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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780425169698
ISBN number: 0425169693
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: July 01, 1999
Publishing house: Berkley
Sale Popularity Level: 54578
Studio: Berkley
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
The bestselling author of Turtle Moon and Practical Magic tells her most seductive and mesmerizing tale yet--the story of March Murray, who returns to her small Massachusetts hometown after nineteen years, encountering her childhood sweetheart...and discovering the heartbreaking and complex truth about their reckless and romantic love.
'A sound addition to an impressive body of work.'--Boston Globe
'Sumptuous prose.'--Denver Post
'Here on Earth is Hoffman's twelfth novel, and the spell she casts is stronger than ever.'--Orlando Sentinel
* Includes a Reader's Guide
The New York Times bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection...with a Reader's Guide included.
Amazon.com Review:
Oprah Book Club® Selection, March 1998: Here on Earth is set in motion when March Murray and her teenage daughter travel from their California home to New England. Their stay is to be brief. Judith Dale, her childhood housekeeper-cum-foster mother, has died, and March must set things to right and get out of gloomy Jenkintown as quickly as possible. 'Five days tops,' she reassures her scientist husband. Instead, she is pulled back into the arms of Hollis, her very first love--an avaricious, Heathcliff-like individual who radiates sulfur and cruelty. 'She left and didn't come back, not even when he called her, and yet here she is, on this dark night; here and no place else.' In this deep fable of loss and control, love and fear, Alice Hoffman allows us into her characters' cores and makes us wish their fortunes were happier. Here on Earth is filled with wisdom, what-ifs, and animals who seem, if not to know more than human beings, at least to know how to shy from danger.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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At very first I thought this was a sad knock-off of Wuthering Heights and boy was I mad that I'd bothered to crack the spine! However, unlike Wuthering Heights, from which it clearly draws, this story explores not consuming passion (though that is a pillar of the story), but the nature of love and sacrifice. But by no means is this a romance; it's practically an anti-romance. Love in this book is often twisted, misdirected and excruciatingly painful. Even the budding relationship of the main character's best friend, which is by far the most wholesome and healthy, feels like a ticking time bomb and is tinged with a sense of hopelessness. As it is inspired by such a well known piece of literature it is not surprising that many of the characters are easily recognizable, but the end is uncertain until, well, the end. This book is an easy read that offers substance and challenges the reader to question if all things really are fair in love and war.
Rated by buyers 
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Wow. I loved this book - trying to explain why is not so easy though. It's certainly not a feel-good book, but for me, it was a deeply felt book. I read a lot of books that are well-written, good stories, but they don't make me feel the characters' pain and hope and love. The emotions Here on Earth brought out in me were pretty intense and I've been thinking about the book constantly for the last couple of days. I've been entranced by it, and to me that only underscores how wonderful a writer and storyteller Alice Hoffman is.
I think a lot of us have dreamed of the kind of passionate, all-encompassing love that March and Hollis had. But, as the book shows, not only are there incredible highs in such a relationship (obviously the sex was pretty amazing), but there is also a down-side. What if you love someone so much, or he loves you so much, that you can't function without the other - that you're only a shell of a person without them? What if your love/obsession destroys everything else?
Crazily enough, I kept rooting for Hollis to heal and reform until the very end. I couldn't hate him and I didn't want to give up on him either. I wanted to believe that underneath it all he was still that sad, fragile little boy. In other words, I became March, and probably millions of other people who stay in abusive relationships, hoping that the person they love will change. How much pain is too much pain? How much love is too much love? Is it better to just be "safe", in a relationship with limits and boundaries and at least somewhat separate lives?
I thought the ending was dead on. Something that intense can't last and I felt like Hollis was finally at peace after all those years of battling his demons. And probably there's no other way they could have quit each other.
I highly recommend this book - but not to everyone. It's definitely a journey into the darker side of love and not everyone wants to experience that. But I think Here on Earth has expanded my emotional range greatly, and that is what I want in a book - to feel more and to walk in someone else's shoes and understand myself and others just a little better.
I've started reading it again...
Rated by buyers 
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Great book to curl up with. I get bored easily and this kept my interest.
Rated by buyers 
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very trite, poorly written (sophomoric writing style with cliche flair) and weak plot that was fairly predictable. extremely disappointing and can't believe i wasted my time reading this.
Rated by buyers 
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This is an awful book. I don't read Oprah's Book Club books anymore because of this travesty. If you want a decent book based on Wuthering Heights, go read Wuthering Heights.
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