Skylight Confessions (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: tile men, John Moody, George Snow, Glass Slipper (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Hoffman works with her own private deck of tarot cards to create psychologically rich, mystical tales infused with a sexy form of magic realism sprung from the union of romance and tragedy. In her latest gothic fairy tale of doomed passion and indelible guilt, Arlyn, 17, is utterly alone in the world until, like a mermaid casting her spell over a lost sailor, she pulls John Moody into her orbit and refuses to let go. A student at Yale, he is the lackluster son of an architect famous for building a Connecticut house known as the Glass Slipper. In a sinister variation on the nursery rhyme about the woman who lived in a shoe, the mismatched couple dwell precariously in the comfortless glass mansion with their solemn son, Sam, and, later, a daughter, Blanca, who isn't even a year old when cancer claims Arlyn. But death doesn't dispel Arlyn's powers. As birds inexplicitly flock to the Glass Slipper, dishes break without being touched, and soot rains down, Sam, a promising artist, loses his way in a labyrinth of narcotics, even as help arrives in the form of a young woman also haunted by her dead. Hoffman's shimmering, multigenerational melodrama bewitches with supernatural imagery. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (February 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316017876
• ISBN-13: 978-0316017879
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #489,704 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning work by Hoffman, February 2, 2007

By	Ellen Meister (NY, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Skylight Confessions: A Novel (Hardcover)

Once again, Alice Hoffman manages to create an otherworldly reality that feels completely grounded, with characters so touching and authentic they got right under my skin and stayed there. Other reviewers have done a good job of summarizing the plot, so I'll just say that this book has an unusual structure in that the protagonist changes somewhere in the middle, and it works. This is, more anything, a story that explores the idea of destiny, and asks questions about love along the way. Of course, Hoffman pulls all of this off with language so precise and beautiful my heart melted in my chest.
--Ellen Meister, author of Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next person Arlyn meets will be her destiny, February 8, 2007

By	Reader Views "www.readerviews.com" (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skylight Confessions: A Novel (Hardcover)

Reviewed by Kelli Glesige for Reader Views (1/07)

A tale spanning three generations, "Skylight Confessions" is the story of an unfortunate family whose destiny seems to be unhappiness, tragedy, and ultimate destruction. When Arlyn's father dies, John Moody is the first person she next meets, and Arlyn knows it is the plan that she should marry this man. John soon feels trapped by the dreamy Arlyn when she follows him until he too realizes it is destiny for them to wed. Sam is the offspring born shortly thereafter, and it is at this point that problems begin to occur. Both John and Arlyn realize they have made some incorrect decisions by being together. Sam is a very different and odd child, John becomes distant and works long hours, and Arlyn has an affair with the window washer, George Stone, who comes weekly to care for the windows of the glass house where John and Arlyn live. A few years later, a daughter Blanca is born, but only Arlyn knows for certain who the father is. At this point, real tragedy occurs, and Arlyn is given the same destiny as her mother.

In a gripping moment, the window washer George realizes how much Arlyn cares for him, for she has been wearing a very special pearl necklace intended as a gift from George to Arlyn, but which he was never formally able to present to her. The pearls are unique because they change color. The special pearls are later given to Sam for safekeeping and then to Blanca to wear as a memory of her mother. Blanca also wears the pearls with the same passion Arlyn did.

"Skylight Confessions" is unlike any book I have ever read. Its message is unfortunate and sad, and it left me thinking about a number of circumstances and the way they sometimes work out. For example, John believes he feels relief when Arlyn dies, but when Arlyn's ghost lingers with John for many years later, he realizes he had unsettled and strong feelings for Arlyn. However, this novel is captivating, riveting, and quite unpredictable. It is so gripping; I found the book hard to put down. Many of the characters seem to be on a path of destruction due to their unhappiness, and it was just rather sad to see what unhappiness can cause a person to become.

"Skylight Confessions" will keep you reading with anticipation. Hoffman is an interesting storyteller who creates visuals that are unique and very real, especially when she describes the beautiful views of nature from within the Moody's glass house. "Skylight Confessions" is a story about searching, family, and finding one's identity. This one will leave you thinking. It is for adult readers who want to read a story that will not soon be forgotten.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreak & Hope, January 28, 2007

By	Wantz Upon A Time Reviews "www.wantzuponatime... (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skylight Confessions: A Novel (Hardcover)

After her father's death, Arlyn Singer follows what she believes to be her destiny and weds John Moody. Completely mismatched, they wade through marriage and early parenthood, sometimes just barely keeping it together.

A devastating disease tears the family apart, leaving John to parent his troubled son and baby girl in a literal house of glass. Life moves on with a new wife and the help of a nanny. Yes, life moves on. But it isn't easy, as three generations of this family discover.

Hoffman's generational tale follows the paths taken by Arlyn's family. Each member faces what it means to live in the "Glass Slipper" house and beyond. It follows the family's potential devolution as Sam's brilliance is sucked away through drugs and alcohol, and Blanca is driven away by forces she hardly understands. As heartbreaking as it is hopeful, many layers of depth can be found buried in these pages.

Numerous point-of-view shifts make some scenes hard to follow, but this is otherwise a very readable novel. SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS will speak to anyone fascinated by family structure and the human spirit.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer
01/28/2007