Julie's Review: The Book of Magic

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: Practical Magic #4
Publication Date:  October 12, 2021
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 396
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Magical Realism
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A perfect conclusion to a wonderful series
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Summary: The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work. A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love. The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love. ~amazon.com

Review: The Book of Magic is the sequel to Practical Magic but also the spectacular conclusion to the Owens' story. This story is full of history that goes back hundreds of years and spans different family lines. The Owens have always gone out of their way to protect themselves and their loved ones from their family curse but when Sally decides to keep her daughters, Antonia & Kylie, in the dark about their curse, things quickly spiral out of control. Kylie takes off for England to try to break the curse to save her boyfriend, Gideon. What Kylie doesn't realize is that this will set off a series of events that will forever change the trajectory of their family. 

What Alice Hoffman does so well is create atmosphere, setting and connections with her characters. It is their journey that we find ourselves engrossed in and the places they visit that cement the story in our head. For this one we go to Paris, London and back to Massachusetts. This trip will change their lives forever. It brings one of them back into the fold and allows one of them to open up and let go of herself and her worries. 

I am truly sad to see these wonderful women go because this is the final book in the Owens' women saga. I can't recommend these books enough but I will say you at least need to read Practical Magic before reading this one or you just won't understand it. Then you can go back and read The Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons. 

I can't wait to see what Ms. Hoffman has in store for us with her next novel. 

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Julie's Review: The World We Knew

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: None
Publication Date: September 24, 2019
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Folklore
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Heartbreaking and hopeful
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Summary: In Berlin, at the time when the world changed, Hanni Kohn knows she must send her twelve-year-old daughter away to save her from the Nazi regime. She finds her way to a renowned rabbi, but it’s his daughter, Ettie, who offers hope of salvation when she creates a mystical Jewish creature, a rare and unusual golem, who is sworn to protect Lea. Once Ava is brought to life, she and Lea and Ettie become eternally entwined, their paths fated to cross, their fortunes linked. Lea and Ava travel from Paris, where Lea meets her soulmate, to a convent in western France known for its silver roses; from a school in a mountaintop village where three thousand Jews were saved. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding, waiting to become the fighter she’s destined to be. What does it mean to lose your mother? How much can one person sacrifice for love? In a world where evil can be found at every turn, we meet remarkable characters that take us on a stunning journey of loss and resistance, the fantastical and the mortal, in a place where all roads lead past the Angel of Death and love is never ending. ~amazon.com

Review: You know how when you finish a book it kind of leaves you a bit gutted and like you don't know if you can really close it? Yes, well than The World We Knew is for you because that is exactly how I felt. I have ready many a WWII novel but I don't believe I've read one that incorporated the Jewish Resistance in France and that factors in heavily to Ms. Hoffman's new novel.

In face of the horror that the Nazi's bring upon Berlin, Lea's mom Hanni needs to divise a plan to keep her young daughter, Lea safe. Hanni knows she doesn't have much time, so she seeks out a Rabbi to great a mystical creature, a golem, to protect her daughter as she sends her away to France for safety. There's a hitch though like anything you are creating in the likeness of something, it can only be destroyed by it's creator and this puts the creator at great risk of being destroyed themselves. Ettie is the Rabbi's daughter who agrees to create the golem for Hanni but at the expense of getting her and her sister papers for travel as well. This simple act bonds Lea, Ettie and Ava (the golem) together until they should all perish.

As Ava, Ettie and Lea begin their journey out of Germany and into France, they are separated and go their own ways to try to survive. Ettie is on a journey of revenge and solitary existence until she finds herself part of a bigger group that is trying to make a difference. Lea and Ava lead a relatively normal life until the Nazi's come to their part of France and they have to escape to a variety of locations just to stay alive. Along their way to survive they meet people who will change their perspective on how they look at the world and how they learn to search for the light even in the darkness.

Ms. Hoffman's writing is some of the best words on paper I have had the privledge of reading and in this one, she's at the top of her game. She doesn't hold back punches with the horror and brutality of the time period but yet with Ava and others she shines a light into that brutality. Ettie is the one who sacrifices for what she believes in and also for vengence of a loved one. Ava is the one who is the epitome of hope and light as she fiercely protects Lea but also figures out who she is and what it is she really wants to become.

This is one that you will want to put on the top of your book pile(s) immediately. It's is not to be missed.

Julie's Review: The Rules of Magic

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: Practical Magic #0
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 384
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Magical Realism
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: It's like meeting up with old friends
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Summary: For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk. From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse. The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself. ~amazon.com  

Review: Before you dive into The Rules of Magic, you might as well carve out a few hours because you won't want to put it down. Also,  you don't have to have previous experience with the Owens' to thoroughly enjoy this novel. I loved how each of the Owens' siblings grew and changed but they always, always had each other and supported each other.

You have Franny who is the eldest, the most realistic and the most stern. You know she has a good heart but she's far too fearful of her family's legacy. As she begins to experience life it makes her harder and she puts her walls up to protect herself and those she loves. She's definitely the leader of the 3 of them and the one who might sacrifice the most for her siblings.

Jet is the one that everyone gravitates towards because she wears her emotions on her sleeve. She's the sensitive one. She's the one most likely to fall in love and not care what the family "curse" is. She wants to love and be loved. Jet is also the one, whom perhaps loses the most as well. She never seems to get over the loss of her love but maybe that was her destiny.

Vincent is the sibling that is most in-tune with their family legacy and gifts. He never denied who he was and he accepted it early on. While he appears to be aloof, he's sensitive like Jet but pragmatic like Franny. 

Usually when there's a cast of characters, I end up liking one over the others but in this case, I loved them all because they each had unique voices. I loved how they were always there for each other and while they might not have always agreed with each others choices, they were supportive.

What it really boils down to is that no matter what path you follow in life, always be true to who you are and what you are. Learning to accept yourself is the key to a life without remorse. I loved how Ms. Hoffman brought us to the Owens' we love so much from Practical Magic. It definitely makes me want to curl up with them again, plus have a new appreciation for Jet and Franny.

This is the perfect blend of magic, family, love and acceptance. If you are a fan of Alice Hoffman, then you won't want to miss this novel. If you've never read her, what are you waiting for?

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Julie's Review: Faithful

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: None
Publication Date: November 1, 2016
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 272
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: A story about pain, sorrow, love and healing
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Summary: Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt. What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion—from dark suffering to true happiness—a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls—including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night. Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap. ~amazon.com  

Review: Faithful is no different than Alice Hoffman's other novels because it has a bit of the mystical element to it. This novel is the study of forgiveness, guilt and moving on. Ms. Hoffman uses Shelby as her conduit and she's the perfect one for this novel. You can't help but feel for Shelby but you also want to shake her at times. She carries around much more pain and guilt that is needed. Over time we her grow and learn to move on and eventually forgive herself. It is about love, life and death. How all of those things are intertwined.

Shelby is lost. She is depressed and she has no clue how to dig herself out of the hole she is in. Her only friend is her weed dealer, Ben Mink. She's talked to him more in the past year than her own parents. She's looking for a way out of the town she feels suffocated in since the accident that set her on a different path than the one she was on. You see Shelby was one half of the duo Helene and Shelby; Helene was the truly beautiful one and Shelby was pretty enough. Helene was her best friend but she was the one that was the troublemaker. Shelby went along for the ride.

Shelby is on a long journey to rid herself of the self-loathing and guilt. She needs to learn to trust herself, let go of her demons and to open herself up to others. She's punishing herself for the accident and doesn't think she deserves happiness. Through the persistent of others, little by little, Shelby is restored to life. 

Faithful is about being restored by love, hope and persistence. It's about finding something that brings you joy and makes you feel alive, even if it seems like a small thing. Small things can have profound effects. This book make me laugh and made me cry. I felt sorrow for Shelby but I also felt joy and hope for her. I wanted her to find what she was looking both inside herself and in the world. I loved the way the mysterious postcards played out. I loved how she looked forward to them and that they gave her hope. Don't we all need a little hope and joy in our lives?

If you've never read Alice Hoffman, you are missing out. If you have, then you won't want to miss
Faithful.

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Julie's Review: The Story Sisters

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: None
Publication Date: June 1, 2010
Publisher: Three River Books
Pages: 352
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Mystical Realism
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: A heartbreaking story about what lengths sisters go to protect each other
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Summary: Her new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters — Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart's desire, and a demon who will not let go. What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? These are the questions this luminous novel asks. At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. It confirms Alice Hoffman's reputation as a "writer whose keen ear for the measure struck by the beat of the human heart is unparalleled". ~powells.com  

Review: Whenever I pick up an Alice Hoffman novel I am immediately transported to this world but only more magical. In The Story Sisters, the magic exists to block out the bad. It exists so that they can escape their troubles. It is Elv who is lost and who stays lost for most of the novel. She is troubled and we are given glimpses of why but it is never fully revealed. Ms. Hoffman doesn't have to spell it out to her readers, we can figure it out on our own. It is also Elv who is the most brave of the sisters. She is the one who protects Claire until it is Claire who tries to protect her.

Meg is the pragmatic sister, who ends up protecting Claire from Elv as she slips further and further away from her family. She is the one who ends up opening their mother's eyes to Elv's misdeeds. The misdeeds and aftermath will have lasting effects on her life.

My favorite character was Claire. She was the glue that kept the sisters together until she couldn't. She was the sweet, innocent one that knew there was evil in the world. She was the sensitive one. As she grew up, she withdrew into herself. It was art that saved her. It was within art that she found her voice.

Besides Claire, I loved their Ama, Natalia. She was always there for her daughter and her granddaughters. She was also very elegant and wise.

Ms. Hoffman always writes a novel that immediately pulls you in. She creates a world that you want to curl up in and get lost in. Her writing is poetic and lyrical. If you haven't read her, you should. I will be reading more of her books in the future.

The Story Sisters is about love, redemption and forgiveness. It is about figuring out who you are and who you are meant to be. It is about the bond of sisters, that can't be broken; even when it is.

Alice's Review

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Alice's Review: The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: None
Publication Date: February 18, 2014
Publisher: Scribner
Pages: 368
Obtained: Publisher
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating:  4/5
Bottom Line: An alluring story of  mystery and love.
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Summary:  Mesmerizing and illuminating, Alice Hoffman’s The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the story of an electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decades of the twentieth century.  Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses. An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father’s “museum,” alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle. One night Coralie stumbles upon a striking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River. The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father’s Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor’s apprentice. When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman’s disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie. With its colorful crowds of bootleggers, heiresses, thugs, and idealists, New York itself becomes a riveting character as Hoffman weaves her trademark magic, romance, and masterful storytelling to unite Coralie and Eddie in a sizzling, tender, and moving story of young love in tumultuous times. The Museum of Extraordinary Things is Alice Hoffman at her most spellbinding. ~powells.com

Review:  Alice Hoffman...I don’t even know where to begin. She is one of my favorite authors ever. She can write about nearly any subject with authority and heart. I love her books. Love them. This one is no different. I love that it’s set in New York City. I just adore when a city is a character in a novel. Make is New York City in 1911 and it’s even better. I love that she ventures into Brooklyn and writes about the freak shows and oddities on Coney Island. It was such a marvelous, fascinating time in history.

Like most others, I am drawn to a novel that is close to home. I work a few blocks from Eddie’s apartment in the novel. I love knowing we walked down the same streets in much different times. I really appreciated that she encompassed real events into her storytelling. I first learned about the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on a ghost walk tour last year. My interest in The Museum of Extraordinary Things was immediately piqued when I learned the novel began with that catastrophe. I love that she writes in a way that makes me feel as if I am there, standing on the sidewalk next to Eddie in horror at the burning building in front of me. Or that it is me, and not Coralie who is swimming in the frigid Hudson. She has the ability to transport her readers to a different place and time. See, that’s the thing about Alice Hoffman. She writes in a way that Eddie and Coralie are not characters in a novel. They are people who lived a long time ago, as human as I am.

Eddie was such a great character. With everything he faced, he grew up a lot faster than he should have. There was no boyhood innocence to draw from. He lost is even before he stepped into his life in Manhattan. And Coralie, the opposite of him, sheltered and protected to a fault. First she forced to act like a child when she craved the things of a woman, and then forced into wanton behavior by someone who should have protected her. I enjoyed their love story. I especially enjoyed that their love story wasn’t the focus of the novel. This novel was much more than two people coming together.

There were a few other characters that I enjoyed, especially Maureen. As Coralie’s companion and Dr. Sardie’s housemaid, she had a small but significant role. I loved that she was scarred yet had wisdom and desires. She had a way of centering Coralie and the novel. It was her happy ending I hoped for the most.

Ms. Hoffman is still very much on her game, but there was something nagging me while reading this. Something was missing. I can’t quite explain what it is but I can tell you that it simply wasn’t there. The more that I think about it, I realize the novel lacked the usual magic she folds into her stories. It’s that little thing that makes her novels different. Even with that lack of magic, this was quite a tale.

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Alice's Review: The Story Sisters

Summary: Alice Hoffman’s new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters – Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart’s desire, and a demon who will not let go. What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? These are the questions this luminous novel asks.  At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, The Story Sisters sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them. ~amazon.com

Review:  This isn’t a book review as much as an essay about love.  I loved this novel.  LOVED.  I have had a love affair with Alice Hoffman’s books since reading Practical Magic in the late 90s.  There is always something so personal, so raw and revealing in her characters.  I really enjoy how they don’t show themselves from the beginning, they make you earn their trust, showing their true selves only to those who they deem worthy.  I never know what I’m going to get when I start one of her novels.  I do know that I haven’t been disappointed yet.  The Story Sisters is no different.

I couldn’t put this novel down.  The last few novels I read, although good, had me wishing for the ending to come.  I wanted a resolution.  Not this one.  The Story Sister made me want to keep reading forever.  I felt genuine sadness when the story was over.  I wanted to continue exploring their world where these sisters were greater than the sorrow they experienced.  There is so much sadness and anguish in this novel, but it’s a welcomes sadness.  As a reader you know Elv, Meg and Claire have to experience this much unhappiness in order to transition into peace.   

Although this novel focused on the three Story sisters, the two unsung heroes are Annie, the girls’ mother, and Natalia, the girls’ grandmother.  Although their roles are small, their love carries Elv, Meg and Claire through the heartache they are forced to endure.  This novel is dark.  It evokes gut wrenching sadness that stays with you long after you put the book down.  But it was unlike any other Alice Hoffman novel I have read in the past.  There was a clear line defined between real and fantasy.  It still held all the magic of her previous novels.  The difference with The Story Sisters is that it had realism about it.  It wasn’t magic that ruled Elv, it was addiction and avoidance.  It’s what tore the sisters apart. 

The Story Sisters is so well rounded.  There was so much substance with many subplots, however it was never confusing or reaching.  And it has some of the best pearls about love I’ve read in a long time.

“In the world of sorrow, love was an act of will.  All you needed were the right ingredients.”

“That was the way love was, invisible, there whether or not you wanted to see it or admit it.”

“Maybe some love was guaranteed.  Maybe it fit inside you and around you like skin and bones. “

This is the best novel I have read so far this year.  I simply loved it.

Final Take: 5/5

Julie's Review: Blue Diary

Summary: Hoffman writes from on high, a storytelling goddess who drenches the earth with flower-opening sunshine one day, only to bring on the most abysmal gloom the next. She enchants and she riles, and her powers are extraordinary, although the overture to her fourteenth novel is awfully sweet. Ethan and Jorie, gorgeous and madly in love after 13 years of marriage, are just too horribly perfect. Ethan is a carpenter, baseball coach, and volunteer fireman. Jorie is a homemaker and a gifted gardener, and their 12-year-old son, Collie, is handsome and good. It's enough to make you puke, and that's exactly Hoffman's intention because this is a make-believe life that has run its course. The girl-next-door, the younger, funny-looking one named Kat, not her exquisite and coldhearted sister Rosarie, misses her father, who committed suicide, and has never trusted Collie's, so when she recognizes an old photograph of Ethan shown on a most-wanted TV show, she makes the fateful call and then watches in shock while her neighbors' lives collapse like a house that looks fine from the outside but has been consumed by termites until it's no more than a shell. Nothing will ever be the same for the denizens of Monroe, Massachusetts, after Ethan is arrested for the long-unsolved murder of a 15-year-old Maryland girl. Many rally to his cause; Kat and Collie grow up too fast; Jorie's best friend copes with breast cancer; and Jorie, devastated but lucid, realizes that she must learn the truth whatever the cost. This canny tale of abrupt reversals and courageous, unpopular choices is as suspenseful as it is lyrical and provocative. ~amazon.com

Review: Every time I pick up an Alice Hoffman book I remember how much I love her writing and berate myself for not reading her more often. There is something dream-like and magical in the way she tells her stories. Blue Diary tells the story of Jorie and Ethan Ford, who have to be the world's most perfect couple. So in love with each other that everyone in their right mind is envious but not jealous. Of course, not everything is as it seems for Ethan. You see he has a mysterious past that comes back to pay a visit one beautiful morning shortly after making love with his wife.

You see Ethan did something horrific when he was someone else. The story isn't about what Ethan did or how it affects him it's about the path of destruction this causes on those in Monroe, Mass. It's not only about the obvious effects on his beloved wife, his sweet son but also those who thought they knew Ethan well.

Ethan Ford is a man who has for 13 years, hidden his true self. Throughout the course of the book I feel that he slowly begins to reveal himself through his treatment of Rosarie Williams. Ethan Ford is a user; a wolf in sheep's clothing.

The only subplot I might have enjoyed being explored more is the friendship between Charlotte and Jorie. What made their friendship work since pre-school? What is it that kept them loyal towards each other?

The book obviously weaves the question, how well do we know the ones we love? It isn't a new theme in novels but it is one that Ms. Hoffman does so well and writes so beautifully. Each character is rich in personality and description. Another thing she does well (same with Jodi Picoult) is describe small town life and how everyone knows each other and intimately even if the other person isn't aware.

Final Take: 4.5/5

Julie's Reviews: Skylight Confessions

Summary: In Hoffman's 19th novel, a young woman becomes the victim of the destiny she's created, leaving behind a splintered family. On the day of her father's funeral, 17-year-old Arlyn Singer decides the first man who walks down the street will be her one love. That night, Yale senior John Moody stops to ask directions, and Arlyn and John take the first passionate steps toward what will become a marriage of heartache and mutual betrayal. After John's architect father dies, the couple moves into his Connecticut home, a glass house called the Glass Slipper, and Arlyn has an affair with a local laborer. She dies while her second child is still young, and the story forks to follow the divergent paths taken by the Moody children. Sam, the self-destructive first-born, spray paints his angst all over lower Manhattan and has a son before disappearing. Blanca, Sam's sister and the only family member he loves, moves to London and opens a bookstore. John remarries, to Cynthia, and has another daughter, but carries a family secret with him to his grave. Ghostly apparitions lend an air of dark enchantment, though the numerous dream sequences feel heavy-handed. ~amazon.com

Review: This is the 3rd Alice Hoffman book I've read and it was a disappointment for me. Skylight Confessions is a dreamy, dark book and not what I was expecting at all. The book starts off with Arlyn (Arlie) losing her dad and wishing that the next person who comes to the house will be the man that she marries. Enter John Moody. These two characters couldn't be any different than day and night. Frankly I didn't like either of these 2 people. Arlie was a dreamer whom I believe damaged her son emotionally. The book is broken up in 3 parts and the last 2 are the better of the 3. In part 2 we get to know Meredith Weiss, Sam and Blanca more. Meredith and Blanca are the only 2 redeeming characters in this book. Meredith is a lost soul who comes to the Moody's by a chance meeting. It ends up changing her life. She fights for Sam who feels like he was left behind by his mother. Sam and his dad have never seen eye to eye and it continues to deteriorate throughout the book.

In Part III we are introduced to Will, Sam's son. Will seems like a good kid and he's the only character that I feel we should have gotten to know better. In that respect the book ended too quickly.

All in all I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters. Ms. Hoffman's books typically have such strong characters and strong female characters that I felt this book was against type for her.

If you are an Alice Hoffman fan then I think this book is a disappointment; if you've never read her than I definitely don't think this is the book should be your first.

Final Take: 3.5/5

Julie's Review: the River King

Summary: Set in and around an exclusive private school in fictional Haddan, Mass., bestselling author Hoffman's (Practical Magic; Here on Earth) latest novel flows as swiftly and limpidly as the Haddan River, the town's mystical waterway. As one expects in a Hoffman novel, strange things have always happened in HaddanDa combination of Mother Nature gone awry and human nature following suit. In 1858, the year the school was completed, a devastating flood almost destroyed it and the town. The esteemed headmaster, Dr. Howe, married a pretty local girl who hung herself from the rafters "one mild evening in March." Local superstitions prove true more often than not, and twice in recent history a black, algae-laden rain has covered people and buildings with a dark sludge. An uneasy peace has always existed between the locals and the Haddan School, based on the latter's financial benefit to the community and the local authorities' willingness to look the other way when necessary to maintain the school's reputation. But when student August Pierce is found drowned in the Haddan River, detective Abel Grey is flooded with memories of his own teenage brother's suicide, and refuses to look away. Supporting characters are richly textured: new photography instructor Betsy Chase feels unsafe in Haddan, yet somehow finds herself engaged to a mysterious young history professor Eric Herman; Carlin Leander, a poor, strikingly beautiful young girl, comes to Haddan to recreate herself and escape her neglectful mother, and becomes misfit August's only friend while dating the most popular boy on campus; Helen Davis, chair of the history department, is haunted by a long-ago affair she had with Dr. Howe, which she believes had something to do with his young wife's suicide. As ever, Hoffman mixes myth, magic and reality, addressing issues of town and gown, enchanting her readers with a many-layered morality tale and proving herself once again an inventive author with a distinctive touch. ~amazon.com/Publisher's Weekly

Review: I love books and movies that take place at a private school. I think it has to do with the fact that those kinds of schools have an air of mystery and history to them. My friend lent me this book and I have to say I'm quite happy she did. I've only read one other Alice Hoffman book,Here on Earth (Oprah's Book Club), and enjoyed it. But unlike that book this one had some magic and a definite sense of mystery. I will say that the Haddan School is not a happy place nor is the town that it is set it. It seems like the weather is always miserable, either snowing or raining, and that nothing good ever really happens to anyone either in the town of Haddan or at the school.

At one point or another all of us has dealt with feeling like an outsider and that can occur even when you are an "insider". I liked the character of Gus and felt for him at times and at other times I felt that he was just making his life more miserable on purpose. Maybe he wanted it like that, maybe he's one of those people who would be constantly miserable in life. I liked how he had the guts to approach Carlin and I enjoyed how their friendship blossomed and then slowly withered away. Being a teenager isn't fun and trying to maintain friendships while finding out who you are and where you belong is even more troublesome and this is what happened to Carlin and Gus. He snubbed her when she started dating the "most popular and handsome guy" at Haddan.

Tragedy strikes the school and this is where the magic and mystery enter the story. Enter the characters of Betsy and Abe. Abe is the local town detective and quite the ladies man. Betsy is engaged to a history teacher at the school and quite the photographer. Abe knows that there is something not quite right with the way the tragedy happens and it haunts him and spurs him on to look further into the case, which is not his norm style. Abe asks Betsy to assist him with a part of the investigation and there is an attraction on both sides. (That's all I'm going to say about that).

I liked the way Alice Hoffman wrote all the characters and how they were dealing with the tragedy. How they were haunted by what happened and what it means to let go but not to forget. Alice Hoffman is unique in her ability to weave magic and mystery into a story and have it be totally believable. I believe her and Jodi Picoult to be similar in their writing styles but they use it in different ways and for different genres.

Final Take: 4.5/5

ETA: I was just reading Jodi Picoult's website and came across this quote:
What would the title of your biography be and who would you want to write it?
The Stories of My Life – that’s catchy, isn’t it, LOL? I would probably love to have Alice Hoffman write it, if only because I’d read ANYTHING she writes.
How cool is that?! Turns out Alice Hoffman is one of her favorite authors.