Customer Reviews

Here on Earth

5 star:		(169)
4 star:		(87)
3 star:		(75)
2 star:		(69)
1 star:		(106)

 

 

I have never read anything by Alice Hoffman before, so I am very pleased that Here on Earth ended up being such a good introduction. The writing was extremely well done, and the storyline was surprisingly page-turning.

Here on Earth tells the story of March Murray and her 19-year-absence from her hometown in Massachusetts. After living in California with her husband, Richard, and 15-year-old daughter, Gwen, March is called home for the funeral of Judith Dale, the woman who took care of her as a child. Accompanied by Gwen, March is thrust back into her old life -- her friends and her old house. But something worse haunts her heart -- March's childhood sweetheart, Hollis, is still in town and is just as much a magnet to her as he was before. Before she knows what hits her, March and Hollis rekindle their romance -- but this time things are very, very different.

I was very surprised at the direction this story took, but I loved the twists! I started out with my feelings for certain characters pretty much set, then all these secrets start coming out of the woodwork and my emotions do a 180. I believe that when an author can evoke such reactions out of a reader, that is the hallmark of a talented writer. Here on Earth also had a fantastic supporting cast that carried the story well. Alice Hoffman surpassed my expectations, and I'll be sure to read another of her novels soon.

I originally read this book because it was an Oprah Book Club selection. After reading it, though, I've become a big fan of Alice Hoffman, who, in this novel, has spun a dark tale about love, rebellion, passion, violence, control and domination in this book. When March Murray returns to her hometown with her teenage daughter for the funeral of her old friend and housekeeper, she reunites with her first love, a man named Hollis. It's a story one too many of us can relate to. In the marshlands of Massachusetts, we helplessly watch March sink deep into her lover's world, until there's nearly nothing left of her.

Alice Hoffman writes in the present tense, with an omniscient point of view-two qualities that I generally dislike. But Hoffman handles it beautifully, gliding from one character to the next in this story that captures the strands of each person's web, and ties them all together.

It would do all women good to read this story, because most of us have known a Hollis, and some of us have been a March.

I just finished "Here on Earth", and am usually an avid fan of Oprah's Book Club (Stones from the River is by far her best pick). Having never read anything by Alice Hoffman, I wasn't sure what to expect here. She's a very descriptive writer, which can be enjoyable, however, her character development was virtually non existent. Yes, I hated Hollis, and was REALLY frustrated and disgusted by March - but it would have made all the difference if the author gave us SOME insight as to why these people behaved the way they did. The ending left TOO much to the imagination...am I the only one hoping that someone would take poor Hank to California with them? What happened to March, Gwen, Sister, Tarot? Any clue would help.. All in all, "Here On Earth" had some real potential to be an outstanding novel.. but it just left me feeling totally empty. Its almost as though Hoffman got tired of writing and just ended the book abruptly. It was a page turner, I must admit...I just really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did.

I can't call this a love story. At least, not the story of March and Hollis. It wasn't love, it was control and a deep seated hatred of humans on the part of Hollis. Hollis, the definition of "sociopath", which this book defines better than dictionary.com does, as "One who is affected with a personality disorder marked by antisocial behavior" was detestible, yet brilliant. Anti-social was only part of this guy's problems. There was also his need to control, as well as maladjustment possibly caused by PTSD.

But I get ahead of myself.

I liked March and Gwen when they arrived in Jenkintown for Judith Dale's funeral. I even liked March's brother Alan. Getting into the story of the past, I was appalled by Alan's treatment of "the boy" as he called Hollis when he first arrived in their home. Hollis was well treated by the adults and March, but not by Alan and his friends. Still, he didn't seem to be broken then. I still liked Hollis when he was gone from March, because I didn't know what he was doing.

I started to loathe him when he returned and started calling March, who had moved away and married Richard, a man Hollis viewed as one of his rivals in property ownership and respect of the community. The statement that turned me around on him was when he told the very pregnant March, "you care more about that baby than you do about me." Yup, I would have said. I sure do. "That" baby is my baby and you are an adult. Grow up. Warning bells would have gone off for me, but they didn't for March. Too bad.

Gwen certainly reformed when she found something outside of herself to care for in the former racehorse, Tarot. I could visualize that the horse loved her and responded well to her because he was reminded of the gentle Belinda, his former rider and mistress. I was relieved that Gwen and Hank could form their relationship in an adult, responsible manner; with neither falling into the obsessive behaviour that had marked March and Hollis's relationship, even from the beginning. My God! How could anyone have lived like March and Hollis did, even as teenagers?!

Hollis didn't try to be subtle at all in his attempts to control March. Had March been awake, she would have seen that when her oilburner and her car mysteriously gave out and Hollis wasn't able to fix them. Had she not seen that, there was a huge clue when Hollis took March away from the Harvest Fair. But like so many abused women, she didn't see, or want to see. She didn't see his violence even when he threatened her daughter and the animals she loved. Many women don't. March was very enmeshed in her "relationship" with Hollis, but thankfully, Alice Hoffman allowed her to find her way out, if only due to an accident at the infamous devil's corner. It could have been much, much worse, and in real life, it is.

To give her the benefit of the doubt, for a long time, March saw Hollis as the boy he was; before he became "Mr. Death". Still, trauma doesn't excuse his barbaric actions towards her and everyone else.

I used to think that if I disliked the characters of a novel, I could dismiss the novel as "not very good". No more. I despised Hollis, but the art it takes to create an evil person like him is immense. To continue to work with a horrible character that the author surely hated as well takes a lot of fortitude. Thank you for persevering, Alice Hoffman!

No matter how very valid are the cons noted in other reviews, I've just finished this book and feel as though I've read a combo effort of Bronte/King/Koontz/Higgins Clark w/a touch of Steel. Add to that the sensation of intrigue, suspense, "can't put the d*mn thing down," gifted prose-- succinct but filled with clarity & emotion--how could I not rate this 5 stars?
Yes, it is a twisted romance melded with horror but at the center is love...and hate. Love right, love wrong, love naive; hate common but often overlooked for the good of the order. Love gone awry & how an innocent can convert to a monster. Make that 2 innocents-which will be revealed when you read the novel. Love transformed to obsessive, love blind, love that metamorphs & mutates until it's twisted, ugly, despicable . Ultimately, no longer love at all. Does it sound familiar in the real world? Maybe not to the majority of readers but some of us might understand an inkling; some more. Thus, the fascination. The reader recognizes this warp, supporting characters do, but not the central figures. As with all suspense, that's what makes it so captivating! We, the reader, initially supportive, then we question, ponder, fret...but
they don't...not in time.
One reviewer writes of the mirror image of Wuthering Heights premise. Great observation & having just finished this book--feeling spine-tingling anxiety, it only makes me want to digest W. Heights again ASAP! Any book that causes one to yearn for the classics (due to being so moved) is truly a book that's worth reading. This should happen more often. I know...I read 3 books per wk. Some are so dull, I wonder why I've bothered. Not this one! A rare find.
My chief & only gripe with Here on Earth is the title. Perhaps the premise could only happen "here on earth???"

This is not the type of book I would pick for myself, but recently I found myself in a situation far from home with no T.V., Radio, or even my own book collection so I was forced to read whatever my host had to offer. Although I felt there were some really strange twist, maybe something I wouldn't have personally put in, and some things that were so outlandish, no one could ever relate to such characters, I did however find myself drawn to the book. I finished it in about 5 hours which was nice. Do not go into this book expecting your life to be changed forever, or maybe a new outlook, it doesn't offer either. But for me, it allowed me to tap into a hidden part of my own life where I had been in love and lost, and that intrigued me. I can definately see where people would have issues with the book... but for me, it was worth the short 5 hours it took from my life... maybe it will be worth it for you!!!

I can't comprehend anyone not falling head over for this book. This is one of a handful I can read every year and have it grab a hold of me even more strongly than the first time. It's a simple message - that love is messy and complicated and that judging someone for falling in or out of it or sticking with someone for no apparent reason is simplistic and naive. Love changes. It grows or withers away or hits you over the head when you least expect it. It can haunt you.

Especially touching if you have ever known a damaged soul. March and her father were right not to just dismiss Hollis as a loser as others apparently had his entire life. The only problem was whatever had happened in his past had already done too much damage (as Alan and his friends would continue to do.) It had turned his soul to stone. And as the novel shows a person without a soul can be very dangerous indeed. The fact that Alice Hoffman makes us hate and feel for him at the same time just shows what a wonderful writer she is.

One of the best.

Unlike many of the other reviewers here, I have never read Wuthering Heights, nor do I know the plotline, so I cannot comment on how "Here on Earth" stacks up to the story that apparently inspired it. However, I don't feel that should really be relevant to reviewing the book.

I liked this book, and I like Hoffman's writing. It's very fantasy-like, she sprinkles in some magical realism here and there. She writes in a style that is easy to breeze through, and very descriptive, making you picture the scenes she paints very clearly.

However, the characters were just totally unlikable to me. I felt all kinds of feelings towards them, including, hate, pity, shock, and distaste. A quick rundown:

March: A sorry excuse for a woman. I have never been in a relationship that abusive, so I guess it's unfair of me to say I could understand her position, but no matter how much you love someone, if you have any strength or dignity in you at all, you do not put up with the [stuff]that she takes from Hollis. Even when they were younger, he wasn't that appealing. It was TOTALLY a relationship based on lust, that's IT, there's nothing more to it...

Gwen: I also agree that her thoughts and actions were too mature for a 15 year old, and that being in Jenkintown for such a short time would not change her completely, making her personality do a complete 180. I liked her toughness, and how she talked back to Hollis, but she should have tried to talk some sense into her mother, instead of ignoring what was going on with her and Hollis for the most part... Hank: I actually liked Hank, but as much as Gwen was tough, he was too bland and wishy-washy. He should have stood up to Hollis more. I understand he was indebted to Hollis...Hollis: I KNOW that the reader is supposed to despise this character, and boy did I despise him. However, I think it would have added more to the book if you had been able to see a redeeming quality or two in him. At least then you would have been able to hope for his redemption, or understand why March loves him so much. The closest thing we get to seeing why he's such a beast...He was simply one of the most disturbing, evil characters I've ever read about...I would have liked a good scene at the end of the book...

Also, as with a lot of books these days I find, the end left me unsatisfied like many readers. Why do authors find it so hard to give some closure to their stories? What happened to March and Richard and Gwen after they reunited in California? Just a little tidbit, a little epilogue would have been nice.

All in all, I wouldn't say NOT to read this book, but it was depressing, and you'll probably feel sort of an uneasiness about the merits of humankind when you're done. It definitely held my interest, but most of the time I felt like shaking my head in disappointment at the characters.

When March Murray, fortyish and married in CA, returns to Mass for the funeral of the lady who raised March after her mother's death, she knew that she would have to encounter Hollis the orphaned boy living with her family whom she passionately loved as a teenager before he left town. Hollis a man of mystery returned to the small town a millionaire, buying both March's and her husband's childhood homes. But Hollis seems to leave destruction in his wake, being at times paranoid, abusive, possessive, and vindictive, not to mention his wife's death. Yet March blithely ignores all of this and basically abandons her family as she is helplessly drawn to Hollis.

The story is set in the Fall, and the encroaching bleakness of the landscape reflects the situation of Hoffman's characters. March's daughter Gwen, who accompanied her from CA, arrived as an insolent teenager, but is forced to find herself and is aided in that endeavor by her taming of a racehorse thought to be too mean for human contact. In addition, Gwen finds a kindred spirit in Hank, the teenage son of March's brother now a drunken hermit. They keep the story from collapsing.

The book is practically incestuous with all of the brother, sister, cousin, and next-door-neighbor marrying and romance. There's enough dysfunctionality among them for the whole town, let alone a couple of families. At its best, the book has some insight into excess, romance, coping, etc. But then again, the evil and obsessiveness is fairly akin to what is found in the grocery store genre. The entire book has a dream-like feel - way short on realism. And the ending is weak and unreflective. I wonder what Oprah saw in this book?

I am so relieved to know that there are others who dislike this book as much as I do and I'm concerned about readers who think this is a great love story. I got the audio version for a road trip and found myself telling characters off more than once. It's no paean to to Bronte or Wuthering Heights; while shamelessly culling its plot, it only serves to emphasize all the parts I was most uncomfortable with in the original novel. Both serve as a handbook on how to raise a neglected child, and in both, there is no learning, no redemption. The characters are just as self-centered, neglectful, and cruel at 40 as they were in their younger years. March's parenting skills are negligible, and the sainted husband Richard's are no better. And how believable is it in a small town that Gwen would not know Hank was her first cousin or Belinda was her aunt? But what truly makes me unable to finish this tape is my absolute dislike of the two main characters and my total lack of interest in what happens to them - except for the concern over the two children they are dragging behind in their wake. What a sad, disappointing book.