Rating: 
Summary: Readable but uninspired story about difficult relationships
Review: In "Here on Earth," March Murray and her teenage daughter Gwen return to a small town outside of Boston where March grew up. They plan to stay for a few weeks to help clear out the belongings of an old friend who recently died, but they end up staying once March reunites with her childhood "soulmate" Hollis, and Gwen falls in love with a boy from town. They stay at great cost, not only because it means separating from March's husband and Gwen's father, but also falling into the dangerous world of Hollis, who has become an angry, isolated, controlling man. Everyone else in the town knows this, but March can't see it because of the power of their earlier relationship. The book shows how March & Hollis' relationship unfolds as March goes deeper and deeper into denial. In the background are March's old friends who try to support her, and who are coping with the choices they made along the way. I think one of Hoffman's goals with this book is to show how some people can get drawn into abusive relationships without realizing what is happening. She also makes some comments about the compromises people make to keep the things that matter to them. She made her points, but I didn't find the story or the characters especially compelling. Although the narrator's point of view switches amont different characters, I thought that only March's motivations were fully explored; Hoffman switches to other characters mainly to move the plot along and to justify the turns in the story. Hoffman has an informal writing style that is clear and easy to understand, if not especially graceful or polished. In all, I didn't regret reading this book, but it wasn't one I savored or that stayed with me after I put it down each day.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting take-off on an old classic
Review: Some people seem to be offended that Hoffman would dare use the plot of "Wuthering Heights" so blatantly for one of her novels, but I found it fascinating for just this very reason. What WOULD have happened if Heathcliff had gotten Cathy back? This "rewrite" of that wonderful classic into a modern setting and that unmistakeable Hoffman-like language is intriguing to say the least.
That a happily married woman can once again become snarled into an old erotic relationship and can't get out is a highly-charged story all in itself. That her daughter, who seems on the fast track to becoming a slut, finds peace through a horse, balances the first lurid story out beautifully.
For me the novel is a good study of how erotic attraction can blind a person, and just how worthwhile true friendship in a relationship is.
Still my favorite Hoffman novel (that I've read) so far is "Turtle Moon."
Rating:
Summary: March Rekindles A First Love!
Review: When the lady who raised March as her own dies suddenly, March returns to her hometown after about 19 years for the funeral. Her belligerent teenage daughter Gwen accompanies her on the journey, but once there, the stay becomes longer than they planned.
March rekindles an old flame with Hollis, her old boyfriend of years ago. Hollis never did fall out of love with March to begin with, and so he has been sitting back, waiting, and hoping all these years. When the two do meet up, sparks fly of course, but there is the problem of back home and what to do about her loveless marriage before March can move on in her life. And not only that, but many people in the small town of Massachusetts have spread rumors about what a bad man Hollis is. March isn't sure what to believe of anyone. So she'll have to see for herself.
A great read for the most part, and I recommend it.
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