At Risk

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Summary: At Risk is a great book and I recommend it to anyone!
Review: I really enjoyed At Risk. I wasn't going to read it, but my friend told me how great it was and now I am so glad that I did. It was such a sad book and at some points I felt like I was actually in their family. Some parts were dragging but overall it was great. I had a problem with the path that the author chose to take in some parts. In a way, I wanted something more to happen with the mom and the doctor. That situation was basically just forgotten. Other than these FEW things, I thought the book was pretty good and I recommend it to anyone, especially someone going through the same situation.

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Summary: the worst book ever
Review: i think this book was the worst one i have ever saw. i have seen books with characters and books with action,drama,romance,and horor but this book made no sense it was a stupid book about a girl whos dreams were lost because of aids and if anybody who read this book had aids there dreams of living would be shattered into a million piecies.thats why i think this book his horrible!

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Summary: An Awsome Book!
Review: I thought this book was among the best books that I have ever read. At Risk talked about the issue of AIDS in such a way, that I will never think the same way about a person with the AIDS disease. Alice Hoffman showed so many different peoples' feelings, and I was actually surprised about how many different people in that community were affected, and by how everybody treated Amanda. In closing, I would like to say that this book was really well written and worth anybody's time to read it.

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Summary: True to life
Review: I was assigned to read At Risk for English class. In the past when I've been assigned books, I've read it to get the assignment over with, but with this book I enjoyed every page. The book starts out giving this picture of a perfect suburban family living in a nice house in a small town. From the very beginning I felt as thought i knew the family. I think everyone has the attitude that "That could never happen to me." This book sends a powerful message that no one expects for bad things to happen to them. The familyhad this idealistic attitude about the perfect life they wanted. Amanda was determined to become an olympic gymnaist and a seemingly insignificant operation that happened when she was a little girl decided her entire future at that moment. The feelings everyone has a very real and the characters seem like actual people. You, as the reader feel the emotions the family does and it is like you are going through the situation with them. The real-to-life character change throughout because of everything that has happened. They are at first seperated by the tremendous tragady but they learn the only way they can get through the hard times is together. They grow together in love and realize that they need each other. Amanda has a conflict inside herself. She feels confused and helplessness. She is used to being independent and now she can't really do anything for herself. The reality of each at the different realtionships is wonderful. Amanda has her best friend Jessie, who is very supportive and sticks by when no one else does. For anyone who has ever had a best friend you know the feelings and emotions Jessie and Amanda exsperiance are real. Hoffman also explores the brother-sister relationship Charlie and Amanda have. They have the typical sibling rivalry but the unconditional love they have for each other in incrediable. The two of them probably never realized they actully loved each other until Amanda was diagnose with AIDS. Charlie then realizes her isn't only loosing a sister but a part of himself as well. The saying might be old and somewhat oever used, but it still remains true: you never know what you have until it is gone.

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Summary: The truest ever read
Review: I've only read the short story that was in a magazine, but it was a really good story. It showed how cruel some people could be, but also showed how open minded others were. A poor girl, just getting started in the world and fulfilling her dreams, is devastated when she finds she got AIDS from a simple blood transfusion. This story goes to show all the ignorant people in the world that you don't have to be bad to contract this illness.

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Summary: At Risk
Review: If you enjoy reading books about the hardships of an incurable disease, then At Risk by Alice Hoffman is the book for you. It is an extremely sad book at the end. Even if you are not a sensitive person, you will find yourself on the verge of crying. This book is mainly about Amanda Farrel, the protagonist, who discovers at only eleven that she has the deadly disease- AIDS. Before this disease, her mom, Polly; dad, Ivan, brother Charlie, grandfather, Al, and grandmother, Claire, are not what you consider a close family. They were all able to get through with no major arguments but once everyone stopped denying that Amanda had AIDS, the whole family realized what true love was about. This horrifying disease in the end did one good thing and that was bringing everyone extremely close together. Anyone who reads this book will discover that it is a truly inspirational story. It's absolutely amazing how caring and brave Amanda is throughout the story. Before she discovered she had AIDS, Amanda was an amazingly good gymnast. After discovering that she had AIDS, you would think she would want to sit down and die. Instead, though, she uses her determined spirit to fight AIDS as best as she could. She does this by continuing to do gymnastics, going to school, keeping a close friendship going with her friend Jesse, and making a new one with Laurel. Laurel is an older woman whom her mother, a photographer, was photographing for a book with her partner, Betsy. Through friendships and her gymnastic coach you will be shown how important it is to be there for someone who is dying, and throughout the book you will also learn what someone with AIDS feels. I definitely learned some new messages in the book that were easy to pick out. Amanda's friendships all showed how people can be very nice. You see Amanda's gymnastic coach and friend Jesse sticks by her and it seemed compared to everyone else in the community, that they didn't know Amanda had AIDS - but the truth of the matter was that they knew Amanda was the same girl as if she didn't have AIDS. Amanda's friendship with Laurel taught a few lessons because Laurel didn't even know Amanda until Amanda got AIDS but she still was willing to be her friend. Laurel didn't let her arrogance and fear get in the way of the friendship. This helped Amanda through the roughest times of the disease. The conflict in this book is easily known as with nature. The reason why is that since AIDS is the antagonist that affects the protagonist Amanda, this is considered the main conflict throughout the story that causes many others. One conflict that the main conflict caused is that after you read the book, you will discover society's perception of people who have AIDS. This book was written in the 1980's when people didn't believe doctors who said AIDS can't be contracted by touching, sharing food, etc., since it was a considerable new disease. You see in the book how people in the 1980's acted toward people who had AIDS and how fear and arrogance would have even the closest neighbors in a panic mode. Overall, this is a great book, and you learn some valuable points. You also can put yourself in Amanda's place and think what would you do. With other characters in the book, such as Billy who also has AIDS, the doctor Ed Reardon, and school board members, you see all perspectives as if you do have AIDS. It's a wonderful book whether you have experience with this disease or not. Another thing is that it teaches something about family values. So if you haven't read it yet, get it and read it!

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Summary: What It Means To Be Human
Review: It's a hard one. It's even harder than picking my favourite food or heaven forbid, my favourite band. But when it comes to my favourite author...I have to say that Alice Hoffman just blows me away.

I have read many of Alice Hoffman's books and have become delightfully accustomed to being spoiled rotten by her beautiful prose and agile ability to articulate the most complex emotions of what it means to be human. Of her books that I have read to date, At Risk is the novel that has taken my heart and squeezed it the hardest.

In the eye of the storm that Hoffman whips up in this novel, is eleven year old Amanda Farrell who dreams of being the greatest gymnast that ever was, who finds her younger brother Charlie disgusting and a pain and who loves her best friend Jess more than her Madonna casette tapes. In the first chapter of At Risk, readers are invited into the Farrell's home, the marriage of Amanda and Charlie's parents Ivan and Polly, and the absolute horror of Amanda contracting HIV after a blood transfusion from her childhood went terribly wrong.

With a story like this, I'm sure there is much room for melodrama and contrived waffling saga-like desperation and soap-actor calamity. However, with Alice Hoffman, the reader is in safe hands. At Risk delivers the reality of how this situation affects a family, a town, a school and even complete strangers. Unlike in others where it has been neccessary to paint the picture with her words, Hoffman's prose in this novel is not excessive, her descriptions are minimal and neccessary. I am now on the hunt for a lamp with a beautiful pink shade. She deals with the characters so gently but realistically that I felt like I was sitting at the dinner table in silence with the rest of Amanda's family. I too was pushing food around my plate, not knowing how to swallow the abundant zucchini dishes made from the vegetables growing in Polly's garden, to get past the pit of sorrow in my stomach.

Big fat crocodile tears rolled down my cheeks as Amanda's 11 year old mentality accepts her disease and her fate. The way Alice Hoffman has woven this tale of simplicity and complexity is so commendable - if you have a few quiet hours and all you want is tale to wrap you up and give you a delicate nudge about what's really important into your life, I would recommend introducing yourself to Amanda. You won't ever regret knowing her.

Rating:
Summary: Cliched plot and characters overshadows great writing piece
Review: It's a shame. Amazing writing by Hoffman here can't overcome the overdone plot; and characters. This book would have had so much more of an effect on me if I cared more about the characters, but they've been done so many time you can telegraph the punches of every person and event. An AIDS patient who helps the family; a kid who is infatuated with dinasaurs; overbearing and overcaring parents; all been done. It still works pretty well though and it's easy to read, so a 6 is what it gets from me.

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Summary: "At Risk" is a sentimental and informative book
Review: The book is very informative in providing the facts about AIDS. It is a story of a little girl who is diagnosed with AIDS and the hardship she faces with her sickness and the ignorance of the people of her town.

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Summary: A good story that deals with the times.
Review: There are many things to enjoy about this work by Alice Hoffman. She brings a balance of the magical and the scientific to bear on a well-written story. There is a nice contrast between how the family bands together to deal with a minor crisis of an uninvited wasp in the kitchen, and the devastating enormity of AIDS in the life of the family. It is a timely story, written over 10 years ago, and dealing with a new crisis at that time. Through the story she calls on all people to have a little understanding as to how "the other" may be feeling. In fact, for me, the function of the story works better than the nature of the story. The latter I find to be a bit difficult. Polly vehemently dislikes her father for running away to spend time with another woman, yet longs to be held by Dr. Reardon. Laurel's character is just a little too incredible---coming in from offstage to play too large a role in the life of Amanda, the stricken child. The children, to me, are just too mature for their stated ages. Imagine 8-year old Charlie slugging his dad, so that he can tell Amanda the good news about her gymnastic team's win. There is little resolution in the end between Polly and Dr. Reardon, between Polly and Betsy, between Charlie and Severin. I do not feel this lack of resolution is planned, for then the story would announce that chaos is the victor when a crisis with the magnitude of AIDS hits a family. I do not believe that to be the message that Alice Hoffman wants to convey. The story has to be a tale of hope, and in many ways it is.