- Paperback
- Publisher: Little, Brown & Co. (2005)
- ASIN: B000IQAZCY
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Compelling,
This review is from: The Foretelling (Hardcover)
My name is Doug Hiser, author of the 2006 novel,The Honey Bee Girl. I have been reading and collecting Alice Hoffman books since I discovered Turtle Moon. I have read them all and The Fortelling is my favorite. I loved her narrative and moving story. In some ways it reminded me of Clan of the Cave Bear and also of mystical ancient cultures that we see only in dreams. Alice Hoffman's prose is the main reason I fell in love with her books. She is the magic realism of writing the way Michael Parks is of the dreamlike reality of art and Frank Frazetta is the master of fantasy painting. The Fortelling is a short work of literary genius accessible to everyone. She has deep intense knowledge of the emotions and feelings that most people can only guess about. Discover her writing through this compelling work and then find your way into her other books. You won't be disappointed. Doug Hiser
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Coming of Age Book, Amazon Style!,
By
This review is from: The Foretelling (Hardcover)
The first words: "I was born out of sorrow, so my mother named me Rain."
This sets the book up for a short and lyrical coming of age story through the eyes of Rain as one of the legendary Amazon sisters. Rain's birth was anything but joyous because it was born out of gang rape, so her mother shunned her. As she grows she learns everything she can about life of the Amazons. For knowledge is power and she much know how the whole society runs. She excels in horse training and riding and becomes as her grandmother, a true sister of the horse. Because she is a queen-to-be and also because her mother shuns her, she is set apart and often travels alone. These adventures with the advice from one of their most wise and psychic priestesses, Deborah, help her to see that what is beyond their borders is not all evil. Not all to be shunned. This becomes the beginning of her quest to becoming her true self, including her questions about if she wants to even be queen. I think this book is a quick and interesting fictional look into a culture that did exist many moons ago (hey, got to get into character here). However, it really is a look at one girl's life as she questions and learns and grows into her own wisdom and seeks the courage to become what she should become. There are references of rape, and sex, but it is not done in a graphic way and dealt with in a way that would make sense at that time. I give this book 3 1/2 stars. Loved this quote from the book: "The weak are cruel: the strong have no need to be."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Fortelling by Alice Hoffman,
By
This review is from: The Foretelling (Hardcover)
After spending the winter holidays surrounded by deviant male behavior -- including derrogatory remarks made about women at work, such as: "a woman is only worth-while if she's willing to have sex with you, otherwise she's worthless" (I'll bet such males make their mothers, sisters and daughters feel very safe at night) I found the following book to offer very satisfying emotional relief.
"The Foretelling" by Alice Hoffman is rivoting. It offers a vision of inspiration for all girls who want to become something more than subservient. I read the novel in one evening and it is out in hardback right now. It's about a tribe of Amazon women (no men, except when they are captured, drugged and otherwise used to increase the daughters to be born to the tribe). The men are either killed after the sex ceremonies or released to their own tribes but the Amazon women have no need for men on a regular basis. They do not wish to become subjects as wives so even their own sons are either killed or delivered to the tribe of the departed father. (Note: while sex is alluded to in this book, it is not dwelled on or elaborated upon and there are not details other than the idea that a women lie down with men -- because of that, I feel this book would be very appropriate for teen readers). One man lives among the Amazon, but his legs are broken so he cannot run away and he is kept as a slave to do masonry type work (not for stud service, as so many males in our society might hope). Fascinating read. The main character is a young girl named Rain who yearns for her mother's (the head huntress/chief's) affection but cannot have it because Rain is the reminder of a brutal rape that said elder/warrior endured when she was just 13 years old. The fable is that Rain now has the power of 50 men because that is how many violated her mother during the attack. The setting is amidst a male dominated world where bands of men continue to try to raid Rain's tribe to steal wives for themselves or just to rape women/steal their belongings and land but regularly such forces meet their own demise as the Amazon women are very capable at war.
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