Blue Diary

Rating:
Summary: As Blue As The Diary
Review: While Alice Hoffman's Blue Diary has many well-crafted descriptive sections, it is a disappointment in many regards. How this work has made an appearance on best seller lists is a tribute to the publisher's marketing department.

It is a work of stick figures and stereotypes: the perfect marriage, the bad marriage; the beautiful sister, the ugly sister; the doting husband, the insensitive husband. If the author expects us to believe that inside every self-centered, arrogant young male there exists an Ozzie Nelson, she has deprived us of any evidence as to how the transition takes place. We need to accept as fact that Ethan can simply cover up his past and blossom into an exemplary husband, father and friend. Perhaps Ms. Hoffman wants us to believe that love is the answer; Ethan is so smitten with the woman he meets and marries - Jorie - that he is transformed overnight. Rather than exploring and developing the theme that Jorie's love is the catalyst for a transformation, we are simply asked to accept it. And, the author disappoints even those who can accept love conquering all; the power of love does not sustain Jorie through Ethan's downfall.

And what of this blue diary? We get only the tiniest glimpse of the contents - another disappointment. Juxtaposing the thoughts of the girl whose life was cut short with those of her murderer would have been a far more worthy use of space than introducing various thinly drawn characters that play minor roles in the work.

If Ms. Hoffman wishes to join the ranks of today's outstanding female fiction writers - Anne Tyler, Bobby Ann Mason and others - she must surpass Blue Diary.

Rating:
Summary: good quick read, but
Review: I guess the good news is I was entertained and moved to read this pretty much straight through over the course of two nights. It has a good setup and the author can write a scene in the traditional chick-book kind of way. But it's all pretty superficial and it could have been a lot more. Questions about forgiveness, repentance, and retribution could have been explored much more deeply. Instead the book proceeds pretty much on the "then she did this, and he said this, and she felt angry" rather than any more subtle examiniation of motivation or exploration of inner dialogues. There are so many places where the writer essentially says, "Imagine her horror!" Well, I could, but then I could just imagine a whole story if I wanted to - the reason I read novels is to get a window on how the author imagines it.

Rating:
Summary: Another "dreamcatcher" hit for Hoffman...
Review: Hoffman sucks you into the passionate, sensual, but very private lives of Jorie and Ethan, two of Monroe's most loved residents, whose lives are about to be shattered by a haunting past.

It sounds like an old story, but Hoffman characters, insights, and ironies are drawn so insightfully, you won't recognize it. Part of the story is projected through the eyes of the thirteen-year-old neighbor girl whose revelations are so wrapped up in normal teenage angst, she, and the reader are kept wondering if they are true. When she sees the same lack of conscience and the same selfishness in her slightly older sister as she sees in the man she believes is a vicious, soul-less killer, the neighbor girl draws the reader into her struggle to understand and come to terms with her own identity.

As in her other books, here Hoffman displays her ability to draw the reader into the enviable lives of people we want to be...and then exposes us to the realities of our fantasies.

Rating:
Summary: An absorbing, melancholy tale
Review: The first several pages of Hoffman's new book are spent describing the impossible perfection of the love between Ethan and Jorie; so or course something has to go terribly awry, and it does.

Like many of her books, this one has a fairy-tale feel that stays with you until the end. However, I felt like something was missing. Not enough back story about Ethan--he never seemed like a fully developed character, but then again, I guess he was intentionally made a bit of an enigma.This book does make the reader wonder how well she knows her own husband, friends and neighbors.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling novel, but not her best
Review: Could you find forgiveness if you learned your spouse did something unspeakable? How do you reconcile a relationship that is based on a false foundation? Do you really know your spouse? Alice Hoffman explores these questions, as well as questions of morality, in a story that takes place in a small storybook New England Town called Monroe. Though her attempts to tell the tale through the voice of different characters is interesting, it ultimately fails to give us the true psychological insight into the characters that Ms. Hoffman can usually deliver. This story has no happy endings. It is however very realistic. Had this been a first book from an unknown author, I would have rated it five stars. From Ms. Hoffman, I expect a little better.

Rating:
Summary: A tragic secret is revealed, changing a small town forever.
Review: Ethan Ford is a model citizen of Monroe, Massachusetts. Besides being a devastatingly handsome man, Ethan is also a volunteer fireman who has risked his life to save others, a carpenter who does superior work and keeps his word to his customers, and a beloved coach of the Little League team. He is a loving husband to his beautiful wife, Jorie, and a devoted father to his son, Collie. Ethan is almost too good to be true.

In her new novel, "Blue Diary," Alice Hoffman takes the mask off Ethan Ford, who, as it turns out, really is too good to be true. Ethan has been hiding a terrible secret about his past, and when the secret is revealed, it changes not only his life, but the lives of his family and his friends.

In this novel, Hoffman explores how people confront tragic, life-changing events. In the face of heartache, the characters in the book react in a variety of ways. Collie, Ethan's son, retreats from life and becomes bitter. Jorie forces herself to confront who her husband really is and what he has done. Jorie's friends, Charlotte and Barney, stand by her and offer what consolation they can at this horrible time.

Not only does Hoffman deal with the fallout from Ethan's situation, but she also explores how the other characters face crises in their lives. Charlotte has breast cancer and has months of painful treatment ahead of her. Kat and Rosarie Williams are two sisters, neighbors of the Fords, who have never fully come to terms with their father's suicide a year ago. Facing a terminal illness, Mr. Williams ended his own life; was his suicide an act of selfishness or an act of love? Or was it the act of a desperate man who was suffering unbearable pain and wanted it to end?

Hoffman changes point of view in the novel, sometimes switching to first person, with Kat as the narrator. Although this is a bit jarring, Kat is a ruthlessly honest observer. Kat is concerned about her best friend, Collie Ford, and also about her troubled and beautiful sister, Rosarie, who is impulsive, promiscuous and emotionally stunted.

Hoffman, in often lyrical prose, is perhaps too ambitious in her desire to depict how the members of this town interact with one another and face their personal demons. Is "Blue Diary" too busy and too filled with angst and tragedy? Perhaps. Is the ending too abrupt, with too little resolution? Possibly. Hoffman definitely leaves the character of Ethan unexplained. We never find out who he truly is underneath his perfect veneer.

However, Hoffman makes the reader care deeply about the members of Monroe and she brings her characters to life in a way that few other novelists can. "Blue Diary" is a powerful and touching novel.

Rating:
Summary: A key that once belonged to my heart.....
Review: This is my second venture into the literary world of Alice Hoffman -- having read, "Second Nature" on a long ago summer vacation, and I am so happy to have "re-discovered" her.
This is a story that begins with a fairy-tale tapestry unfolding before the reader's eye; a marriage that seems to encompass everything believable and desirable - perfected wedded bliss between two people who have discovered that they are truly soul mates; a future as crisp and bright as the dawning of each new day in Monroe, Masachussetts. Alice relies upon her readers to embrace this vision -- as beautiful as it is delicate and crystalline in its fragility. A phone call from a twelve year old sets in motion the unraveling of this gorgeous tapestry.
Jorie Ford dicovers that the life that began so many years ago with a chance meeting at a local bar is anything but the unexpected blissful encounter that is has become for her. Indeed the man that she has spent thirteen years with is hardly the man that she has grown to love and respect with each passing day. Or is he?
Ms. Hoffman paints a heroic portrait of Ethan Ford -- aside of his rugged handsomeness, she creates a character whom everyone in town trusts and respects without question. The questions of appearing not to have a past -- no parents or siblings to speak of, having come from nowhere and met the woman of his dreams by chance... it all makes one wonder how much faith people in general place in everyday strangers.
As Jorie's life unravels -- complicated by the fact that Ethan confesses that he isn't the same man who committed this most heinous of crimes -- indeed, he was Bryon Bell, a young man consumed with rage and boredom, who committed a crime and then found a new identity for himself, burying his past with the pick-up truck in a creek in another State, in another time -- another world as it were for him, other secondary characters float to the surface of this whirlpool of emotions. Charlotte, the steadfast friend of Jorie, who through years of jealousy is still able to be there when Jorie needs her most. The neighbors, specifically Kat ( the 12 year old who made the fated phone call) and her older, more beautiful and mysterious sister Rosarie, who end up being Ethan's (or is it Bryon?)steadfast support throught the ensuing fiasco that embraces this once idyllic and slumbering town.
Perhaps the most touching moments for me occured when Jorie traveled to the town where the murder had been committed and meets the now reclusive brother who in coming face to face with someone who knows the murderer, is able to set aside his grief and anguish and permit Jorie a glimpse into the life of his sister. He gives her a blue diary -- thus the title of the book, whcih traverses with Jorie throughout the rest of the novel. It isn't until she reaffirms her belief that indeed her husband is one and the same Bryon Bell -- in finding amongst his possessions in the family garage the key that will open this diary -- the same key that will in effect open her heart and set her free. This is truly Alice Hoffman at her consumate best!

Rating:
Summary: An iffy start, a mesmerizing finish
Review: The first part of the novel tests the reader's patience with its fairy tale depiction of Ethan Ford and his life with wife,
Jorie. But stick with Alice Hoffman's prose. The seeming perfection is actually an effective setup for what happens after Ethan's past
finally catches up with him. This is the first Alice Hoffman book that I've read, and I'm eager to read more of her
work after finishing "Blue Diary." Once the book began delving into who Ethan really was/is and how his heinous crime
resonated, I was unable to put it down. I wasn't particularly intrigued by some of the supporting characters, especially
Jorie's best friend Charlotte. But overall, "Blue Diary" is a satisfying read that raises interesting questions about the
limits of redemption and forgiveness.

Rating:
Summary: Blue Diary
Review: I have never read anything by Alice Hoffman before and relied mainly on the excerpt in making my selection. I found the book to be "seamless" in story line and attention setting. I do not like to descibe the story-- I'll leave the details for you to read first hand. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks they no their other half as well as he/she does.

Rating:
Summary: Questions of the Past
Review: As an author with my debut novel in its initial release, I was fascinated by Alice Hoffman's BLUE DIARY. Critics have noted my work addresses serious themes, yet Ms. Hoffman's work knocks mine out of the water. In BLUE DIARY, Ms. Hoffman tells the tale of Ethan Ford. Ethan is a seemingly perfect man who is a small-town hero. Things change, though, when it is discovered that Ethan committed a rape/murder fifteen years earlier. This novel is a fascinating read as Ms. Hoffman explores the diverse ramifications of this utterly unexpected discovery. Everyone is impacted, including the reader. BLUE DIARY asks the big questions, yet it avoids the easy answers. Terrific book.