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!

I went away with my sister to her best friend's beach house in Florida. Her friend had a library full of books (this was before ebooks and the entire room was literally shelves and shelves of books). I decided to look around and I picked up "Here on Earth". I have never heard of Alice Hoffman and the description seemed interesting, so I thought I would give it a try.

The minute I started reading this book. I could not put this book down. I remember my sister upset with me since I was telling her "give me five more minutes" when she was ready to go out for dinner. I was enthralled with the book.

The story is about a woman who goes back to her home town and meets up with her old flame. I found the relationship very interesting...how we can love someone even when they treat us a certain way...

This story stuck with me for many years.

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.

This is a brutal read, no way around it. It is bleak but beautifully written. A rare book with very little of the 'magic' that gently wraps its tendrils through many of her books. This book disturbed me greatly, possibly because of abuse I both witnessed and was subjected to. The animals in this story more than tugged at my heart, each passage seemed to nick me, little spots of blood decorating the pages. Cormac McCarthy would have felt at home in this world and this book.

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.

Alice Hoffman can tell a story! She's one of my favorite authors--love her ability to draw readers into her stories and lead us through the maze of her characters' lives. Always a moving and memorable experience. Here On Earth was the first book I read by her, and I've been a fan ever since.

I'm rating this book NOT on the writing or its minimal originality, but on the way it made me feel while reading it. I was completely drawn into this book, and for THAT I give Hoffman credit. I can become so easily bored with a book that I will put it down in a hot minute - never to return, but she kept me reading.

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.

I read the first 20 pages of this book and I don't want to continue for personal reasons. That kind of love is all consuming, all exposing, all everything, and for me, all wrong. I don't need it. I don't, not anymore. I am onward and upward to a path of righteousness and will continue forward forever.

I thought I had unlocked a secret - but google told me everyone knew this was a recasting of Wuthering Heights . Hollis was Heathcliff and March with her money and comfort led choices was Cathy. First problem March is no Cathy second problem for me the spirit of Heathcliff remains untouched , he smoulders , loves , hates and despairs and at any moment hopes she will return, that her hand will reach through the window to find his. He is understandable and his actions unlock his character for us but Hollis... It is necessary for us to be told he is a demon , he is a master plan for a coercive control training session - look rich people have problems , let’s see how we can help. But I simply don’t care - whereas I cried when I first read Heathcliff overhearing Cathy’s reasons for not choosing him. Here I felt I was reading literature which in many ways sensationalised rape.
The one area I found interesting was the symbolic use of horses - the way
Hollis made his money , the way they are schooled to train a wild creature to obey, the control needed but also , thanks to the character of Gwen the way that trust is given and earned. All this added a depth and interest to what was otherwise a shadow story. Hank too, a character who we see grow and develop - a welcome relief from the small town life depicted here which often reminded me of one of those Netflix series with all the stereotyped situations.
There are some marvellous descriptions of the countryside but I prefer the Yorkshire Moors.

If you meet someone who smells like sulphur it is a good bet that you shouldn't adopt him and bring him home or beat him up or take him as your lover, wouldn't you think? So what would you do with him? One character thinks he should have been left in Boston where he belongs. I don't think the author intended that to be funny but it made me laugh. And did you know that sulphur smells like rotten eggs? The author says sulphur or fire or anger. The love affair may never have started if he actually smelled like sulphur. OK, I'll get off this subject. The book is about a poor, orphaned criminal boy who is adopted into a family in the country. He is needy and ruthless and the daughter falls completely in love with him. The story contains much of the magic that Alice Hoffman is famous for, but is darker and coarser. Other than that, judge it for yourself.

I revisited this book after reading it for the first time 20 years ago and enjoying it. I don't know if it's my life experiences or what but I just felt gross and disgusting through the whole thing this time. I hated pretty much everything about it. Control? Abuse? Incest everyone seemed to be ok with? Ew.