Customer Reviews

Illumination Night

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked up this book on a summer vacation in Martha's Vineyard and was both charmed and entertained by it. The tradition of Illumination Night and the summer gatherings of Methodist families on the island make a kind of magical, firefly-lit ambiance for this tale of people, young and old, whose lives intersect in unexpected ways.

The most fascinating character for me was the agoraphobic young wife, trapped in her house by fears she can barely articulate. Hoffman's treatment of this characters is so realistic and convincing that after reading the novel I felt for the first time that I not only understood this condition; I had lived it.

While the gentle-giant young man is a bit of a surprise for someone reading Hoffman for the first time, she also makes this character perfectly plausible and sympathetic. You can accept the young girl's falling in love with him because we come to care about him ourselves, while realizing that she has the power to break his heart.

As a writer, Hoffman leaves you with the impression that she feels deeply for her characters, regardless of their weaknesses and shortcomings. And putting down this novel, you can feel in yourself a tender-heartedness for others that most books either don't try to evoke, or try and fail.

This was the first book I ever read of Alice Hoffman, and I was completely amazed by her talent of writing such vivid and enchanting tales of ordinary people. Illumination night is a somewhat sad tale about destructive and longing love, that is destined to fail from the beginning. I could feel the pain that the young girl felt, knowing that the man she loved could never be hers. This is a story of passage, a young girl grows up and faces reality and her grandmother grows older and faces the fact that death cannot be avoided. After reading this book I got hooked on Hoffman's books. This is still my favorite book, alongside HERE ON EARTH. I really recommend this book if you aren't afraid of getting touched. Tears will fall, but in the end you will feel very whole.

Illumination Night is the seventh book I have read by Alice Hoffman. I wasn't too sure I would like this book, but it was a delightful surprise.

This book centers around Andre and Vonny, a couple who lives on Martha's Vineyard with their four-year-old boy, Simon. Andre and Vonny are having some martial problems, which is complicated by Andre's failing business and financial troubles, the worry that Simon has some defective genetic disease that prevents him from growing, and Jody, who moves in next door.

Jody is Elizabeth Renny's grandchild, and she was sent there in part because her parents were experiencing marital problems of their own, and also in part because Elizabeth was having trouble seeing and getting around. Jody is a sixteen-year-old teenager who likes to steal cars, manipulate boys, smoke cigarettes, skip school, and sleep with the neighbor's husband.

Jody becomes Simon's baby-sitter, and pretty soon, Andre can't control himself. Soon after that, Vonny snaps and can no longer leave the house. She finds out that she's having panic attacks, which seems to make her and her husband grow closer for the time being.

Jody finally loses interest in Andre when she spots the beautiful Giant in the woods, named Edward. At this point, you are sucked up in a romance of two unlikely people, much like a Beauty and the Beast.

This detailed and intricate storytelling is woven around high-charged emotions and mystical surroundings. It is this kind of tale-telling that Alice Hoffman is known for, and what she does best. Illumination Night is a truly engrossing read, and is shows further evidence of what a great writer Alice Hoffman is.

I loved this book. Alice Hoffman has a wonderful talent, especially for a writer who can keep this type of POV throughout the entire novel without flaw. The characters were flexible and the little touches of "magic" here and there make it a very cozy, interesting book. Haunting, however? I don't think so...

I always feel, when I pick up a book by Ms. Hoffman, that I am in for a treat and this book was no exception. I love the descriptive almost poetic style of writing. From the beginning, the reader is taken on a magical, mystical journey that is not easily forgotten. There are parts of this book that seemingly come from a children's fairy tale or fableyet hey seem entirely plausible because, I think, Ms. Hoffman really cares about her characters and what happens to them.

The reader will enjoy this story of a modern marriage, a young woman who is trapped by her fears, a high school girl that is at the heart of all the sin and passion of the story. This is a good story of myth, magic and reality

This is one of Alice Hoffman's earlier books. It's filled with the magic realism for which she is known. The characters are all well drawn, especially Vonny and Mrs. Renny. I couldn't understand the husband's actions, however, and just did not feel much sympathy for him. Anyway, I love anything written by Alice Hoffman and always find her characterizations so natural. The people and their actions usually ring pretty true. Ms. Hoffman paints beautifully with words, and this is a perfect book for summer.

Kathleen

I thought this book was an easy, interesting read. I could hardly put it down, but it was not so much because it was irresistable or that it kept you at the edge of your seat. It was just because I wanted to see what would happen, I wanted to know what the characters were thinking, what they were going through. It is a great book to read that gets in the minds and feelings of the characters involved. There is a married couple with a small, very smart son. Living next to them is an old woman whose teenage granddaughter comes to stay with her. And it tells how these families' lives entertwine over approximately a two year period. It is a good book, though somewhat startling at times. I have to agree that this is a good summer read.

Illumination Night is a sadly sweet story of a slightly disfunctional young family coming to terms with their disappointments as well as their mortality. Simon, the slight four year old who only yearns to grow, is juxtaposed with his elderly neighbor who seems to be getting smaller and younger. His mom is becoming unnaturally fearful as the dangers of the world seem to increasingly threaten her family. Meanwhile the rebellious teenager of the elderly neighbor has found meaning in caring for her grandmother, and the giant down the road only wants to be loved. What a cast of characters! Ms Hoffman lets you see into the heart of each. Her slightly askew but likable people remind me of the type of characters Anne Tyler invents. This was my first Alice Hoffman story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is one of the most beautiful and haunting novels that I've ever read. Hoffman's words flow out with so little perceived effort, almost carelessly rendering our most minor and most deep-seated fears, hopes and dreams in so mystical yet so pragmatic a manner. She combines mysticism, psychological insight and magical realism so that the three get immersed as one. What occurs is a poetic structure of intensity in the simple and benigh aspects of human existence. The ordinary becomes bizarre, what is on the surface appears freakish and things that we are terror-ridden by are actually commonplace. What is obscured becomes highly visible.

The novel is about a couple who live on Cape Cod. The husband, Andre, refurbishes antique Norton and Ducati motorcycles. His wife, Vonny, is an agoraphobic, bound to their home by an invisible 'force field'. Their son Simon is mysteriously short and unable to grow. The story is also about a teenager, Judy, with uncontrollable desires that can be destructive to Andre and Vonny; a giant named Eddy who keeps his distance from humanity until he meets Jody; and Jody's grandmother who jumps from her porch, mistakenly thinking she can fly.

The novel examines families, relationships and bonds. It has a beauty and haunting quality that is like a tragic song. It was a gift to me to have read this wonderful book. Like in Fortune's Daughter, the beauty of Alice Hoffman's writing overwhelms.

Having just discovered Alice Hoffman, I have been reading all of her books and I am amazed that I never read them before. This is a quiet little jewel of a book, I highly recommend it, along with Practical Magic and especially Seventh Heaven.