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Blackbird House
Blackbird House
Author: Alice Hoffman
With ?incantatory prose? that ?sweeps over the reader like a dream,? (Philadelphia Inquirer), Hoffman follows her celebrated bestseller The Probable Future, with an evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years. — In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alic...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780385507615
ISBN-10: 0385507615
Publication Date: 7/20/2004
Pages: 240
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 52

3.6 stars, based on 52 ratings
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Leigh avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 378 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 9
Although certainly not her best work, this is Hoffman's typically lyric prose, brimming with metaphor and similie. The stories are engaging enough to hold your interest throughout, but a few I wish she'd written more about, as I'd become a bit more intrigued with the characters than I'd expected to be.
VivaLaVole avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 119 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Beautifully, lyrically written, as are all of her books. Each powerful "story" focuses on the inhabitants of a particular house isolated out on Cape Cod through the centuries of its existence. Definitely recommended reading for Hoffman fans!
TarynC avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 213 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I love Alice Hoffman and this book didn't dissapoint. It is basically a group of short stories that take place in a 200 yr period in the same cottage in New England. Some of the stories are connected in some way, some are completely different. The book is a quick read but thought provoking. I highly recommend this book especially if you are a Hoffman fan.
farfella68 avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 84 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I didn't really see the point to the collection of stories. I thought that they would all have something in common in the end, but no such luck. Each story seemed more depressing than the first. The tragedies that occurred in the blackbird house were very sad and made me feel sympathetic toward the characters. I don't believe that this was her best book.
reviewed Blackbird House on + 11 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
The stories in this book were interesting but a little confusing, because it is almost a series of short stories, except that some of the people were related and the house was always involved. I kept going back and trying to figure out how people related to each other. It was a good read.
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jamiG avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 37 more book reviews
A walk through time of the families and communities involved with a small farm home in Cape Cod. Follows the stories through two centuries with many ties from one to the other, giving a close look into personal lives and actions and the justifications behind them. Sadness and loss are mingled with the happy, sometimes bittersweet, moments that make up a life. A quick and interesting read.
manyblackbears avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 10 more book reviews
Great book!!!!!!!!!!!! I read it all in two days. This Author knows how to write really interesting stories.
It's about different families and generations who lived in this one house up on the cape. It's amazing house somethings juts never change. The stories are exciting mysterious heartwarming and even a bit scary. You laugh, cry, and wonder what will happen next. It's must if you like to read something definitely NOT BORING!!!!!!!!
obiwankenobi avatar reviewed Blackbird House on + 17 more book reviews
The stories in the book entertwine well. Some more interesting than others.
emeraldfire avatar reviewed Blackbird House on
Welcome to Blackbird House - a small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod, imbued with as much vitality as the people who live there. For the past two centuries, Blackbird House has stood as a testament to time and the passage of history; a place as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet. There is Violet Cross, a brilliant young woman who is in love with books and with a man who is destined to betray her; Lysander Wynn, attacked by a halibut the size of horse, is convinced that his life is ruined until a boarder wearing red boots arrives to change everything; and Maya Cooper, someone who does not understand the true meaning of the love shared between her mother and father until it is almost too late.

From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to present day in our own modern world, for each family that lives within the walls of Blackbird House, their lives are inexorably changed for however long they may stay. Not only by the people they love, but also by themselves and the lives that they lead within Blackbird House. For more than a dozen men and women who have lived inside Blackbird House, they will learn just how much love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives.

These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. In a rare and gorgeous departure, Alice Hoffman weaves a web of evocative tales that becomes a glorious travelogue through time and fate, through loss and love and survival. The past both dissipates and remains contained inside the rooms of Blackbird House, where there are terrible secrets, inspired beauty, and, above all else, a spirit of coming home.

I must admit that I was slightly disappointed in my reading of Blackbird House; but that is only because I wanted more from each story. It felt slightly incomplete to me. I suppose that was because I wanted to know more of a back story with each of the characters, and I had a nagging feeling of being left hanging, wondering what would happen next. In my opinion though, reading this book was certainly still very enjoyable.

In my opinion, each story was beautifully and lyrically written, if somewhat unusual and fantastic in places. I would give Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman a definite A! I have maybe two or three other books by Ms. Hoffman on my bookshelf that I might be interested in reading sometime in the future, but I'll need to search them out. I'm sure they'll turn up at some point.
reviewed Blackbird House on + 42 more book reviews
An interesting story about families who lived in a house over many generations. An easy read, well written.
reviewed Blackbird House on + 33 more book reviews
From the time of the British occupation of Massachusetts to our own modern world, Hoffman weaves a web of tales centering around a small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod. As always, Hoffman is magical.


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