Excellent author - excellent book! Usually, when I listen to an audio book I find myself distracted at some point and have to back up and listen to that part again. Not with Alice Hoffman books. I wouldn't call this an upbeat story by any stretch of the imagination and the beginning of the book is a stretch of the imagination. The characters feel real to me - their heartaches and tragedies and lives in general seem authentic and believable.I am happy to know that Alice Hoffman has many books I have not read - they are now on my list of "want to read." I just couldn't get into this story. I could too readily see the author's mechanisms for trying to make the narrative seem otherworldly. I also had immense trouble with the unrealistic portrayal of a heroin addict. There's no way that an addict is going to fool another addict and a heroin addict is shooting up every day, no matter how good they are at maintenance, they aren't going to be able to hide that.In the end, the story just seemed long and drawn out and it was a short book. Definitely not on par with Practical Magic, which I loved.
Such beautiful writing, what a shame that the plot was ludicrous.
—stacey
One of my favorite Alice Hoffman books (so far).
—Karen101
This was a thoroughly enjoyable novel.
—Geeelatine
Very well written, engaging.
—nummy15
