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.

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.

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 found this book to be a spellbinding, dark tale of twisted love and lies - the worst lies being the one's the characters tell themselves. The intricacies of relationships, romantic and otherwise, are shown in all their beauty and contradictions. Hoffman does an amazing job of showing how a person can be drawn into an abusive relationship even to the point of defending the abuser. I wanted to be angry with March. I wanted to shake her, to tell her to wake up, grow a spine, and protect herself and her daughter. Yet, at the same time, March's slow descent into hell from the high she thought was love is so believably drawn, it spells out how this type of relationship can and does develop. Every character is complex. Each has serious faults and hidden strengths. Characters who began as villians became pitiable while pitiable ones became villians and still others grew in strength and became people who surprised even themselves. As a reader, my view of and feelings about each character changed as the story progressed. A dark, but satisfying read.

I've read a couple of really good books by Alice Hoffman lately, so I delved right into "Here On Earth." I was disappointed in the writing, simplistic and filled with cliches. I then realized it was one of Hoffman's earlier books, so on the positive side, she has really grown as a writer since this book was written. In this book, March and her teen-aged daughter return to March's home town for a funeral and in the process, March stays in town and enrolls her daughter in a new high school. There is no doubt from the very beginning, that March will "hook up" with her first love, her true love. One can understand that she leaves her husband to take up with "Hollis." Adultery happens. It's not nice, but it happens. What is difficult to understand is how March can be so blinded by nostalgic passion that she completely abdicates her role as mother. In one word, she is selfish. In one word, Hollis is cruel. This will not end well! There were many sub-plots and characters that strengthened this novel. And to the author's credit, it did get better as the story continued. It was a vacation read and served its purpose well. I was perilously close to my 50 pound luggage limit, so I left it in the airport for someone else who might need the same.

“Always the voice of doom.”

“The way he wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. The way he seemed to fold up inside himself, going farther and farther inside, until the part of him having dinner at their table was only the smallest corner of his soul.”

“March doesn’t cry now; she’s far too busy for anything like that. Still, there are mornings when she wakes with tears in her eyes. That’s when she knows she’s been dreaming about him. And although she never remembers her dreams, there’s always the scent of grass on her pillow, as if the past were something that could come back to you, if you only wished har enough, if you were brave enough to call out his name.”

“A busybody and a pain in the neck, but she never judged what she didn’t understand and that, Hollis khows, is rare.”

“If you can’t change a fact of life, then be smart enough to walk away from it, that’s always been Hollis’s motto. Walk away fast.”

“Julie, the woman who had become his wife, was said to be the sweetest girl in town. There was something peaceful about her, as if snow had settled down inside her soul.”

“At twenty you’re convinced you know everything, but forty is even worse; that’s when you’ve realised no one can know everything, and yet when it comes to certain situations you still believe yourself to be an absolute expert. When all is said and done, the weather and love are the only two elements about which one can never be sure. That’s what you learn at sixty, and, as it turns out, no one is ever surprised by this bit of news.”

“It’s the way it was, isn’t it, when you were so young the future seemed limitless, and it was impossible to tell where you ended and he began.”

“Blood buys things and it always has.”

My husband was in another room when it suddenly hit me and I exclaimed: "Son of a b----, it's Wuthering Heights!" Well, for goodness sakes, why didn't I know this going in?

I love Alice Hoffman, and this one ends better than the Brontë version—that's not a spoiler, that's Hoffman. She can't resist. Still, there's a substantial body count before this novel even begins with March flying east from California with her daughter Gwen for the funeral of the housekeeper who raised her after the death of her parents. (Seriously, mothers and children dead all over the place and that's not even the half of it.) March absolutely cannot resist the pull of the man she adored as a young girl, and not even the decent man she married can pull her away.

At twenty you're convinced you know everything, but forty is even worse; that's when you've realized no one can know everything, and yet when it come to certain situations, you still believe e yourself to be an absolute expert. When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure. That's what you learn at sixty, and, as it turns out, no one is ever surprised by this bit of news. (133)

It's a tragedy, it can't help but be, but it's not one that leaves everyone moaning in the night. People do stupid and terrible things, but some grow up, some forgive, some move on to better choices than you might expect.

I'm grateful for that. Maybe 4.5 stars, maybe 5, but I wouldn't want to reread this novel. I was uneasy with the self-deception, anger, and bitterness all the time I was reading this one, and what I really wanted was sweetness.

one last thing: for a novel including foxes, rabbits, and racehorses as central to the story, Hoffman reveals an astonishing ignorance of animals. She utilizes an infamous racetrack scandal without having done the most basic research about racehorses. There is, in an example from early in the novel, nothing exceptional about having run in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes in the same year since only three-year-olds can run in those races. Running in both in the same year is the only way they can both be run. And a great racehorse's value is primarily from stud fees, which do not end when his track career ends. Etc.

As many of you know, Alice is one of my favorite authors. She usually has a little metaphysical magic running under the main story. Not so much with Here on Earth. In this book, she put her slant on love, marriage and spousal abuse.
Marsh returns to her home town for the funeral of the woman you raised her. She brings her rebellious teenage daughter, but she leaves her husband at home. She's hoping to run into her long lost love. She's hoping they can rekindle what they had as teenagers. But she is remembering for a teenage girls view point.
Marsh reconnects with Hollis, yet she can't see him as he truly is. The reader watching Marsh go down the abusive relationship hole. Everyone can see there's something wrong, but Marsh won't see it.
Here on Earth is another fine book from Alice Hoffman. She gives the reader a view of young love, married love and obsessive love.

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.

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!

I hated this book when I started it, but it became hard for me to put down. It's a dark novel and I wasn't sympathetic to many of the characters. I'm glad I stuck with it, though. Even after finishing the book, I'm still thinking about the story and the characters.

I didn't like the main character, March, (which always makes a book difficult to get through) but the story had a bunch of questions and I kept reading to get the answers. Some questions (for me at least) never were answered which is probably why I'm still thinking about the book...curiosity about what will become of the characters next and wondering about what happened in the past that made the characters the way they are today. I would have liked more background info, but having less specifics has been more thought provoking.

I tend to read a lot of murder mysteries where everything is spelled out in the end and half the time I have the ending all figured out beforehand. This book was a refreshing change in that aspect. I never was quite sure how the author would end things.

I read Here on Earth fifteen years ago, and it saved my life then. Reading it at the age of 53 is a completely different experience, but still a valuable one. While I identified at least a little with protagonist March Murray upon my first read, now I feel drawn to Louise Justice, an older character that was almost invisible to me upon that first read. Louise sees the folly of young women, her daughter Susie and friend March for their simplistic, black and white understanding of love. Love is difficult to define, and it is a dangerous place of gray areas, like the small town New England setting, where the merciless cold attacks from the inside out, and the marsh can swallow up residents leaving nothing but bones. This novel, a modern day retelling of Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, invites us to define love, what it means to each of us, and ultimately to ask ourselves if we can survive it.