Imatge de l'autor

Alice Hoffman

Autor/a de Practical Magic

64+ obres 51,796 Membres 1,925 Ressenyes 196 preferits

Sobre l'autor

Alice Hoffman, an American novelist and screenwriter, was born in New York City on March 16, 1952. She earned a B.A. from Adelphi University in 1973 and an M.A. in creative writing from Stanford University in 1975 before publishing her first novel, Property Of, in 1977. Known for blending realism mostra'n més and fantasy in her fiction, she often creates richly detailed characters who live on society's margins and places them in extraordinary situations as she did with At Risk, her 1988 novel about the AIDS crisis. Her other works include The Drowning Season, Seventh Heaven, The River King, Blue Diary, The Probable Future, The Ice Queen, and The Dovekeepers. Her book, The Third Angel, won the 2008 New England Booksellers' Award for fiction. Two of her novels, Practical Magic and Aquamarine, were made into films. She has also written numerous screenplays, including adaptations of her own novels and the original screenplay, Independence Day. Her title's The Museum of Exteaordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, Seventh Heaven, and The Rules of Magic made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra'n menys

Sèrie

Obres de Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic (1995) 5,739 exemplars
Here on Earth (1997) 3,112 exemplars
The Dovekeepers (2011) 2,972 exemplars
The Rules of Magic (2017) 2,475 exemplars
The Ice Queen (2005) 2,259 exemplars
The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014) 2,143 exemplars
The Probable Future (2003) 1,943 exemplars
The River King (2000) 1,690 exemplars
Turtle Moon (1992) 1,647 exemplars
Blackbird House (2004) 1,565 exemplars
Green Angel (2003) 1,540 exemplars
The Marriage of Opposites (2015) 1,472 exemplars
Blue Diary (2001) 1,444 exemplars
The Red Garden (2011) 1,318 exemplars
Magic Lessons (2020) 1,305 exemplars
Incantation (2006) 1,260 exemplars
The Third Angel (2008) 1,220 exemplars
Skylight Confessions (2007) 1,175 exemplars
The Story Sisters (2009) 1,122 exemplars
Seventh Heaven (1990) 1,082 exemplars
The World That We Knew (2019) 1,016 exemplars
Aquamarine (2001) 1,007 exemplars
Second Nature (1994) 994 exemplars
Faithful (2016) 963 exemplars
Local Girls (1999) 918 exemplars
Indigo (2002) 790 exemplars
At Risk (1988) 777 exemplars
Illumination Night (1987) 762 exemplars
The Book of Magic (2021) 751 exemplars
The Foretelling (2005) 656 exemplars
Fortune's Daughter (1986) 645 exemplars
Nightbird (2015) 467 exemplars
White Horses (1982) 413 exemplars
The Drowning Season (1979) 395 exemplars
The Invisible Hour (2023) 390 exemplars
Water Tales: Aquamarine & Indigo (2001) 363 exemplars
Property Of (1978) 343 exemplars
Green Witch (2010) 288 exemplars
Angel Landing (1999) 261 exemplars
Survival Lessons (2013) 255 exemplars
The Bookstore Sisters (2022) 226 exemplars
Green Heart (2012) 185 exemplars
Fireflies: A Winter's Tale (1999) 111 exemplars
Everything My Mother Taught Me (2019) 110 exemplars
Moondog (2004) 50 exemplars
Horsefly (2000) 34 exemplars
Ploughshares Winter 2011-2012 (2011) — Editor — 14 exemplars
Wanderlust (2011) 11 exemplars
Ploughshares Fall 2003, Vol. 29, Nos. 2 & 3 (2003) — Editor — 6 exemplars
Conjure (2014) 4 exemplars
Alto Risco Livro 1 (1989) 1 exemplars
Scribners Best: The Fiction Workshops 1997 (1997) — Editor — 1 exemplars
Sister Witch {Essay} (2017) 1 exemplars
Shadow Show #5 (2015) 1 exemplars
At Risk / Illumination Night (1998) 1 exemplars
The Witch of Truro 1 exemplars

Obres associades

Al far (1927) — Introducció, algunes edicions17,491 exemplars
Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times (2001) — Col·laborador — 444 exemplars
Shadow Show (2012) — Col·laborador — 362 exemplars
Practical Magic [1998 film] (1998) — Creator — 335 exemplars
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection (2005) — Col·laborador — 223 exemplars
Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories (2019) — Col·laborador — 104 exemplars
Aquamarine [2009 film] (2009) — Creator — 99 exemplars
Tuning the Rig: A Journey to the Arctic (1990) — Introducció, algunes edicions71 exemplars
It Occurs to Me That I Am America: New Stories and Art (2018) — Col·laborador — 71 exemplars
Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration of Ray Bradbury (2014) — Col·laborador — 51 exemplars
Once Upon a Childhood: Stories and Memories of American Youth (2004) — Col·laborador — 15 exemplars
Amerika, Amerika bloemlezing — Col·laborador — 8 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #36 Autumn 2016: Vintage & Victoriana (2016) — Col·laborador — 5 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #25 Winter 2013: Mermaids (2013) — Col·laborador — 4 exemplars
American Review #23 (1975) — Col·laborador — 4 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #29 Winter 2014 (2014) — Col·laborador — 4 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #40 Autumn 2017: Practical Magic (2017) — Col·laborador — 3 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #38 Spring 2017: The Warriors & Goddesses Issue (2017) — Col·laborador — 3 exemplars
The Dovekeepers [2015 TV mini series] (2015) — Creator — 3 exemplars
Enchanted Living, #52 Autumn 2020: The Natural Magic Issue (2020) — Interview / Excerpt — 2 exemplars
Enchanted Living, #45 Winter 2018: Celestial Issue (2018) — Interviewed — 2 exemplars
Enchanted Living, #56 Autumn 2021: The Abundance Issue (2021) — Interviewed — 2 exemplars
Enchanted Living, #48 Autumn 2019: Witch Issue (2019) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #35 Summer 2016 (2016) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #32 Autumn 2015 (2015) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #39 Summer 2017: A Midsummer Faerie Court (2017) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #33 Winter 2015 (2015) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #34 Spring 2016: The Floral Issue (2016) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars
Faerie Magazine, #37 Winter 2016: The Naughty & Nice Issue (2016) — Col·laborador — 1 exemplars

Etiquetat

Coneixement comú

Data de naixement
1952-03-16
Gènere
female
Nacionalitat
USA
Lloc de naixement
New York, New York, USA
Llocs de residència
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
New York, New York, USA
Educació
Adelphi University (BA)
Stanford University (MA, creative writing)
Professions
novelist
short-story writer
Relacions
Hoffman, Lisa (cousin)
Organitzacions
Hoffman Breast Center
Doubleday
Brandeis University
Agent
Elaine Markson (Elaine Markson Agency)
Amanda Urban (ICM Partners)
Biografia breu
Alice Hoffman is an American novelist and young-adult and children's writer, best known for her 1995 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the genre of magic realism and contain elements of magic, irony, and non-standard romances and relationships.

Membres

Ressenyes

A relatively entertaining, undemanding work of fiction in which a young girl working as a mermaid at a Coney Island freak show falls for a "fallen" Jewish orthodox lad in the slums of Manhattan back in the bad ol' pre-Progressive Era days of tenements, abject poverty, and horrific labor exploitation.

Not sure I found either of the characters particularly empathetic or authentic. I have no problem with unsympathetic protagonists, but in this case both characters evince a frustrating level of gullibility/lack of introspection - dramatically necessary, perhaps, but irritating. There's not a lot of plot, and what plot there is comes off as contrived and far-fetched.

But there's also much to savor here, like Hoffman's lovely, evocative descriptions of the Manhattan wilderness in the days before human development entirely consumed the Hudson River and its environs. Also relished the historically accurate depictions of Coney Island, immigrant tenements, and the devastating Dreamland Fire of 1911. Her portrayal of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and its aftermath is gut-wrenching.

While Hoffman employs many of the elements of literary fiction - themes, symbols, extended metaphors - there's not necessarily a lot of sophistication to it. Water and fire symbolize transformation. Dreamland symbolizes human hubris. Starlings represent invading Europeans/civilization. A fish that may or may not have been reborn symbolizes the miracle and hope of love. There's a cactus that finally blooms at the moment that Coralie's free will finally blossoms, and an extended metaphor in which Jane Eyre serves as a construct for exploring the definition and price of freedom, wrapping up in a rather unsubtle denouement in which the Coney Island fire parallels the famous conflagration at the end of Bronte's novel. In other words, nothing your average high school literature student wouldn't be able to access. (And just in case you do overlook something, the author includes an afterward, in the form of a letter, that clears up any possible ambiguities.) Indeed, it sometimes feels like the literary elements are driving the story rather than visa versa. They add some richness, but detract from the authenticity of the story while adding little in the way of added insight or profundity.

This was my first Hoffman novel, so can't shed any light on how it might compare to her others. I enjoyed the tale for what it was, but am not sure - based on this outing - whether I'm in any hurry to explore Hoffman's wider oeuvre.
… (més)
 
Marcat
Dorritt | Hi ha 120 ressenyes més | Mar 14, 2024 |
If you missed Alice Hoffman's name on the front, it wouldn't take too long to recognize her lyrical descriptive style, weaving magic around the characters and through the story.
 
Marcat
bookczuk | Hi ha 18 ressenyes més | Mar 13, 2024 |
 
Marcat
lkadin | Hi ha 20 ressenyes més | Mar 4, 2024 |
What a wonderful book! And this kind of praise doesn't come out of my keyboard often. I picked this novel as my vacation read due to its setting on St. Thomas island, but it has far surpassed my expectations. It made the already beautiful destination alive with local folklore and history.

When it comes to the Caribbean, what most people would associate with historical fiction set in those parts would probably be pirates, plantations and slavery. This book takes a fresher approach as this is a family saga about a Jewish family who came to the island that used to be a Danish colony at the time in search of a refuge. Their destinies are intertwined with the black people on the island while existing in apparently separate worlds.

I find it very interesting that the family in question is the one of Camille Pissarro, the father of impressionism. I wasn't aware he was from St.Thomas and the book describes in a wonderful way how a childhood on the island might have sparked a different kind of vision needed to create a new artistic movement.

The book is centred mostly around Rachel, the mother of Camille Pissarro and the first part of the book that describes her childhood and coming of age is the strongest, truly magical. The book is very sensual and haunting at times. I did find a slight disconnect between the character of Rachel as a young woman and later on, when she was more mature, esp. as the later years were more rushed in the novel, but it didn't disturb me so much.

I cannot say enough about the writing in this book. There are great characters, an interesting story and a very vivid description of the setting. The magical realism in this book is extremely subtle, but magic permeates the whole book which makes it hard to put it down and impossible to forget.

10/10 from me.
… (més)
 
Marcat
ZeljanaMaricFerli | Hi ha 70 ressenyes més | Mar 4, 2024 |

Llistes

Premis

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Autors associats

Estadístiques

Obres
64
També de
33
Membres
51,796
Popularitat
#293
Valoració
3.8
Ressenyes
1,925
ISBN
1,046
Llengües
20
Preferit
196

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