From the "New York Times" Bestselling
Author of "The Third Angel"
Alice Hoffman's previous novel, "The Third Angel," washailed as "an unfor... read full description
Author of "The Third Angel"
Alice Hoffman's previous novel, "The Third Angel," washailed as "an unfor... read full description
reviews
Feb 13, 2011
Michele
rated it: 
There really needs to be a 6th star for Alice Hoffman. When I see that there is a new novel out, I get butterflies in my stomach in antipation of the joy that is about to be held in my hands. Before I turn the cover, I am like a child again on Xmas morning - just before the household wakes, and it is time for presents to be opened. I cancel life, and settle in for my journey. My breath shortens as I read, and my heart swells amidst the beauty of her words and the love that she paints - somet
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(11 people liked it)
Jul 26, 2011
Lynn
rated it:
Alice Hoffman doesn't just write about magical reality, she performs it. I had no idea, really, what to expect when I picked this up (other than lovely prose and captivating characters, of course) since no one else I know has read it yet. What happened was like being grabbed by the throat and yanked into the Story sisters' world. Each Alice Hoffman book has me greedily reading as if starved for words and language, and when I am through, I usually feel wistful, but sated. With this book, the ba
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
Stephanie
rated it: 
This was a rather strange book - it was dark, mysterious and also enchanting as well as being a very difficult book to describe! The way that it is written is detailed and beautiful - I really do think that the writing style should be commended. Especially in the sections situated in Paris, I soaked up the atmosphere and felt as though I was there. The subjects that are faced in this book are pretty 'sinister' (Abuse, mental issues, drugs) and the book does seem dark, but not at all horrifying -
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Jul 24, 2010
Dawn
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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6 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Aug 02, 2011
Recommendation: don't start this book at 1am when you're in bed and want to read for just a couple minutes before sleeping. No, you'll be up for the next 4-5 hours because this book, while not the most astounding or deep work of literature ever, is nevertheless unputdownable. And now, several days later I'm still thinking about it.
I've been a longtime fan of Alice Hoffman and I feel like her newer books are getting increasingly Jodi Picoultesque with all the over the top melodrama and super-conv More...
I've been a longtime fan of Alice Hoffman and I feel like her newer books are getting increasingly Jodi Picoultesque with all the over the top melodrama and super-conv More...
Dec 17, 2011
Christina (Reading Thru The Night)
rated it:
EDIT: I made an error with the names and apologize for the confusionl Annie is the Story sisters' mother; below, I was talking about Claire, not Annie, and made the appropriate changes.
"The Story sisters had isolated themselves from the rest of the world, as though they were mere travelers in the here and now, meant for some other time and place. Such activities caused nonattachment, delusions, disloyalty. The world they livd in should have been enough." (89)
First, More...
"The Story sisters had isolated themselves from the rest of the world, as though they were mere travelers in the here and now, meant for some other time and place. Such activities caused nonattachment, delusions, disloyalty. The world they livd in should have been enough." (89)
First, More...
Dec 03, 2011
JJ
rated it: 
Perhaps a more apt title for this book would be "Four Funerals and a Wedding." It started with such promise: a secret language shared between sisters, a private world, a shared tragedy. For the first half of the book, I was enthralled with the dark and troubled Elv, the oldest daughter, and her self destruction; I was especially captivated by the magical elements of the novel. But then halfway through, the plot degenerated into one tragedy after another; I don't mind bleak and dark nov
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 05, 2011
The Story sisters by Alice Hoffman
Three beautiful sisters close in age growing up in New York – Elv, Meg and Claire. They share the attic, they speak their own language linked to the fairyworld Elv invented, a place where they could be safe from harm. Becasue in spite of their seeming charmed lives, darkness broke in early. When Elv was eleven, the summer when their parents got divorced, on a day Meg was ill, something terrible happened and though Claire escaped, Elv was kidnapped by More...
Three beautiful sisters close in age growing up in New York – Elv, Meg and Claire. They share the attic, they speak their own language linked to the fairyworld Elv invented, a place where they could be safe from harm. Becasue in spite of their seeming charmed lives, darkness broke in early. When Elv was eleven, the summer when their parents got divorced, on a day Meg was ill, something terrible happened and though Claire escaped, Elv was kidnapped by More...
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Oct 19, 2011
Maria
rated it:
I ran into Alice Hoffman by accident. This is kinda my thing... lately I've been running into many, until then unknown to me, authors that quickly become part of my favourites list... in a blink of an eye, I would say, or perhaps at the turn of a page, if you prefer.
There's one word that perfectly describes Alice Hoffman's books (even though I haven't read all of them... yet): enchanting. Her words lure you to a private little world... and you fall in love with it, not being able to pu More...
There's one word that perfectly describes Alice Hoffman's books (even though I haven't read all of them... yet): enchanting. Her words lure you to a private little world... and you fall in love with it, not being able to pu More...
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 19, 2011
Marion
rated it:
What would you do for the love of your sister or brother? Alice Hoffman takes us on a journey into the minds of three sisters who are so close as children that they have created a fantasy world where no others are allowed. This world is the creation of the oldest sister, Elv, who rescues her youngest sibling from probably child molestation by taking shoving her out of a moving car and taking her place. When she is released she keeps it all inside herself, vowing to keep both her sisters safe fro
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May 28, 2011
Marigold
rated it:
I’m typically not a fan of Alice Hoffman nor of magical reality novels. But this one was different. It’s a story about 3 sisters, Elv, Meg & Claire who live with their mom. Something terrible happens to Elv & Claire that changes their lives forever, but knowing that their mom is sad about her divorce, they never tell her. In the absence of appropriate treatment for their trauma, the girls invent a secret world, with its own language, that they spend more & more time in. Over the years, mom & Meg
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(2 people liked it)
May 15, 2011
Catherine
rated it:
I saw the following review and it was exactly how I'd describe the book myself. So I thought I'd share it here with my friends: My experience reading this book was somewhat surreal. In the beginning, it was a bit like a train wreck or a car accident - ghastly and grim, yet I couldn't look away. It was nothing like I expected, not at all what I wanted, and yet I found myself incapable of just returning it, unread, to the library. I continued on, reading the unfolding horrors and drama, told in th
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Dec 05, 2010
Meneesha
rated it:
This has to be one of |the most haunting, |heart-breaking books I've |read this year.
Elv, Meg and Claire live with their mother on Long Island. They're beautiful, mysterious, intriguing and envied by all their peers.
They also have their own form of communication - something that appears harmless and endearing at first, but turns out the |be the source of their eventual undoing.
It is this secret world that the sisters inhabit that has you questioning throughout More...
Elv, Meg and Claire live with their mother on Long Island. They're beautiful, mysterious, intriguing and envied by all their peers.
They also have their own form of communication - something that appears harmless and endearing at first, but turns out the |be the source of their eventual undoing.
It is this secret world that the sisters inhabit that has you questioning throughout More...
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 14, 2010
Melissa
rated it:
The Story Sisters was so dark that I considered putting it down. Alice Hoffman is such an excellent writer that I was transfixed as much as I was repulsed.
The three Story sisters are so close that they invent their own world as youngsters. They have their own language and their mother feels quite left out. After a tragic event effects Elv and Claire as young girls, they grow inseparable and the third sister, Meg, feels more and more left out. Elv and Claire tell no one what happened More...
The three Story sisters are so close that they invent their own world as youngsters. They have their own language and their mother feels quite left out. After a tragic event effects Elv and Claire as young girls, they grow inseparable and the third sister, Meg, feels more and more left out. Elv and Claire tell no one what happened More...
Nov 09, 2010
Filledacier
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Sep 29, 2010
Toni
rated it:
4.5 or a 5-THis is difficult book to review. Let's start that I was on vacation, I started the book at 8am after a walk and read until my husband was done working at noon, then read and finished it by 11 pm at night- it would not let go. After finishing it, while my husband slept,I could not stop thinking about the characters- Even though I would class this as a fable or allegory or fantastical even , the characters seemed real to me.Not just the 3 girls but even the mom and grandma and Pete, bu
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 10, 2010
Edienna
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 02, 2010
Judith
rated it:
In my humble opinion, Alice Hoffman has either degenerated or I have outgrown her. This book read like a Danielle Steels novel---all incredible extremes.
This girl is the most beautiful girl in the world; men commit suicide over her when she is a teen. Everyone adores her, yet she cares for no one except her little sister. She becomes more and more withdrawn, sitting in a tree outside her window; running off in the night barefooted to get involved in drugs and drinking and sex, b More...
This girl is the most beautiful girl in the world; men commit suicide over her when she is a teen. Everyone adores her, yet she cares for no one except her little sister. She becomes more and more withdrawn, sitting in a tree outside her window; running off in the night barefooted to get involved in drugs and drinking and sex, b More...
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 23, 2010
Deborah
rated it:
Alice Hoffman never fails to please and never fails to take us into her world of light fantasy that tips reality into the spirit world. It's as if the harshness of the everyday world is touched by a mist of the "otherness" that only some can see or experience.
The story sisters are just such girls. They are mysterious and other-worldish, beautiful and aloof. They have a special language and a world created all of their own. It's mindful of the creativity and strangeness More...
The story sisters are just such girls. They are mysterious and other-worldish, beautiful and aloof. They have a special language and a world created all of their own. It's mindful of the creativity and strangeness More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 01, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
The story sisters is a book about 3 sisters who live in a world that no other person can see. They have their own language and their own rituals, but soon when they grow older, they soon start to distant and as they thought they would always use their magic for good, they all forget, one losing the world completely and living in reality, the other trying fight off the demons and the oldest embracing good and bad. They are all beautiful, yes, but how much do the demons get involved to make them f
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Jul 14, 2009
Dawn
rated it:
Another incredible book from one of my favorite authors! Alice Hoffman has the amazing ability to combine fantasy with reality, to the edge where you are not sure which world you are in anymore. Here it is particularly effective in the telling of the story because it is part of the story. Three sisters, a mother, and a few other important characters are woven together so skillfully and with such depth that they become part of your heart and breath while reading and long after. Hoffman excels
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 21, 2009
Diane
rated it:
Alice Hoffman is an author known for her novels filled with magical touches. Her latest, The Story Sisters, continues that, when a magical world created by three sisters collides with the reality of the world in which we all exist.
Elizabeth, called Elv, Meg and Claire Story live with their mother in a small town on Long Island. Their parents are in the middle of a bad divorce, and it has affected the girls deeply. When they were young children, Elv (whose nickname connotes the fairy- More...
Elizabeth, called Elv, Meg and Claire Story live with their mother in a small town on Long Island. Their parents are in the middle of a bad divorce, and it has affected the girls deeply. When they were young children, Elv (whose nickname connotes the fairy- More...
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(5 people liked it)
Jun 19, 2009
Kathy
rated it:
I really loved this book. I am not one for graphic and detailed books on violent crimes toward women and children. The harsh reality makes me ill so I try not to read it. BUT, this book was amazing! There is drug use and premarital sex within the story but its not graphic at all. I thought Alice Hoffman did a fantastic job telling a story of three sisters who make a transition from childhood innocence to real adult women. Each sister took a different path on the way to adulthood. The oldest, Elv
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 16, 2009
Sara
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 07, 2009
RNOCEAN
rated it:
Alice Hoffman’s previous novel, The Third Angel, was hailed as "an unforgettable portrait of the depth of true love" (USA Today), "stunning" (Jodi Picoult), and "spellbinding" (Miami Herald). Her new novel, The Story Sisters, charts the lives of three sisters–Elv, Claire, and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who c
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(2 people liked it)
Feb 09, 2010
Autumn
rated it:
I don't know that I would say this book is amazing or full of literary merit, but God was it a emotional. I cried about every other page for the last two-thirds and so I have to give it four stars for being able to tug on my heartstrings so fiercely. I felt like a big marshmallow when I finished--like I'd been turned inside out and hung up to dry.
The plot follows the lives of three sisters as they come of age in a small town. It sounds typical at first, but quickly moves beyond the no More...
The plot follows the lives of three sisters as they come of age in a small town. It sounds typical at first, but quickly moves beyond the no More...
Jan 31, 2012
Beth Anne
rated it:
i've really been missing out on something special with alice hoffman. who knew she could become one of my favorite storytellers.
this book was great. so different from dovekeepers, but no less amazing. i see that hoffman has a penchant for strong female characters. the emotion in each and every character was so real and rich and believable. i loved the hints of magic that she wove into this story. the secret world of the story sisters, the private language, the demons and fairi More...
this book was great. so different from dovekeepers, but no less amazing. i see that hoffman has a penchant for strong female characters. the emotion in each and every character was so real and rich and believable. i loved the hints of magic that she wove into this story. the secret world of the story sisters, the private language, the demons and fairi More...
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Aug 02, 2009
Sandra
rated it:
My experience reading this book was somewhat surreal. In the beginning, it was a bit like a train wreck or a car accident - ghastly and grim, yet I couldn't look away. It was nothing like I expected, not at all what I wanted, and yet I found myself incapable of just returning it, unread, to the library. I continued on, reading the unfolding horrors and drama, told in the almost poetic haunting voice, not sure why I was still reading. And then it happened. Somewhere around page 218 I found myself
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 22, 2009
Tressa
rated it:
I have officially just stayed up all night long to finish the remaining 3/4 of The Story Sisters, something I have done infrequently in my life. I have to get up and go to work in another two hours, but I won't be able to sleep, so what do I care?
Like another favorite female author of mine--Anne Tyler--Alice Hoffman knows how to spin a story about the mundane parts of our lives, but also the magical moments. Characters are introduced on a whim or chance meeting, and they may serve as More...
Like another favorite female author of mine--Anne Tyler--Alice Hoffman knows how to spin a story about the mundane parts of our lives, but also the magical moments. Characters are introduced on a whim or chance meeting, and they may serve as More...
May 17, 2011
Kerstin
rated it:
"The Story Sisters" was the second book by Alice Hoffman that I read and it seems to me that she likes to put her characters through the darkest and deepest despair before letting them emerge on the other side.
This book tells the story of three beautiful sisters, who were inseparable, often living in their own fantasy world and communicating in their very own language. This all changes one day when a horrifying event changes their lives forever. Secrets emerge that threaten t More...
This book tells the story of three beautiful sisters, who were inseparable, often living in their own fantasy world and communicating in their very own language. This all changes one day when a horrifying event changes their lives forever. Secrets emerge that threaten t More...
