Looking Back - Blue Diary

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman

Fiction

2001 G. P. Putnam's Sons

Finished on September 10, 2001

Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The courage to face the unthinkable is at the core of this magnificent new novel. How do we manage to confront the truths in our lives and find forgiveness in the most unforgiving of circumstances? How do we love truly and deeply in a world that is as brutal as it is beautiful?

When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbors would guess that for more than thirteen years, he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan Ford's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike.

This deeply felt and compelling novel makes it clear why Alice Hoffman has been called "one of the best writers we have today" (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Honest, shattering, seductive, and ultimately healing, Blue Diary is an unforgettable novel by a writer who tells "truths powerful enough to break a reader's heart" (Time).

My Original Thoughts (2001):

A good read, but not great. Turtle Moon is far better, but this was entertaining. Not a page-turner or touching. Fluff. Easily forgettable characters.

My Current Thoughts:

I sure don't remember anything about this novel. It doesn't appeal to me now, either. 

Looking Back - The River King

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

The River King by Alice Hoffman

Fiction

2000 G.P. Putnam's Sons

Read in February 2001

Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the best-selling author of The Dovekeepers, The River King confirms Alice Hoffman as "one of our quirkiest and most interesting novelists" (Jane Smiley, USA Today).

People tend to stay in their place in the town of Haddan. The students at the prestigious prep school don't mix with locals. Even within the school, hierarchy rules as freshman and faculty members find out where they fit in and what is expected of them. But when a body is found in the river behind the school, a local policeman will walk into this enclosed world and upset it entirely. A story of surface appearances and the truths submerged below.

My Original Thoughts (2001):

Took a while to get into, but glad I stuck with it. "A suspenseful, lyrical account of one man's search for the truth, by the master storyteller whom the Washington Post Book World has called 'a writer of great wisdom and compassion.'" Memorable characters. Mystical realism. Romance and mystery in one. Good, but the ending was a bit flat and anticlimactic. 

My Current Thoughts:

I have a vague memory of reading this book and not really enjoying it very well. I also didn't bother to watch the movie, which is based on the novel. It's been a long time since I've read anything by Hoffman, and I was surprised to see that she has written over two dozen novels. I keep meaning to try The Dovekeepers.

Looking Back - Turtle Moon

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
Fiction
1997 Berkley Books (first published 1992)
Read in September 1999
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Turtle Moon transports the reader to Verity, Florida, a place where anything can happen during the month of May, when migrating sea turtles come to town, mistaking the glow of the streetlights for the moon. Lucy Rosen, a transplanted New Yorker, is determined to start a new life in Verity, along with her twelve-year-old son, Keith. But neither Lucy nor Keith could begin to imagine what the town holds in store for them. Everything they’ve ever hope for, everything they’ve ever feared, begins to happen. When Julian Cash, Verity-born and fierce enough to paralyze bees with fright, enters their lives, nothing will be the same – for Lucy, and her son, or for Julian.

Sensual, suspenseful, dangerous and magical, Turtle Moon is Alice Hoffman’s most beloved book.

My Original Thoughts (1999):

Very Good! I couldn't put it down, yet didn't want it to end. Magical realism. Murder mystery. Romance. Better than Here on Earth. I like her writing style. Very quick and easy to read. Good entertainment!

My Current Thoughts:

I only have a vague recollection of this novel, but it sounds like I really enjoyed it. 

Looking Back - Here on Earth

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.

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.

Survival Lessons

Survival Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Nonfiction Essays
2013 by Algonquin Books
Finished on March 31, 2016
Rating: 3/5 (Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

One of America's most beloved writers shares her suggestions for finding beauty in the world even during the toughest times.

Survival lessons provides a road map of how to reclaim your life from this day forward, with ways to reenvision everything--from relationships with friends and family to the way you see yourself. As Alice Hoffman says, "In many ways I wrote Survival Lessons to remind myself of the beauty of life, something that's all too easy to overlook during the crisis of illness or loss. I forgot that our lives are made up of equal parts of sorrow and joy, and that it is impossible to have one without the other. I wrote to remind myself that despite everything that was happening to me, there were still choices I could make."

Wise, gentle, and wry, Alice Hoffman teaches us all how to choose what matters most.


This slim book (a mere 83 pages) can easily be read in an afternoon, but I chose to sample a few chapters at a time, allowing each to sink in before moving on to the next. I have a few pages marked with Post-It flags, but in spite of discovering a few gems, I was hoping for a bit more substance. 

I've always believed there is a very thin line that separates readers and writers. You make a leap over that line when there's a book you want to read and you can't find it and you have to write it yourself. All the while I was in treatment [breast cancer] I was looking for a guidebook. I needed help in my new situation. I needed to know how people survived.

It took all this time for me to figure out what I would have most wanted to hear when I was newly diagnosed, when I lost the people I loved, when I was deeply disappointed in myself and the turns my life had taken. In many ways I wrote this book to remind myself of the beauty of life, something that's all too easy to overlook during the crisis of illness or loss. There were many times when I forgot about roses and starry nights. I forgot that our lives are made up of equal parts sorrow and joy, and that it is impossible to have one without the other. This is what makes us human. This is why our world is so precious. I wrote to remind myself that in the darkest hour the roses still bloom, the stars still come out at night. And too remind myself that, despite everything that was happening to me, there were still choices I could make. 

Final Thoughts:

I've read several novels by Alice Hoffman, so I was curious when I saw this small book on the shelf in the health/cancer section of the store. It's a short, sweet book that would make a nice gift for someone going through a difficult time, whether that be cancer or the loss of a loved one.