n  n
Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Amazon || Pinterest

This was a quick read for me. A scary portrayal of infatuation, fear and love. A sad portrayal of what happens when someone loves 2 people. I really like the character, Gwen - I thought she was a great representative for teenagers.

False Empathy

Nostalgia is not my thing. But it’s something Alice Hoffman does very well. Narratives about Dickensesque orphans, lost loves, family dislocation, the past in general appeal to many but I find them saccharine, precious and vaguely morbid.

Nostalgic sentiment abounds in Here on Earth. But it is artificial sentiment. No one could possibly remember the details of conversations thirty years earlier, or the subtle emotions involved. Yet here they are verbatim as if they were being played out in real time. These are conversations and situations written about for their effect, to manipulate the reader not to inform or to provoke an interpretation. The interpretation is already there, pre-packaged and waiting for a vulnerable and uncritical mind.

This is superficiality just above the level of the treacly romances of a Barbara Cartland, but only just. Hoffman is undoubtedly a much more adept writer of prose. But what she writes about is just as trivial. So much feeling thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Little subtlety; no real tragedy in terms of competing virtues; just pure schmaltz with the substance and impact of a made for television chick-flick.

On the other hand, Oprah apparently loved it for the same reasons.

A solid read. I was intrigued by the way we think at the beginning the story is about March, but it turns out to be about the journey Hank has with facing his past and his future, Gwen's growing up and learning about life the hard way, and Hollis' inability to accept reality. As usual, Alice Hoffman wove a great story and managed to create characters who feel so solid and real to bring tears to your eyes as you empathise with their ordeals. Even the minor characters (Judge in particular) are created to have depth and contribute to the story.

Maybe 3.5 stars? Slow, almost disjointed start. But picked up midway through, and held my attention the rest of the way. I got the themes of the book: love is complicated, different for everyone and yet some threads are common to all of us; the line between joining with another versus being consumed by them; where does longing end and cruelty begin, etc etc. I wish I could put my finger on why I didn't like this book more?

An interesting modern spin on the characters and themes of Wuthering Heights. However, the book lacks the mysticism and rich characterization that makes Bronte's masterpiece compelling. Aside from the prose and the supporting cast, I wasn't taken with this.

EDIT: I once read someone who hated this book claim it must have been because it's based on WUTHERING HEIGHTS and they hate WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Well, no-- I love WH and dislike this book. It's just the writing, guys.

I read this book years ago and it has stayed with me. It is a modern Wuthering Heights story. I love all of Alice Hoffman's books, but this one has stayed with me the most. She captures the dark intensity of emotions that so many people are afraid to acknowledge and explore. I'd love to do an adult book discussion some day comparing and contrasting this book and Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED this book!!! What an awesome story..it flows so well and leaves u hanging all at the same time. Do we ever truly get over our first love?? what are willling if anything to lose to get them back do we even really want the person they are now or the facade or what they once were All of the questions are answered and MORE ..a forbidden love.. a new love.. an old love..a murder?? like I said get this book and share with others I know I will

A retelling of Wuthering Heights set in modern times - with a few key changes, the main one being that the Catherine equivalent doesn't die of a hissy fit and decides to get back with the Heathcliff equivalent years later.

Wuthering Heights at first glance seems to be perfect material for Hoffman. It has many of the elements she normally includes - messed up family dynamics, isolated or rural settings, non-happy endings...

And yet, it doesn't quite work. Hoffman is kinder to March than Bronte was to Catherine and as such March isn't as vile of a character. But for the scenario to work, you really need that selfish, manipulativeness that Catherine had. Why did March marry Richard? I get that she was tired of waiting for Hollis, but why marry at all then if she wasn't very in love? Why not find a life of her own to live? Why not divorce Richard and return to Hollis when he came back into her life? Yes, she was pregnant, but there's such a thing as joint custody.

Yes, both of these points are very modern criticisms, but this is set in modern times...

Catherine had very solid reasons for marrying and for not divorcing. Money, status, prestige, social pressures... She valued all of that over Heathcliff. Or, at the very least, she thought she could manipulate events and get everything at once. In comparison to Catherine's manipulativeness , March's motivations are woefully lackluster.

Hollis seems a very pale imitation of Heathcliff as well. He starts off strongly - with the way he's treated Hank and the lack of upkeep on the Cooper home, but somehow towards the end he's devolved into the generic controlling and abusive lover. He's not as vindictive or as manipulative as I would have expected him to be - and his attitude towards Hank has seemed to soften. Somehow, I can't picture him begging at a window for his lost love's spectre to come back to him.

Overall, Wuthering Heights leaves some huge literary shoes to fill for anyone who tries to adapt the material. Perhaps if Hoffman had taken a more stylistic approach to the material and incorporated more of her own ideas into the book, I would have enjoyed it more - but with as much of the plot as she's taken whole cloth out of Bronte's novel, her own seems that much paler in comparison.

I confess, I have never read Wuthering Heights. I know that it's a classic and every young girl should read it but really the opening imagery always put me off. Moors and cliffs are romantic? Since when?

Apparently Alice Hoffman based her book on the story of Wuthering Heights. If this is the case, I have less of a reason to read it now. The characters in this book seemed completely unrelatable to me. I never understood the appeal of Hollis and March as a couple or why she would leave her very loving husband for an obvious sociopath. As I've mentioned before, my own experience with infidelity makes me a bit biased but truthfully I just couldn't understand why March was constantly drawn into this sick and twisted relationship where she was seen as an object of a desire and he maintained a puppeteer-like control over her. I see no appeal or romance in that type of relationship. Not to say that the story isn't well written because it is. Hoffman has wonderful prose and imagery and I did feel the intense connection between March and Hollis, I just didn't agree with it so I couldn't fully commit. If you've read Wuthering Heights, I say give it a read just to make the comparison, but other than that, it was just so-so and I liked Practical Magic MUCH better!

Hoffman did a wonderful job in writing this book. The characters have a lot of depth and are brought to life with her vivid words. Her writing style in this book is very descriptive and sometimes poetic. The way she describes love is so profound, it’s not the sort of description that is lengthy and you want to just skim over, no, it’s lyrical and holds your interest.

Now, the characters, hmmmm, where to begin? They are so real and my distaste for March and my strong dislike for Hollis are also real. I hate how this woman treats her life so carelessly; I would elaborate but I don’t want to ruin it for those who have not read the book. Those of us who have, know what I mean! There are times you just want to smack her for being so selfish! And Hollis, he is so revengeful and mean. Yes, there are times we feel sad for the little boy that he was and we want to make it go away, but the grown man he becomes is shameful. Hank and Alan you just want to mother. Gwen you want to give a big hug and tell her how proud you are of her. Belinda and Richard are such good souls you wish they were part of your family. The other characters, even the ones with cameo appearances are full of depth. Hoffman does a wonderful job in forming them and allowing us to see their past, their emotion, and even who they will become in the future.

I really enjoyed this book although it made me really angry at times.

I must say that I am in love with this book. It has made it to the top of my must read list (for others of course). I have read a lot of reviews online of the book - there are tons since it was an Oprah Book Club selection. I realized that many comparisons are made between this book and Wuthering Heights by Emile Brontë. Let me just say that I read it in highschool and strongly disliked it - its not nice to say hated, you know. I must admit it seems like Hoffman stole some of her basic plot from Brontë but that doesn't mean that the two books are truly similar. So for those of you who have some time on your hands, pick this book up. And if you have read the "classic" Wuthering Heights let me know if you think they both have the same appeal. If you haven't read it, don't waste your time.