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Dec 17, 2009

Meagan rated it:

Honestly, this book was one of the best depictions of mother-daughter relationships I've ever read. I felt for both mother and child in it, I could see both sides and where both were coming from - yet unlike other novels, I saw no clear way to fix it, because there was no clear way to fix things. It was kind of heartbreaking to read, because I saw my own relationship with my mom in Hoffman's words.

The only downside to the plot was Stella's relationship with the football player. It se More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2009

LeAnn rated it:

Hoffman's description of her made-up New England town is simultaneously realistic and lushly magical. She sets a stage well, with assertions about Massachusetts in March that lead the reader to accept that females born into a certain family have gifts no living person can have: the ability to see how someone will die, to experience another person's dreams, to identify a liar on sight.

Hoffman ties everything up very neatly, so that all the females have a love interest, bad guys lose o More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 19, 2008

Izetta Autumn rated it:

Some of the writing in Alice Hoffman's novel is truly inspired. Her characters do indeed come to life, even if at times they seem to be tried and true caricatures of New England. Hoffman has been quoted as saying that "books may be the only real magic," and certainly it's clear from her prose that she wants the reader to feel magical.

The Probably Future follows the story of three Sparrow womyn: Elinor, Jenny, and Stella. The three are descended from a long line of womyn kn More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 23, 2011

Tina rated it:

This was a fantastic book! It was beautifully written and nicely plotted. Basically, at the age of 13, each girl in the family develops some type of supernatural ability. This novel explored the intricate relationships of mothers/daughters as well as including some "redemption" for a much-misunderstood relative from years ago. This is the first novel of Hoffmans's I have read, and it will be the first of many if they are all this good!

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

I though I'd read this when it came out, and was right- I had- but went ahead and reread it anyway. Hoffman has a thing about the relationships of women in a family lineage- Practical Magic, Blackbird House both come to mind. But she has such a lyrical way of breathing life into her characters, that the journey is magical. Her books start off and you can feel the breeze, smell the scents in the wind, feel the weight of the very air. She weaves the environment into every story, whether it's More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 15, 2011

Patricia rated it:

The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people’s dreams as they’re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Carolina rated it:

The Probable Future is the story of the Sparrow women, each of whom discovers their own unique ability on their 13th birthday. Though many Sparrow women are mentioned, the story mainly concerns the three latest generations. Elinor, the current matriarch, can discern liars; Jenny, the mother, dreams other people’s dreams; and Stella, the daughter can see the manner in which people will die. Along the way we learn a little about their infamous ancestor, Rebecca Sparrow, who was blessed (or cursed) More...

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May 07, 2011

Nardia rated it:

This is a lovely story. I was hooked from the start, reading it all in two sittings, and when the book finally let me go it was with a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Alice Hoffman's grasp on her words is just magical; tightly controlled, so that each sentence seems to hold layers of meaning, but also flowing easily from the tongue. There's definitely a certain poetry in the way she weaves the environments where the story takes place, and she doesn't write as though her readers are stupid. Many More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 10, 2011

Angela rated it:

The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people’s dreams as they’re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles More...

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Feb 20, 2011

Lis rated it:

The Sparrows are a family of women who've lived in a small Massachusetts town since colonial times, their lives enlivened by a magical gift (different for each of them) that first manifests itself on their thirteenth birthdays. As is often the case with magic, the term "gift" is applied here fairly loosely. In the present day, Elinor always knows a lie, her daughter Jenny experiences other people's dreams, and granddaughter Stella, just turned thirteen, has developed the ability to see More...

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Dec 07, 2010

Badly Drawn Girl rated it:

I have some mixed feelings about this book which usually happens when I read a book that allows me to suspend belief but which doesn't have enough substance to sustain my enjoyment beyond the act of reading. To put it simply, while reading it I was sucked into the fairy tale like quality. But after I was finished (and had come back down to earth) the flaws showed up quite clearly. I felt that people changed too much, too quickly... and that in hindsight the story had some huge holes in t More...

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May 03, 2010

Shannon rated it:

The Probable Future was a great beach read: quickly compelling, easy to read but thought provoking. It follows three generations of Sparrow women: Stella, Jenny and Elinor. For generations, the women of this family have received a gift on their thirteenth birthday (such as the ability to go without sleep or the ability to literally smell a lie). Stella's thirteenth is fast approaching and brings her a gift that indirectly results in her father being arrested on charges of murder.

A More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 02, 2009

Lynda rated it:

This was a beautifully written book about the Sparrow’s family history spanning 13 generations. Rebecca Sparrow walked out of the woods one day when she was seven or eight and no one knew where she originated. Named Rebecca by the washerwoman who took her in and Sparrow by the local boys who saw Sparrows flocking to her almost supernaturally, she lived a short life affecting the small town of Unity, Massachusettes for generations to come.

Each Sparrow woman kept her surname and bore o More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 04, 2009

Gayle rated it:

Alice Hoffman has made a name for herself with such novels as Practical Magic, but I have not read her before this. The Probable Future touches on the lives of the Sparrow women, residents of Unity for generations, and definitely different. Each receives a gift on her thirteenth birthday: Elinor is able to smell a lie, her daughter Jenny dreams other people's dreams, and Jenny's daughter Stella can look at a person and see how they will die. Stella's inexperience in dealing with her gift results More...

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Jul 30, 2010

Dana rated it:

Upon Stella Sparrow's thirteenth birthday she develops a skill to see how other people will die. Each of the woman born in the Sparrow clan has a different ability. Her mother (Jenny) sees other people's dreams and her grandmother (Elinor) can see when people lie. When Stella tries to prevent a murder, her father is accused of homicide.

Jenny must try to protect her daughter from all the media and turmoil of the trial and decides to send her to her hometown of Unity and the ancestral More...

1 comment like

Mar 01, 2011

Kelly rated it:

Some things, Ms. Hoffman, some things need not be explained until the words don't even sound like words anymore. In fact, Ms. Hoffman explains the setting (ie. Cake House, flora, fauna, seasons in MA, etc) so much and in so many different ways, she makes Stephen King look terse. And that, people, is talent.

The characters are one-dimensional, unrealistic, and completely unlikeable. The women in the novel are either two of the following: cold and constantly angry for no valid reason or d More...

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Jun 09, 2009

Lisa added it

This has magical realism -- not just a Usan style of it, reminiscent of John Crowley's Little, Big, but a specifically New English breed. It has the type of history New England excels at: genealogical, village ("municipal" is too antiseptic), and architectural. The genealogical element concerned (largely) a string of single daughters and therefore mother-daughter relationships and tensions wound themselves throughout the plot.* It has a house that, like Edgewood and the Buendias' house More...

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Mar 09, 2010

Vanessa rated it:

This was a book I just stumbled upon in the library. I was looking for a book read by Susan Ericksen, my favorite female reader. I wasn't sure whether I would like it because it took over half of the first disc to get to any dialog. But I soon got caught up in the lives of the people of Unity. This has some paranormal fantasy, but it is primarily about relationships between mother and daughter, wive and husband, lost and found loves, redemption and forgiveness. There is also a killer in this no More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jun 25, 2009

Cindy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like

Nov 16, 2010

Terri rated it:

I liked this one a whole lot better than Practical Magic. I felt more inclined to care about the characters, not so much like they were being held and their lives viewed from a distance as before. But that sense of passivity was still there, only less so. So now it has been verified for me that this is the author's style. Lots of narration rich with insight, not so much with the action (I'm not referring to pirate ships or car chases here, either, just literally action - as in something happenin More...

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Dec 11, 2009

Susie rated it:

Women of the Sparrow family have unusual gifts. Elinor can detect falsehood. Her daughter, jenny can see people’s dreams when they sleep. Granddaughter Stella has a mental window to the future-a future she might not want to see. When Stella’s premonitions puts her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide.

This is a story of magical realism and 3 generations of women trying to handle the legacy of the Sparrow family and their own relationships with each other.

This is my More...

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Feb 05, 2011

Ape rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Aug 19, 2011

Marion rated it:

I found this book at a book sale and thought it sounded like a good story. Well, I was wrong. It is a GREAT story!

The plot hearkens back to the day when a young girl walks out of the woods and into a colonial New England town. She has the ability to call the birds to her (sparrows) and thus is given the last name of Sparrow. From her untimely death to the present each of her female descendents is given a special ability on her thirteenth birthday. Each one is unique and serves a dif More...

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Aug 04, 2009

Schmacko rated it:

(This is a little long, cuz I get bitchy.)

There’s an audience for this type of Hoffman novel. I probably ain’t it.

I would guess that Hoffman’s core readers as transcendental herbalists from Martha’s Vineyard, and I’m sure I’m not that! So, maybe I was destined to dislike this book

The Probable Future is about the three most recent generations of the Sparrow women. All Sparrow women have witch-like gifts, like being about to sniff out liars or the talent to More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 20, 2011

Jackie rated it:

I enjoyed this magical and picturesque story about a family of women descended from a girl who ran out of the woods into a tiny Massachusetts one day, speaking an unknown language. Each woman who descended from Rebecca Sparrow is born in the spring and has a unique ability they discover on their 13th birthday.
Whereas Hoffman could have focused far more on these abilities, such as the ability to see what fate will befall a person or when a person lies, The Probable Future is more about ma More...

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Aug 07, 2011

Jodie rated it:

3.5 stars.
An atmospheric story set in an idyllic picturesque town. I liked this book but there were parts of it that were lacking. The setting is really wonderful. Ms Hoffman has a way of describing gardens and houses and towns that are so realistic that as a reader you really can picture the scenes that her characters are in. I loved the take on the Sparrow family women and there "gifts" and I really appreciated the strength of these women that went back generations in the Mass More...

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Aug 06, 2009

Marvin rated it:

Hoffman is, as always, a good writer, with brilliant writing and keen psychological and emotional insight into her characters, especially her adolescent ones. This book confirms her strengths, except it's probably a little softer around the edges than most of her other books. Here the central characters are many generations (especially the last 3) of women in a New England family, each of whom discovers at age 13 a special gift, such as the ability to tell when someone is lying, to dream other p More...

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Dec 27, 2010

karen rated it:

How is this not a movie yet? Maybe "just" a Lifetime movie, but SOME VARIETY OF MOVIE. It seems ripe for it.

Oh, wait, it looks like there is a version of The Probable Future headed that way -- I can't find much about it, but it seems to be a Thing. Called it.

I've read Hoffman before, and am a fan of her writing, which reminds me of fairy tales. So coming in, I expected to like this novel, and I did. My only problem was the predictability of most of the plot poin More...

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Mar 26, 2009

Mary rated it:

I just finished this book in a shower of tears, which were also evident elsewhere in the book. I liked it very much and will probably reread it, though not immediately, as I am currently still rereading Alice Hoffman's The Third Angel.

This book is primarily about three generations of women int he Sparrow family, but it actually goes back to 1682, many generations of Sparrow women, each with a special gift. Murders occur, including a current one, betrayals, love affairs. There are More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Gemma rated it:

In line with my recent observation that it is a book's setting, atmosphere, the background details about the lives of characters that is most likely to mean that i enjoy it, rather than the actual story, I went into the library last week with the specific aim of borrowing a book set in Massachusetts. I ended up with Probably Future by Hoffman. In some ways this was a bad choice since I'm not a fan in general of magical realism; but a good one since I am into female POWER (even if mystical). I di More...

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