Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman
Fiction
1998 Berkley Books (first published in 1997)
Finished in March 1998
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
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.
My Original Notes (1998):
This book sure kept my interest. I read it in one day! I really enjoyed it, but hated one of the main characters - Hollis.
My Current Thoughts:
I wonder if this is the first book of Alice Hoffman's that I read. (It was either this or Turtle Moon.) I probably picked it up after hearing about it on Oprah. I vaguely remember the plot and am impressed that I read it in a single day, especially since we were in the middle of moving to Texas! I've gone on to read a few more of Hoffman's books, but she isn't one of my favorite authors.
I didn't ever read this one. Not even sure if I've read a Hoffman book. I thought I had, but maybe not.
ReplyDeleteKay, I had to go back and read the publisher's blurbs for several of the earlier books by Hoffman. I'm pretty sure I've read (pre-blogging days) Turtle Moon, The River King, Blue Diary and Seventh Heaven. Oh, and also her nonfiction book called Survival Lessons. It will be interesting to see how I rated all of those, as I continue sharing my thoughts on these "Looking Back" posts.
DeleteI always have high hopes for Alice Hoffman's books, but she's really hit or miss for me. I think I enjoyed Here on Earth...perhaps I need to read it again! :-)
ReplyDeleteLaurel, her books are hit or miss for me, too. I don't think I have any left in my TBR stacks to try and with so many other books calling to me, I doubt I'll try anymore by her.
DeleteI was looking back at the first year I reviewed everything I read---1998---and thinking about the books I read then. I suppose it might be called popular fiction, and the authors I read the most were Elizabeth Berg, Anita Shreve, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Adams, and Alice Hoffman. My reviews were brief, sometimes not more than a couple of words.
ReplyDeleteBack then I had to read what came my way, and all I had to draw on was the public library, an occasional trip to Half Price Books, and bookboxes.
Yep, that's what I read back in the '90s. Lots and lots of popular/contemporary fiction. I think I tried more male authors back then too, since I was interested in the mysteries and thrillers that my husband was reading at the time. I've enjoyed looking back on my journal entries and posting these "mini" reviews every Friday. It's inspired me to re-read many of my favorites, which is something I so rarely ever do.
DeleteAh, I remember those bookboxes. I think I have a few books that came my way from you! I remember getting a few with those stickers in the front. Can't for the life of me remember what that website was called where you could log in the books sent out and the books received.