Review: Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman

Title: Seventh Heaven

Author: Alice Hoffman

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It?
It's really hard to say. This book is not at all what I expected. Somehow, I feel like saying "adults." I don't really know why, but it seems like maybe "adults," whatever that means, would enjoy it.

What I Have to Say:
This book really was NOT what I expected. I had never read anything Alice Hoffman before, and based on the reviews I had read of this book, I expected something beautifully real, magically simplistic. Unfortunately what I got was a motley crew of characters with whom I couldn't relate living what seemed to me to be awful lives and doing awfully stupid things.

This story is, overall, about a woman named Nora, a divorcee with two children who moves onto a street of married ladies who seem to think divorce is one of the worst possible things that could happen. Nora is an interesting character who could be more interesting but is unfortunately underdeveloped. Hoffman spends so much time jumping back and forth, back and forth between all of the characters living on the road that you never get a real feel for any of them. There are some for whom I THINK I am supposed to feel sympathy (Nora actually being one of these) but who I instead severely dislike. There is so much bad in all of the characters, and the author doesn't do nearly enough to show us that they may have a good side as well.

This wouldn't be a problem, except that it seems like she TRIES to. And fails. And so what we end up with instead is a story that trudges on for FAR too long while we wait for something to happen to characters we don't care about. And then when the book FINALLY ended, I still wasn't entirely sure why I had read it. Sure, some transformations and changes took place, but I never got a feel for the actual story, the actual plot, if there even was one.

That's a lot of negativity, but there were some things I appreciated about the book. Despite disagreeing with several of Nora's choices, I felt that the dilemmas she faced, the traumas she went through, were all very real. And there were times that I was amazed at the way she composed herself and reacted to, well, life. In Seventh Heaven, Hoffman also gives us a clear, if somewhat exaggerated, view of what life must have been like for a divorcee in the 50s. While this is not an issue I particularly think about, I can see how it might be appealing to some.

Also, despite seemingly trudging/sludging on at certain points, overall it was a fast, easy read. And the reading of it wasn't a completely unpleasant experience. I'd be interested to know if others had a better opinion of this book than I did.

Summary:
Nora Silk doesn’t really fit in on Hemlock Street, where every house looks the same. She's divorced. She wears a charm bracelet and high heels and red toreador pants. And the way she raises her kids is a scandal. But as time passes, the neighbors start having second thoughts about Nora. The women’s apprehension evolves into admiration. The men’s lust evolves into awe. The children are drawn to her in ways they can't explain. And everyone on this little street in 1959 Long Island seems to sense the possibilities and perils of a different kind of future when they look at Nora Silk...This extraordinary novel by the author of The River King and Local Girls takes us back to a time when the exotic both terrified and intrigued us, and despite our most desperate attempts, our passions and secrets remained as stubbornly alive as the weeds in our well-trimmed lawns.

Cover Story: Underwhelmed

Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

With Austenland recently having been turned into a movie, that was recently screened at Sundance, I figured it was a great time to write a review of a book I read last year in my unfortunate non-bloggy phase. I don't know about you, but I'll definitely be looking forward to an opportunity to check out this movie!

Title: Austenland

Author: Shannon Hale

Rating:

Who Should Read It? Are you a Jane Austen fan? Fan of sappy, sweet, forbidden romance? Especially those that occur for a girl who is just plain bad at love? Ever thought you were in love with Mr. Darcy but keep inevitably falling for the wrong Mr. Wickham? Then maybe this book is for you! If you answered yes to any of these questions, this book is for you!

What I Have to Say: I'll admit it. I'm a little bit in love with Mr. Darcy. I even have a necklace with an image of the fictional Mister Darcy, so that when I wear it, I can keep it close to my heart. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, or every time I watch one of the MANY video versions, I sob like crazy, especially when Mr. Darcy tells Lizzie "I love you, most ardently." I'm about to start crying right now, just thinking about it.

So you would think that a book about a fellow Austen lover, who goes to an amazing land where everything is Austen, would totally do it for me. And in many ways, it did. The Austenland Hale has created - yeah, I totally want to go there. There were some really awful seeming things about it, and, in many ways, I'm sure I would react the way that Jane did (you'll just have to read about that when you read the book). But in those awful things, Austenland remains true to the spirit of Pride and Prejudice, the spirit of 1816.

Really, I quite sympathized with Jane, even if I did somewhat understand how her obsession with Darcy and perfection left her a single New York "spinster" at the age of 33. Sometimes I wanted to punch her in the face or yell at her that she should do things differently, but still, throughout the book, I found myself rooting for her, hoping that she managed to either get over her obsession with perfection or find the man that would be "Mister Perfect" for her.

And then there's Hale's writing style. I've been a big fan of her in the past - I love the simplistic yet fantastical way that she presents things, the easy way her text flows smoothly from one idea into the next. Austenland was no different and, as it was the first time I'd read Shannon Hale in a while, it kind of felt like "coming home."

Now, while the style and the characters and even the idea of the book were very "Hale" esque, I sort of felt like the actual way the story played out wasn't. The characters didn't seem to really develop, and, aside from Jane, we never really got to know them, anyway. And then there's fact that Jane's dead Aunt sends her to Austenland as "therapy." I wished it would have worked that way for Jane, but I don't really get the feeling that she actually learned anything. She had so much opportunity for growth, and I just felt like she never took it. This made reading "Austenland" somewhat frustrating.

All this said, I'm somewhat wishy washy as to my overall feelings about the book. I loved it. I want to be single and go to Austenland. I want my own Mister Darcy! It has me dreaming that maybe such a place could exist! But then, I'm somewhat disappointed with the way Hale dealt with the world of possibilities. I'll still be reading Midnight in Austenland. No doubt!

Summary: Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man—perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own? Don't miss Shannon Hale's next book, Midnight in Austenland, a mystery set at Pemberly available in February, 2012.

Cover Story: Soooo cute! I love covers like this! Even if I didn't know this book were by Shannon Hale or Jane Austen themed, I would want to read it just for the cover!