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Local Girls
The New York Times Book Review has noted, "Alice Hoffman writes quite wonderfully about the magic in our lives," and now she casts her spell over a Long Island neighborhood filled with dreamers and dreams. In a dazzling series of family portraits, Hoffman evokes the world of the Samuelsons, a family torn apart by tragedy and divorce in a world of bad judgment and...more
Compact Disc, 0 pages
Published
August 28th 2009
by Brilliance Corporation
(first published June 1st 1998)
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I had Mr. Gober as my English teacher in the ninth grade. He was a very strange man, too strange really to document in this tiny little space, but this isn't about how strange he was. This is about how he assigned us the worst books to read, and very few of them at that. Everyone else was reading The Catcher in the Rye, while we were reading Bang the Drum Slowly--blech. I began to hate reading (and baseball), because all the books I had to read were not my taste at all.
For one assi...more
For one assi...more
This is the book that proved to one of my best friends that despite my addiction to slutty romances, I do actually have good taste in books. I'd been telling her for years to read Alice Hoffman, but, due to the aforementioned, she kept taking a pass. Then came this book, which felt autobiographical there were so many parallels to our lives & friendship. I forced the issue and gave her a copy for her birthday. Needless to say, I am redeemed. The friendship portrayed in this book with its ups an...more
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Cherie
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Alice Hoffman fans, Emily P, Venessa, Emily T
Shelves:
fiction,
oneofmyfaves
Note: Just re-read this again. This book is so phenomenal, so amazing. The emotions are so real it will make you forget your own problems. It's one of my all-time favourite books. Read it. (13 July 2009)
I have read this book so many times, and most recently, a few weeks ago. A novel in short stories, this is the fantastic story of the life of a suburban girl (and I believe the town is to be the one I grew up in!) and how things can go so horribly wrong so quickly...but luckily our na...more
I have read this book so many times, and most recently, a few weeks ago. A novel in short stories, this is the fantastic story of the life of a suburban girl (and I believe the town is to be the one I grew up in!) and how things can go so horribly wrong so quickly...but luckily our na...more
This is a sort of cross between a collection of short stories and a novel. The stories are all about Gretel Samuelson, who lives in a small town which she can't wait to leave. The stories follow her from girlhood to womanhood, and also focus on her family - most are told in the first person, but a few in the third. This format gives a slightly disjointed feeling at times but I still think it works very well.
Some of the stories are very powerful, especially one which follows Gretel's broth...more
Some of the stories are very powerful, especially one which follows Gretel's broth...more
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Beautiful and mesmerizing. It's technically a collection of short stories, but they're all about the same set of characters. Anyone who grew up in a small town or was a little white trash will really appreciate this. My only complaint is that it was a tad depressing at times, but it was ultimately hopeful. Worth reading or listening to the audiobook, which is very nice.
This was the second book I read from Alice Hoffman--the first was Practical Magic. This wasn't as well developed as PM, but it was still an entertaining read. She started out telling the story from Gretel's point of view and then switched to 3rd person narratives of different characters halfway through. She is actually a stronger writer in 3rd person, but switching the voice halfway made the novel seem less cohesive. Still, the ending scene reminded me of when my friend Amy came to visit me ...more
This is a beautifully written book. I love Hoffman's writing style and a lot of the descriptions she uses are poetic.
I loved the characters, but it is a quick read so you don't get as in-depth as you might like. The storyline itself is a tad depressing and anti-climactic. This is partially because of the format of the book. It is comprised of short stories, but they are all about the same characters and they are in chronological order. Except there are gaps in time. So really, ...more
I loved the characters, but it is a quick read so you don't get as in-depth as you might like. The storyline itself is a tad depressing and anti-climactic. This is partially because of the format of the book. It is comprised of short stories, but they are all about the same characters and they are in chronological order. Except there are gaps in time. So really, ...more
I always remember Hoffman as a skilled writer, and this collection of linked stories reminds me of why I do! The first reader, responsible for all the stories told in first person, reads fast, so Hoffman's words come at me like a blizzard--and she's good! She's insightful! She's funny, wry, and precise. So far (I'm on side 2 of tape 2 of 3), her "practical magic" is toned down--sparks DO fly from Gretel's fingers when she finally falls in love, but nothing as overt as in many of her no...more
I felt like the characters in this book were people who might live down the street. Gretel and Jill, Franny and Margot were all women I could relate to. They were women I think I would be friends with. Although it was not a long book, it was told with skill and you were given insights into the womens' lives and you could understand their struggles, heartbreaks and successes. I loved the ending, simple but fulfilling. As a reader, I have an on/off relationships with Alice Hoffman. Sometimes...more
This one grew on me. It felt a bit lazy to start with, as though Alice was on autopilot. Ostensibly short stories, but she doesn't end them very well, and they are all linked and in chronological order anyway. So it may as well be a novel but without the bits she didn't want to write, otherwise you'd expect the stories to be self-contained gems. A couple of them are powerful, and the whole thing grew on me and made me feel warm and fuzzy and like life was really worth living. Not as good as The ...more
I think part of what makes me such a heavy reader is the fact that I love books like I love people. Because quite frankly, books are very much like people in so many ways. They speak of lives and hold secrets. They keep you company, they become a refuge. You can love or hate them. They can have odd first impressions and feelings that you could shake off a few days later or probably they could linger a little bit longer than you think they would, and if you’re lucky, sometimes they can also chang...more
One of Ms. Hoffman's earlier works(?) from 1999, this is a lovely and moving story of Gretel Samuelson, coming of age amidst the break-up of her parent's marriage, the death of her grandmother, and her mother's battle with, and eventual demise from, cancer.
These beautifully realized characters are so human, and their struggles to come to terms with the events impacting their lives are universal and terribly familiar.
And yet, it is an ultimately a very positive novel, alth...more
These beautifully realized characters are so human, and their struggles to come to terms with the events impacting their lives are universal and terribly familiar.
And yet, it is an ultimately a very positive novel, alth...more
Coming of age novels are a dime a dozen and unfortunately they rarely resonate with me. This book is a small little gem that opened up all kinds of memories for me. For the first time, I encountered a fictional character that I related to.
Local Girls is a collection of basically short stories that follow a family as it grows, changes and encounters difficulties and successes. It's hard to convey things so succinctly and still pack such a powerful punch. But Alice Hoffman does ...more
For some reason this dark book fit the mood ... it is about a young girl growing up and along the way, she loses her mother to cancer and her brilliant brother to drug abuse. It all started when her father left the family.
You would think that I would not like this book ... but I do. It was written lyrically and beautifully ... one could not help but turn the pages. It wasn't macrabre as much as it is sad and tender. And hopeful.
I will be reading Hoffman's books sooner t...more
You would think that I would not like this book ... but I do. It was written lyrically and beautifully ... one could not help but turn the pages. It wasn't macrabre as much as it is sad and tender. And hopeful.
I will be reading Hoffman's books sooner t...more
This was my first introduction to Alice Hoffman, and I have to say she is very talented, but I found myself wishing this were a novel instead of a series of short stories. She reminds me a great deal of an older, wiser, more serious Jennifer Weiner, and perhaps that's why I wanted a novel here too (see review for The Guy Not Taken). However, I do think it is a good introduction to her, and it definitely led me to read other books that I loved very much.
I read this in one sitting, and it was a mildly moving piece of fiction that felt a lot more like a collection of first chapters from a series of books. I enjoyed the format, but it meant that you didn't really get much depth of character, though you did get a surprising amount of implied depth. I think, however, this was a carefully constructed pool of shallow depth - I think it took a lot of restraint on the author's part to do this.
I actually took every free moment I had to read this one. Alice Hoffman has a way of swirling you into a world, a life, a place you might never think you could relate to. There is always a common grace between people through life and experience and she has a way of touching, even if ever so slightly, those little bits of common threads we all share. And she does it with magic, food, air, bits of humor. I decided to give it three stars only because I really wanted to learn more about the charact...more
I read this book in one night. I think that says it all. Even though the story was rather tragic, I like how Alice H. always threads together a 'veil of hope' at the end of all her novels. I personally like that there is not a clear message of what new wonderful things are to come, I can imagine them myself. This story was heartbreakingly true to me, especially since I just lost a friend recently to cancer. m
Read this last night because I was up with insomnia and an upset stomach. it kept me interested but was terribly depressing. I inherited a stack of Alice Hoffman books from a friend who moved away, and even though I tend to enjoy them at some level, the relationships and characters within seem foreign to me. Not because I don't think they are realistically written, but because my reality is so far from that.
A well-written, episodic coming-of-age story. Nearly every chapter stands on its own as a short story--they just all happen to involve the same characters. (In fact, I KNOW I read one of the chapters somewhere else!). While not completely depressing, it's also not a very uplifting book, though some elements of magical realism bring a hope that clearly isn't present in the "real" world of the book.
One of my favorites, and probably will remain so for all time. Every section is filled with as much intense emotion as the last, and you can pick up and start from any page and be immediately absorbed.
It's not hard to remember that, this book, was written about people. People who hurt and care and make mistakes and fall sometimes. I think that's part of what makes it all so beautiful.
It's not hard to remember that, this book, was written about people. People who hurt and care and make mistakes and fall sometimes. I think that's part of what makes it all so beautiful.
i liked the first half of this young adult novel better than the second half.
"Say what you want about the Mustang, it may be gorgeous, but it has very little trunk space. I had to sit in the back seat with the hair dryer and the makeup case on my lap all the way to Franconia, but that didn't stop me from keeping my fingers crossed and wishing we'd wind up someplace other than home."
"Say what you want about the Mustang, it may be gorgeous, but it has very little trunk space. I had to sit in the back seat with the hair dryer and the makeup case on my lap all the way to Franconia, but that didn't stop me from keeping my fingers crossed and wishing we'd wind up someplace other than home."
treehugger
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Hoffman fans, readers who appreciate the tortured teenage years
Shelves:
short-stories_and_essays,
coming-of-age
I saw a LOT of parallels between this serial novel and Skylight Confessions, and wonder if Hoffman didn't just write about the same character using 2 names and very slightly different family circumstances. Again, while I have always considered myself to be a really big Hoffman fan, I'm a little disappointed in how DARK this and the Skylight Confessions really were at their core.
They both left me feeling a bit icky, but the writing was superb as always, and although the events in t...more
They both left me feeling a bit icky, but the writing was superb as always, and although the events in t...more
Laura
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
teens, people from Franklin Square, everyone
*Spoiler warning* This was another book I "had" to read because it was on the summer reading list, and I ended up really enjoying it. Interestingly, as I was reading it and making note of some of the geographical references to places in the novel, I thought to myself, "It sounds like she's talking about Franklin Square!"(the town I grew up in). Sure enough, after a little research, it turns out Alice Hoffman is indeed a product of FS, which made me enjoy the book even more. T...more
Alice Hoffman is like a long-time friend -- her books are always enjoyable. I thought I had read this years ago but was pleasantly surprised when I discovered I hadn't. A quick read, but still good. Sort of like short stories but all wrapped around the life of Gretel in Long Island from her tween years through adulthood.
I enjoyed these stories. Because Alice Hoffman follows the same character through a number of years, it sort of reads like a novel however, because of the way it is broken up into separate stories, it is much easier to put down when I need to take time out to do everyday tasks...that will not necessarily get done if I am engrossed in a novel.
I have never read a book with this type of format before. It was very easy to get through. There was no pressure to read on (like there may be for me in a novel) but, unlike different short stories, I wanted to read on to see what becomes of the characters.
The author's narrative really transported me to the time and place, and, at times, reminded me of places I've been or feelings I've felt while experiencing certain events and places in my own life. There were many individual se...more
The author's narrative really transported me to the time and place, and, at times, reminded me of places I've been or feelings I've felt while experiencing certain events and places in my own life. There were many individual se...more
Alice Hoffman is one of my favourite authors.
This particular book, however, I found depressing. People are dying all over the place. Each chapter is like a mini story with the overall effect of having a lot of little stories in one book. I found this format difficult to follow and annoying to read. There is still the element of Magic but to a lesser degree than some of her other work. Overall I rate this novel 3 stars.
This particular book, however, I found depressing. People are dying all over the place. Each chapter is like a mini story with the overall effect of having a lot of little stories in one book. I found this format difficult to follow and annoying to read. There is still the element of Magic but to a lesser degree than some of her other work. Overall I rate this novel 3 stars.
Strange that i read this just after listening to the audio of Skylight confessions, there were some strong similarities almost like parts of this book were pre-writing for Skylight Confessions. This book was okay. Not my favorite of Alice Hoffman's books, (and I LOVE Alice HOffman) but enjoyable.
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Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston and New Yor...more
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“...he had a way of taking your hand which made it clear he'd have to be the one to let go."
From Alice Hoffman's "Local Girls", pg.102.”
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103 people liked it
From Alice Hoffman's "Local Girls", pg.102.”
“Here's the thing about luck...you don't know if it's good or bad until you have some perspective.”
—
51 people liked it
More quotes…
