to the relationship that Rae had with her abusing boyfriend, then again, other possible correlations could be the relationship between Lila and her husband, or Lila and Rae, or indeed all four of the characters and their relationship to each other. Ms. Hoffman described some incredibly intense and emotional events. One of these events was Lila's giving birth at age 18 after successfully hiding her pregnancy from her parents and everyone. Alone, and abandoned by her married boyfriend, the experience was revealed in words of delicacy and power, seeming to be a representation of the process of labor itself. I am curious as to other opinions regarding the ending. Rae struggles throughout the entire novel to rid herself of her abusive boyfriend, Jessup, but she keeps seeking him out, and their dependent dysfuntional relationship stays alive. As the four of them converge on the hospital on the night of Rae's baby's birth, I could not help but feel let down that she ultimately was not strong enough to push Jessup away. Rae, like the passion flower, seemed destined to emulate the vine. The flowers are so beautiful and fragile. The danger is to allow it to grow without restraint.
Rating:
Summary: A different cup of tea
Review: This was my first Alice Hoffman novel I have read. In reviewing her other books, it is obvious that she incorporates mystical and spiritual concepts in her writings. In this novel, _Fortune's Daughter_ the art of fortune telling through the use of tea leaves provide the inspiration for an original and sensitive story. The "reading" of these leaves that remain in the bottom of a cup of consumed tea allows the reader to be introduced to the characters in the book and their secrets that are so well revealed by this talented author. The fortune teller, Lila, is certainly not a stereotypical "old woman hag-like freak" that is so often portrayed in the movies. She is a beautiful wisp of a lady in her late 40's, married and living in the hills of Hollywood, California. Introduced long ago to the art of tea readings, she has a loyal following of clients and a fairly reliable income. Her passion, however seems fickle, and her past secrets and haunting memories begin to affect her readings. Everything in Lila's past that she has struggled to hide erupts when she is pressured to do a fortune telling for a distraught young girl, abandoned by her flakey, no-good boyfriend. When Lila looks into her cup and into Rae's tragic eyes, the unbearable similarities intwine them and makes their fates dependent on each other from that moment on. The plot lines are well detailed by other reviewers, so I shall not repeat the same in different words. I would like to comment on a few random impressions that I found interesting. One I had was that the "fortune telling" was not overdone, but appropriately utilized to ground and furthur the story line. Another is how the author uses the land to correlate with the character's personal issues and relationships to each other. For example, the infertile land behind Lila and her husband's house was referred to frequently throughout the book. Ms. Hoffman revealed the land to be nearly barren, and only with the greatest of efforts were the couple able to nurture plants to life. Tomato plants were thin, spindly, and rarely productive. The soil was said to be as if poisoned, leached of nutrients and unrevivable, no doubt a comparison to Lila. The only viable plant, a vine, (interestingly enough, a passion flower), had for so many years been neglected, it had become wildly overgrown. Tangled into a gigantic heap of a mess, it grew into a choking dying nuisance requiring abrupt removal. This comparison could apply to the relationship that Rae had with her abusing boyfriend, then again, other possible correlations could be the relationship between Lila and her husband, or Lila and Rae, or indeed all four of the characters and their relationship to each other. Ms. Hoffman described some incredibly intense and emotional events. One of these events was Lila's giving birth at age 18 after successfully hiding her pregnancy from her parents and everyone. Alone, and abandoned by her married boyfriend, the experience was revealed in words of delicacy and power, seeming to be a representation of the process of labor itself. I am curious as to other opinions regarding the ending. Rae struggles throughout the entire novel to rid herself of her abusive boyfriend, Jessup, but she keeps seeking him out, and their dependent dysfuntional relationship stays alive. As the four of them converge on the hospital on the night of Rae's baby's birth, I could not help but feel let down that she ultimately was not strong enough to push Jessup away. Rae, like the passion flower, seemed destined to emulate the vine. The flowers are so beautiful and fragile. The danger is to allow it to grow without restraint.
Rating: 
Summary: quite depressing
Review: When I first started reading the book I did not know what to expect but I felt the book got worse as I read more and more. I found the book to be quite depressing none the less. The story is about a young woman named Rae and a fortune teller name Lila. Rae had run away from home and an early age with her boyfriend Jessup. When Rae tells Jessup that she is pregnant he decides that he is not ready to be a father and leaves his pregnant girlfriend so he can pursue his job in the movies. Lila the other character is a tea leaf fortune teller who had a rough time growing up. She became pregnant at an early age by her boyfriend who like Jessup left her. She did not tell her parents she was pregnant until her mother found out when Lila's water broke. Lila's parents would not even take her to the hospital because they were too ashamed of her and called Lila's cousin who was a nurse to help with the pregnancy. Lila's parents made Lila give up the baby for adoption and after that Lila fell in to depression. Lila is sent to her aunts to live with and meets her future husband Richard. These two women cross paths and build a relationship. Rae reminded Lila of how she was at that age, young, unmarried, and pregnant. Rae becomes depressed and ends up hurting her marriage because she is in search of her lost child. She hallucinates that she sees her daughter and so she has somewhat of an invisible daughter she believes is there. The end left me kind of disappointed because I wanted to know more of what would happen to these two women. I think Alice Hoffman writes in great detail and has a nice descriptive artistic flow to her writing. I still honestly found the book to be depressing because of Rae's dysfunctional relationship with Jessup and then Lila's depressive attitude. Details of Lila's labor I found were quite graphic and painful for me as the reader. Even her depressing incident of slitting her wrists was very disturbing. I would not recommend this book unless someone really is interested in disturbing and depressing stories or into fortune telling then you may enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: One of Hoffman's best
Review: _Fortunes Daughter_ was the fourth novel by Ms. Hoffman that I read, and it is undoubtedly the best. Her books are always subtly infused with magical touches; here, that magic sparkles. The characters are wonderfully complex- there are times when I wanted to slap them and hug them at the same time, and the story, though sorrowful at times, is ultimately full of hope. In other words: Classic Hoffman.
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