Wow, what an intimate and magical and wonderful novel!

Not main Your Typical 4 Or 5 Star Hoffman Novel

I have to admit the majority of the book does garner a 4 to 5 star rating, but the end of the book falls way short of feeling completed. I felt cheated, wanting to know what happened with main characters. I felt rushed when suddenly, within the last chapter or so, events happened rather bluntly. I felt confused, thinking maybe there was a 2nd novel out there somewhere wrapping it up-which isn’t typical of Hoffman, and there isn’t.
I can only imagine for a writer the struggles they go through to wrap up a novel. I would think it’s probably the hardest step in the writing process, but as we know, all books, good or bad, must come to an end.
This doesn’t and so I feel like I invested my time in getting to know the characters, the relationships, the struggles, only to have it been futility wasted.
Some authors we hold to a higher standard due to the sheer volume of top best sellers they’ve produced, because we’ve come to recognize their own high level of standards.
Hoffman is one of these. And I also feel as a fan, we do them no justice by not being completely honest in our reviews.

I do love the way Alice Hoffman writes and frames a story. This one is set on Martha's Vineyard and part of the story is about how people are tied to their land and their houses. A lot of it is about caring about and for other people, which Hoffman often turns into magic in her stories. This is also a convincing story about dealing with crippling mental illness and about how marriages work and don't work. One of the themes and branches of the story is about being very different from the people around you and how the goodness in everyday people can make your life go forward. Being very old also plays a part in the story. This is one of those books that I will gladly re-read at a more leisurely speed than my first reading.

This book gets a big fat MEH, from me. It’s not horrible, it’s just boring. I’ve read and enjoyed some of Hoffman’s other books, like Practical Magic and Blue Diary, so I thought I’d try this one. The novel, set on Martha’s Vineyard, introduces us to a variety of characters, but never really settles into a groove.

One of the major problems is that Hoffman is trying to tell too many stories at once. First there’s Vonny, who has issues with her rich father and is suffering from agoraphobia. Then we have her son Simon, who is far too small for his age, and her husband Andre, who is tempted to have an affair. Add to the mix, Elizabeth, an elderly neighbor with failing health, and her granddaughter Jody, a rebellious teen who moves in with her for the summer. But that’s not all folks! There’s also a giant, perhaps the most interesting character of the book, but we barely scratch the surface of his story.

Throw that all together and try to connect the dots and you end up with a bit of a mess. In the end we aren’t induced to care about any of the characters. Though some of the plot lines are interesting, we never get a chance to become invested in any of them. Skip this one and try another of her books if you’re curious about her work.

It was an enjoyable read but not my favorite by this author. [return]It is a rather quiet story of real people full of contradictions and issues, and how they overlap, cross paths, evolve. Very introspective and human, very morally murky, and bittersweet.

Anything that makes us different than the people around us can cause us significant problems. In this novel we meet a boy who is much smaller than other boys his age, a giant, a teen who lusts after her neighbor’s husband, an older woman losing her sight and her mind, and a woman with panic attacks that are so severe that she has become a prisoner in her own house. What all of these people really need are people who can accept them and treat them with kindness despite their uniqueness. That should not be too much to ask, but in our current world, real kindness and understanding are often missing. Perhaps the people who read this book will develop this kindness.

This book was magically in my Kindle library. I thought it was a new release, but it turns out it was published in 1987, which explained some aspects of the story. There were a few references to 80s phenomena (particularly a description of an airport experience), which I thought was odd given that it didn't seem like an 80s nostalgia book. Publication in 1987 explains that! Anyway, this was a very quiet story. There was a lot of internal conflict. I like the characters. I even liked her portrayal of the 5 year old and his thought processes. Overall, it was good, but it hasn't convinced me to take a deep dive into Alice Hoffman. It might be a nice airplane read, quick and relatively light!

I love Alice Hoffman and it pains me to say that I didn't like this book. I wish there was "It was ok" star. The writing itself is beautiful; she writes like no other. I did not believe her characters. I couldn't figure out who they were or really, why I should care about them. I love you, Alice - just not this book.

3.5. Once again I find myself haunted by the story and it’s wonderful characters. Sometimes I find the circuitous nature of the story tiring. The characters go around and around in their journey of self discovery. I do find, though, that I tend to remember the storylines of all this authors books. There is always something just a little unsettling.

Thought provoking. With the break from the time I misplaced the book I will think about a review... To come

Meh. I expected more from this book which at times was so predictable I thought I'd sprain my eyeballs from their frequent journeys to the back of my skull. Come on, Hoffman. Surprise the reader a bit, eh? If you haven't read this yet, I certainly won't spoil it for you. But you will groan, then sigh when you get to these parts of the novel. (You will know when you have reached Destination Ho-Hum. Trust me.)

There were some unexpectedly beautiful gems sprinkled throughout this otherwise tedious yarn. I absolutely adored Elizabeth Renney who was eccentric enough to delight yet not so eccentric as to make her feel like a caricature. Her experiences near the end of the novel felt almost magical. That is until we see the circumstances from a perspective other than Elizabeth's. This was not a disappointment. It felt real and actually familiar.

And Eddie the Giant was indeed so beautiful a soul that Hoffman must not have wanted to share too much of him with her readers. Shame, because he was exponentially more interesting to me than Andre the Cliche and Vonny the Tiresome. Those two bored me to tears.

I know Andre and Vonny are supposed to represent the highs and lows of domesticity, the complexity of matrimony, blah, blah, blah. Truth be told, I could not have cared less about the couple's journey and outcome. I struggled not to delete my ebook every time Vonny began one of her deep, introspective ramblings. At least Hoffman had the courtesy to italicize these parts so as to warn, "Dear Reader, here she goes again." Goodness gracious.

I still have mixed feelings about Elizabeth Renney's granddaughter, Jody. Initially rendered as every other angst-y teen you've read about and/or experienced in real life, she had moments toward the end when I actually felt her character had a bit more depth than I'd predicted. I guess that also felt authentic and familiar. She was a teen trying to find her way.

Summing up, I didn't love this story but I loved the gems here and there that made my time investment worthwhile.

I usually love Alice Hoffman and, while I enjoyed this one, I have to say it was a bit more of a chore to get through than other books I've read by her. Of course, the characterization is strong and her insights into human nature are universal, profound, and touching. Yet the book never really came together for me. I was bored a lot of the time and was relieved when I read the last page. Undoubtedly, I'll read more of her work, maybe this one just didn't come along at the right time for me.