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Here on Earth
After nearly twenty years of living in California, March Murray, along with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Gwen, returns to the sleepy Massachusetts town where she grew up to attend the funeral of Judith Dale, the beloved housekeeper who raised her. Yet returning to her hometown also brings her back to Hollis, March’s former soul mate and lover. March’s father had taken the teenaged Hollis, an abandoned child, and the product of a series of detention homes, into his house as a boarder, and treated him like a son. Yet March and Hollis’s passionate love was hardly a normal sibling relationship. When Hollis left her after a petty fight, March waited for him three long years, wondering what she had done wrong.
Encountering Hollis again makes March acutely aware of the choices that she has made, and the choices everyone around her has made—including Mrs. Dale, who knew more of love than March could ever have suspected, and her brother Alan, whose tragic history has left him grief-struck, with alcohol as his only solace. Her attraction to Hollis is overwhelming—and March jeopardizes her marriage, her relationship with her daughter and her own happiness in an attempt to reclaim the past.
Encountering Hollis again makes March acutely aware of the choices that she has made, and the choices everyone around her has made—including Mrs. Dale, who knew more of love than March could ever have suspected, and her brother Alan, whose tragic history has left him grief-struck, with alcohol as his only solace. Her attraction to Hollis is overwhelming—and March jeopardizes her marriage, her relationship with her daughter and her own happiness in an attempt to reclaim the past.
309 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Alice Hoffman
120 books23.4k followersAlice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The World That We Knew; The Marriage of Opposites; The Red Garden; The Museum of Extraordinary Things; The Dovekeepers; Here on Earth, an Oprah’s Book Club selection; and the Practical Magic series, including Practical
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
Magic; Magic Lessons; The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club; and The Book of Magic. She lives near Boston.
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April 19, 2019
fulfilling book riot's 2018 read harder challenge task #13: an oprah book club selection
extry points given to me, by me, for choosing a book that i have owned for more than a year.
it has been a long time since i have given a book a two-star rating, but this book earned it.
i’m not someone who takes delight in negativity, and even if i’m not in love with a book, i’m usually able to find something neutral and deflecting to say about it, or at the very least, i'm able to suggest the correct audience for it, in that “people who enjoy ___ will find much to appreciate in this book &yadda" way.
this time, though, i’m at a loss.
it tells a clear, if psychologically unrealistic, story, it has distinct characters and dialogue that is competently written and the shape of it meets all of the criteria for “how a novel is structured,” so it deserves more than a single star, but i did not enjoy reading it. nor can i come up with a profile of the reader who would enjoy it, even though, clearly, people have. and do. people who are oprah and people who are not oprah.
it’s been on my radar for a while, because i'll read any retelling of wuthering heights.many most of them are not good, but they’re not good in ways that were easy-to-predict from their précis: shoehorning in a bunch of erotic scenes or costuming heathcliff as a rock star or a vampire isn’t going to improve upon the original - sex is sex is sex, after all, and you can read about it anywhere, and heathcliff doesn’t suddenly become more charismatic or predatory by giving him pointy teeth or a guitar. heathcliff has so often been the inspiration for antiheroic male leads, including vampires and rock stars, that turning literal heathcliff into a literal vampire feels unnecessary and derivative.
but i get why you'd try. wuthering heights is deliciously complicated and tempestuous and it's full of shitty people being shitty to each other and scorching the earth until pretty much everyone's left broken or dead, and what's more fun than unrestrained melodrama? but this is just...blah. it doesn't use the characters or the situation to any real advantage. it's as though by using WH as its jumping-off point, it can just shorthand its own central relationship, which lies flat on the page, not earning its own tragedy, seeming to assume the reader is filling in the emotional gaps with whatever bronte-borrowed intensity is showing through its cracks.
hoffman keeps the basic framework of wuthering heights, translating the tone into contemporary smalltown realism with these occasional outbursts of gothic melodrama, which is confusing and pleasing to no one. meanwhile, so much of what makes wh work is left out entirely, and you're left with such a pale version of the original it's no wonder so many readers missed the connection entirely.
i have questions and complaints, and in order to vent about them, i'm going to need to discuss the plots of both wuthering heights and here on earth, so if you want those books to keep their secrets, stop reading this review right here.
these questions and complaints will be scattershot and underexplicated; i'm typing as they occur to me, but since it's likely that no one's reading past this point anyway, i can do what i waaaant.
most of the problems i have with this book can be summed up as: who does that?
march murray (catherine earnshaw) is 11 years old when her father goes to boston for a conference and returns with a 13-year-old orphan named hollis (heathcliff). her twenty-one-year old brother alan (hindley) declares, “He found him wandering the streets or something.” no further information is given. pause to reflect that what works in a novel set in 18th century rural england does not necessarily work in modern-day america, where you can’t really just grab a kid off the city streets and take him home without some kinda paperwork.
to repeat, alan/hindley is twenty-one. a grown-ass man, who has finished college in a desultory fashion, and is living at home, taking some law classes, in as desultory a way as undergrad, super-disappointing to his dad, who definitely likes his new pet urchin more than alan. which makes alan resentful, sure, but he behaves like a child:
Alan took every opportunity to humiliate Hollis. In public, he treated Hollis as though he were a servant; at home he made certain the boy knew he was an outcast. Often, Alan would sneak into Hollis’ room, where he’d do as much damage as possible. He poured calves’ blood into Hollis’s bureau drawers, ruining Hollis’s limited wardrobe, knowing full well Hollis would rather wear the same clothes every day than admit defeat. He left a pile of cow manure in the closet, and by the time Hollis figured out where the stench was coming from, everything Henry Murray had given him, the books and the lamps and the blankets, had been contaminated by the smell.
and then, later, alan and his similarly-aged pals beat hollis up, and tie him to a tree in the snowy middle of winter, leaving him there for hours until march finds him and frees him. a gaggle of adult men beating up a 13-year-old boy because one of 'em's jelly that his daddy kidnapped a runaway and loves him more.
usual wh bits follow - march and hollis hit it off, go wilding together, spy on the wealthy neighbors, have more explicit intercourse than is mentioned in wuthering heights, daddy kiddiestealer dies, alan kicks hollis up to the attic, starts charging him backrent and such, hollis leaves for three years, but before he returns, fortune made, ready to take his revenge on everyone, march marries fancy next-door-neighbor richard and moves to california, where she has a daughter named gwen, and they all stay put there for nineteen years. which is different from how wh plays out.
why is this important? because march does not return home during all that time, even though many of the other events of wh do repeat here; events that would cause a normal person to buy a plane ticket: hollis marries richard's sister, they have a kid, wife and kid both die. alan has a wife and a kid, wife dies, hollis takes kid and raises him as ward (in a much less evil way than heathcliff raised hareton). and none of those deaths or "nephew being raised by former lover/adopted brother" cause march to come home. but when this book's nelly dean dies, off goes march, leaving richard at home, but taking their teenage daughter in tow, to settle her affairs and oopsie-whoopsie - resume her affair with hollis. who has naturally been waiting for her all this time, but has also bedded all the local ladies because he's dreamy and rich and a man has needs.
march is in no way a catherine. she's got no spark, no cruelty, not enough to withstand hollis' douchiness. after some pretty unconvincing resistance, march goes full-bore back into hollis’ arms, with no sense of discretion - in full view of the gossipy townsfolk, her rivals for hollis’ backseat affections, and her fifteen-year-old daughter, who's trying to deflect he father's frequent calls and even when he finds out, he's way more chill about it than he ought to be.
the hollis/march thang very quickly turns from “all-consuming greedy passion” to “super controlling and abusive,” and march becomes this sleepwalker, drifting through town in clothes from the goodwill, pale and scrawny and neglecting her self-care and her daughter, who finds her own distraction with hollis' adopted son hank, which you will recall is alan's son, so her own first cousin. which relationship march is fully aware but recklessly uncaring of taboo as she loses more and more of herself to increasingly violent intercourse and jealous rages from hollis, who's still sleeping with other women. none of this is anything like the dynamic in withering heights, and it's all very tedious. so much is glossed over - march and gwen were supposed to be there for two weeks and then suddenly months have passed and gwen is enrolled in school there and how much did they even pack for this?
and gwen and hank are totally overwhelmed by the situation. less so the "we're cousins" part, more just the march-and-hollis boning part. sure, hollis is a jerk and march is letting herself go to seed and everything's a mess, but they seem to be taking on all the melodrama that really should be more evenly distributed throughout the rest of the story.
They sit in silence, at two in the morning, as if they were an old married couple, drinking coffee and holding hands. They’re trapped by circumstance. They can feel their situation chipping away at what they might have had.
that seems more tragic than it needs to be.
On this night...they don't talk about how their future is unraveling; they don't think about all they have to lose. They go into that small bedroom off the kitchen and curl up together on the single bed, on top of the woolen blanket, arms entwined. If she could, Gwen would whisper that she loved him. If he could, he would vow that everything would turn out right. But that's not the way things are now, and they both know it. That's not the way things are at all.
i mean, really. be normal teenagers and don't let your parents' affair get in the way of your own intercourse.
i dunno - i had a lot of problems with this one. the hollis/march connection didn't seem strongly developed enough in their youth to set in motion this whole cannonball, it changed the whole point of wuthering heights to have it be some lifetime movie version about a woman too consumed by her love of a man who smells like sulphur (i mean, really...) to acknowledge her own abuse - this is not my wuthering heights.
i knew i should have read Ruby
come to my blog!
extry points given to me, by me, for choosing a book that i have owned for more than a year.
it has been a long time since i have given a book a two-star rating, but this book earned it.
i’m not someone who takes delight in negativity, and even if i’m not in love with a book, i’m usually able to find something neutral and deflecting to say about it, or at the very least, i'm able to suggest the correct audience for it, in that “people who enjoy ___ will find much to appreciate in this book &yadda" way.
this time, though, i’m at a loss.
it tells a clear, if psychologically unrealistic, story, it has distinct characters and dialogue that is competently written and the shape of it meets all of the criteria for “how a novel is structured,” so it deserves more than a single star, but i did not enjoy reading it. nor can i come up with a profile of the reader who would enjoy it, even though, clearly, people have. and do. people who are oprah and people who are not oprah.
it’s been on my radar for a while, because i'll read any retelling of wuthering heights.
but i get why you'd try. wuthering heights is deliciously complicated and tempestuous and it's full of shitty people being shitty to each other and scorching the earth until pretty much everyone's left broken or dead, and what's more fun than unrestrained melodrama? but this is just...blah. it doesn't use the characters or the situation to any real advantage. it's as though by using WH as its jumping-off point, it can just shorthand its own central relationship, which lies flat on the page, not earning its own tragedy, seeming to assume the reader is filling in the emotional gaps with whatever bronte-borrowed intensity is showing through its cracks.
hoffman keeps the basic framework of wuthering heights, translating the tone into contemporary smalltown realism with these occasional outbursts of gothic melodrama, which is confusing and pleasing to no one. meanwhile, so much of what makes wh work is left out entirely, and you're left with such a pale version of the original it's no wonder so many readers missed the connection entirely.
i have questions and complaints, and in order to vent about them, i'm going to need to discuss the plots of both wuthering heights and here on earth, so if you want those books to keep their secrets, stop reading this review right here.
these questions and complaints will be scattershot and underexplicated; i'm typing as they occur to me, but since it's likely that no one's reading past this point anyway, i can do what i waaaant.
most of the problems i have with this book can be summed up as: who does that?
march murray (catherine earnshaw) is 11 years old when her father goes to boston for a conference and returns with a 13-year-old orphan named hollis (heathcliff). her twenty-one-year old brother alan (hindley) declares, “He found him wandering the streets or something.” no further information is given. pause to reflect that what works in a novel set in 18th century rural england does not necessarily work in modern-day america, where you can’t really just grab a kid off the city streets and take him home without some kinda paperwork.
to repeat, alan/hindley is twenty-one. a grown-ass man, who has finished college in a desultory fashion, and is living at home, taking some law classes, in as desultory a way as undergrad, super-disappointing to his dad, who definitely likes his new pet urchin more than alan. which makes alan resentful, sure, but he behaves like a child:
Alan took every opportunity to humiliate Hollis. In public, he treated Hollis as though he were a servant; at home he made certain the boy knew he was an outcast. Often, Alan would sneak into Hollis’ room, where he’d do as much damage as possible. He poured calves’ blood into Hollis’s bureau drawers, ruining Hollis’s limited wardrobe, knowing full well Hollis would rather wear the same clothes every day than admit defeat. He left a pile of cow manure in the closet, and by the time Hollis figured out where the stench was coming from, everything Henry Murray had given him, the books and the lamps and the blankets, had been contaminated by the smell.
and then, later, alan and his similarly-aged pals beat hollis up, and tie him to a tree in the snowy middle of winter, leaving him there for hours until march finds him and frees him. a gaggle of adult men beating up a 13-year-old boy because one of 'em's jelly that his daddy kidnapped a runaway and loves him more.
usual wh bits follow - march and hollis hit it off, go wilding together, spy on the wealthy neighbors, have more explicit intercourse than is mentioned in wuthering heights, daddy kiddiestealer dies, alan kicks hollis up to the attic, starts charging him backrent and such, hollis leaves for three years, but before he returns, fortune made, ready to take his revenge on everyone, march marries fancy next-door-neighbor richard and moves to california, where she has a daughter named gwen, and they all stay put there for nineteen years. which is different from how wh plays out.
why is this important? because march does not return home during all that time, even though many of the other events of wh do repeat here; events that would cause a normal person to buy a plane ticket: hollis marries richard's sister, they have a kid, wife and kid both die. alan has a wife and a kid, wife dies, hollis takes kid and raises him as ward (in a much less evil way than heathcliff raised hareton). and none of those deaths or "nephew being raised by former lover/adopted brother" cause march to come home. but when this book's nelly dean dies, off goes march, leaving richard at home, but taking their teenage daughter in tow, to settle her affairs and oopsie-whoopsie - resume her affair with hollis. who has naturally been waiting for her all this time, but has also bedded all the local ladies because he's dreamy and rich and a man has needs.
march is in no way a catherine. she's got no spark, no cruelty, not enough to withstand hollis' douchiness. after some pretty unconvincing resistance, march goes full-bore back into hollis’ arms, with no sense of discretion - in full view of the gossipy townsfolk, her rivals for hollis’ backseat affections, and her fifteen-year-old daughter, who's trying to deflect he father's frequent calls and even when he finds out, he's way more chill about it than he ought to be.
the hollis/march thang very quickly turns from “all-consuming greedy passion” to “super controlling and abusive,” and march becomes this sleepwalker, drifting through town in clothes from the goodwill, pale and scrawny and neglecting her self-care and her daughter, who finds her own distraction with hollis' adopted son hank, which you will recall is alan's son, so her own first cousin. which relationship march is fully aware but recklessly uncaring of taboo as she loses more and more of herself to increasingly violent intercourse and jealous rages from hollis, who's still sleeping with other women. none of this is anything like the dynamic in withering heights, and it's all very tedious. so much is glossed over - march and gwen were supposed to be there for two weeks and then suddenly months have passed and gwen is enrolled in school there and how much did they even pack for this?
and gwen and hank are totally overwhelmed by the situation. less so the "we're cousins" part, more just the march-and-hollis boning part. sure, hollis is a jerk and march is letting herself go to seed and everything's a mess, but they seem to be taking on all the melodrama that really should be more evenly distributed throughout the rest of the story.
They sit in silence, at two in the morning, as if they were an old married couple, drinking coffee and holding hands. They’re trapped by circumstance. They can feel their situation chipping away at what they might have had.
that seems more tragic than it needs to be.
On this night...they don't talk about how their future is unraveling; they don't think about all they have to lose. They go into that small bedroom off the kitchen and curl up together on the single bed, on top of the woolen blanket, arms entwined. If she could, Gwen would whisper that she loved him. If he could, he would vow that everything would turn out right. But that's not the way things are now, and they both know it. That's not the way things are at all.
i mean, really. be normal teenagers and don't let your parents' affair get in the way of your own intercourse.
i dunno - i had a lot of problems with this one. the hollis/march connection didn't seem strongly developed enough in their youth to set in motion this whole cannonball, it changed the whole point of wuthering heights to have it be some lifetime movie version about a woman too consumed by her love of a man who smells like sulphur (i mean, really...) to acknowledge her own abuse - this is not my wuthering heights.
i knew i should have read Ruby
come to my blog!
July 30, 2007
I'm technically not even done reading this book yet and I'm seething with hate for it. Seething!!
The entire plot of this book is that love gives you license to be selfish, irresponsible and act like a jerk. I hate the two main characters SO MUCH. They deserve everything that happens to them. I can see the conclusion coming a mile away as well. It's taking everything I have to finish it.
Oprah - you got this one SO wrong!
Awful. Don't bother.
The entire plot of this book is that love gives you license to be selfish, irresponsible and act like a jerk. I hate the two main characters SO MUCH. They deserve everything that happens to them. I can see the conclusion coming a mile away as well. It's taking everything I have to finish it.
Oprah - you got this one SO wrong!
Awful. Don't bother.
July 24, 2020
False Empathy
Nostalgia is not my thing. But it’s something Alice Hoffman does very well. Narratives about Dickensesque orphans, lost loves, family dislocation, the past in general appeal to many but I find them saccharine, precious and vaguely morbid.
Nostalgic sentiment abounds in Here on Earth. But it is artificial sentiment. No one could possibly remember the details of conversations thirty years earlier, or the subtle emotions involved. Yet here they are verbatim as if they were being played out in real time. These are conversations and situations written about for their effect, to manipulate the reader not to inform or to provoke an interpretation. The interpretation is already there, pre-packaged and waiting for a vulnerable and uncritical mind.
This is superficiality just above the level of the treacly romances of a Barbara Cartland, but only just. Hoffman is undoubtedly a much more adept writer of prose. But what she writes about is just as trivial. So much feeling thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Little subtlety; no real tragedy in terms of competing virtues; just pure schmaltz with the substance and impact of a made for television chick-flick.
On the other hand, Oprah apparently loved it for the same reasons.
Nostalgia is not my thing. But it’s something Alice Hoffman does very well. Narratives about Dickensesque orphans, lost loves, family dislocation, the past in general appeal to many but I find them saccharine, precious and vaguely morbid.
Nostalgic sentiment abounds in Here on Earth. But it is artificial sentiment. No one could possibly remember the details of conversations thirty years earlier, or the subtle emotions involved. Yet here they are verbatim as if they were being played out in real time. These are conversations and situations written about for their effect, to manipulate the reader not to inform or to provoke an interpretation. The interpretation is already there, pre-packaged and waiting for a vulnerable and uncritical mind.
This is superficiality just above the level of the treacly romances of a Barbara Cartland, but only just. Hoffman is undoubtedly a much more adept writer of prose. But what she writes about is just as trivial. So much feeling thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Little subtlety; no real tragedy in terms of competing virtues; just pure schmaltz with the substance and impact of a made for television chick-flick.
On the other hand, Oprah apparently loved it for the same reasons.
August 14, 2017
First off, I loved this atmospheric, picturesque tale, meant for a women's audience.
The Entertainment Weekly summarized the story as:
"Her books unfold artfully without feeling fussed over or writing-workshopped to death ... [In] Here on Earth, she plumbs the interior lives of, among others, a drunken recluse, a heartsick teenage boy, an angry daughter, a near madman, a cuckolded husband, and three wounded women, with such modesty and skill that she seems to witness rather than invent their lives.”
Sadly, the book did not explore the characters of the men in pain enough. But there was a gentle approach to these men who just could not let go of their hurt and had to deal with sorrow in their own lonely ways.
The story was riveting, gripping, and beautifully written. The prose was outstanding.
Jenkintown, near Olive Tree Lake in Massachusetts, had its collection of characters. Some lovable and others not; some were devils and others angels, or so the inhabitants believed. There were the illusive foxes roaming the woods, after most of them were eliminated since the hunting prohibition was lifted, only to leave an uncontrollable population of rabbits behind. But the foxes were there, lurking and waiting. Even the firefighters were relieved when there were no fires on the hill. Some localities were accompanied by just too much bad luck.
When March Murray, and her teenage daughter Gwen, after nineteen years, returned from California to Fox Hill Farm, to attend the funeral of an old family friend, Judith Dale, more than just a grave were dug in the cold October weather. The past was also demanding a few determined diggers to expose the skeletons of long ago and how it influenced the hearts and minds of the current population in town.
Love sometimes had to be renamed. Love could be set aside too. It did not always carry the sweet smell of the roses from Annabeth Cooper's garden. Nor did it reflect in memories of the siblings, Richard and Belinda's future. The foxes were lurking...waiting. And sometimes there simply was no time for crying. Life was always interfering.
The day when Hollis saw the Unity, Peace and Double Delight roses bunched together in March's hand, he blamed a stupid dog, a stonewall and a rose garden for everything he lost. That was years ago.
Many years later the townsfolk believed that the black snow was a sign of the devil coming to collect his due. But Forgiveness and Understanding forever brought the foxes back into the woods where they belonged. The was new hope that the rabbits will finally be brought under control.
This is my first encounter with this author's work and it really convinced me to explore more of her beautiful writing.
The Entertainment Weekly summarized the story as:
"Her books unfold artfully without feeling fussed over or writing-workshopped to death ... [In] Here on Earth, she plumbs the interior lives of, among others, a drunken recluse, a heartsick teenage boy, an angry daughter, a near madman, a cuckolded husband, and three wounded women, with such modesty and skill that she seems to witness rather than invent their lives.”
Sadly, the book did not explore the characters of the men in pain enough. But there was a gentle approach to these men who just could not let go of their hurt and had to deal with sorrow in their own lonely ways.
The story was riveting, gripping, and beautifully written. The prose was outstanding.
Jenkintown, near Olive Tree Lake in Massachusetts, had its collection of characters. Some lovable and others not; some were devils and others angels, or so the inhabitants believed. There were the illusive foxes roaming the woods, after most of them were eliminated since the hunting prohibition was lifted, only to leave an uncontrollable population of rabbits behind. But the foxes were there, lurking and waiting. Even the firefighters were relieved when there were no fires on the hill. Some localities were accompanied by just too much bad luck.
When March Murray, and her teenage daughter Gwen, after nineteen years, returned from California to Fox Hill Farm, to attend the funeral of an old family friend, Judith Dale, more than just a grave were dug in the cold October weather. The past was also demanding a few determined diggers to expose the skeletons of long ago and how it influenced the hearts and minds of the current population in town.
Love sometimes had to be renamed. Love could be set aside too. It did not always carry the sweet smell of the roses from Annabeth Cooper's garden. Nor did it reflect in memories of the siblings, Richard and Belinda's future. The foxes were lurking...waiting. And sometimes there simply was no time for crying. Life was always interfering.
The day when Hollis saw the Unity, Peace and Double Delight roses bunched together in March's hand, he blamed a stupid dog, a stonewall and a rose garden for everything he lost. That was years ago.
Many years later the townsfolk believed that the black snow was a sign of the devil coming to collect his due. But Forgiveness and Understanding forever brought the foxes back into the woods where they belonged. The was new hope that the rabbits will finally be brought under control.
This is my first encounter with this author's work and it really convinced me to explore more of her beautiful writing.
April 10, 2023
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🎶 Hollis, it's me, I'm Marchy,
I've come home, I'm so cold,
Let me torture this dog 🎶
There's a sketch on SNL called "Barbie Instagram" with Donald Glover, in which he plays a morbid intern who is convinced that Barbie is in the midst of an existential crisis after witnessing the death of one of her friends. While reading this book, I kept thinking about that sketch and picturing Alice Hoffman reading WUTHERING HEIGHTS and thinking, "There goes Cathy. Poor thing. She doesn't know she's a character in a Gothic romance written by a woman who died when she was thirty because she was living on corpse water out there in the misty moors."
I can see why so many people didn't like HERE ON EARTH. I guess if you're a die-hard fan of the original and see it as a love story, you're going to be pissed off when you read this and find out that not only did Alice Hoffman make the already unlikable cast of characters even more unlikable (and animal abusers, to boot!), she also reduced one of the most epic love stories of all time to a Lifetime-worthy saga of an abuser.
And okay, I'm not denying that Heathcliff was trash. But Hollis straight up beat his wife, Belinda, and then he turns on March just as soon as he's "won" and successfully had her leave her husband. Even worse, he's cruel to animals, and when he gets mad at March's daughter, Gwen, he goes out with a gun and threatens to shoot her horse and makes her beg him to spare the horse's life (spoiler: the horse lives, no thanks to him-- he was gonna make the fifteen year old beg and shoot the horse anyway). Not that the Cathy stand-in is much better. She's a dog abuser, locking this poor dog in her care in cold cars and pantries, just so she can sneak away and cheat on her husband by fucking Hollis. Also, the way she makes light of the possibility of Hollis being an abuser when her friend Susie comes to her out of concern is gross. I guess it's realistic, but gross. Fuck March.
So why am I giving this such a high rating? The writing was gorgeous, the New England setting was amazing, and the drama was top-tier. Did I care about any of these characters? No, not particularly, except for Gwen, the dog, and the horse. But was I here for the cheating, the cousin-fucking, and the adultery? Oh yeah. By the way, Gwen hooks up with Heathcliff's foster son who is actually her first cousin, so yeah. Cousin-fucking for the win. And nobody really makes a big deal of it or anything, although considering the other shit going down in Jenkinstown, maybe that's not a shock.
Read this for the drama and the magic realism that makes sex smell like smoke and fire. Don't read it for the authentic WUTHERING HEIGHTS vibes.
3.5 stars
April 9, 2008
Loved, loved, loved, LOVED it!!!! Ok so if this book was food, it would be a hot fudge brownie with caramel sauce - really, really good, at first comforting, but then it makes you kind of sick. Now this isn't a book for everyone, not everyone can stomach so much passion and long lost love. I, on the other hand, could ingest this stuff until the cows come home - and no sweet has ever been too much for me (cotton candy - bring it on! Candy apples - bring em on!).
I was immediately whisked away and transported by this book - devouring the pages in three days - which is quite a feat with a 15 month old, let me tell you. It is about long lost love and passion, but it's also about parent-child relationships, the role of parent as exemplar for our children and the expectations we have of our parents. It also wrestles with the classic theme of shades of gray, no one being only evil or only good.
I hope you are as enraptured by this book as I was. If not, put it on your pancakes and call it a day.
I was immediately whisked away and transported by this book - devouring the pages in three days - which is quite a feat with a 15 month old, let me tell you. It is about long lost love and passion, but it's also about parent-child relationships, the role of parent as exemplar for our children and the expectations we have of our parents. It also wrestles with the classic theme of shades of gray, no one being only evil or only good.
I hope you are as enraptured by this book as I was. If not, put it on your pancakes and call it a day.
March 13, 2024
This is an Oprah Book Club pick.
I have typically been an Alice Hoffman fan.
We have discussed a few of her books in our Library Book Discussion Group.
She has a way of sharing a back story and giving you in depth characterizations, some magical realism, that gives the reader the opportunity to dig deep and feel yourself pulled into the richness of story…sometimes hoping for a happy ending, or at least a satisfying conclusion.
But this book, what happened?
There wasn’t anybody to like.
This was dark.
Disturbing.
What was Oprah thinking?
What was I thinking in continuing to read it?
Needless to say, I extricated myself from it early.
I have typically been an Alice Hoffman fan.
We have discussed a few of her books in our Library Book Discussion Group.
She has a way of sharing a back story and giving you in depth characterizations, some magical realism, that gives the reader the opportunity to dig deep and feel yourself pulled into the richness of story…sometimes hoping for a happy ending, or at least a satisfying conclusion.
But this book, what happened?
There wasn’t anybody to like.
This was dark.
Disturbing.
What was Oprah thinking?
What was I thinking in continuing to read it?
Needless to say, I extricated myself from it early.
September 9, 2008
i may have become a snob after reading so many important books in the past three years,but this writing is terrible. if i were to count the cliches hoffman uses ,i wouldn t be able to follow the narrative. after i read that she was imitating WURTHERING HEIGHTS, i decided i had a duty to finish the book which i had thrown down in disgust after reading page 213. read my other posts to see what happened there. charles dickens got away with melodrama so i guess we can excuse a contemporary writer for doing the same. i have a copy of her LOCAL GIRLS which i may read cause i feel i should read books i own. i confess that when i bought both of her books,i thought i was buying an alice walker book. i have trouble with concentration..lol. i read her TURTLE MOON years before i became a reading snob and remember little about it except i think it moved me abit. what to read next ? i am away from my library and may have to read my son s college lit book to pass our remaining time here i come..w.b. yeats,t.s. eliot, ..happy reading,joe.
September 14, 2016
Alice Hoffman weaves an interesting tale,though my first book by the author and though I rated it 3stars,I will like to read another of her novel.
May 16, 2024
”'If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.’”- Wuthering Heights
It’s been almost twenty years since March Murray has fled her hometown in Massachusetts, and even longer since the love of her life and the other half of her soul, Hollis, has disappeared. But when her beloved family housekeeper Judith Dale dies, March makes the trek back to Jenkinstown with her teenage daughter Gwen to handle the estate. And who else should be back there as well? Hollis. Adopted siblings and tempestuous teenage lovers in the past, March just can’t seem to keep away from Hollis. However, when their love affair is reignited, it threatens to consume everything and everyone around them, including each other.
There’s an old saying that state with age, comes wisdom, and I believe that reading this book was the perfect example of that. When I first read this book in my early twenties, I was still in the mindset that while Wuthering Heights was a toxic love story, it was still pretty tame. So when I read this book by Alice Hoffman, by the end of the book I was steaming. This book was full of even more despicable people doing even more despicably vile things to the point where it was melodramatic and Lifetime movie-esque.
But that’s exactly the point of the original. I think I was just too young to see it.
Nenia was actually the one who inspired me to reread this book. She had recently read it and gave it a glowing review. Mainly it was the for the writing and the descriptions, but it got my interest peaked. Was my blind rage over the fact that Alice Hoffman had seemingly trashed one of my (at the time) beloved favorite novels of all time clouding my vision as to how this book actually was?
Now that I’m older and have reread both Wuthering Heights and this book, I can see the parallels and what Alice Hoffman was trying to do, and it works brilliantly. Take the tale of two horribly selfish, self-centered, conniving, and manipulative people and throw them together and you get a disaster party. What Alice Hoffman did, and I think she did brilliantly, is she picked up where Emily Bronte left off, and even went places where I think Emily Bronte was hinting at, but probably couldn’t due to social constraints and morals.
Make no mistake. This book has two main characters who are despicable people doing despicable things and not even giving a damn. Hollis is even worse than Heathcliff in his behavior. He’s a straight up wife beater and animal abuser (which automatically puts him in the garbage pile.) He’s a cad and a jerk and a control freak who doesn’t believe in loving objects or things; just possessing them.
In March Murray, this iteration’s Cathy Earnshaw, we see what might have happened if Cathy had left Edgar to be with Heathcliff… and it ain’t pretty folks. Cathy was always pretty strong-willed in the book, and March starts out that way. But in restarting her semi-incestuous relationship with Hollis, her personality and character diminishes until she’s nothing more than a meek dormouse. She even partakes a bit in the animal abuse by continuously locking the family dog somewhere so she and Hollis can get it on.
Speaking of incestuous relationships, Alice Hoffman even keeps the cousin relationship going with Gwen and Hank, March’s nephew and Gwen’s cousin. Hank’s mother died in a house fire and his father Alan (March’s brother), drank himself into a stupor because of grief. Hollis then takes Hank to live with him and raise. I had mixed feelings about this relationship. On the one hand, DRAMA. It also helps that Gwen and Hank are pretty much the only likable and sympathetic characters in the book, thrown together by circumstances. And I really, really wanted them to be happy. Truly this almost-thirty-year-old woman was rooting for them. And yet… would this really have flown in the ‘90s? And nobody made a big deal out of it? It’s like the situation with Circe. I want them to be happy… just not like that, LOL!!!
One thing that didn’t change from my initial reading was an overwhelming and intense desire to move to Jenkinstown. The writing is absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t even mind the purple prose writing. I want to live in a town with a town square surrounded by open fields and foxes and rabbits and apple orchards and constantly smells like cinnamon bread. Give me the New England seasons and the changing of the leaves and the cozy cafés and small town traditions.
MAKE IT HAPPEN, DARN YOU!!!
This is one of the rare instances where I changed my opinion drastically after a reread, but in this case, I think it’s warranted. With time comes wisdom and experience, and I think I was just too inexperienced at the time to fully appreciate what the author was attempting to do. The writing and setting is still gorgeous, but most importantly, she took what Emily Bronte started and explored the places where she probably wanted to go but couldn’t because of the time period. What you get is a hauntingly dark yet impossible to out down tale about the perils of toxic love, secrets, and how sometimes love can be so all consuming it threatens to destroy everything.
Plus if you're interested, I've kept my old review so you can see my review from five years ago, haha!
It’s been almost twenty years since March Murray has fled her hometown in Massachusetts, and even longer since the love of her life and the other half of her soul, Hollis, has disappeared. But when her beloved family housekeeper Judith Dale dies, March makes the trek back to Jenkinstown with her teenage daughter Gwen to handle the estate. And who else should be back there as well? Hollis. Adopted siblings and tempestuous teenage lovers in the past, March just can’t seem to keep away from Hollis. However, when their love affair is reignited, it threatens to consume everything and everyone around them, including each other.
There’s an old saying that state with age, comes wisdom, and I believe that reading this book was the perfect example of that. When I first read this book in my early twenties, I was still in the mindset that while Wuthering Heights was a toxic love story, it was still pretty tame. So when I read this book by Alice Hoffman, by the end of the book I was steaming. This book was full of even more despicable people doing even more despicably vile things to the point where it was melodramatic and Lifetime movie-esque.
But that’s exactly the point of the original. I think I was just too young to see it.
Nenia was actually the one who inspired me to reread this book. She had recently read it and gave it a glowing review. Mainly it was the for the writing and the descriptions, but it got my interest peaked. Was my blind rage over the fact that Alice Hoffman had seemingly trashed one of my (at the time) beloved favorite novels of all time clouding my vision as to how this book actually was?
Now that I’m older and have reread both Wuthering Heights and this book, I can see the parallels and what Alice Hoffman was trying to do, and it works brilliantly. Take the tale of two horribly selfish, self-centered, conniving, and manipulative people and throw them together and you get a disaster party. What Alice Hoffman did, and I think she did brilliantly, is she picked up where Emily Bronte left off, and even went places where I think Emily Bronte was hinting at, but probably couldn’t due to social constraints and morals.
Make no mistake. This book has two main characters who are despicable people doing despicable things and not even giving a damn. Hollis is even worse than Heathcliff in his behavior. He’s a straight up wife beater and animal abuser (which automatically puts him in the garbage pile.) He’s a cad and a jerk and a control freak who doesn’t believe in loving objects or things; just possessing them.
In March Murray, this iteration’s Cathy Earnshaw, we see what might have happened if Cathy had left Edgar to be with Heathcliff… and it ain’t pretty folks. Cathy was always pretty strong-willed in the book, and March starts out that way. But in restarting her semi-incestuous relationship with Hollis, her personality and character diminishes until she’s nothing more than a meek dormouse. She even partakes a bit in the animal abuse by continuously locking the family dog somewhere so she and Hollis can get it on.
Speaking of incestuous relationships, Alice Hoffman even keeps the cousin relationship going with Gwen and Hank, March’s nephew and Gwen’s cousin. Hank’s mother died in a house fire and his father Alan (March’s brother), drank himself into a stupor because of grief. Hollis then takes Hank to live with him and raise. I had mixed feelings about this relationship. On the one hand, DRAMA. It also helps that Gwen and Hank are pretty much the only likable and sympathetic characters in the book, thrown together by circumstances. And I really, really wanted them to be happy. Truly this almost-thirty-year-old woman was rooting for them. And yet… would this really have flown in the ‘90s? And nobody made a big deal out of it? It’s like the situation with Circe. I want them to be happy… just not like that, LOL!!!
One thing that didn’t change from my initial reading was an overwhelming and intense desire to move to Jenkinstown. The writing is absolutely gorgeous. I didn’t even mind the purple prose writing. I want to live in a town with a town square surrounded by open fields and foxes and rabbits and apple orchards and constantly smells like cinnamon bread. Give me the New England seasons and the changing of the leaves and the cozy cafés and small town traditions.
MAKE IT HAPPEN, DARN YOU!!!
This is one of the rare instances where I changed my opinion drastically after a reread, but in this case, I think it’s warranted. With time comes wisdom and experience, and I think I was just too inexperienced at the time to fully appreciate what the author was attempting to do. The writing and setting is still gorgeous, but most importantly, she took what Emily Bronte started and explored the places where she probably wanted to go but couldn’t because of the time period. What you get is a hauntingly dark yet impossible to out down tale about the perils of toxic love, secrets, and how sometimes love can be so all consuming it threatens to destroy everything.
Plus if you're interested, I've kept my old review so you can see my review from five years ago, haha!
June 28, 2019
This is a dark romance. A woman goes back to her home town for a funeral, taking her teenage daughter with her. The woman comes back into contact with an old lover who had a strange hold over her when she was younger. It's an oddly compelling story.
September 1, 2011
Congrats Here on Earth, you win the title of my leave favorite book of all time. Never in my life have I loathed a book so much. We are reading this book for my book club this month, and from the start I was skeptical. You know I love Oprah, but one thing I know for sure is that we do not have the same taste in books. Oprah picked this book as her book club pick back in 1998 and I honestly don't know what she was thinking. The book itself is written beautifully - I mean thank goodness - because the characters and the story is just so damn depressing I don't know if I could have made it through. Its about a woman and her daughter who return to the mother's hometown to attend a funeral. The mother rekindles her love with a old flame, Hollis, who is hands down the worst character I have ever read in a book ever. I know the book has beautiful metaphors- and surely it will provide a great deal of discussion during book club- but I finished the book this morning and I still can't shake the feeling it left me in: totally and utterly depressed. One star Here on Earth, and that's only for the writing.
April 6, 2011
This quite possibly rates the worst book I have ever read. The characters range from stupid to hedonistic The only reason I finished was that I hated the main character so much, I was hoping to read of his undoing. I did briefly believe that either the friend Susie or the daughter Gwen would make this a much more enjoyable book by putting Hollis in his place, but alas that happens quite anti-climatically with him destroying himself, and they end the book not as near as strong characters as could have been made of them.
I guess I'm supposed to believe I am reading into the mind of a battered woman and her abuser, but I had a tough time believing that a successful woman with a very loving husband would give all that up for such a relationship. Also everyone around turns a blind eye to this woman's suffering, which I found totally irritating.
I honestly have never been so mad at myself for reading a book. Hope this review helps someone else to decide to pass on it. Forgot to mention that it is rife with the 'F' word and disgusting sex scenes.
I guess I'm supposed to believe I am reading into the mind of a battered woman and her abuser, but I had a tough time believing that a successful woman with a very loving husband would give all that up for such a relationship. Also everyone around turns a blind eye to this woman's suffering, which I found totally irritating.
I honestly have never been so mad at myself for reading a book. Hope this review helps someone else to decide to pass on it. Forgot to mention that it is rife with the 'F' word and disgusting sex scenes.
Read
January 5, 2010Horrible novel- how'd it make it on Oprah's list? Hoffman spent so much time trying to align the plot to "Wuthering Heights" that she forgot to be original and make the story her own. The result is a perversion of Emily Bronte's tale that completely misses the point. [return][return]March travels back to her hometown with her teen daughter Gwen for the funeral of her Nelly Dean-esque housekeeper. There, she meets up with Hollis, her childhood love that got away. The renew their love, but Hollis is bent on revenge and abuses her physically, emotionally, and sexually. Meanwhile Gwen finds romance with her Hareton, and all find themselves caught in Hollis' sick trap. There is no redemption for any of the characters; the survivors are only lucky to have escaped -- a denouement with the character development worthy of a Vincent Price film.[return][return]Hoffman just doesn't get it- what makes the reader fall for Heathcliff despite his tyrannical ways is his undying passion for Catherine. He can abuse Isabella and trap young Catherine Linton into a loveless marriage, but the sheer force of his passion for his Catherine blows it all away. Hollis has no such passion for March. He is only fueled on revenge. Besides the physical abuse, Hollis cheats on March once he has her, completely disregarding any notion that he may actually love or feel passion for her. Hoffman seems to have confused passion with rape. Their romantic scenes read like the worse bodice ripper. To complete the characterization of Hollis, Hoffman should have given him a long Snidely Whiplash mustache to twirl.[return] [return]Instead of spending so much time trying to get the characters to fit their "Wuthering Heights" mold so closely, Hoffman should have instead used the novel as a guide for exploring the relationships in her story. A more talented author could have made the distinction between healthy love and obsessive love without playing a game of "How perverted can I make this guy?" In fact, a more talented author did, and Hoffman was way over her head meddling with Bronte. As is, her treatment of March, and March's acceptance of it, is downright misogynistic and Hoffman should have known better, as should have Oprah.
December 10, 2008
Parts of this book were very good - it sort of wraps you into this small town, nostalgic way of life, that I really appreciated. It was good to read now, at the end of October/November as things get cold, since the FALL and WINTER weather actually really comes alive for her.
I just am not convinced, can I say that...I didn't really like the turns the characters took, and I didn't really feel the characterization very much. They were more stereotyped and superficial than I could fully get behind. Not all of the characters were developed in such a way that I really believed it...
Also, some of the descriptions (esp. of small, rural, agricultural ways of life) were too romanticized. I liked it, but if it were candy it would be too sugary sweet, it left that sort of taste...someone that liked to glamorize the life and not really base it in a cruder sense of reality.
I just am not convinced, can I say that...I didn't really like the turns the characters took, and I didn't really feel the characterization very much. They were more stereotyped and superficial than I could fully get behind. Not all of the characters were developed in such a way that I really believed it...
Also, some of the descriptions (esp. of small, rural, agricultural ways of life) were too romanticized. I liked it, but if it were candy it would be too sugary sweet, it left that sort of taste...someone that liked to glamorize the life and not really base it in a cruder sense of reality.
November 14, 2007
What I've learned from this book: that if you read enough Alice Hoffman, you eventually get so used to her writing that you can't put her books down. Now that might just be a generality, but after a few hits and misses, I've really enjoyed her last three books and this one, much like "The Ice Queen," was really fantastic.
March returns to her hometown to mourn the death of a woman she and many others held dear. But she also returns to a world in which, as a young girl, she was immersed into a love so deep that she's never been able to get over it. When the boy she'd loved so deeply never returned for her, she'd married another and moved on, her baby girl the one thing holding her back from going back to him for so many years.
Now, the boy is now a man and he's been waiting for her. Finding the pieces of the affair they'd left behind, they begin again, a relationship so deep and intense that March finds herself detached from the real world, so much so that she doesn't see how others, including her daughter, fear for her safety and of their belief that he was indeed the reason for his ex wife's death. As March becomes pulled further away from herself, her daughter Gwen, a troubled child, finds solace in a horse and a love in the boy she never knew as her first cousin.
There are several storylines going on in this book and they entwine easily and beautifully. Hoffman very talentedly makes you both hate and empathize with most of the characters, and she never truly distinguishes a "hero" or a "villain." A great read overall!
March returns to her hometown to mourn the death of a woman she and many others held dear. But she also returns to a world in which, as a young girl, she was immersed into a love so deep that she's never been able to get over it. When the boy she'd loved so deeply never returned for her, she'd married another and moved on, her baby girl the one thing holding her back from going back to him for so many years.
Now, the boy is now a man and he's been waiting for her. Finding the pieces of the affair they'd left behind, they begin again, a relationship so deep and intense that March finds herself detached from the real world, so much so that she doesn't see how others, including her daughter, fear for her safety and of their belief that he was indeed the reason for his ex wife's death. As March becomes pulled further away from herself, her daughter Gwen, a troubled child, finds solace in a horse and a love in the boy she never knew as her first cousin.
There are several storylines going on in this book and they entwine easily and beautifully. Hoffman very talentedly makes you both hate and empathize with most of the characters, and she never truly distinguishes a "hero" or a "villain." A great read overall!
November 11, 2008
This was a quick read for me. A scary portrayal of infatuation, fear and love. A sad portrayal of what happens when someone loves 2 people. I really like the character, Gwen - I thought she was a great representative for teenagers.
June 11, 2009
Unfortunately, this is the first Alice Hoffman novel I read...I only forged ahead to a couple of her other works through encouragement from my aunt.
At first the book seemed slightly promising; a woman and her daughter returning to a childhood home that holds a lot of memories. But very quickly, I realized I really didn't like March. She seemed whiny, indecisive, and just very lost in general. And then, as soon as we started getting the picture on Hollis, the bad taste in my mouth got worse. An dark, suave, but highly abusive, insecure, and often downright nasty man? And March is still passionately in love with this guy?
Their relationship grew more and more painful to read, culminating in it being downright revolting. I was horrified at the terrible damage that March's stupidity had inflicted on her daughter and others in the town by the end, and her revelation at the end had no meaning because of how sudden and utterly obvious it was.
As is usual with these books, there are one or two redeeming characters that keep the book from becoming truly awful. March's savvy teenage daughter Gwen, who sees everything her mother blindly ignores, is one of them. The bond she forms with the horse and her relationship with the gentle Hank, another redeeming character, are sweet. Otherwise, this book felt like one skewed moral after another.
At first the book seemed slightly promising; a woman and her daughter returning to a childhood home that holds a lot of memories. But very quickly, I realized I really didn't like March. She seemed whiny, indecisive, and just very lost in general. And then, as soon as we started getting the picture on Hollis, the bad taste in my mouth got worse. An dark, suave, but highly abusive, insecure, and often downright nasty man? And March is still passionately in love with this guy?
Their relationship grew more and more painful to read, culminating in it being downright revolting. I was horrified at the terrible damage that March's stupidity had inflicted on her daughter and others in the town by the end, and her revelation at the end had no meaning because of how sudden and utterly obvious it was.
As is usual with these books, there are one or two redeeming characters that keep the book from becoming truly awful. March's savvy teenage daughter Gwen, who sees everything her mother blindly ignores, is one of them. The bond she forms with the horse and her relationship with the gentle Hank, another redeeming character, are sweet. Otherwise, this book felt like one skewed moral after another.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2012
Recognize this story? Wealthy father brings home street urchin, sister likes him, brother not so much. Already damaged by life on the streets and experience in juvie, he is pushed over the edge by the brother's rough treatment. Obsessed with acquisitiveness, he takes off for parts unknown, makes his fortune, and returns to buy up everything that belongs to those who've annoyed him.
If you guessed Wuthering Heights, you'd be correct - one reviewer drew that comparison, and rather gushingly. This book asks the question, "What might have happened if Heathcliff had gotten the girl back?" - and answers "Nothing good".
The writing is so focused on advancing the action and getting everyone through their required scenes that the author fails to develop strong characters. It was difficult to understand what made them tick; themes of consuming love, betrayal, second chances, and family dysfunction were all there, but left me unmoved. I got the theory, but couldn't buy into the result. Perhaps it's no surprise - you just can't squeeze Bronte into 293 big-print pages and achieve the same depth.
Readable, but disappointing.
If you guessed Wuthering Heights, you'd be correct - one reviewer drew that comparison, and rather gushingly. This book asks the question, "What might have happened if Heathcliff had gotten the girl back?" - and answers "Nothing good".
The writing is so focused on advancing the action and getting everyone through their required scenes that the author fails to develop strong characters. It was difficult to understand what made them tick; themes of consuming love, betrayal, second chances, and family dysfunction were all there, but left me unmoved. I got the theory, but couldn't buy into the result. Perhaps it's no surprise - you just can't squeeze Bronte into 293 big-print pages and achieve the same depth.
Readable, but disappointing.
December 26, 2008
Although this is a good read, it is a somewhat odd book. It deals the underside of "love" - in this case, obsession, control and abuse. This is the mother's story. The daughter's story deals with redemptive of qualities of love. And other supporting characters demonstrate other sides of love: selfless love, forbidden love and disappointed love. As I write this, I realize I should have liked this book much more than I did, given the themes. The problem may be that the primary character - the mother - is not someone you actually connect with or root for.
October 2, 2020
Holy smokes. I loved this, as I have loved all of Alice Hoffman’s books. I can’t get over the low ratings. I suspect those readers are not familiar enough with her writing style, her sprinklings of magic, her crystalline words. I was not sure where this book was headed-which is a very good thing- because it slowly unfolds. It is a story of obsession and weaknesses and choices. My favorite character? Gwen.
July 13, 2008
Okay... can I just say... "Wow. Wow. Wow."
Alice Hoffman really makes me happy. She's full of fanciful quirk -- not the harsh, dry quirk of carefully selected oddness, but a more delightful whimsy that seems to spring straight from the emotional side of nature.
This book really won my heart, even though the ending was contrived and lacking in climax, which honestly, I'd half-expected since this book falls somewhere under the mainstream/literary spectrum. Okay, okay -- I saw her setting the climax up a mile away... but this kind of slap-bang happy ending really needs more set up than other, more logically likely endings. And besides the less-than-immaculate setup, she SKIPPED THE ACTUAL CLIMAX. For shame!
So we all know that endings are the hardest part, and for a book this wonderful, okay, I can't help loving the book anyway, but GOSH DARN IT, you just don't skip such a critical juncture in the book, especially when you've been hopping in and out of that character's POV for the entirety of the novel. There's just no excuse for that. And even if she wanted to do it from another POV, at least show us the other character there *as it happens* instead of summarizing the event later! Arg.
Oh, speaking of POV, I really loved the way that the narrative effortlessly hops in and out of the entire town's POVs, without losing the reader's comprehension or interest. Flawlessly done, and most engaging and enjoyable!
Even with its faults, this was *such* a fun magical realism adventure. I think I'll buy it for my collection.
Alice Hoffman really makes me happy. She's full of fanciful quirk -- not the harsh, dry quirk of carefully selected oddness, but a more delightful whimsy that seems to spring straight from the emotional side of nature.
This book really won my heart, even though the ending was contrived and lacking in climax, which honestly, I'd half-expected since this book falls somewhere under the mainstream/literary spectrum. Okay, okay -- I saw her setting the climax up a mile away... but this kind of slap-bang happy ending really needs more set up than other, more logically likely endings. And besides the less-than-immaculate setup, she SKIPPED THE ACTUAL CLIMAX. For shame!
So we all know that endings are the hardest part, and for a book this wonderful, okay, I can't help loving the book anyway, but GOSH DARN IT, you just don't skip such a critical juncture in the book, especially when you've been hopping in and out of that character's POV for the entirety of the novel. There's just no excuse for that. And even if she wanted to do it from another POV, at least show us the other character there *as it happens* instead of summarizing the event later! Arg.
Oh, speaking of POV, I really loved the way that the narrative effortlessly hops in and out of the entire town's POVs, without losing the reader's comprehension or interest. Flawlessly done, and most engaging and enjoyable!
Even with its faults, this was *such* a fun magical realism adventure. I think I'll buy it for my collection.
June 10, 2016
Evo još jedne knjige moje omiljene spisateljice Alice Hoffman, za koju mogu reći da me nije iznevjerila, kao ni jedna do sada.
Pisanje Alice Hoffman podsjeća me na duboko more koje želiš istražiti i nisi zadovoljan s pučinom i onim što se vidi, pa ideš sve dalje i dalje od obale da bi što prije istražio nepoznat teren. E tako se uvijek ja osjećam, kad uzmem neku njenu knjigu u ruke. Žurim sa čitanjem, jer ne mogu dočekati njen kraj.
Radnja knjige počinje kada 40-godišnja March Murray dolazi sa svojom kćerkom tinejđericom u mjesto gdje je nekada živjela. Za to mjesto vežu ju uspomene: Lijepe i one manje lijepe. Sjeća se svog djetinjstva i svoje prve velike ljubavi. Tada, oboje djeca, voljeli su se kako to zapravo djeca znaju:iskreno i nevino. Naravno, sve prave i velike ljubavi ne traju dugo, pa tako je i ova imala rok trajanja.
I evo...nakon dvadesetak godina, March ponovo proganjaju duhovi prošlosti, te ponovo nalazi tog istog dječaka, a sada odraslog muškarca kojeg i nakon toliko puno vremena nije prestala voljeti.Međutim, taj dječak, a sada odrasto muškarac više nije isti.
Kako je knjiga djelovala na mene? Mogu reći da sam puno razmišljala o nekim dijelovima i o samoj junakinji knjige. Da li smo mi žene stvarno tako naivne da ne prepoznajemo neke signale koji nam kazuju da je sve pogrešno i da se ne treba boriti i voljeti neku osobu koja to nije zaslužila? Da li je moguće da možeš voljeti i biti slijep pored zdravih očiju, te negirati neke nepobitne činjenice( u ovom slučaju radi se o muškarcu manipulatoru i nasilniku).Ne znam. Recite mi vi:djevojke, žene.
Ne bih više spominjala samu radnju i naravno da vam neću reći kako se sve završilo.Mogu samo napisati da sam bez obzira na sve molila boga da se knjiga lijepo završi, jer volim sretne krajeve.
Alice Hoffman u ovom romanu bavi se mnogim temama o kojima bi se dalo raspravljati i koje tjeraju na razmišljanje:Ljubav, osveta, inat,nedostajanje, laž,prevara, seks, sudbinske i karmičke veze, te prepoznavanje istih.
"Kadšto je moguće pogledati nekog i vidjeti mu dušu, premda se to događa tako rijetko da je to uvijek šok, kao da nekakav oblik elektriciteta prelazi iz jedne duše u drugu.To se može vidjeti samo na trenutak, no u tom trenutku vidiš srčiku osobe čak i usred krcatog bara, dok ti on prilazi staje pokraj tebe, a džuboks svira country pjesmu koju prije nikad nisi čula a koju nikad nećeš zaboraviti"
"Nije problem u laži, nego u razdaljini koju laž prokrči između vas."
"Sa dvadeset si godina uvjeren da sve znaš, ali je sa četrdeset još i gore;tad si već shvatio da nitko ne može sve znati, pa ipak si u određenim situacijama još uvjeren da si stručnjak bez premca.Kad se sve zbroji, vrijeme i ljubav su dvije elementarne nepogode s kojima nikad ne možeš biti siguran."
Ovo su samo neki odlomci koji tjeraju na razmišljanje, a ima ih, vjerujte mi dosta.
I ovaj put me Alice Hoffman nije razočarala. Knjiga koja se čita u jednom dahu!
Pisanje Alice Hoffman podsjeća me na duboko more koje želiš istražiti i nisi zadovoljan s pučinom i onim što se vidi, pa ideš sve dalje i dalje od obale da bi što prije istražio nepoznat teren. E tako se uvijek ja osjećam, kad uzmem neku njenu knjigu u ruke. Žurim sa čitanjem, jer ne mogu dočekati njen kraj.
Radnja knjige počinje kada 40-godišnja March Murray dolazi sa svojom kćerkom tinejđericom u mjesto gdje je nekada živjela. Za to mjesto vežu ju uspomene: Lijepe i one manje lijepe. Sjeća se svog djetinjstva i svoje prve velike ljubavi. Tada, oboje djeca, voljeli su se kako to zapravo djeca znaju:iskreno i nevino. Naravno, sve prave i velike ljubavi ne traju dugo, pa tako je i ova imala rok trajanja.
I evo...nakon dvadesetak godina, March ponovo proganjaju duhovi prošlosti, te ponovo nalazi tog istog dječaka, a sada odraslog muškarca kojeg i nakon toliko puno vremena nije prestala voljeti.Međutim, taj dječak, a sada odrasto muškarac više nije isti.
Kako je knjiga djelovala na mene? Mogu reći da sam puno razmišljala o nekim dijelovima i o samoj junakinji knjige. Da li smo mi žene stvarno tako naivne da ne prepoznajemo neke signale koji nam kazuju da je sve pogrešno i da se ne treba boriti i voljeti neku osobu koja to nije zaslužila? Da li je moguće da možeš voljeti i biti slijep pored zdravih očiju, te negirati neke nepobitne činjenice( u ovom slučaju radi se o muškarcu manipulatoru i nasilniku).Ne znam. Recite mi vi:djevojke, žene.
Ne bih više spominjala samu radnju i naravno da vam neću reći kako se sve završilo.Mogu samo napisati da sam bez obzira na sve molila boga da se knjiga lijepo završi, jer volim sretne krajeve.
Alice Hoffman u ovom romanu bavi se mnogim temama o kojima bi se dalo raspravljati i koje tjeraju na razmišljanje:Ljubav, osveta, inat,nedostajanje, laž,prevara, seks, sudbinske i karmičke veze, te prepoznavanje istih.
"Kadšto je moguće pogledati nekog i vidjeti mu dušu, premda se to događa tako rijetko da je to uvijek šok, kao da nekakav oblik elektriciteta prelazi iz jedne duše u drugu.To se može vidjeti samo na trenutak, no u tom trenutku vidiš srčiku osobe čak i usred krcatog bara, dok ti on prilazi staje pokraj tebe, a džuboks svira country pjesmu koju prije nikad nisi čula a koju nikad nećeš zaboraviti"
"Nije problem u laži, nego u razdaljini koju laž prokrči između vas."
"Sa dvadeset si godina uvjeren da sve znaš, ali je sa četrdeset još i gore;tad si već shvatio da nitko ne može sve znati, pa ipak si u određenim situacijama još uvjeren da si stručnjak bez premca.Kad se sve zbroji, vrijeme i ljubav su dvije elementarne nepogode s kojima nikad ne možeš biti siguran."
Ovo su samo neki odlomci koji tjeraju na razmišljanje, a ima ih, vjerujte mi dosta.
I ovaj put me Alice Hoffman nije razočarala. Knjiga koja se čita u jednom dahu!
August 28, 2009
I really wanted to like this book but try as I might, I couldn't find very many redeeming qualities in it. Both the setting and the characters were stereotyped and cliched and I had a difficult time taking the novel very seriously. It was set in a stereotypical small town with very predicable characters such as the outcast, the gossip,and the recluse. As far as fiction goes, this novel brought nothing new to the genre and only succeeded in boring me with shallow characters who had no qualities that made me feel strongly about them. The author did not delve much into character history which made her characters even less appealing then they would have been had she focused more of her attention on their pasts. Here on Earth could have been a powerful novel about domestic issues and small town affairs but because it lacked good characterization and contained far too many cliches and stereotypes, it won't be on my list of recommended reads.
September 18, 2011
I'm a big fan of Alice Hoffman, especially when her books veer into the magical or the mythic, in books like Practical Magic or the Ice Queen. But even when her characters aren't blatantly magical, her stories have a mythic, and even allegorical quality, that I love. This is true of Here On Earth, which is the Bluebeardian story of a woman who comes back home and revisits the desperate love affair of her childhood.
This book gives the first impression of being a romance, but it doesn't take long before the dark, haunted aspects of the characters and the story warn the reader that something isn't quite right. What started out as a tale of two lovers against the world begins to look more like a consuming and violent power struggle, or perhaps a dark fairy tale where the heroine falls asleep in the den of a monster and we're desperately hoping she'll wake up in time.
Hoffman adds further drama and interest by dragging the main character's teenage daughter along for the ride. Her daughter's transformation from sulky teen to awakened young woman, and her ability to save herself from the destruction her mother seems to be heading toward, is one of the blessings of this book.
This book gives the first impression of being a romance, but it doesn't take long before the dark, haunted aspects of the characters and the story warn the reader that something isn't quite right. What started out as a tale of two lovers against the world begins to look more like a consuming and violent power struggle, or perhaps a dark fairy tale where the heroine falls asleep in the den of a monster and we're desperately hoping she'll wake up in time.
Hoffman adds further drama and interest by dragging the main character's teenage daughter along for the ride. Her daughter's transformation from sulky teen to awakened young woman, and her ability to save herself from the destruction her mother seems to be heading toward, is one of the blessings of this book.
June 13, 2007
Alice Hoffman has written a new version of Wuthering Heights, this time set in a remote, modern day New England village. Hollis is the dark-eyed orphan heartthrob brought into the Murray household. March is the spitfire who falls insanely in love with Hollis (and he returns the favor). Alan is March's slimy brother who persecutes Hollis. By and large, Hoffman follows the original plot faithfully, but it is her own lyrical prose which puts a pleasant spin on Brontë's dark tale of obsessive love. Many readers have observed that Wuthering Heights's story of mad love is a bit over the top. Yet in Hoffman's version, Hollis and March's intense, life-long romance is perfectly credible.
February 4, 2024
I did not think I would be giving a book written by Alice Hoffman 2 Stars.. but this was just bad. If it wasn't for the beautiful writing this would have been 1 Star.
During these 300 pages barely anything happened. A bunch of unlikable characters acted in ways that made me question their common sense. Hollis was a piece of shit and that's all there is to that. March is just plain dumb and a bad mother, neglecting her daughter for a man she hasn't seen in 19 years? There was also no chemistry between March and Hollis, no explanation as for why they are so infatuated with each other even after two decades of no contact... Also why the weird incest love story on the side between Gwen and Hank?? Nah this was not it, Alice...
Nevertheless, I have some favorite quotes:
"A person could get lost up here. After enough wrong turns he might find himself in the marshes, and once he was there, a man could wander forever among the minnows and the reeds, his soul struggling to find its way long after his bones had been discovered and buried on the crest of the hill, where wild blueberries grow."
"In these woods, autumn brings out ghosts."
"It's still him, that same boy. There is his heart, right in her hand."
During these 300 pages barely anything happened. A bunch of unlikable characters acted in ways that made me question their common sense. Hollis was a piece of shit and that's all there is to that. March is just plain dumb and a bad mother, neglecting her daughter for a man she hasn't seen in 19 years? There was also no chemistry between March and Hollis, no explanation as for why they are so infatuated with each other even after two decades of no contact... Also why the weird incest love story on the side between Gwen and Hank?? Nah this was not it, Alice...
Nevertheless, I have some favorite quotes:
"A person could get lost up here. After enough wrong turns he might find himself in the marshes, and once he was there, a man could wander forever among the minnows and the reeds, his soul struggling to find its way long after his bones had been discovered and buried on the crest of the hill, where wild blueberries grow."
"In these woods, autumn brings out ghosts."
"It's still him, that same boy. There is his heart, right in her hand."
July 24, 2007
I must say that I am in love with this book. It has made it to the top of my must read list (for others of course). I have read a lot of reviews online of the book - there are tons since it was an Oprah Book Club selection. I realized that many comparisons are made between this book and Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë. Let me just say that I read it in highschool and strongly disliked it - its not nice to say hated, you know. I must admit it seems like Hoffman stole some of her basic plot from Brontë but that doesn't mean that the two books are truly similar. So for those of you who have some time on your hands, pick this book up. And if you have read the "classic" Wuthering Heights let me know if you think they both have the same appeal. If you haven't read it, don't waste your time.
Shelved as 'given-up'
April 28, 2018DNF at page 38.
This is a modern version of Wuthering Heights. I liked Wuthering Heights but I didn't love it. I'm glad I read it because it is a different classic, and a different romance. The fact that I buddy read it helped a lot. Now, I don't think I can't go through this again. I disliked every minute I spent with this book. This is the second book I tried by Alice Hoffman and the second I DNF. Maybe she is not my type of author. I still have some by her in my TBR. Let's see.
This is a modern version of Wuthering Heights. I liked Wuthering Heights but I didn't love it. I'm glad I read it because it is a different classic, and a different romance. The fact that I buddy read it helped a lot. Now, I don't think I can't go through this again. I disliked every minute I spent with this book. This is the second book I tried by Alice Hoffman and the second I DNF. Maybe she is not my type of author. I still have some by her in my TBR. Let's see.
April 13, 2011
SOME SPOILERS:
Here on Earth was the second Hoffman book I read, following closely on the heels of the magnificent Practical Magic, but it's by far my favorite. I had a strong emotional reaction to the book even before I found out it was based on Wuthering Heights, one of my obsessions.
When March Murray returns to her hometown after some 15 years, she alternately dreads and craves a reunion with her childhood sweetheart. Hollis, now a wealthy and darkly handsome man, knows it's only a matter of time before she comes to him. When the two reunite, despite March's husband and daughter, they descend into a twisted and passionate relationship that might destroy them both.
Complicating things are Hank, the son of Hollis's enemy whom he's raised since infancy, and Gwen, March's 15 year old daughter. The two teens fall in love, though their relationship is far healthier and sweeter than the older generation.
Hollis was "adopted" by March's father, a respected attorney, and terrorized by Alan, her wastrel brother. When Mr. Murray dies, Alan relegates Hollis to the attic and treats him like an untouchable. It's this horrible youth that hardens an already stoic nature, and Hollis grows into a bitter, angry man who sleeps with half the townswomen and smothers March with his sick love. Will she give him a well-deserved kick in the ass? Will Hollis actually change for the better? Will Gwen and Hank run away together?
No to every question. That's why this book, and Wuthering Heights, are so emotionally devastating. Characters never achieve happiness or transformation. What March believes is love with Hollis is simply nostalgia for the boy she loved as a girl, and his brand of love is nothing but desperation to dominate the woman who got away.
Why does March believe she loves Hollis? He was there when she was an eleven year old kid and was mistreated by her brother. She saw a hurt and terrorized "bad boy," mysterious and aloof. He was her first lover and they left each other as teens before she could ever realize just how unhealthy and villainous he really is, which is why she still retains an attachment to him.
Hollis is incapable of love, but he is very much capable of possessiveness and lust. March was the one that got away, the girl who loved and petted him through his horrific childhood, and ultimately chose another man. He wants to own her and disdains not only her friends, but her daughter. His warped selfishness is evident when he tells March, after they meet again for the first time, that "that baby" was more important to her than he was. Correct, sir.
The only kindness we see on Hollis's part is his adoption of Hank, Alan's son, after Alan falls into alcoholism after his wife dies in a fire. Hollis feeds and provides for Hank, though he certainly never cuddles or praises him, and Hank is the only one to mourn when the book reaches an inevitably pitiful conclusion.
Hoffman is an adept storyteller, weaving beautiful descriptions, ripe emotions, and superstition together masterfully. Character development has never been her strong point, I don't believe, especially when she writes a novel of modest length (Second Nature, another novel, is a good example of this), but this is not a glaring problem with Here on Earth. You do get snippets and pieces of the characters that make them seem alive, but never a deep sense of who they really are and therefore, it can make you especially disdainful of their bad decisions and faults. The setting here is charming, as her settings usually are, and I so enjoy her descriptions of nature and the locales of the town. Hoffman loves magic and superstition, she seems to relish throwing in tidbits about midwives or what townspeople think cures this and that, and tying knots to secure a man's love, and how to make a child stop crying, et cetera, et cetera. It all makes for a magical experience and you wonder if there really could be places like the ones in her books.
I love this book, I really do. I don't understand why I love it so much, along with Wuthering Heights, but this story speaks to something in me, as well as to many others. I give it 5 stars!
Here on Earth was the second Hoffman book I read, following closely on the heels of the magnificent Practical Magic, but it's by far my favorite. I had a strong emotional reaction to the book even before I found out it was based on Wuthering Heights, one of my obsessions.
When March Murray returns to her hometown after some 15 years, she alternately dreads and craves a reunion with her childhood sweetheart. Hollis, now a wealthy and darkly handsome man, knows it's only a matter of time before she comes to him. When the two reunite, despite March's husband and daughter, they descend into a twisted and passionate relationship that might destroy them both.
Complicating things are Hank, the son of Hollis's enemy whom he's raised since infancy, and Gwen, March's 15 year old daughter. The two teens fall in love, though their relationship is far healthier and sweeter than the older generation.
Hollis was "adopted" by March's father, a respected attorney, and terrorized by Alan, her wastrel brother. When Mr. Murray dies, Alan relegates Hollis to the attic and treats him like an untouchable. It's this horrible youth that hardens an already stoic nature, and Hollis grows into a bitter, angry man who sleeps with half the townswomen and smothers March with his sick love. Will she give him a well-deserved kick in the ass? Will Hollis actually change for the better? Will Gwen and Hank run away together?
No to every question. That's why this book, and Wuthering Heights, are so emotionally devastating. Characters never achieve happiness or transformation. What March believes is love with Hollis is simply nostalgia for the boy she loved as a girl, and his brand of love is nothing but desperation to dominate the woman who got away.
Why does March believe she loves Hollis? He was there when she was an eleven year old kid and was mistreated by her brother. She saw a hurt and terrorized "bad boy," mysterious and aloof. He was her first lover and they left each other as teens before she could ever realize just how unhealthy and villainous he really is, which is why she still retains an attachment to him.
Hollis is incapable of love, but he is very much capable of possessiveness and lust. March was the one that got away, the girl who loved and petted him through his horrific childhood, and ultimately chose another man. He wants to own her and disdains not only her friends, but her daughter. His warped selfishness is evident when he tells March, after they meet again for the first time, that "that baby" was more important to her than he was. Correct, sir.
The only kindness we see on Hollis's part is his adoption of Hank, Alan's son, after Alan falls into alcoholism after his wife dies in a fire. Hollis feeds and provides for Hank, though he certainly never cuddles or praises him, and Hank is the only one to mourn when the book reaches an inevitably pitiful conclusion.
Hoffman is an adept storyteller, weaving beautiful descriptions, ripe emotions, and superstition together masterfully. Character development has never been her strong point, I don't believe, especially when she writes a novel of modest length (Second Nature, another novel, is a good example of this), but this is not a glaring problem with Here on Earth. You do get snippets and pieces of the characters that make them seem alive, but never a deep sense of who they really are and therefore, it can make you especially disdainful of their bad decisions and faults. The setting here is charming, as her settings usually are, and I so enjoy her descriptions of nature and the locales of the town. Hoffman loves magic and superstition, she seems to relish throwing in tidbits about midwives or what townspeople think cures this and that, and tying knots to secure a man's love, and how to make a child stop crying, et cetera, et cetera. It all makes for a magical experience and you wonder if there really could be places like the ones in her books.
I love this book, I really do. I don't understand why I love it so much, along with Wuthering Heights, but this story speaks to something in me, as well as to many others. I give it 5 stars!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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